Modern Monday - Allen & Ginter shiny bubble

This could be a 'twin' card. It's a "hotbox parallel" card courtesy of Gawain.

Card Number 992: Topps Allen & Ginter [hotbox parallel], 2021; #53

The flatbed scan is remarkably dull.

The overhead scan is a bit brighter. The 'bubble' has an odd pearlescent finish that just doesn't scan very nicely.

I missed this detail when I blogged about the regular base version of this card, but this card is #53 in the set - which is a meaningful number because it was the number Tony wore in Spring Training in 1982 and thus became the number on his shirt in the photo on his Topps rookie card in 1983. 

I would like to think that is a deliberate numbering choice by Topps that would only be spotted by number-obsessed weirdo bloggers, like a little in-joke between us. But it could equally just be a random coincidence. 

The card numbering is the only interesting thing on the back of the as-dull-as-usual cardback. 

Total: 992 cards

Modern Monday - recent retro with Topps Archives

I have some cards from the new 2022 Topps release on their way to me in the mail! In the meantime, here is a card from last year that looks a bit older.

Card Number 975: Topps Archives, 2021; #140

Topps used seven different former card templates in their 2021 release of Topps Archives. Tony appears on a card laid out in the 1973 template. 

I have zero complaints about that card front. It's a great photo that works well with the design. Tony's face is visible and so is the team name on his chest. Neither of those things are a guarantee with photos that Topps put on cards!

On the back we have a little cartoon guy wielding a bat that looks like a bowling pin, and a succinct factoid. I'm going to award this card a bonus point for that. There's a second concise factoid just above the stats box.

I like cardbacks with clean and complete stats boxes and relevant factoids that don't go overboard with flowery language.

I am sometimes critical of Topps, but this is probably as close as it gets to the perfect baseball card. 

A big thank you goes out to Gawain for sending me this card!

Total: 975 cards

Tuesday Twin - Parallel Paramount

I had an unexpected suprise in the post last week, a small box of cards from Gawain that had been in a job lot he bought, and that he sent on to me. While most of the cards were ones I had, there were some I didn't have, including one that I almost passed by as I looked through them. The moral is always keep one's eyes peeled for parallels!

Card Number 863: Pacific Paramount Gold, 1999; #203

The gold foil doesn't show up that well on the scan, but it looks great in my binder next to the regular version which has silver foil on (and that I blogged about over a year ago!)

I don't know what the frequency of gold parallels was, but I have discovered that Tony was on both the packets and the box the packets came in!

I like stats in columns instead of rows. I find them a lot easier to read, so this card gets a bonus point for that!

Total: 863 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 

Modern Monday - Carolina Blue and a hallowed number of parallels

Breaking up the goodies that were in the parcel from France, Gawain messaged me the other day with a photo of a card he had picked up in a joblot and asked me if I had one of them yet. The answer was no, so he sent it to me. (Thank you, Gawain!)

Card Number 726: Panini Carolina Blue Prizm, 2021; #225

This card is insanely shiny and scans like an insanely shiny card does.

The base version of this card is a normal shiny silver colour. But Prizm cards are all about the parallels. I thought this was a Blue Prizm, but those are just one shade of blue. Then I found the Carolina Blue Prizms and there was the match!

Not only are there multiple different versions of blue Prizm cards, there are multiple different versions of lots of other colours too. There are a grand total of 42 parallels listed for this card, which is simply ridiculous, even though 42 is a pretty special number in baseball. And, of course, it's also the meaning to life, the universe and everything!

On the back there is a little write-up comparing Tony to other luminaries of the game and describes his "contact numbers" as "intriguing".

Panini's future in the card industry looks a bit shaky because they produce these cards on a license with the Player's Association, which has now signed an exclusive deal with another company starting in a couple of seasons. In the meantime, I'm sure Panini will be producing a plethora of parallels with every set.

Total: 726 cards

Gawain got me some Ginter

A little padded envelope arrived on the weekend from Gawain. It was a set of this year's Padres cards in the Allen & Ginter retro range. Tony had a base card in the set and Gawain dropped in a bonus as well.

Card Number 713: Topps Allen & Ginter, 2021; #53

I doubt it's deliberate but the pink outline around the picture make it look a bit like Tony is trapped in a giant bubblegum bubble, particularly the wispy bits on the top and bottom. 

I like the look of this card, even though the designer has clearly used the art filter to re-render the photo that Topps used on last year's Topps short print card. 

It was also on the back of this year's card in the Stadium Club range.

They obviously like this photo.

The back is, well, it's what Topps do with Allen & Ginter cards. It's tedious but they've been doing it for so long they aren't going to change.

The bonus card that Gawain generously added in was the mini parallel!

Card Number 714: Topps Allen & Ginter Mini, 2021; #53

Smaller card. Smaller bubblegum bubble effect.

The cardback is just a scaled down version of what appears on the regular card. There are lots of different parallel versions of this card with different cardbacks that sort of replicate cigarette cardbacks of yore (except without any references to cigarettes).

The big news in the baseball card world this week is that Topps are likely to lose their exclusive monopoly to produce cards, with both the Player's Association and MLB signing deals with another company. While I have said for a while that I don't think the monopoly position was particularly helpful to the hobby as it meant Topps weren't being pushed to keep things fresh, I don't think the solution is to have a different company enjoying a monopoly position. 

And the big news in my blogging world this week is that a large selection of cards might be incoming which will keep me posting well past the end of the baseball season and probably into next year! Until then, stay safe everyone and thank you for reading.

Total: 714 cards

Back in black (foil)

Here's my third version of this year's Stadium Club card. Gawain sent it to me and we agreed that Topps are just getting really lazy with their parallels.

Card Number 712: Topps Stadium Club black foil parallel, 2021; #24

The logo and Tony's name are in black foil instead of silver or red.

Even though the back is exactly the same as the two other versions of this card, I scanned it so I could upload it to this blog. I think this means I have made as much effort, possibly more effort, than the set designers employed by Topps. 

It's a nice card, and I am grateful to Gawain for sending me this version of it. But, come on Topps, this is easily the most boring way to produce parallel versions of cards. Maybe spend less time trying to sell glorified jpegs or more unending series of samey cards designed by 'artists' and put a bit of work in on the bread and butter stuff, eh?

SIDENOTE

So, my blogging of cards is slowing up. This is mainly because I don't have a stock of cards waiting to be blogged. Last year I literally had hundreds of scans and could batch write posts and then publish them on a daily schedule. I'm waiting on people getting in touch now or I have to actively go out and find cards. 

And going out and finding cards isn't high on my priorities at the moment if I'm totally honest. In the last few weeks attending live soccer matches has been permitted for the first time since March 2020 and I have jumped on that train. I went to three matches in July, before the season had properly started, and I have already been to four games in August. That's my primary focus at the moment.

I even got offered a card last week that I turned down because, well, it was more than I wanted to pay for a brand new release and I've watched how prices of cards bubble up when a new product line is released, and then a few months later the bubble pops and a £5 card becomes a £1 card, or just gets chucked in a joblot. I literally thought to myself "Will I get £5 worth of joy from this card?" and decided that no, I wouldn't.

I'm not saying I'm bored of baseball cards or blogging. This has been, and continues to be, a really fun project and I still love my collection of Tony Gwynn cards. I'm not over Tony! Not by a long shot. But I recognise that my blogging has been very intermittent over the past couple of months and I just wanted to flag up that it may get worse at least until my need to watch soccer is sated slightly. 

As ever, I just want to say a big thank you to the regular commenters. I do read all the comments and find them very encouraging. Take care of yourselves as the world opens up again!

Still a member of the Club

I don't personally open a lot of new product. Fortunately I know people who do. People like Gawain (Mr Cuban Baseball in the UK) who is my reliable source for brand new Tony Gwynn cards. Today's card arrived last week from the Cuban Museum in Surrey, and as ever, I'm hugely grateful. (I also want to say thanks to Marc who got in touch a few days after this card arrived to say he had a copy if I wanted it. I feel blessed to be on so many people's radar.)

Card Number 705: Topps Stadium Club, 2021; #24

I'm never going to criticise a picture of Tony in a brown Padres uniform. Particularly when it's a photo I haven't seen a whole bunch of times before. The Padres are back in brown now (and the uniforms look lovely), but I wish they would bring that colourway helmet back as well.

Some photo re-use on the back. This is a cropped version of the photo used on the 2020 Topps flagship short print card. 

That third sentence is worth scrutiny. The highest career average of any player in the "Expansion Era", which according to Topps started the year after Tony was born. Why not just say during his lifetime, eh? Basically, there was no better consistent hitter in the 20 years before Tony got drafted, during his 20 year career, or in the 20 years since he retired.

Greg Maddux famously swore about the fact he could never strike Tony out. I didn't realise Tony had a similar record against Pedro Martinez as well. (Although, to be honest, 139 plate appearances against both pitchers combined feels a bit low.)

With stats like this, thought, it's easy to see why Tony still has a place in the Stadium Club. Long may that continue.

Total: 705 cards

Much travelled minis

Back in November (I think), my friend Gawain bought a job lot of cards for me on eBay and sent them to his US shipping address. It was one of those lots that cost pennies in the USA but shipping it over would have cost a fortune in fees. And so they sat in Gawain's mailbox until he had enough stuff there to ship it all to the UK and they arrived last week.

I had actually forgotten all about it until Gawain started sending me photos of the cards.

The cards are mainly oddballs, promo cards and "food issues" - cards that are easy to obtain in America but harder to find over here. Well over half the bundle were new cards to the collection - in fact there were 19 new cards, which feels wonderfully symbolic. That also takes me over another century mark.

I thought I'd start with a couple of odd-sized cards, for fun.

Card Number 686: Topps Major League Leaders, 1987; #35

I am nostalgically fond of the 1987 Topps design with the wooden border, and I'm glad Topps used it on this set of smaller sized cards. The front is very different to Tony's base card in the Topps flagship set because you can actually see his face!

The back looks similar to other Major League Leaders cards. In 1986 Tony had the most hits and tied for the most runs but was only third in batting average.

One other thing I noticed is that the two line stats box has his stats for the previous season and for "life" not "career". I wonder when Topps stopped using "life" in this way.

Card Number 687: Topps Mini, 1989; #36

Another "mini" card - this is listed on Trading Card Database as "Topps UK Mini", but when I blogged about the card from the previous year's set I just called it "Topps Mini".

When I blogged previously about a mini card issued in the UK, I mentioned buying a packet of similar sized NFL cards in a shop while on a school trip in 1986. I didn't realise until much later that Topps had tried to sell baseball cards here in the 1980s as well.

There was a boom in interest in American sports in the 80s - in school we all knew who The Refrigerator was and that he played for the Chicago Bears. I doubt anyone actually watched any NFL. Maybe the Superbowl was on TV back then. If so, it was niche viewing, not the hyped event it is nowadays.

The UK minis rarely appear for sale in the UK Facebook groups. In fact, I have only ever found them for sale 'in the wild' once - at a collector's fair with lots of cigarette card sellers and stamp dealers. If this was sourced in the UK originally, then it has crossed the Atlantic twice!

On the back of this much-travelled card, there is a panel explaining baseball terms - I think these would have been quite helpful for UK consumers back in the 80s.

There is also a cartoon, of a teacher at a blackboard to illustrate the 'school' that Tony part-owned. I think Fuji, who is an educator, might like this!

Total: 687 cards

Modern Monday: my first card from 2021

People have been ripping packs of the new Topps flagship product and I've seen a few Tony Gwynn cards surface in the Facebook groups I frequent. There are 8 different Tony Gwynn cards on the checklist, including a cut signature 1/1 card, which I doubt will ever feature on this blog!

I had an unofficial competition running over who would be first to send me a card from 2021. The winner was Gawain, who has sent me a large proportion of the cards that have featured on this blog. In a serendipitous coincidence, I was on a video call to Gawain when the mail arrived with this card in it!

Card Number 596: Topps 70 Years of Topps, 2021; #70YT-24

Topps have produced this 70-card insert set with a card representing each year, using the template from that year. This is the 1974 template. The set is a mix of current stars and famous retired players. This is a lovely posed photo of Tony from the mid-80s and it's not one that I remember seeing on a Topps release before. 

If I was going to make one complaint about this set, it's that using retired players in anachronistic retired templates irritates me a bit. Tony was in high school in 1974, not the major leagues. 

The cardback explains Topps release schedule in 1974 and names Dave Winfield as the stand-out rookie from that year. Sadly, Dave isn't in this set. It would have made more sense to have him on this card template.

This isn't the first time Topps have released a card with Tony in the 1974 template. They released one last year in the Topps Archives set.

This year's 1974-style card is better!

Total: 596 cards

Tuesday Twins - shiny Allen & Ginter

Like they did with Stadium Club, Topps gave their Allen & Ginter range the Chrome treatment at the extreme end of 2020. And like he did with Stadium Club, my friend Gawain opened a few boxes and along the way found me some Tony Gwynn cards!

These work as 'twins' in two different ways. They are the same as each other and the same designs as the regular Allen & Ginter non-chrome release.

Card Number 571: Topps Allen & Ginter Chrome, 2020; #128

Although this is the same card as the base range, the Chrome effect makes it look a lot more impressive. (Judge for yourself by comparing with the original version I blogged about two months ago.)

The cardback is exactly the same as the regular Allen & Ginter release. As ever, I feel it's a bit pretentious writing out the numbers as words.

As in the regular release, all the base cards were produced as 'mini' versions as well. And one tipped up in Gawain's ripping adventure.

Card Number 572: Topps Allen & Ginter Chrome (Mini), 2020; #128

This also looks a lot more impressive as a Chrome card than the regular release. The picture has been cropped but is exactly the same image as the normal-sized card.

The back is the regular cardback shrunk to fit. However, the version of this I own from the regular release has a parallel "A&G" cardback, so this cardback is different to the one I had previously.

Even though there is nothing particularly new about this release, these are very nice cards, and are an improvement on the normal set. I'm very grateful to Gawain for putting these to one side for me as he was opening the cards. I already owe him several beers and one day, when we are allowed to meet up on the other side of this pandemic, I think I owe him yet another one!

Total: 572 cards

Tuesday Twins - gleaming retro chrome

Back at the end of May I blogged a retro card that Topps had released based on their 1985 template. It looked like this:

Then in June I posted a relic card that looked very similar:

Well, Topps aren't a company that will let any opportunity to cash in on nostalgia pass by. Their Chrome Update Series also used this card template. And, yes, there was a Tony Gwynn card released!

Card Number 524: Topps Chrome Update, 2020; #85-TC34

It's got a mega-shiny front and a different photo!

And a cardback that replicates the awful hard-to-read red and green colouring of the original cards. (Although my wife says it looks Christmassy!)

When I have time to kill, I will have a look on Trading Card Database and see if there are any more of these cards released in Topps' plethora of sets. 

This was yet another card sourced and sent to me by Gawain. I honestly can't thank him enough for his help with this collecting project!

Total: 524 cards

One card only: Price guide in your pocket

I have never seen a copy of Sports Collector's Digest, but Wikipedia reliably informs me that it once had a key role connecting collectors and helping them to buy, sell and trade cards. Like all magazines, the Internet has hit it hard. At it's peak the weekly mag was over 300 pages, but more recent copies have had fewer than 40 pages. It also has its own website with price guides and so on.

But back in the 1990s, SCD also produced their own cards. They weren't licensed (as far as I can tell) and they were produced on rather flimsy card. Billed as 'pocket price guides' they were freebies to promote the magazine.

Card Number 522: Sports Collector's Digest, 1993; #51

The card design is reminiscent of those produced by actual card companies. 

The back is a real mix of biographical data, rookie card prices, and a weird cartoon tied to a factoid. The biographical data has a mistake in it. Long Beach Poly was Tony's high school, not his college.

1993 was at the peak of the first boom of the baseball card collecting hobby and the prices on the card reflect that. Tony's 1983 cards from Donruss and Topps (both of which appear in my second ever blog post) are valued at $25 and $40 respectively. They haven't held their value as I'm pretty sure you could pick them both up for less than that now, 27 years later.

Tony's DonRuss card from 1984 is on my wanted list, but $18 would be well over market value now, and I don't think his Fleer card from 1984 would realise $12. If my cards were mint and still worth these values I would have $77 worth of cards sat in my binders. My cards are in good shape but the values aren't.

This card didn't cost me much either. It was an add-in on a purchase from my main card supplier, Gawain. It feels nicely ironic that it is still changing hands as a freebie bonus.

Total:522 cards

Tuesday Twins - a green parallel retro

My main supplier of Tony Gwynn cards, Gawain, managed to squeeze a parcel to me just before the "Fire Break" lockdown began here in Wales. Along with some other cards I didn't have, Gawain included a parallel which is one of today's Tuesday Twins.

This is the card it's a twin of, which I blogged about back in September. It's the DonRuss retro card released in 2018.

Card Number 440: DonRuss (Green Parallel), 2018; #258

These foil-edged parallel cards were exclusive to blaster boxes with five green parallels per box (on average).

While the green foil edging is nice and shiny, unfortunately that makes the edges curl slightly, which makes the back harder to line up on the scanner. This is my excuse for the shamefully wonky scan of the cardback!

Last time I wrote about this cardback I commented on the term "Professional Batting Totals" and ignored the summary paragraph. One of the good things about parallels is revisiting cards and looking at them afresh. I hadn't clocked the description for my side-project of  'different ways Tony is described on cardbacks'. "As steady as the San Diego climate" is going on that list!

Total cards: 440

Saturday shout out - cheers, Gawain!

Over the past couple of months I've bought a few cards from Gawain who I met through one of the UK Facebook groups. Gawain is a keen collector of Cuban baseball. I say keen collector, it's a bit more than that, as this video makes clear.

Gawain knows I collect Tony Gwynn baseball cards and a while back he told me he had asked one of his contacts in America to send some Gwynn cards over. Two weeks ago he sent me this photo.

The tall stack at the back was all Tony Gwynn cards.

We had a chat about sorting through them, and that resulted in him emailing me scans and us discussing the cards on a couple of Zoom calls, until eventually Gawain took the executive decision to just send them all to me for me to look through and return any I don't want.

He timed this well as I've taken this week off work so I've had plenty of time to really look closely through them. I'm glad he sent them to me because there are some cards with variations that are only spottable when you have the cards in hand. I kept finding new minor ways that card companies altered their cards. (And I'm starting to really despise some card companies!)

The result is I have now acquired a load of new cards.

Several evenings of scanning await me. Several blog posts await you, dear readers.

Gawain also took great pleasure in sending me another copy of the Upper Deck "push out" bobblehead that I posted about in a Monday Mixer a couple of weeks ago. The card looks like this:

Gawain wanted me to use the second card for its intended purpose. So I did. When you push it out, the bobblehead looks like this:

As Fuji said, back on the Monday Mixer post, Tony really has his game face on! He's now glowering over my desk space where I am sure he will inspire me when I go back to work next week.

He also needs a bat. I'm going to have to fashion one for him.

As I mentioned, I have a lot of scanning to do, but I wanted to show at least one card in this post from the haul that Gawain sent me, and I've chosen this one because, well, it kind of stood out from the herd when I went through them.

Card Number 132: Upper Deck Ionix, 1999; #R84
Nothing says 90s than the words "Techno, techno, techno"

In terms of design, there are two photos on the front, blotchy patterns, foil bits, the word techno repeated all over it with a 3 instead of an e, and so on.

It was also flipping hard to track down on Trading Card Database! For some reason the Techno themed cards have an R in front of the number, which means they have the same numbers as the "Reciprocal" parallel set. It was very confusing.

That's the Late Nineties Weird Card Challenge. If you can find the bloody thing, then you can add it to your list!

The back has a lot of information on it, and another photo.

They also use Tony's roster number as a design element, just to add even more confusion. I picked it up and thought, "Oh, great, they gave him card number 19!" But that wasn't the card number despite being the most obvious number on the cardback.

This whole palaver bodes well for sorting the rest of the cards. It will keep me out of mischief for a good while, and I'm sure a lot of people will be thanking Gawain for that! But they probably won't be as grateful as I am for the huge haul of cards.

[In terms of blog milestones, this is my 50th blog post. Happy half century to me!]

Total: 132/394