The Dawn of the Chrome Age

1993 - the year Topps started making "chrome" cards. Except they weren't called Chrome, they were called Finest...

Card 989: Topps Baseball's Finest, 1993; #77

There were 199 cards in this groundbreaking set from Topps as they aimed for the "super-premium market" (in the words of BaseballCardPedia). Topps announced a limited print run of 4,000 for the entire 'Finest' set - apparently the first time a card publisher had annonced production figures. [EDIT - I got this wrong, thanks to Fuji for pointing it out in the comments!]

The cards are super shiny and glow under my overhead scanner.  

The back is less remarkable. Topps clearly couldn't be bothered about making the backs looks like a premium product. It does have a photo, although Tony has a "Sure, Jan" expression on his face as he strokes his chin.

Sometimes, looking at these evolutionary stages of baseball card design makes me think how things could have turned out differently. If this product had bombed, instead of being jumped on by eager collectors with magpie instincts, Topps might have written off the chroming process as an expensive mistake. That would have curbed their urge to produce 'chrome' versions of everything in sight in later years.

But Finest was a massive hit when it was released and from then on up to the present day hordes of collectors swoop on shiny cards every time they are released!

Total: 989 cards

Topps in Y2K x 4

The sheer volume of cards being produced at the turn of the Millennium means there are loads of cards in my collection from the year 2000. Here are some from Topps.

Card Number 876: Topps Opening Day, 2000; #2

I know I could have waited and put this in a 'Tuesday Twins' post, but hey, it's in this post instead. 

The Opening Day set had a silver border around it and the foil stamp saying opening day. I wish Topps would go back to foil stamps instead of photoshopping in Opening Day logos. 

This card has the same number as the regular flagship set, which doesn't always happen with Opening Day sets.

The back is uninspiring.

From a cheapie parallel set to something a bit odder.

Card Number 877: Topps Finest Moments refractor, 2000; #FM3

There were only 4 "moments" commemorated in the Topps Finest set in 2000. Chipper Jones winning the 1999 National league MVP, Ivan Rodriguez winning the American League MVP, Wade Boggs recording his 3000th hit, and Tony recording his 3000th hit. In a freaky alignment of events, Tony hit his 3000th hit the day before Wade hit his. Two 3000th hits on consecutive days! 

The back talks about Tony's 3000th hit and notes that it was just one of four hits for him in that game. 

Also, a bonus point for Topps actually putting the word 'refractor' on the back under the set number. That's the handy information that often gets left off cards. 

Card Number 878: Topps Gallery, 2000; #118

Tony had another card in the Gallery in 2000, as well as this card in the "Masters of the Game" subset. (The other card is blogged here.)

Topps used a similar photo on their Magic Moments cards in the flagship set from 2000.

The back has a confusing array of fonts and, frankly, looks a bit of a mess.

Reading the question on the back, it was kind of easy to guess the answer. Of course it would be A. Any kind of question where one of the options is a ridiculously low number of strike outs in a season, the number of strike outs is always lower than the other thing it's being compared with. Always.

Card Number 879: Topps Stars, 2000; #60

I have worked with a number of graphic designers in my career and I feel I am able to interpret the intentions of designers fairly well, even when they don't work out. I think the idea here is that the player is illuminated by searchlights, like a film star would be, and that is casting the player's shadow. It doesn't quite work because Tony is running a base path and there is a person in the background in the photo, but Topps have never let the results interfere with their vision. If the card ends up looking like there is some kind of interdimensional rip in space-time going on, then, well, print it anyway.

Having said all that, I quite like Topps Stars. On the back we get a batting donut picture, again. That's been a recurring theme this week! Weirdly Fuji lists the other Tony Gwynn card from this set in his list of cards featuring batting donuts. So, again, that's two cards from the same set with a picture that includes a batting donut - as was the case a few days back!

I blogged the other card that Tony had in Topps Stars in 2000 back in September.

And that's it for Topps cards from 2000... for now!

Total: 879 cards

Sweet Little Mystery (...Finest)

This blog has really opened my eyes to how weird the 90s was as a decade. Baseball cards started out as cheap things on brown cardboard that came with gum and by the end of the decade some of them were CD-Roms. We talk about the pace of change now, but the 90s was the decade when the pace accelerated. In a way, change itself changed.

Looking back on the mid-90s now puts me in the curious position of knowing I lived through it but also feeling like it's an utterly alien decade. It doesn't help when trying to track down a baseball card that becomes symbolic of how complicated things got in the 90s. 

Card Number 608: Topps Mystery Finest, 1998; #M9

"Topps Finest, you say. Why, that should be cinch to find on Trading Card Database."

Narrator: It was not easy to find on Trading Card Database.

The Mystery Finest cards were inserts in the Topps flagship set. There were a few different types. This is from the 20-card set labelled 'Borderless' on TCDb.

It's a very foiley card and it doesn't scan very well on the flatbed.

The overhead scan was much brighter. The baseball in the background was a recurring motif on Finest cards in the 90s.

Oh, on the back there's a clue to the card's set, as it says 'Mystery Finest'. Of course, that only helps if you know that Mystery Finest was different to regular Finest, which I didn't.

Bonus point for a cardback that reminds me of something I had forgotten - Tony left it late in his career to record his first (actually, his only) season batting in more than 100 runs. (This factoid also appeared on his Fleer Ultra card from 1998, but I'd forgotten it until I read it again here.)

Total: 608 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

2001: A Card Odyssey

Today's blog post has a hackneyed title. Sorry. Anyway, some cards today from 2001 for our little odyssey where I will point out a couple of oddities. (I realised rather late yesterday that it was the six month anniversary of me starting this blog, so welcome to month 7!)

Card Number 471: Fleer Ultra, 2001; #9

I don't think I've blogged a card that was #9 in a set before.

Although the photo of Tony launching himself towards first base is a great action shot, my eyes are drawn to the spectator with their feet up on the railings in the background. 

On the back, Tony's disembodied feet under the stats box are another quirky design choice.

Tony's 2001 stats weren't great. He featured in 71 games but made fewer plate appearances and hits than the previous season when he only featured in 36 games. Although this card shows him running, he was almost crippled by a knee injury at this point in his career and usually had to have fluid drained from it straight after a game - sometimes on the 'plane home after a road game. (Which are rarely actually road trips!)

Card Number 472: Topps Finest, 2001; #80

A shiny card that doesn't scan well.

The back of this card is quite fun. Tony's finest feature is "Bat Magic".

There's a great little summary of Tony's hitting game as well. Tony pretty much said the same thing about his game in the book Tony Gwynn's Total Baseball Player, that he wrote with Jim Rosenthal. He explains that through careful study he could usually predict what a first pitch would be and be ready for it. (A copy of the book has just arrived from eBay, so I will probably be quoting from it in future posts!)

Card Number 473: Fleer EX, 2001; #98

This card has a kind of glittery effect on it.

The photo on the back shows Tony with a salt-and-pepper beard that makes him look older than 41. He wisely shaved this off and looked much younger after he retired.

The stats on the back has some odd selections of performances. Why include three teams who he didn't face? Still it's rare to find a card that offers a breakdown by team and I like the "Best Game" stat - that's the sort of nugget of information that keeps me interested. 

Total: 473 cards

A Finest example of the .394 season

This week I will reach my target of blogging about 394 Tony Gwynn cards. As we edge closer to that 394th card, I thought it would be nice to look at a card from the season that is the inspiration for the project - the year that Tony Gwynn recorded a batting average of .394 and was literally just 3 hits shy of recording .400 for the season.

It was, of course, a bit of an anomalous season, as it ended in disarray in August. In a way that makes it a parallel to this year's Major League season which has been significantly restricted because of the global coronavirus pandemic. 

The San Diego Padres have had an excellent 2020 - their most winningest season ever! - and tomorrow night will be playing the Dodgers after having already won their first post-season series since 1998! All their achievements, however, will be noted as taking place in a truncated season. That doesn't make them less special or worthy, just that things are different this year.

The same was true of 1994. The unanswered question will always be, would Tony have scored .394 over a full season if it had run on into September? There is evidence both ways. His form was blistering at the point when the season was cancelled, but he may well have peaked then and not been able to maintain it. We will never know, and we have to accept the stats for what they are, from when they are.

Card Number 392: Topps Finest, 1994; #201

This is a rare "peeled" version of a Finest card.

The scan does not capture the vibrant nature of this card, when held in hand. It is shiny and colourful. The swirl pattern creates a  very mid-90s look.

The "Finest Moment" on the back relates to an event ten years previously. Tony's batting average the season this card was produced would become the achievement he was most known for. Up until that year though, Topps had decided that winning the National League pennant for the Padres was his moment of glory.

It is an achievement that perhaps gets overlooked now. But back in 1994 the 1984 post-season was the only one the Padres had qualified for in franchise history. Tony went on to be the sole player to feature in both the Padres' two World Series appearances to date, with a 14 season gap between appearances. 

After 1994 and the .394 batting average, Tony's achievements in the 1980s were eclipsed. This Finest card is a shiny memento of what will always be his finest season.

Total: 392/394 

Never been peeled

The cards I'm blogging about today are from Topps Finest sets. They are heavy duty shiny cards that came with a thin layer of peelable plastic film over them to keep them pristine. 

There is something slightly sad about cards that have had a protective film on them for upwards of 20 years. They have never had that layer peeled away, and their true beauty admired, and now they never will. Because if you try and peel that protective layer away now it could rip away the top layer on the card and that's a risk not worth taking. 

And so, these cards have sat for decades, their lovely shininess forever dimmed and hidden behind the ignored words "PEEL AND REMOVE".

There's a metaphor for life in there, somewhere.

Card Number 373: Topps Finest, 1995; #196

Look, it even instructs the owner to peel and remove coating. That never happened.

The "Finest Moment" on the back is pretty noteworthy - 10 hits in 13 At Bats. That series was against the Phillies and was probably the highlight of a losing season where the Padres finished fourth out of four teams in the division. It was the season when Tony recorded a .394 batting average, of course, and those early season hits helped set him on his way. 

Card Number 374: Topps Total Bases, 1995; #12

In 1995 there were also inserts in Series 2 of the regular Topps flagship release that looked like Finest cards. Just to add to the confusion, Topps used the 'Finest' protective film on them. Andy M from the UK Baseball Card Collectors group on Facebook sent me this as he had been busting some junk wax era boxes, so this is a freshly opened 25 year-old unpeeled card.

The back lists the "Total Bases" that Tony reached with his hits in 1994. About half his bases came from singles, which is remarkable really as they only count as one base each compared to Home Runs which count as four bases.

Tony's Major League ranking in Total Bases matched his card number in the insert series. 

Card Number 375: Topps Finest, 1996; #61

All the cards in this set had different words written across them. Like Finest Gamers or Finest Intimidators. They were also given different colours of gold, silver or bronze. Card number 61 was a Sterling Bronze card. 

The peeling instructions are right over Tony's face.

On the back we get a quote from Tony. He rather simplifies things.

That is a strange stats box because it picks the best stat in his career, up to that point, but it doesn't say what year he achieved those bests. In order it has taken stats from 1986 (# games), 1986 (at bats), 1987 (runs), 1987 (hits - he would pass this total in 1997!), 1993 (doubles), 1987 (triples), 1986 (home runs - another total he surpassed in 1997), 1995 (RBI), and 1994 (batting average). 

Card Number 376: Topps Finest, 1998; #90

This has an odd ripple effect on the front. The peeling instructions now run vertically down the card instead of diagonally across it. 

The back has Tony looking directly at the camera while milling about with his team-mates. 

The write up manages to contradict itself in the first sentence saying that Tony's hitting ability "defies adjectives", after using the adjective "superhuman" to describe it.

That arm patch on the sleeve of the guy to Tony's left (as we look at him) is the Jackie Robinson 50th Anniversary patch worn in 1997. 

(I don't own the patch; photo just for illustrative purposes.)

Card Number 377: Topps Finest, 1999; #

The final unpeeled card of this post.

Topps were still using the offset vertical peeling instructions, but this time it still managed to go over Tony's face.

There's a slight 3-D effect on this card, but otherwise the design is quite plain.

There are two "Finest Moments" on the back - one from 1998 and one from his career. The obvious Finest Moment in 1998 was his home run in Yankee Stadium during the World Series, so kudos to Topps for picking something more obscure, and arguably more impressive.

I own some peeled Finest cards as well, but those can wait for another post.

Total: 377/394