Bats and stats

A couple of insert cards producd by Leaf today.

Card Number 658: Leaf Limited Bat Patrol insert, 1995; #2

"Bat Patrol" sounds like a terrible Batman spin off from the 80s.

The scan has rendered it white, but the big words saying 'Bat Patrol' are in a pearlescent shiny finish.

I'm guessing this insert series featured the best active batters at the time. There's no explanation on the back - just a very large, quite standard stats box. 

It feels like I am constantly making this point, but even here, just after Tony's record .394 batting average, his career average was still 5 points below his eventual final career average of .338. He still had several years of high averages ahead of him, high enough to drag his overall average up.

Card Number 659: Leaf Statistical Standouts insert, 1994; #9

This card is very shiny and did not scan well on my flatbed.

So I got out the overhead scanner, which captured it in all its shiny glory.

I find it ironic that Leaf called Tony a "statistical standout" in the year when he was destined to become a true statistical standout. It's almost as if they knew.

The cardback mentions Tony's run of 11 seasons posting an average above .300. He woud go on to beat San Musial's streak of 16 seasons. By the end of his career he has scored .300 for 19 seasons in a row.

That is a great photo on the cardback as well. I really like these sort of candid shots taken during practice or while warming up. It's not quite as good as the picture of Tony returning practice balls that he had collected up, but it's still a cool photo. 

The only negative of this card is the slightly odd numbering system. It means it's number 9 out of 10 as there were only 10 cards in the insert series, not card Number 910 or cards 9 and 10.

Total: 659 cards