Modern Monday - Opening Day legend

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I'm the guest on the Tea & Topps podcast tonight at 9pm (GMT) talking about my Tony Gwynn collection. The live broadcast will be on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook. Details here.  

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Glenn, who sent me the Topps mini I blogged last week, followed it up with another couple of cards including a freshly pulled card from Topps Opening Day 2021 that was released to coincide with the start of the season. It also provides me with an opportunity for a theme post - the theme being "Legend" cards.

Card Number 641: Topps Opening Day Legends of Baseball, 2021; #LOB-18

I am a little bit disappointed that Tony had card number 18. So close!

This is a nice, fresh-looking card design that isn't reliant on a retro template or a reprint of an old card. It actually feels 'new' and is the first card from 2021 that made me feel that way.

The back has a great statistic comparing Tony's strike out rate with modern players. Fans rarely saw Tony strike out - I've commented before how, on average, you would have to go to five games before you saw him struck out.

I saw a statistic last week that said for the first time ever the number of strike outs had passed the number of hits. I think strike outs have increased because there is a massive emphasis on belting home runs. The "Slam Diego" streak last year is part of that trend. It's very exciting when it comes off, but a batter who is swinging for the fences is more likely to miss, or leave pitches that could be hit into infield play, thereby getting strikes called more often.  

As I said, the theme of this card matches another card I had waiting in my 'to blog' folder.

Card Number 642: Topps Legends of the Game insert, 2009; #LG-TG

This card is a very dark green. That's not a scanning problem. It's how it looks.

The numbering of these cards is odd. There were 50 cards in the set. half were numbered 1-25, and the other half had letters instead of numbers, like this one.

There is also an error on the cardback. Top left it says Tony made his debut in 1981. He was drafted in 1981. He made his Major League debut in 1982. 

The timeline imagery is quite cool and continus across the other cards in the set. That's a pretty neat little detail. Otherwise the big factoid box repeats the story of how Tony was drafted for the Padres and the Clippers on the same day. No matter how many times I read that, I find it incredible. 

Thanks again to Glenn for sending me the Legends of Baseball card that opened this post. It's the 5th card released in 2021 that I have added to the collection.

Total: 642 cards