FFF - Seeing Stars with Fleer Ultra

Some of my Fabulous Fleer Fortnight posts have had a lot of cards in. So today is just a couple of cards with a starry theme.

Card Number 943: Fleer Ultra All-Star, 1995; #8

This card uses two photos on the front to create an interesting effect. 

The back of the card talks about Tony's setting the modern batting average record in 1994, and notes a few other areas where Tony led the leagues. I will always, always highlight how difficult it was to strike Tony out when he was in his prime, so look at the final two lines of the write-up.

Given that Tony had 54 multi-hit games in 1994, you were twice as likely to see him hit twice or more in a game than see him strike out, if you went to a game at random. That is just incredible, really. 

Card Number 944: Fleer Ultra, 1996; #580

The 'Ultra Stars' was a subset towards the end of the 600-card Fleer Ultra set in 1996. I have a panchant for cards that actually feature stars on them, even just stylised ones. 

The only quibble I would have is that, given the amount of photoshopping the designers are doing here, why didn't they remove the tiny amount of the catcher's glove that is just creeping into shot?

Tony's expression on the back would turned into a meme these days. 

You know which meme I'm referencing.

I wonder what Tony was looking at...

Anyway, the write up on the back is right on the money. Whoever wrote it had clocked Tony's renaissance in the latter half of his career, noting how he was improving as he headed into the decade. There is a mention of Tony's extensive study of other players on video - which was less of an innovation by the mid-90s than when he first started doing that in the 80s. 

So those are some starry cards for Saturday. I hope you like them too.

Total: 944 cards

One Card Only - caricature All-Star

Card Number 860: Score, 1993; #525

This card is everything that was right about the baseball card hobby in the early 90s. It's cheeky. It's fun. It's different. It's just a great card.

On the back we have the starting line-up for the national league team in 1992 and a nicely phrased summation of why Tony made the team.

Some of the names on that list need no introduction. Ozzie Smith, Barry Bonds, Fred McGriff, Gary Sheffield, Ryne Sandberg and Greg Maddux were dominant players at the time. Andy Van Slyke is less famous, but this was the second of three All-Star appearances for him. Darren Daulton was also a three-time All-Star and was part of the Marlins team that won the World Series in 1997. He passed away in 2017 at the age of 55. I wasn't familiar with Lee Smith either, but it turns out he held the record for the number of saves in Major League Baseball from 1993 until Trevor Hoffman passed his figure in 2006. He is currently third on the all-time list, behind Hoffman and the current record holder Mariano Rivera.

All in all, that was quite the All-Star team in 1992!

Total: 860 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

3 from 96 - DonRuss and Leaf

Continuing the theme of cards from the peak of Tony's career and the peak of the overproduction era of the card hobby, here are some cards from the same company issued under different iconic brands.

Card Number 796: DonRuss, 1996; #525

That foil panel between Tony's legs doesn't scan very well. It's a poor choice of placing for such a large graphic element. 

The back has a massive stats box and a photo of Tony. Both photos show Tony in the white pinstripes home uniform. They are from different games though, unless Tony changed his wristguards mid-game for some reason. 

Card Number 797: Leaf MVP Contender, 1996; #8

A very shiny card front.

A very complicated explanation on the cardback.

This was a redemption competition based around who would be named MVP in the 1996 All Star Game. Tony was named in the National League squad for the game, but didn't play. Mike Piazza won the MVP that year, so people would have had to send in a Mike Piazza version of this card to redeem it for one the special gold sets of MVP contenders. I wonder how many people did that.

Card Number 798: Leaf Preferred, 1996; #79

This 150 card set came with a "Steel" insert card in each pack. Steel was Leaf's version of Chrome. This is the regular base card. 

The photo on the front has an odd backdrop and it makes the card look very dull. It's almost as if Tony is in front of a giant sandstone block.

The photo on the back is gorgeous. 

I think that could quite possibly be my favourite photo on a cardback. Look at Tony's grin!

Combined with a simple stats box and a margin of bio-data, I can see why people would prefer this set of Leaf cards.

Total: 798 cards

Tuesday Twins - photo edition

When I looked through the cards that Richard sent me recently, two cards matched so much I instantly thought, 'That's a twins post!'

Card Number 760: Topps All-Star Collector's Edition, 1985; #29

This was the first time Tony was included in these sets of glossy cards that were mailed to collectors who sent in tokens. I have previously blogged some of his cards from these sets that were issued in later years.

That yellow shirt was history in 1985. After reaching the World Series in 1984, the Padres revealed an all new look for the following season - white pinstripes at home and grey pinstripes for the road uniforms. The background of this photo makes me wonder if is was taken at a Spring Training game in 1984. Topps used photos taken at Spring Training on some cards.

The back of this card is very dull. The glossy photo on the front is supposed to make up for having nothing to look at on the back.

The other card this matches also has a dull cardback.

Card Number 761: Topps Allen & Ginter, 2012; #205

Topps had been releasing Allen & Ginter sets since 2006 but I think this is the first time Tony appeared in one of the sets. He is also on an insert card from this set.

And, there it is, 27 years after Topps produced that glossy All-Star card, the same picture appears with a small filter applied to make it look more like it has been drawn.

And here is the back. This must have felt fun and quirky once, but I feel the novelty has worn off. 

This isn't the only time Topps re-used the photo. In 2013 they mocked up what an All-Star card from 1984 could have looked like. (At least the uniform would have been right on that card!)

Topps go through phases of using the same photos in several sets released around about the same time, so seeing this picture in sets released in successive years isn't that surprising. It's a nice photo, so I'm not complaining. It was just a bit odd getting two cards in the same parcel that were released so far apart and yet look so similar.

Total: 761 cards

Wax Pack Wanderers

Two days ago an envelope arrived all the way from North Dakota containing six Tony Gwynn cards that I didn't have before. They were sent by Jeff who blogs at Wax Pack Wonders, along with a note.

Jeff says 'Believe it or not' - well, I believe! And I'm really grateful to be able to give these wanderers a home!

One of the cards was from my favourite ever Leaf set, and in a change to normal practice I'm going to show you the back of the card first.

Card Number 742: Leaf Gold All Stars, 1993; #9

You can tell this is the cardback because it has the copyright notice up the side. On Saturday I blogged about another card from the Leaf 1993 set which had a brilliant cardback featuring a map of upstate New York. The base cards from the 1993 set also had spectacular backs with cityscapes in the background. Tony's brother, Chris, got a card in the Update series of that set too. 

This could have been a "Sharing the Spotlight" post, which is what I do when Tony features on a card with another player. These All Star cards had a National League All Star on one side and an American League All Star on the other. Tony was paired up with none other than Jose Canseco.

The vivid blue background in the photo of Jose really makes that picture look a bit special - more so than the picture of Tony. With the floaty fuzzy clouds and the sunlight striking him, he looks like a demigod. Not a bad cardfront, even if the real interest, for me, is on the cardback!

Thank you Jeff, for this great addition to my collection, and for the other cards too, which I will be blogging soon!

Total: 742 cards

Modern Monday - slightly anachronistic All Star

This is a card freshly pulled from a Topps 2021 Series 2 pack, and sent to me by Gawain. He has sent me a brand new card two weeks running now!

Card Number 737: Topps 35th Anniversary All-Star, 2021; #86AS2

This is a really nice looking card, using the template of the All Star cards in the set that Topps released in 1986. There are a few things that trip the Anachronism Klaxon, though!

The obvious thing that sets off the klaxon is that Tony didn't have an All Star card in the 1986 set. He had one at bat in the 1985 game but wasn't deemed worthy of a card. 

That uniform is wrong for a card in 1986 as well. The Padres ditched the classic brown, yellow and orange after the 1984 World Series and went to white pinstripes. 

And then there's the back...

Topps have put Tony's stats from 1994 on the back of this card that replicates the 1986 card design. It's odd, even by Topps's standards for doing odd things. Yes, that was an amazing year in terms of Tony's achievements - this blog is called "point 394" because of that season - but why highlight that season on this card? Who knows? Like the Almighty, Topps moves in mysterious ways far beyond the understanding of mere collectors. 

However, this is a really nice looking card and I can tune out the klaxon. It is also particularly noteworthy because it is the 19th card from 2021 to make it into my collection. 19 is a very special number around here. Thank you Gawain for sending me this card!

Total: 737 cards 

One Card Only - PG rating

I might need to explain the post title for any readers based outside the UK. Basically, 'PG' means 'Parental Guidance' and it's used for films that might have a few scary scenes in, so parents should be aware of that before letting their kids watch the movie. 

There's no parental guidance needed for this post though, as the PG in question is Proctor & Gamble, a huge multinational corporation that mainly produces chemical products from cleaning products to shampoo. In 1992 they also produced some promotional baseball cards in partnership with Score.

Card Number 725: Score Proctor & Gamble All-Stars, 1992; #16

There were 18 cards in this set, featuring all the players in the starting line-ups for the 1992 All Star Game. Sets were received in return for proofs of purchase from Proctor & Gamble products (which included Pringles back in 1992 so if snacking was more of a priority than cleaning, then the mailaway was still achievable!). Score printed 2,000,000 sets (according to Baseballcardpedia) and I'm guessing most were claimed.

The back has a stats box and some information about Tony's contributions to the All-Star Game. There's also an endorsement from the then Cardinals manager, Joe Torre.

This card should probably be classed as an 'oddball' but it was produced by a fully licensed card manufacturer in the era when lots of companies could legitimately produce cards. It has the Proctor & Gamble logos on either side, so acts as a historical marker to a time when baseball cards were so popular just about every company wanted to use them to help shift their products.

The 1990s were an exciting time for Proctor & Gamble as the company became one of the first victims of a chain-email hoax. The email revived an old rumour that the corporation's profits went to the Church of Satan. This was compounded by claims that the company's main logo included Satanist imagery, which was part of the deal struck with Satan to ensure the company's success. Whoah, maybe there is a PG element to this post after all!

It turned out this hoax was started by a competitor trying to encourage a boycott of Proctor & Gamble products by earnest (and slightly gullible) Christians. This persistent rumour led to a multi-million dollar pay-out for Proctor & Gamble in 2007 against a competing company whose representatives had repeated the claims.

I remember reading an amusing book by someone who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian home where he wrote about his parents believing the rumour about Proctor & Gamble and throwing away all the products made by the company. It makes me wonder how many sets of baseball cards might have ended up in the trash by people worried about being contaminated by evil. 

Fortunately this particular card has survived the purges caused by the hoax and now has a safe and loving home in my collection.

Total: 725 cards

Lets gloss over the dullness

I'm on to the last remnants of the most recent joblot of cards from eBay. I think all the cards I've posted from this parcel have been 'oddities' in some way and these are no different.

If you have ever opened a junk wax era packet of Topps cards you will have found some little promotional cards that you could collect and send away for more cards. These mailaway cards were advertised as "glossy", and, while they definitely had a slight shine to them, they just weren't very interesting.

Card Number 701: Topps All-Star Collector's Edition, 1987; #2

I am fairly certain this photo was taken at the same time as the All Star card in the flagship set for 1987. Compare the background and also Tony's right sleeve with the white undershirt sticking out.

The back is very boring.

These cards could be bought in six small units or ordered as one big set of sixty. It does make me wonder if some of those sets were more popular than others if kids couldn't afford the full set in one go.

Card Number 702: Topps All-Star Collector's Edition, 1988; #38

This is another familiar-looking photo, but I can't find the card it reminds me of. It's possible that I just have a lot of cards where Tony looks like this.

The back is equally as dull.

Card Number 703: Topps All-Star Collector's Edition, 1989; #58

Again, this is a deja vu photo. It's very similar to the photo used on Tony's base card in 1988.

However, I think this might be from a different game because the fans in the background look different and there also seems to be different equipment on the bench of the dug-out in the background.

All I can say about the cardback is at least Topps varied the colours they used each year.

I wonder what the kids who sent off their pocket money and tokens to Topps thought of these cards when they arrived in the mail. I hope they felt they were getting their money's worth. The photos are nice and big, but the cardbacks are beyond boring.

Total: 703 cards

Black bordered All Star

Black bordered cards always look classy.

Card Number 671: Fleer (All Star Card), 1992; #2

There were 24 All Star cards to collect as inserts in the main Fleer set in 1992.

There is a long, sober summary of Tony's career to date on the back.

A couple of things stand out from that. One is how close Tony was to winning the batting title in 1991. Also his base-stealing exploits are often overlooked, but two seasons with more that 40 stolen bags, and stealing five in one game are aspects of his career that are worth being reminded about.

Total: 671 cards

Bonus note: I was going to title this post as 'Bordered in Black', but then I remembered there is a creepy short story by Larry Niven called that. Someone has uploaded it onto Scribd.

Glossy card, spotlight glare

Back in the 80s Topps produced All Star cards that were inserted into their cellophane wrapped multipacks of cards ('rackpacks') so that you could see the card in question. That was helpful if you had one particular favourite player, or were collecting the set. It also meant an extra Tony Gwynn card to collect in the seasons after he was an All Star.

Card Number 637: Topps Glossy All Stars, 1986; #17

This card has a varnish finish to make it glossy, however Tony's skin is noticeably shiny too! Although this looks like it was taken outdoors, I suspect that shine is caused by a lamp rather than the sun. It looks unnaturally lit. 

The back is as boring as any other of these cards. The quirk with these is that they commemorate the game the year before, so it says 1985 in big numerals but it was released to accompany the 1986 flagship set.

This card arrived in a joblot along with a couple of other All Star cards that I blogged previously. However one of them was the card from 1985. My previous copy had discoloured, so the new one is now in my binder as an upgrade! It also has better centering.

Weirdly, I think Tony looks yunger in the photo on the card from 1986 than on this one commemorating the 1984 All Star game that was released in 1985. That's partially because he has shaved off his moustache. I think the shiny complexion also makes him look younger. I'm fairly sure it is a later photo, though. His uniform on the card from 1985 is the 1984 uniform, but the card from 1986 shows Tony in the pinstripes that the Padres adopted in 1985, and the plain brown hat is another indicator.

I now have four of these cards, from 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1990. They look quite good together, so I have rearranged my binder to group them.

Looking at all four cards together, the card released in 1986 is different to the others. Tony's name is in a bigger font size and there is no National League logo. It reappeared the following year.

I'm also never sure whether to hyphenate 'All Star'. Topps do on these cards, but they don't always hyphenate it, even on cards released in the same year. Other card companies are just as inconsistent, and reviewing my previous posts about All Star cards, so am I!

Total: 637 cards

Scanning Nightmares - Pinnacle holofoil horrors

Pinnacle are one of the 90s card brands that are no longer with us, although it sort of lives on as one of the many 'zombie brands' owned by Panini now. Pinnacle was a company that loved shininess back when it was alive. That means lots of gold foil and then holofoil printing. 

Hence Pinnacle cards are lovely to look at, and horrid to scan.

Card Number 591: Pinnacle Zenith All-Star Salute, 1995; #6

This is the scan off the flatbed scanner. 

And this is the scan using the overhead scanner. I tried illuminating this from the side. The dark bar under Tony's bat is the reflection of the overhead scanner in the card. 

At least on this second scan the Pinnacle set name and Tony's name are legible. This scan almost captures the actual colour of the card as well. 

I had another go using daylight. It got a bit washed out. 

On the back we get a close up 'hero pose' photo and a little write up about Tony's All-Star appearance in 1994, even though this card was commemorating the 1995 All-Star game. In fairness to Pinnacle, they didn't have much to say about Tony's All-Star performance in 1995 - he was hitless in two plate appearances and then replaced by Reggie Sanders.

1995 was the middle year of a hat-trick of All Star victories for the National League. So even though Tony didn't contribute much to the game, he was on the winning side.

Zenith was Pinnacle's last release of the year, which is why they had cards about that season's All-Star Game in it. I have blogged a couple of other cards from Zenith. There's one in this post about cards from 1995. Interestingly, when Playoff bought the assets of Pinnacle, it also included the Zenith brand name, which Playoff used as part of a DonRuss release. I've blogged about the name Zenith being used by two different manufacturers here.

Pinnacle's love affair with holofoil continued right up until their abrupt demise in 1998, as can be seen by this card.

Card Number 592: Pinnacle Plus Lasting Memories, 1998; #29

Lasting Memories was a 30-card shiny insert series.

Holofoil and die-cut, but dark on the flatbed scanner!

The ripple edges of the die-cut don't really show on the black background of the overhead scan (below), but this picture shows the holofoil effect in terms of shininess. The card doesn't look anything like this in normal light.

I had another go. Although this third attempt is darker, this is more colour-accurate capturing the silver and blue colours of the card. The black bar on the right is the reflection of the overhead camera. 

So, I waited and had a go in daylight and the results were tons better. (This scan was straight too!)

The blue on the front is repeated on the back with a faint image that makes Tony look like a Jedi Force Ghost in the sky.

I think this is one of the earliest references to the looming 3000-hit mark, given this was issued some time before the end of the 1998 season. Tony didn't reach the 3000 mark that year - he recorded 148 hits, 72 short of the amount Pinnacle said he needed.

Total: 592 cards