One Card Only - Called to the hall

Day 2 of Treble-F, the Fabulous Fleer Fortnight. After yesterday's mega-post, there's just the one card today.

Card Number 925: Fleer Ultra Call to the Hall insert, 1996; #3

All ten cards in this insert series feature portraits painted by "J. Forman". According to BaseballCardPedia, Fleer gave away the original pieces of artwork as prizes in a competition.

I can't track down any reference to who J. Forman is. I am certain he is neither of the artists I found called J. Forman as one was active in the 19th century, and the other died in 1969. On an entertaining blog post by the Junior Junkie, I found a lot of detail about the Fleer Ultra set from 1996 but no details of the artist. The Junior Junkie singles out Tony's card from this insert set and issues a dire warning:

"...if you ever come across the Tony Gwynn from this set, do not look directly at it. Promise me!!"

Is it really that bad? Well, maybe.

On the back, Fleer give their reasons why they think Tony should be admitted to the Hall of Fame. There is an unusal name dropped into their write-up - Joe Medwick. That wasn't a name I was familiar with even though he is in the Hall of Fame. Apparently, one of his nicknames was 'Ducky'. 

Joe is yet another record-setter from baseball's past that Tony got compared with. These comparisons happened a lot because Tony matched or broke records that were established before World War II. Often you have to go back to the 1930s to find players with better records than he achieved. 

Total: 925 cards

Modern Monday - shiny Donruss

Card number 837: DonRuss "Tony Gwynn Tribute", 2015; #2

I've already blogged about four fifths of this shiny little insert set. The fifth and final shiny card is about Tony's induction in the Hall of Fame.

This is the first of these cards that I have scanned using the overhead scanner, which properly captures it's sheer shininess!

If you've ever watched the video of Tony getting the call to say he was in the Hall of Fame, you can see how much it meant to him, and how nervous he was. According to He Left His Heart in San Diego, Tony thought he might not have done enough in his career to get elected. He is quite obviously overcome by emotion when he actually takes the call.

Card Number 838: DonRuss Optic, 2017; #164

'Optic' is the Panini-era DonRuss version of Chrome. Although this comes as a standalone set, it's basically the same cards as the regular DonRuss set with a shiny coating. 

There is also an Optic logo on the front and a different card number on the back. They chose an interesting vignette from Tony's career for the factoid. 

Tony had a good season in 1994. In addition to his post-war record batting average, he also nabbed the winning run in the All-Star Game. It was the first time the National League won the game after six defeats on a row. You can watch Tony's game-winning slide on YouTube - it starts at 4 minutes, 52 seconds on this video!

Panini get a bit of stick for their unlicensed baseball cards issued under various 'zombie brands', but their cards are a decent level of quality and their attention to detail in terms of factoids is very good as well. It's nice to read about something a bit different on a cardback!

Total: 838 cards

Hall of Famer - 14 years early

In 2007 Tony Gwynn was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in the first year he was eligible for the ballot. However, two card companies made an early case for his election, fourteen years previously.

Card Number 734: Leaf Heading for the Hall insert, 1993; #2

I really like the logo for this insert series with the little road heading towards a line drawing of the Hall of Fame. There are some sparkles under his name as well. 

The back is outstanding. Leaf had fantastic cardbacks in their 1993 set and this insert series is no different. The combination of the picture of the National Baseball Museum that houses the Hall of Fame, a map of the area and a mocked up plaque shows some exceptional care from the designers.

Here's what the actual plaque looks like, of course!

On that map you can see Lake Otsuga. Nobody ever really mentions Lake Otsuga when they talk about Cooperstown. This is a photo of it that is also my desktop background so I see it every time I write blog posts!

My wife Cathy and I spent two nights in Cooperstown on our road trip in 2016. I would happily say that the day in Museum and Hall of Fame was one of the best days of my life so far. It probably makes the top 3! 

There was an exhibit in the museum about the player's strike in 1994 that cut the season short. That was the season when Tony was tantalisingly close to breaking .400. (Which is why this blog is called .394!)  That exhibit has one of Tony's shirts from the 1994 season in it.

I also met another very famous celebrity from San Diego!

Anyway,. that's enough about the wonderful experience of going to the National Museum and Hall of Fame. Let's get back to baseball cards. Pinnacle were also considering future contenders for Cooperstown back in 1993...

Card Number 735: Pinnacle Cooperstown Card insert, 1993; #20

One day I am going to count up how many cards I have of Tony in this pose, preparing to sprint to first base, with his discarded bat disappearing off the edge of the card.

There's no map on the back, just another photo in his familiar anticipatory batting stance. 

Pinnacle felt Tony was "well on his way to Cooperstown". He added another four batting titles before he finally got there. 

It feels like both these card companies recognised Tony's greatness well before he retired and was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame. That is a genuine indication of his ability and attitude at the height of his career.

Total: 735 cards 

Hit Machine 3000 part deux

At the very start of September I blogged about receiving some cards in a giveaway from Jeff at Wax Pack Wonders. It included a numbered card from an insert series that Pacific released to celebrate Tony achieving his 3000th hit in the game.

I recently watched Tony's speech from his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and he talked about how when he scored his 2000th hit his former team-mate Jerald Clark was on first base for their opponents, the Colorado Rockies. He said he remembered saying to Jerald, "I need to get another thousand hits." Six years to the day later, he snagged his 3000th.

The Pacific insert series was called Hit Machine 3000, which is such a turn-of-the-Millennium phrase it's almost comical. 

I said in my blog-post about Jeff's generosity that "It might not be easy tracking any more of these down." Then, strangely, two cards appeared from that set on eBay from a UK-based seller. I thought they were a bit over-priced at first and I watched them as they cycled through their first auction period. They got relisted at a slightly lower price and I rewatched them again. Then, 24 hours before the auction ended the seller made an offer to everyone watching, and I decided to buy them. 

Card Number 454: Pacific Omega Hit Machine 3000, 1999; #8

Pacific declared Tony an American Hero on this card. The picture would be slightly over the top, without the fireworks!

This is card number 482 in the 3000 print run. Perhaps I should have kept this for a few blog posts' time and it could have been card number 482 on this blog too!

The back shows Tony in a more natural pose - one of the back rooms in the stadium. There aren't many 'behind the scenes' photos on baseball cards. 

Card Number 455: Pacific Omega Hit Machine 3000, 1999; #9

On the 9th card in the insert series, Tony was described as a 'Fan Favorite'.

Although it a posed photo like the previous card, Tony looks much happier here than he looked when he was draped in the American flag. This card is numbered 681 / 3000.

On the back we have a photo of him signing autographs. One of my favourite kinds of photos of Tony 'in action'.

On the back it mentions Tony's humanitarian award in 1995 and also his charitable foundation. There is a moment in his Hall of Fame speech when he mentions the community service team at the Padres and just says, "We've done a lot of good work, haven't we?" That outward focus and care for others is part of Tony's lasting legacy.

Total: 455 cards.

One Card Only: Sharing the Spotlight with Cal

Today I'm mashing up two post themes - my regular Sunday "one card only" theme, and my occasional "sharing the spotlight" theme where I show cards that Tony shares with another player.

The baseball great sharing this card with Tony needs no introduction. He is a legend in his own right and was inducted to the Hall of Fame with Tony in the same year this card was released. Like Tony he played throughout the 80s and 90s for the same team, in his case the Baltimore Orioles, and he entered the Hall in his first year of eligibility. 

He is, of course, Cal Ripken Jr.

This is one of those rare cards that I will just leave to speak for itself. If I had one comment it would be that Upper Deck knew how to make really nice cards. The baseball card hobby lost out when Upper Deck lost their licensing.

Card Number 391: Upper Deck Masterpieces, 2007; #42

Total: 391/394

Vive le Revolution

A couple of revolutionary cards from Pacific today.

Card Number 192: Pacific Revolution, 1999; #120
Revolution was a premium card range from Pacific. Knowing how Pacific liked to splash foil and fancy stuff on their base cards, you'd expect epic shininess in their premium range.

And you would be right.

Tony looks like he is exploding superhero-style off the card. If someone ever draws a biographical graphic novel of Tony, this is a panel for it.

The card back is less remarkable.

In his later career it was hard to create a card with a full stats box that looked halfway interesting, but Pacific tried at least. The photo is a posed shot - no complaints about that! Also, it's helpful that Pacific put the name of the range on the front and the back and include the year in the range logo. It makes it easy for collectors to know what they are holding.

Card Number 193: Pacific Revolution, 2000 (On Deck insert); #17
This is from a 20-card insert series called 'On Deck' in the Revolution set for 2000. It has a die-cut curve along the bottom, which makes it look like Tony is a collectible action figure.

The "grass" in the background is quite strange.

Given how this card is a total photoshop effort, why didn't they 'shop out the letters behind Tony in the photo on the back? (That's one for the 'Questions to ask baseball card designers' box.)

There's a little write up summarising Tony's long career in terms of awards and All Star selections. It also compares him with Cal Ripken Jr, another record-setting veteran. Tony and Cal were the two inductees to the Hall of Fame in 2007, so it's funny to see them grouped together here seven years before they were both given plaques in the Hall.

Total: 193/394

The Hall of Fame - and the Panini Card Company's loophole

I've decided to mix it up as my first run of posts have all been about Topps cards. Today I'm going to show some much more recent cards that have been released by Panini, in conjunction with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

An ulterior motive for doing this is so that I can include this photo from outside the Hall of Fame when I visited Cooperstown in 2016.

I've blogged about visiting the Hall on my personal blog, but there are a couple of appropriate photos to include here.

I remember feeling quite emotional when I saw Tony's plaque in the Hall.

Tony was elected to the Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible, five years after he retired. He shared his induction with one other player, Cal Ripken Jr, with a record-breaking crowd of fans turning up to witness it.  The Padres posted a video last year of Tony getting the call from the head of the Museum in 2007 to welcome him to the Hall of Fame, and he is overcome with emotion. According to Tony's university team-mate, and longtime friend, Steve Sayles, Tony didn't think he would be a "first ballot selection"*.

Anyway, some baseball cards. Understanding the cards in this post means understanding a bit about licensing properties in modern card manufacture. Basically, Topps has an exclusive licence with Major League Baseball (MLB), so they are the only card manufacturer who can use the team logos and names. Panini's modern cards (which includes long-established brands like DonRuss, Score, Leaf and Pinnacle) are licensed from the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) so they show the player and usually give the city name, which isn't copyrighted. This works for San Diego or Boston, but isn't ideal for New York or Chicago where there are two baseball clubs.

Panini also airbrush the team names and logos off the players' shirts, helmets, caps and so on so they aren't infringing any copyright held by MLB. Some collectors don't value "no logo" / "logoless" cards as much, but sometimes the cards can be a bit creative.

Before Panini secured an agreement with the MLBPA they wanted to produce baseball cards. They found a licensing loophole and signed a contract with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and so could produce cards related to inductees in the Hall of Fame, which is where these cards come from. I don't know if the photos are from the Hall of Fame's massive images collection. If they were, this makes Panini's move even smarter.

Card Number 13: Panini Cooperstown Collection 2012, #110

I actually really like this card. I think the front design is aesthetically pleasing, while the back has a nice write up. I appreciate the description of Tony as a "baseball scientist". Although I query the use of the word "torrid" to describe his career batting average, and I'm not sure why they profiled his 1997 figures. But overall this is a solid card for a "no logo" print run.

Card Number 14: Panini Diamond Kings 2018, #P8

This is a much more recent card, from the 'Portraits' insert series in their 'Diamond Kings' product. 'Inserts' are special cards included in packs, usually at the rate of 1 or 2 per pack. There were only 15 'Portraits' produced in the series, all of players with similarly legendary status.

The card itself looks like a reproduction of an actual painting. The only slightly odd thing is the repetition of the portrait in the design on the back. By 2018, Panini had a contract with thd MLBPA, but this card carries the Hall of Fame logo on the back.

Card Number 15: Panini Diamond Kings 2018, #GS15

Another insert series in the same product - Panini Diamond Kings. This time it's the 'Gallery of Stars' and another attractive card where the image is repeated on the back. There were 18 cards in this insert series.

And finally in this post, the first in a small series I call "When is a Tony Gwynn card not really a Tony Gwynn card?"

Card Number 16: Panini Cooperstown Collection 2013, #7

That's right, when it's a card featuring his footwear and nothing else. The reverse of the card has a blurred photo of the Museum and Hall of Fame, which you may recognise from my photo at the top of the post.

In the grand tradition of odd factoids on the back of baseball cards, this one tells you all about Tony's basketball stats when he was playing for the Aztecs, the San Diego State University team, before a throwaway comment about swapping to baseball. There's also a nice bit about the Museum itself, including that it houses nearly 40,000 "three-dimensional items" by which I think it means things like game-used running spikes.

So, that was Panini's loophole for publishing cards when they didn't have a license. It provides a bit of variety in the collection at least.

Total: 16/394

*reference: He Left His Heart in San Diego, p.80