Modern Monday - Fire (but no chestnuts roasting!)

There are a surprising number of references to fires in Christmas songs. And the background of this card makes it look a bit Christmassy to me, because it reminds me of a stained glass window. This card was an early Christmas present from Mark Benn - thanks Mark!

Card Number 898: Topps Fire, 2021; #162

Topps Fire doesn't seem to have fans like their other sets. Mark, who sent this to me, is the only person I know in the UK collectors group who opened any packs of Topps Fire.

I like this design. It's colourful. It looks a bit different to other sets put out this year. True, Topps are doing their usual thing of not showing the player's face clearly and, apart from the San Diego logo on Tony's helmet, this may as well be an unlicensed card considering the pose they have chosen. But it's still a nice card. And yet the set doesn't seem to be appealing to many collectors. 

I have no complaints about the cardback either - for a retired player, one factoid is all that's necessary. I am obviously interested in the 1994 season and postulates about what Tony might have achieved if the season had not been cut short. In He Left His Heart in San Diego, a mathematicican called Michael Schell calculated that if Tony had continued on the streak he was on when the season was prematurely halted, he would have broken .400, and might even have beaten Ted Williams's .406 batting average. This choice of stat on the cardback supports that theory.

Total: 898 cards

Modern Monday: Topps Fire

My main supplier of modern Tony Gwynn cards, Gawain, busts a lot of product, which is one reason why he's my main supplier of modern Tony Gwynn cards. Recently he took delivery of a new release - Topps Fire!

Topps have released so many products this year, people might have missed this one. But if so, that's a shame because they are nice-looking cards and different to Topps's other, samey ranges.

Card Number 452: Topps Fire, 2020; #181

As "retro" cards go, this is a very 80s looking design. Although, I can't recall any 80s cards that actually looked like this. It's an 80s design aesthetic from 2020 rather than based off anything original. Even the set logo screams "80s metal band".

I feel conflicted by this. I feel like I should hate it because it's so jarring, but actually I really like it. It's so nice to see a card that doesn't look like every other attempt by Topps to do retro. And the colours work for me. Turquoise and pink, what's not to love? (Also, it's not a cigarette card!)

There's turquoise and pink on the back too. 

I looked up those dates mentioned on the back because it seemed like a long stretch of time to only make 16 starts. There were 51 regular season games in 1984 from August 5, and 5 May was the 23rd game in the 1985 season. He had five plate appearances in the game on 6 May but didn't record a hit (and also didn't strike out.) 

The dates seem somewhat arbitrary. Baseball Reference has the box score for 4 May 1985, and there's a strike out recorded against Tony. He also struck out on the 28 April 1985.

I went back and looked at the box scores from 1984. He struck out on 5 August against the Astros. Then he had a run of games where he hit safely and didn't strike out. However, on 10 August in the second match of a double-header in Atlanta, Tony got on base twice via walks but didn't actually get a hit. He was also hitless in 4 plate appearances on 12 August as well (also in Atlanta).

There might be a 16 game streak between those two dates, but I decided not to trawl through all the box scores for 74 games. He was obviously hitting well and rarely striking out between those dates, but I can't discern why Topps have picked them.

I mentioned this card came from Gawain, and because he was opening a lot of Topps Fire he also came across some parallels.

Card Number 453: Topps Fire Gold Parallel, 2020; #181

There are four of these parallels per blaster box. They are very shiny gold, which scans very green. This cards looks a lot nicer in real life.

The cardback is exactly the same. In fact, the cardback I showed you earlier may well have been the one off the parallel rather than the base card. There's no way to tell, as you can see from this side-by-side scan.

I need to get smarter about scanning and somehow indicate which one is the parallel. That's a new learning point for me!

Thank you Gawain for these cards!

Total: 453 cards