Saturday or Stat-urday?

The other night I was half watching the game between the Mariners and the Angels and the camera panned across the squad numbers that have been retired by Seattle. There was number 42, same as everywhere else, then in a palindromic manner number 24, for Ken Griffey Jr, and than finally number 11 for Edgar Martinez. Seeing the big outline of a shirt with Martinez's name on it made me think of this card:

Card Number 250: Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1996; #2

Edgar and Tony were the leaders in batting average in their respective leagues. This isn't the only card that Tony shared with Edgar - they were also paired on a Leaf checklist in 1996.

The back of the card lists the top ten hitters in each league. 

There are some great names in those lists including famous future hall of famers, and some other lesser well-known but highly memorable names. (My puerile Welsh sense of humour regards Chuck Knoblauch as a funny name.)

Edgar Martinez had a good season in 1995, including a tremendous performance in the divisional series as the Mariners made the post-season for the first time in their history. The success of the team in 1995, particularly centred on Edgar's game-winning double that took the Mariners past the Yankees to the Championship series, paved the way for a new baseball stadium in Seattle. That double has even been described as the hit that saved baseball in the city. 

Last year Edgar became the second player to enter the Hall of Fame as a Mariner, following Ken Griffey Jr.

A couple of years after this card was produced, Tony shared a similar card with another giant of the game who has also had his shirt number retired and been elected to the Hall of Fame. 

Card Number 251: Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1998; #253

While the batting average leaders card isn't as colourful as the one in 1996, those are some nice photos. They have positioned Tony's portrait slightly higher than Frank Thomas's. His average was a bit higher too. 

Edgar Martinez is listed on the back of the card as he had the second best average in the American League. The only other National League player to make both lists was Mike Piazza. 

Frank Thomas was known as The Big Hurt and consistently batted over .300 during the 1990s. He also found time to be a movie star (a small but important role in the film Mr Baseball which starred Tom Selleck) and was the face of a computer game and a pinball machine. Having played most of his career with the Chicago White Sox he became the first White Sox player elected into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He also has a statue outside the stadium - another similarity he has with Tony Gwynn. 

Total: 251/394

Whole lotta Leaf

Leaf was a bubblegum company that produced its first gum in 1940.  It produced its first baseball cards in 1948, the first post-war cards printed in colour. In the 1980s Leaf took over the DonRuss card brand, and in the 1990s it was one of the worlds largest confectionery manufacturers. It's now sadly disappeared from the candy aisle after various mergers and acquisitions, but the cards live on under the Panini umbrella.

Today's cards all come from Leaf's heyday as a brand and card producer: the 1990s. They were one of many companies contributing to the 'junk wax' explosion, but their cards tended towards the glossier and smarter end of the bunch.

Card Number 39: Leaf Series 2, 1991; #290

I like the solid silver borders on this and the 'photo mount' corners. It's a nice throwing stance photo.

Tony has a bit of a quizzical look on the back there. In among the bio details is a note that he was contracted through to 1996. They also included his minor league stats.

Card Number 40: Leaf Series 1, 1992; #206

Oof! That looks like a wild swing!

I'm developing a fondness for blurred out people behind Tony. (It has made me wonder when Photoshop started offering designers the blur feature, but this could be natural blur.) That lady in the blue top behind the dugout either had a big hat on, or a Beverly Goldberg giant perm. It was the 90s. I don't think we can rule out the perm.

The back of this card really makes me smile, because it looks like Tony is looking down on the catcher and is just about to swing the bat down and bludgeon him. I'm trying to work out who his victim could be. The name begins "DE" and the number starts with a 3. It's a gray uniform with orange or pink piping on it. But a lot of teams wore gray road uniforms in 1991/2.

The bio mentions Tony's contract details again. It seems an odd factoid to include, but I guess Leaf knew their audience. This would appeal to the kids who dreamed of being a Big League accountant when they were older. The minor league stats are included again as well.

Card Number 41: Leaf, 1996; #99

This card has not scanned very well because it is shiny. Now I'm a great lover of shiny things, but this shiny card is actually a bit boring to look at. Well the front is anyway.

But the back? The back is glorious 90s design. 5 different fonts, different kerning, words stretched and curved. There's just one seasons' stats and they are awkwardly spaced out. 2 photos on the back - the little one in the circle is a great little bonus picture. It doesn't mention his contract though. Enquiring number-oriented little minds will be disappointed! (Also of note, this card is copyright DonRuss, not Leaf. The brand was starting to fade by now.)

Card Number 42: Leaf Rookies and Stars 1998, #33
Rookies and Stars was a premium product featuring, erm, rookies and stars.

Because of the banners hanging over the wall in the background I think this photo was taken on Opening Day 1998. If so, that was on 31 March 1998 at Cheney Field in Cincinatti, which would explain why Tony is wearing a blue road uniform. He's on base here, poised to run. he got two runs in that game but only one hit. In fact his stats were 4 at bats, 3 RBI, 2 runs, 1 hit. (Of course, it could have been any of the opening day weekend games, and I might not even be right with my guesses there.)

1998 was the season the Padres won the national League Championship and played in their second (and to date, most recent) World Series. It started out well in Cincinatti, with a 10-2 victory.

There are no minor league stats on the back but there is a complete major league record, so a lot more info compared to the 1996 base card, it's fairly simple. No contract details. And the photo is of Tony grimacing. An unremarkable card back.

And now a question for the ages, when is a baseball card not really a baseball card? Answer: when it's a checklist.

Now, I don't mind checklists. I remember getting a checklist in one of the original packs of 1987 Topps cards I bought as a kid in Florida and just realising there were hundreds of cards in the set. I still have that checklist in the nearly complete Topps 1987 set I've been building, complete with little pen marks denoting which players I had got so far.

In the 90s checklists got a bit more interesting.

Card number 43: Leaf 1996; #205 Checklist
This is another foil card from the 1996 set. It scans poorly.

The back isn't foil, so scans well. Unfortunately, Tony is only on the front. There's a nice photo on the back of Edgar Martinez of the Seattle Mariners. Tony and Edgar shared this card because they were the respective batting champions in 1995.

This checklist is worth reading to see how Leaf divided up their bonus cards depending on what kind of packs you bought. Also, I was really intrigued to see what the #20 MVP Contender card would be as it's just listed as "Bonus Card". So I looked up the set on the Trading Card Database.

Basically, the 20 cards in the MVP Contenders subset were cards you could trade in later for a set, if that player was the MVP - in return for the card you would get a complete 20 card set of "Special Gold MVP Contenders". If none of the 19 players won the MVP then the 'bonus card' was the one you traded in.

Leaf did pretty well with their guesses. Number 2 on their list was Mike Piazza. He was the MVP that year.


Total: 43/394
(Now over 10% of the way towards my target)