Tuesday Twins - some cards we've seen before

As is customary for Tuesdays, here are some "twins" - cards that look a lot like other cards in the collection.

Let's start off with a card where Topps made the kind of mistakes the market-leading brand shouldn't be making.

Card Number 986: Topps Update, 2016; #3000H-12

Previously seen as the shiny Chrome version.

When I blogged about the Chrome version of this card I noted there were two mistakes on this cardback. See if you can spot them (or remember them!) - check your answers here.

Card Number 987: Topps Chrome, 1999; #LD12

I have no idea why Topps would bother reproducing shiny inserts in their Chrome sets, but back in the late 90s they did.

I scanned the front on a black background, which really shows up the pointy die-cut at the top of this card.

But I scanned the back on a white background because I used the flatbed for the back.

As noted when I blogged the vanilla flagship version of this card, the copyright year says 1998, but this was released in 1999.

There is another version of this card as well - Topps put refractors in their Chrome sets so maybe one day this twin will turn into a triplet. 

Card number 988: Topps, 1997; #SB-1

Another shiny insert card previously seen as an unnecessary Chrome version.

Compared to the front, the back is under-stated. The photo is another example of Topps excelling at logoless cards despite being fully licensed. 

There isn't much more to add about this selection of twins, except to point out how chroming some cards is pointless when they are already super-shiny foil. 

Total: 988 cards

Tuesday Twins - 90s chrome

Rather than blogging two cards that look the same today, I'm going to blog the chrome versions of cards that have been on before.

Card Number 803: Topps Chrome, 1996; #97

I used the overhead scanner on this as Chrome cards don't come out very well on my flatbed scanner. The way the light caught it means the frame seems to fade away. But at least you can see Tony. Although, as I said when I blogged the ordinary version of this card, this is probably one of the worst cards of Tony produced by Topps in the 90s. I dislike the distorted cameo portrait along the bottom and it looks no better in shiny chrome.

The cardback has a different number but is otherwise the same as the normal cards. There were only 165 cards from the flagship set given the chrome treatment in 1996.

Card Number 804: Topps Chrome. 1997; #145

This is actually the fourth version of this card I now have in the collection. The other three were blogged as a trio last year. Again, the overhead scan has affected the shiny silver border.

Tony made the cut again in this 165-card set. Topps haven't always shown such restraint - some years they have chromatised the entire set!

As cardbacks go, it's not very exciting. The stats box is so big there is barely any room for a factoid.

Total: 804 cards

Tuesday Twins - let's do it all again in Chrome

I thought that Topps only recently started reissuing chrome versions of all their sets. Turns out they have been doing it for longer than I thought. Actually, from shortly after they patented the chromatising technique.

Card Number 656: Topps Chrome Milestones, 1998; #MS6

This is the Chrome version of a card I blogged about back in February. This is actually less shiny than that card, because the regular version was printed on foilboard.

Here's a top tip for everyone. When this card arrived, the front was filthy. Like, really grimy with dust particles stuck to it. My wife Cathy suggested I use some glasses cleaner on it, so I sprayed some of the solution onto the soft glasses cloth and gently wiped the surface of the card. It lifted the dirt clean off and restored the card to a nice sheen. 

The back didn't need cleaning. Tony appears to be gritting his teeth in the photo.

Finding out this card was a Chrome version was a bit of a bonus, because it wasn't that obvious on the scan on eBay. It's always nice when a card I had discounted as a dupe turns out to be a new addition to the collection. 

Card Number 657: Topps Stadium Club Chrome, 2000; #137

This was issued as a standalone set in 2000 instead of chrome parallel cards being included in the regular release of Stadium Club. This was also the last standalone Stadium Club Chrome release until the 2020 release last year - which also featured a Tony Gwynn card!

The front is the same picture as the regular Stadium Club card.

The back almost indistinguishable from the regular release. It doesn't even have the Chrom logo on there. The card stock is a bit different and that's it.

In one sense adding parallels to the collection is a bit dull. But Chrome cards are probably the shiniest dull cards to add.

Total: 657 cards

Chromatised Numbers Game

Topps seems to have got into the habit of re-releasing every single range as a "Chrome" version. I already had the 'Numbers Game' insert from Topps Update 2020 and through the UK collectors group on Facebook, I have now got the Chrome version as well. A big thank you to Wilhelm for sending me this.

Card Number 620: Topps Chrome Update Numbers Game insert, 2020; #NGC-15

The blue shine on this is due to how it scanned. The bottom right corner was orange on the non-Chrome release. 

The back is the same as the non-Chrome release except that the title and the square with the number in are both yellow on this release.

Back in December, when I reviewed the regular version of this card, I said it feels like a missed opportunity that Topps didn't align the card numbering with the retired numbers they were celebrating. 

Also, as Fuji pointed out in the comments last time, for a card celebrating a player's number, why don't they show the number on his uniform? This is one of those rare occasions where Topps used a photo that showed Tony's face. Topps have used so many photos of Tony's back in the past, and then on this card where that would make sense, they choose not to.

Still, it's a nice shiny card. Wilhelm also included a bonus card in the envelope, which I will blog tomorrow!

Total: 620 cards

Modern Monday - silver pack chrome

Today's card arrived in all its shiny glory hard on the heels of my first Tony Gwynn card from 2021. It came from Jeff in one of the UK collectors groups on Facebook. 

Card Number 605: Topps Silver Pack Chrome, 2021; #86BC-77

These chrome cards are included in the "Silver packs" inserted as bonuses in hobby boxes of Topps Series 1. It has a different picture of Tony than the regular 35th anniversary retro cards that make up a large insert set in the flagship Series 1 set. 

The scanner really activated the refractor card. I haven't done an overhead scan, but I did take a photo to pop on Instagram, so here's that for comparison (complete with a bit of my thumb):

There are 100 cards in both the insert set and the chrome cards from the silver packs. I've seen a lot of love for these cards in the collectors groups but it's not a template I've ever been particularly fond of. Of course, I own the original 1986 card, and I have an Archives card from 2014 that also uses this template so it isn't new to me. 

The cardback is pretty dull. It manages to be both a big stats box and an incomplete record. 

This is bizarre to me. If you are going to just have a massive stats box, why would you not have all 19 seasons on there? But the thing that annoys me the most about this is they start from 1988. It's a 1986 style card. Tony was playing in 1986. Couldn't they have squeezed 1986 on there? It just feels like a silly missed opportunity.

However, this is a very nice refractor card and it means I have a quarter of the checklist of Tony Gwynn cards from Series 1 already. I would like to add the other retro card and I will be keeping my eyes peeled for it.

Total: 605 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

Modern Monday - Stadium Club Chrome

Tony was card #160 in the Topps Stadium Club release in 2020, and Chrome parallels were included in that set. However, Topps also released an entire set of Stadium Club Chrome at the end of the year. My friend Gawain "busted some product" and it's my good fortune that he found Tony's card in his box.

Card Number 570: Topps Stadium Club Chrome, 2020; #160

This is a different picture than the one used in the regular Stadium Club release (as blogged back in October 2020). It's a picture from earlier in Tony's career. The pinstripes and brown jacket and helmet date this to between 1985 and 1991. I would estimate it being from about 1986-7, based on Tony's moustache.

Apart from a blue tint to the background, the cardback is exactly the same as the regular Stadium Club set.

I've read different opinions of Topps's release of Chrome versions of their sets. Some collectors see it as a 'cash grab', although that could be applied to just about every Topps release. If they didn't think it would make money then they wouldn't release any sets. To me, their use of a different photo, and using one which I personally haven't seen used in other sets recently, makes this much more than just a chromatised reissue. 

Total: 570 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

Adventures in Chrome

Topps like their "Chrome" cards - and if you want to know how they make them, then check out this blog post from the Society for American Baseball Research about the patents for chrome cards. The chroming technique is also used for Topps Finest cards. Topps release Chrome versions of their sets every year now, but today's post features a few older cards.

Chrome cards are lovely to look at but they don't like scanners, and the cards tend to warp and curl, making it hard to line them up straight on the scanner as well. A double whammy of scanning problems.

Card Number 519: Bowman Chrome, 1999; #264

Topps have owned the Bowman brand since 1956, and have issued Bowman cards since 1989.

The cardback features two photos of Tony - a "now" and a "then". The "now" photo was re-used in the Topps flagship set in 2000 for the "Memorable Moments" overprinted cards that I blogged about in June.

The "then" photo is from 1984. It looks familiar but I can't place it on another card.

There is a resume on the back and a description to go into my big file of descriptions - "baseball's best pure stroker since Ted Williams". I don't think Tony would have agreed that he was a tinkerer with his swing. In Tony Gwynn's Total Baseball Player he made it very clear that he tried to swing at every ball in exactly the same way.

Card Number 520: Topps Chrome (Season's Best insert), 1997; #SB1

At last a shiny card that scans well!

There are some impressive numbers on the back, including his sequence of three seasons with a batting average over .350, which hadn't been achieved for just over 70 years!

I like the way the baseball stitching is peeping around the photo on the back there.

Card Number 521: Topps Finest, 2000; #68

As the cards are made using the same process I am adding in this Finest card to make this a trio of chromed cards. It also has baseball stitching integral to the design.

The back is very blue, which matches the uniform Tony is wearing in the picture.

Tony's "Finest Feature" is his offensive consistency, according to Topps. The card also mentions his 3000th hit in the preceding season and his 17th season batting over .300. 

This card also lists Tony's weight as 200lbs, which is also the weight given on the Bowman Chrome card from 1999. This is down by 15lbs from the 1997 card. I highly doubt the accuracy of any of these recorded weights, although I read in He Left His Heart in San Diego that he was trying to reduce his weight in the last couple of seasons that he played to reduce the pressure on his chronic knee injury. So maybe Topps were printing accurate information for once.

Total: 521 cards

The case of the missing base card

I have some gaps in the base card section of my collection. These are spaces that it would be very easy to fill if I lived somewhere with card shops and card fairs, like the ones I read about on other collector's blogs. I have to settle for being patient, knowing those cards will turn up some day.

Meanwhile I stumble across parallels and alternative versions of those missing base cards which accentuate the gap in my collection by sitting 'either side' of an empty pocket in my folder. Oh, well.

Card Number 347: Topps Opening Day, 2001; #70

This card is from Tony's final season before he retired.

True to form, Topps have managed to find a photo where you can barely see his face, or the number or name on his uniform. It's from the era when Topps released their Opening Day cards with a different border and put a big foil stamp on it too. 

The back is a huge stats box over a watermark of some of the photo on the front.

The regular flagship cards that year had a green border. This was only four years after they released the 1997 set with its green borders. I don't have the regular base card - that's the whole point of this post - but I do have the Chrome card.

Card Number 348: Topps Chrome, 2001; #168

The Chrome effect makes Tony look a bit 3D. In this version he is flinging that bat away!

The back is the same lay-out as the Opening Day card, and presumably the regular card as well.

When I do fill the gap, it will be satisfying, even if it won't be hugely exciting because I already know what the card will look like!

Total: 348/394

Modern Monday - Where's Tony?

I was trawling across eBay a couple of weeks ago and ran a search for Padres Baseball Cards. I noticed a small lot of nine cards for sale, all modern stuff, but something must have pinged my "Tony Radar" because I took a second look. I've saved the photo from the listing. Can you see what I saw?

Obviously one of the first things you see is the luxuriant backdrop. I can't decide if it's a fluffy cushion or shag carpeting. Neither of which I would really recommend as a surface for photographing cards, but it's not reflective, I suppose.

Anyway on the right hand edge, which I'm sure you will have seen, there's Tony peeping around the corner of another card. 

I didn't recognise it. Turns out it was an insert card from the Topps Update series in 2019, and, in fact it was the Chrome version. 

Card Number 344: Topps Chrome Update, 2019; FBC-16

As it's a Chrome card, it's shiny! It's also a bit unusual because it shows "young Tony" from the 80s. Most recent cards seem to be using pictures of Tony towards the end of his career - for example, the recent(ish) DonRuss cards I posted last week or these cards from Topps issued this year. It's a good choice of photo. 

On the back it explains why Tony qualified for an insert card about "The Family Business", talking about how his brother and son also played Major League baseball.

That would be quite a fun baseball trivia question. What have the Padres had 3 of, the Dodgers had 2 of and the Royals and Brewers had one each of? The answer would be "Members of the Gwynn family playing for them!"

This card has also taught me a useful lesson - take the time to have a good look at photos in eBay listings!

Total: 344/394 (Fifty cards to my target!)

Another Topps Tuesday Triple

It's not that long since I blogged about Topps confusing me by reusing their 1997 template in later years. Today's trio of cards were all released in the same year - 1999 - and are effectively the same card delivered in three different sets.

Before I start though, here's a bit of personal card collecting history. I recently found a spreadsheet of my Padres cards that I'd last updated in 2008. It was lurking in an old email folder. Looking at it was quite amusing because back then I only had 16 Tony Gwynn cards. Two of those cards are in today's post!

Card Number 294: Topps Opening Day, 1999; #43

There was a time when Topps would differentiate their Opening Day set with different coloured borders and a foil stamp, unlike more recent times when they just photoshop an Opening Day logo onto the base card and say "That'll do." 

There isn't really much to be said about this card. As photos go, it's okay. 

The stats box on the back is huge. The photo is a more unusual pose and therefore more interesting than the one on the front.

Card Number 295: Topps, 1999; #75

The base card has a gold border instead of silver.

The back has a gold border too. The set number has changed as well. But everything else stayed the same.

Card Number 296: Topps Chrome, 1999; #75

Topps Chrome is one of those card ranges that exist solely for the people who really love shiny cards. Like all shiny cards, they don't scan very well on my scanner. 

The chromatic effect makes Tony appear 3-D.

The cardback is the same as the base card, except the Topps logo has been changed to the Topps Chrome logo. 

That's today's triple. I like having these cards together in a row in my Topps binder as they progress from silver to gold to shiny!

Total: 296/394 (less than 100 to target!)

Fact-check Friday

Yesterday marked the 21st anniversary of Tony Gwynn's 3000th hit. Yesterday. Here are a couple of cards that got the details wrong.

Card Number 248: Fleer Impact, 2000; #MF35

Remember Fleer Impact? It was a one season card range with low production values. The MF numbering refers to players they regarded as Mighty Fine in '99. Rhyming insert sets are fine by me, and I'm relieved that's what they were referring to when they used the initials MF.

In fairness, it's a good looking card.

But see if you can see the problem on the back. (Hint: they got distracted by nines!)

Yes, they got the date wrong. Tony made his 3000th hit on the 6th August, not the 9th August. 

It's a real shame, because this is otherwise a mighty fine card. 

Sidebar: Back in the 80s I used to go with my Dad to watch Shrewsbury Town FC play in the old Second Division of the Football League. (That's the highest level Shrewsbury have ever played.) In the 1985-6 season there was an advertising hoarding opposite where we sat for a road safety campaign that said 'Stay Alive in '85!' In the January, they updated the sign to read, 'Stay Alive in '86!' Even at the age of 10 that jarred with me. I have every reason to suspect that if Fleer Impact had lasted more than one season we would have seen cards saying 'Mighty Fine in '00' the next year!

Fleer were only three days out and their card only had the one mistake. Unlike the next card in this post...

Card Number 249: Topps Update Chrome, 2016; #3000C-12

This is a really lovely card to look at. It's super-shiny and it scans incredibly well!

Tony is in the 3000 Hits Club. When did he join this elite group? Let's have a look...

Topps must have been fact-checking their dates against their collection of Fleer Impact insert cards because they got the date wrong too! They also moved his poor mom back a generation and called her his grandma. That's two strikes, Topps!

Neither of these factual errors were recorded on the Trading Card Database, but they have been noted on there now!

Total: 249/394