Legend becomes legendary

Another post of Upper Deck cards in Upper Deck Week. 

Card Number 822: Upper Deck Legends, 2000; #54

In 1999, this range was known as Upper Deck Century Legends. Tony had two cards in that set - #49 and #54.

In 2000, this set was all foil cards.

The back is basic, as befits a base card (even in a high end set like this where a 5 card pack cost $4.99).

The following year, the Legends set dispensed with the foil. Personally I think these look better.

Card Number 823: Upper Deck Legenda, 2001; #79

Tony looks like he is enjoying himself in the photo on the front.

The back is even more basic than the preceding year.

As I have Tony's cards from the 1999 set that was also (sort of ) a Legends set, these two cards complete the run of Tony's Legends base cards. But Upper Deck wasn't done with the 'legend' tag.

Card Number 824: Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts, 2005; #81

This was yet another spin-off from Upper Deck's SP range.

Considering this is a 'filler' card in a range that was mainly about hunting relic cards, this is exquisite. 

By the time this range came out, Tony had retired. The back has one line of stats with his final career figures. There is a nice touch in Upper Deck giving Tony card #81, as '81 was the year he was drafted.  

The main thing this card provokes in me is regret that Upper Deck no longer do baseball cards. The design on this is striking and very attractive. It's a great combination of photo and card lay-out. The baseball card hobby has been much poorer since Upper Deck got forced out of it. 

Total: 824 cards

More recent Monday - Baseball hero

It's Upper Deck week on my blog. Usually Mondays are days when I show a 'modern' card, but as Upper Deck haven't released any baseball cards since they put out an unlicensed set in 2010 and got sued by Topps, today's cards are just a bit "more recent" than the other cards I will be showing this week. They were issued after Tony retired and are a mere 16 years old.

Card Number 815: Upper Deck Baseball Heroes, 2005; #85

Tony appeared on five cards in this 200-card set. I am blogging three of them today and I'm doing them out of numerical order.

Numerically, this was the highest numbered of Tony's cards in the set, but I think it's the ideal card to kick off this post. 

The back gives a short precis of why Tony is a baseball hero. 

Card Number 816: Upper Deck Baseball Heroes, 2005; #84

The other cards in the set focus on certain individual feats. Number 84 in the set is about Tony's 3,000th hit. 

Unlike when some other card companies commemorated this milestone, Upper Deck got all the facts right on the back. 

The synchronicity of Tony's career milestones always seems remarkable. He notched up 1,000 hits in exactly six years - to the day!

Card Number 817: Upper Deck Baseball Heroes, 2005; #83

This card also marks an achievement from 1999 - Tony's 15th appearance as an All Star.

While Tony was named in the All Star Game line up, he didn't actually feature in the game, so there is a slight error there in the way they report this. He was sat with the reserves, though. On the back that's described as "participating".

Tony received the All Star call up 15 times, and went up to bat in 13 actual games. 13 is still very impressive.

There are another two cards featuring Tony in this set - numbers 82 and 81. For now they are on my list of cards to get someday!

Total: 817 cards

The last days of DonRuss

DonRuss is now one of several trading card brands owned and run by the Panini corporation. I sometimes refer to it as a "zombie brand" because it feels like it's being kept animated but isn't really alive. 

Panini acquired DonRuss in 2009 when they bought Playoff, the company that had salvaged DonRuss as it headed towards collapse at the turn of the millennium and then issued sets in the first decade of the 21st Century. Today's post features cards from the Playoff era of DonRuss's history.

Card Number 644: DonRuss Champions, 2005; #46

There were actually three Tony Gwynn cards in this set, all with slightly different photos on the front.

The card is designed in such a way that it would be easy to insert a relic or an auto into the space on the right. This was a set with lots of relics and autos, with base cards like this filling the gaps. 

There's a great factoid on the back comparing Tony to Ty Cobb. There is also a very interesting stats box with a line of Tony's career highs and his career totals. I don't remember seeing another stats box like that, so it gives this card something unique. 

The big D in an oval is the DonRuss logo during the Playoff era. It's usually a red oval.

Card Number 645: DonRuss Threads Century Stars, 2008; #CS-6

I have blogged a DonRuss Threads base card before. This is rather a bland insert card from the same set. Tony is sticking his tongue out while running in the photo.

For an insert series called Century Stars, there are very few stars on this card. I would have put on more. The stencil font is an unusual choice. I find stencil fonts remind me of two things from my chldhood in the 1980s - the A-Team logo, and the toys called Action Force, which was the last great toyline to be developed in the UK by the toy company Palitoy (as described in this YouTube video by the very knowledgeable Analog Toys). 

The back says it was only fitting that Tony was inducted to the Hall of Fame with Cal Ripken Jr, but then doesn't say why. I know the similarities between the two, and DonRuss clearly expacted everyone who pulled this card to know them too. 

In 2008 Playoff had lost their Major League Baseball licence, and this card claims it was directly licensed by the player depicted. This form of licensing explains the obvious airbrushing on the front. The SD logo is still intact on Tony's helmet, partially obscured by some reflective glare. Weirdly, it only says San Diego on the left hand side of the cardback, but it mentions the Padres by franchise name in the write up on the right hand side. 

This card was from the last year before DonRuss was acquired by Panini. All subsequent cards released with the DonRuss branding have also been unlicensed so this was a portent of things to come.

Total: 645 cards

One card only - shiny DonRuss Zenith

This is another card that arrived in the eBay package that turned out to be one that I didn't already have. I blogged the regular base version of this card six months ago, and now here's the shiny version.

Card Number 632: DonRuss Zenith Silver Artist's Proof, 2005; #234

There were also gold Artist's Proof cards, which I presume were rarer.

This card really pops on the scan!

The back is the same as the regular released version. I didn't have much to say about it when I blogged the base version, and I don't have much to add now.

However, one thing I noticed when I filed this card is that the image of Tony had appeared previously on a DonRuss Fan Club card in 2002, so there's a little bit of photo reuse going on.

They've even been consistent in how they've cropped out his bat. That's amused me, I must admit.

Total: 632 cards

SE Stat-urday

I am reaching the end of my stockpile of Tony Gwynn cards and seem to have ended up with a few odd ones that don't really fit into a themed post, like these Upper Deck cards.

Card Number 543: Upper Deck Collector's Choice Special Edition, 1995; #140

Collector's Choice was Upper Deck's other main set, and Special Edition was a smaller additional set of Collector's Choice, like a spin-off of a spin-off.

The stat leaders card is relevant to this blog because it commemorates Tony's .394 score in 1994. The blue foil SE logo marks this out as part of the Special Edition set.

On the back we have all the leading hitters across both leagues in 1994. Tony was .026 more prolific than Jeff Bagwell, who had the next highest average.

Looking down the list of other players, it feels very odd seeing Wade Boggs listed as a Yankee, but he spent five seasons and won the World Series with them in 1996.

Card Number 544: Upper Deck UD3, 1997; #35

UD3 was a high end card range brought out by Upper Deck that went heavy on emphasising its use of "unique technologies" on its cards. Tony's card was a PROmotion [sic] card that featured "Light-FX" - an effect that doesn't scan very well. 

This wonky photo captures the colourfulness of the cardfront better.

The cardback isn't treated with the same coating. It predicts Tony has a place reserved in Cooperstown - he entered the Hall of Fame ten years later!

There were only 60 base cards in this set, which sold at $3.99 for 3 cards. If we adjust for inflation, the retail price for packs of three cards would be $6.47 in 2020.

Card Number 545: Upper Deck Past Time Pennants, 2005; #76

This set from Upper Deck was composed of retired players. There were 90 cards in the set and 69 of them were Hall of Famers, or have been elected since the set was released. Tony was included in the set two years before he was elected.

The cardback lists Tony's five best seasons and it's notable that three of them were grouped between the 1994 season and the 1997 season. 

Although I sometimes comment negatively about truncated stats boxes on cards, this works really well in this kind of set that features legends of the game. 

Total:545 cards

Hitting the sweet spot

Upper Deck released several ranges that were themed around relic or autograph cards. The "Sweet Spot" sets featured autographs on pieces of leather cut from baseballs. The autograph was in the 'sweet spot' between the seams of the baseball. Like all sets with high-end collectibles inserted into them, the base cards for this are effectively just pack filler. However, they are still nice cards.

Card Number 443: Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic, 2003; #84

In 2003 there were two 'sweet spot' sets, Upper Deck Sweet Spot, and Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic. The 'classic' range featured retired players, while the regular range featured active players.

The card is printed on slightly heavier stock than usual and the foil edging at the top and bottom has a milled edge.

The back is very neatly laid out and outlines Tony's batting achievements.

While I appreciate it's traditional to have a stats box on the back of a baseball card, this is an odd choice as it shows the final 5 years of Tony's career. If they were going to show an excerpt of his career, they could have shown his stats from 1994-1997, which are the years mentioned in the write-up. That would have made more sense.

Card Number 444: Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic, 2005; #89

As a retired player, Tony featured in the Sweet Spot Classic set again in 2005. The photo is printed in black and white, which is in keeping with a lot of photos in the set. A lot of the other players featured are from an era when only black and white photos exist.

At first glance, I thought Tony was holding a bat in his left hand, but actually the handle of his bat in in his right hand. The bat that looks like it's in his left hand, with the batting donut on it, is being held by his team-mate Ken Caminiti, who is standing on the on deck circle behind him. That would date the photo to sometime between 1995 and 1998, as Caminiti left the Padres after the 1998 World Series. Based on the arm patch, I think this is a photo from 1998.

It's also a bit poignant that when this card was released in 2005, Ken was sadly deceased. He died in 2004 at the tragically young age of 41 from an overdose, on the same day that Superman actor Christopher Reeve passed away. He is in the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame, having achieved one honour that always eluded Tony. In 1996, Ken was the National League MVP. 

The stats box on the back has the stats for five seasons when Tony won the batting title. It doesn't say that. They aren't the highest scoring seasons, though - that would be his four title-winning seasons in the 1990s and his .370 average in 1987. It seems they have picked his first title season, his last title season and the three highest ones in-between.

Total: 444 cards

At the Zenith

I thought I'd discovered two different companies using the same name for a card set until I delved a bit into the murky world of baseball cards companies and found out that actually what I had got was a brand resurfacing under new ownership.

Zenith is the brand. In 1997, it was a set produced by Pinnacle.

Card Number 341: Pinnacle Zenith, 1997; #2

OK, this goes against everything Fuji likes in a photo. Only half the player is in the shot, and a good  portion of the bat is cropped off. In fact, it also ticks the boxes for my chief gripe about Topps cards - it doesn't show Tony's face or his name on the shirt. But if someone is going to produce a card that upsets both my and Fuji's aesthetic principles, what a card to do it! 

That is a ball flying towards him! You can see the muscles in his arm tensing ready to hit it.

Also, I can't think of another card in my collection that shows the little #19 on the back of Tony's helmet. That's just cool!

Then flip it over, and what have we here?

That's a hit location chart. Want to know where to sit to catch a Tony Gwynn home run? The answer is out behind right field. 66% of his home runs landed there. That sounds like good odds, but you'd have to be lucky, because he only hit three home runs all season!

I'm feeling a bit tired of stats boxes. This is a nifty graphic, although it's not so joyously colourful as the one on the Zenith card in 1995. It conveys data in a fun, different way. Twenty bonus points!

Pinnacle went bust the season after this set came out and their assets were bought by the Playoff company, owners of DonRuss. So when a Zenith set appeared in 2005, it was a DonRuss product.

Card Number 342: DonRuss Zenith, 2005; #234

This came out 3 years after Tony retired. The last 20 cards in the set were notable retired players, including the late Tom Seaver as a Cincinatti Reds player. 

It's an attractive card, and meets the Fuji aesthetic as none of Tony has been cropped off by the picture editor.

The back is mainly a summary and a one line stats box. Sadly there are no nifty graphics. 

Overall, it's a nice looking card. The cards produced by DonRuss while they were operated by Playoff and before they were absorbed into the Panini conglomerate are underrated in my opinion. In terms of quality and design they more than hold their own. To date the Zenith brand hasn't reappeared since 2005. If it does, I hope they adopt the data representation approach of the original Pinnacle Zenith cardbacks.

Total: 342/394

Monday Mixer, Topps Edition

Three cards to brighten your Monday, sort of continuing the faux vintage theme from the weekend.

Card Number 291: Topps 206, 2002; #47

This is from the same set as the mini relic in yesterday's post. The front has been made to look like it's been drawn through the application of a Photoshop filter.

Given Tony had just retired at the end of the previous season, this choice of picture is very apt. It's as if he is raising his cap to the fans and saying goodbye.

The cardback follows the same theme, describing Tony leaving the game.

Tony has dropped to 21st on the all time list for hits since this card was printed. He has been overtaken by Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter, and Adrian Beltre, but Topps's claim that he was 17th is mysterious. Everyone else on the list retired before Tony did, apart from Cal Ripken Jr who retired the same year. I think this is a mistake by Topps and they forgot that Cal Ripken Jr had more hits than him.

Card Number 292: Topps Turkey Red, 2005; #310

Nowadays Turkey Red is an insert series in Topps's flagship product, but back in 2005 it was its own set of 330 cards. 

The back has a tidy summary of Tony's career, probably the best one to be found on a Topps cardback. 

Card Number 293: Topps Stars, 1999; #48

And now let's take a trip back to the late 90s. From 1997 - 2001, Topps released Topps Stars sets. They were small sets, never more than 200 cards, and had lots of things like foil parallel versions. This, however, is an ordinary base card.

That front design looks almost as dull as a turn-of-the-century Fleer single-season set.

The back has a bit more character, including star ratings across a number of metrics.

Two stars for speed seems a bit harsh. Tony was 39 when this card came out and no longer a spring chicken. They have also ignored Tony's career batting average figure in favour of the higher numbers for slugging and on-base percentage. Slugging percentage is calculated by giving hits different values - home runs are four times as valuable as singles, because, obviously they always deliver at least one run. Anything above .450 for slugging is a decent return. Tony achieved his percentage the hard way, with a lot of hits, as he was never a prolific scorer of home runs. 

That's the Topps Edition of the Monday Mixer. I hope you enjoyed it. See you tomorrow for a Triple Tuesday!

Total: 293/394

Tuesday twins from 2020 and 2000 (sort of)

It's the 9th of June, which means this blog is one month old.  I've got into a pattern of showing cards that look very similar on Tuesdays. First up some brand new cards that arrived last week from eBay.

Card Number 88: DonRuss, 2020; #218
In their most recent set "DonRuss" (who are now actually Panini) have recreated their 1986 design for a little insert series of cards featuring greats of the game.

It looks like that's an empty stadium behind Tony as he's swinging the bat there. This photo is very reminiscent of photos on Topps cards in their 80s heyday, with Tony's shoulder obscuring part of his face like that.

The cardback recreates the look of the 1980s base cards, complete with the player's full name.

Card Number 89: DonRuss, 2020; #218 (Name Variation)
And here is the card's twin, with 'Anthony Gwynn' on the front instead.

I really don't know what to think about these manufactured variations. It really triggers my grumpy old man routine. Suffice to say. 30 years ago back in the junk wax era, DonRuss made errors unintentionally because they were rushing to get as many cards out as possible.

The only good thing I would say about Panini DonRuss is that at least they mark their cards so that you can tell you have got a variation. The number is in a black baseball icon instead of a white one. I don't know why Topps is so resistant to this concept.

Otherwise the card back is exactly the same.

Onto today's other twinset.

Card Number 90: Topps, 2000; #2

Just a base card. I can't work out what the guy in the dug-out behind him is doing. He might be a photographer.

Photo on the back, because it was 2000, and that was now accepted practise. The chap sitting behind the dug-out is almost recognisable in this photo. No space for a cardback factoid with that insanely big stats box.

I complain about Topps quite a bit, but in fairness they can do base cards reasonably well, when they try. I wouldn't say this was a design classic though, would you? Topps thought it was because in 2005, they picked this design for a card of Tony in their Topps All-Time Fan Favourites set.

Card Number 91: Topps All-Time Fan Favourites, 2005; #113
Topps All-Time Fan Favourites (ATTF) was a short-lived set that Topps produced for three seasons in the early noughties. These ATFF sets basically recreated a card as it 'could have looked' using a different photo.

Tony was in the ATFF sets in 2003 and 2004 as well, but I don't have those cards. By 2005 Topps were running low on the good card lay-outs and Tony unfortunately got stuck with a rehash of Topps 2000.

Back in the noughties, I was buying small lots of Padres cards off eBay and I think this was one of them. I think it's confusing that they kept the "Topps 2000" on the front.

Admittedly there are a couple of differences. Besides the photo, they changed the border to gold and stuck on a 'Fan Favourites' gold foil element. Even so, if I felt Topps was receptive of feedback I would suggest not re-using borders that include the name of the year.

There's a green line at the bottom of the card and a different number on the back to help distinguish it. But, still, it's odd having a different year on the front.

So, those are the Tuesday Twins today.

Total: 91/394

Diamond Kings and Gypsy Queens

This is a post with a 'royal' theme.

Card Number 80: DonRuss Diamond Kings, 1989; #6

Diamond Kings were an insert series in DonRuss cards from the mid-80s onwards. They all feature drawn portraits of top stars in the game at the time. The illustrator of this card was Dick Perez, who drew the Diamond King portraits from 1982 - 1996. There is a gallery on his website.

I'm not a massive fan of these cards, but I can see how they were a bit different in the 1980s compared to what else was out there.

Tony appeared in several of the Diamond Kings sets. This is the only one of his I have from the classic run of DonRuss, so far. I have a few copies as it seems to always feature in joblots  - probably because 1989 was  one of the peak production years for DonRuss during the junk wax explosion.

On the back the write up predicts Tony's plaque will hang in Cooperstown one day. They were right about that, of course. I've seen it myself. This seems like a good place for a gratuitous photo of me with Tony's plaque in the Hall of Fame.

The cardback is also optimistic about an imminent rosy future for the Padres. In fact, it would be almost a decade before the club achieved any success.

Card Number 81: Topps Gypsy Queen, 2015; #164
Gawain from the Baseball Cards UK Facebook group sent me this card. Gypsy Queen is another Topps retro-looking product. I have got a few Padres cards in my collection but as a set it holds zero interest for me. This is from the 2015 series, which is the season after Tony passed away.

There is no mention of Tony's passing on the back of the card. It's a very plain cardback.

Card Number 82: DonRuss Diamond Kings, 2005; #434
This card was sent to me by Rodney. It's from the 'Legends' part of the set.

I really like this card. The illustrator is Dave Kramer. My only quibble was that he could have worked from a picture of Tony at any stage in his career and maybe captured him as a younger man.

The cardback includes a bio of the artist and also shows the number of Diamond Kings appearance for Tony Gwynn up to this point (9).

Card Number 83: Topps Gypsy Queen (mini), 2015; #164
In addition to their regular size cards, Topps reproduce all their cards in a 'mini' size. I say reproduce, they actually have more of Tony visible on this mini card than on the actual card because it includes his foot. I received this very recently from Matt J.

I feel that wall behind him ought to be recognisable as well. However, I'm not googling"ball park walls" to see if I can work out where it is.

The cardback has the same factoid. Topps sometimes play around with their Gypsy Queen cardbacks to produce unnecessary variations. But this is the regular cardback.

I hope you enjoyed these Diamond Kings and Gypsy Queens. If you want to see a more up-to-date Diamond Kings card (from 2018), then have a read of this post from last month.

Total: 83/394