Now Topps shows some heart

A couple of months ago I blogged Score's card from 1997 referencing the 'Heart of the Order'. Topps waited 18 years amd then released an insert series called the same name.

Card number 677: Topps Heart of the Order insert, 2015; #HOR-11

This is quite an unusual card for Topps as it relied heavily on a quirky design and less on the photo. The racked bats are an interesting design choice but make the card look a little bit dated. I wouldn't have been surprised if it was 20 years older. 

I received this card from Jamie, who posted a large spreadsheet of cards he had available in one of the Facebook groups for UK-based collectors. This was the only Tony Gwynn card on his list, and one I had not seen before, from an insert series I hadn't seen before either. Cards from 2015 don't come up that often in the groups - it's from a lean spell in the hobby just before baseball card collecting really started to take off again.

This card was released the year after Tony passed away but his passing isn't mentioned on the card back. Instead they tried to justify including Tony in an insert set called the 'Heart of the Order' with stats about his place in the Padres' batting line up. 

I was surprised that Tony batted most often in third place in the line-up because he's often described as a lead off hitter, who left other batters in clean up duty. Given Tony's improved batting average in third spot, maybe he should have played there even more often. (Although this is a Topps card we are talking about, so take these statistics with a hefty pinch of salt. Topps have been known to get things wrong!)

All told though, this is an interesting looking insert and I'm grateful to Jamie for listing his cards so it was easy to find the one I needed, and for being willing to send out just one card from his large list!

Total: 677 cards