Butterflies and apologies

Last week I blogged about how it took an exact calendar month for my Project70 cards to travel from Scotland to Wales (read the saga here). Jason, who sold me the cards, was very apologetic about the delay and, unprompted, sent me another card by way of apology. This time it took less than a week to arrive!

Card Number 681: Topps Project70, 2021; #92

The card is designed by grafitti artist RISK (real name, Kelly Graval) and is based on Tony's Topps card from 1991.

RISK has basically changed the background of the card while keeping the photo of Tony pretty much the same. I didn't realise until I fished this image out to compare with the Project70 card, that in the picture Tony is wearing Mimsbandz, as discussed last week in the blog post about the Project70 card designed by Mimsbandz!

RISK has added lots of colour in the background and also some big, colourful butterflies. There aren't many butterflies featured on baseball cards. Butterflies feature in a lot of RISK's artwork, acting almost as a signature motif in several paintings - as seen on his website. (I particularly like the ones called PGFY and Valley - that probably says a lot about me.)

If there was one thing I would have changed about this design, I would have altered the 40 year anniversary logo to say 70 year, and bring it up to date. But that's being picky.

The back of this card is similar to the other Project70 cards. One touch I really like is the use of the chronologically correct 1991-era Padres logo! I appreciate that sort of attention to detail.

The print run on this card was 2,214 (according to Trading Card Database), which is lower than the Mimsbandz card of Tony and a lot lower than the card Keith Shore designed with Tony looking down from Heaven at Fernando Tatis Jr. Looking at the print run numbers after this card, they seem to be on an overall downward trajectory, with the majority of cards after this one in the range not getting past 2,000. (A card depicting Alex Rodriguez as a Mariner was the first card where the print run dipped below 1,000 and a few more have done so since.)

Since Project70 started Topps has added Mickey Mantle to the list of possible subjects, and those cards have been popular, but otherwise it seems to be a handful of artists with a large fanbase recording higher print runs, regardless of the subject of the card. 

I have a few thoughts why Project70 seems to be stalling. For one thing it is a lot like Project 2020 last year, but unlike Project 2020, which had defined parameters from the outset (20 artists producing 20 cards each), Project70 is bigger and has fuzzier edges. 

Secondly, Topps have increased the release rate, with more cards available each day now. So it's samey and there is more of it, which just means more of the same. 241 cards are already listed in the range and there are still four months of the season to go!

Thirdly, Topps seems to be changing the scope of Project70, and it feels like that is being done to try and artifically boost interest. For example, they announced a card of Jarred Kalenic shortly after his Major League debut. The card was designed with the rookie symbol, making it the hot young talent's first major league rookie card. This comes across as opportunistic and mercenary.

And, then, finally, some of the cards just aren't that interesting. Either the subject choice is too niche, or presented in a way that puts people off (like the aforemenetioned A-Rod as a Mariner), or the execution isn't very exciting. 

But, having said all that, I like this card by RISK, butterflies included, and I want to thank Jason for sending it to me. 

Total: 681 cards