Cards that look similar (but aren't the same)

Parallels are the scourge of the modern day card hobby, in my opinion, but the practice goes way back. As I've been acquiring more Tony Gwynn cards I've picked up a few that look like ones I've already blogged about. Here's a post about them.

Original card - Topps, 1993; #5 (blog card number 72)

Lookalikey:

Card Number 203: Topps Gold, 1993; #5

The name bit at the bottom is in gold foil and the logo says Topps Gold. (Not to be confused with Topps Black Gold from the same year.) One of these variants was included in every pack, three in the cellophane-wrapped rack packs, six in the 74-card jumbo packs, and a whopping 36 in the 400-card boxes that Topps sold that year. (Those boxes were also where the aforementioned Black Gold cards were found.)

The cardback is identical to the regular release

Now onto another lookalike card...

The original one was card number 103 on this blog, and was the "groundout" version of Upper Deck's sort of card game 'You Make the Play', released in 1996. The first one I showed looked like this:

Card Number 204: Upper Deck Collector's Choice You Make the Play, 1996; #17 (Single variant)

Basically, if this was the version of the card you played you scored a single instead of a groundout. Those were the two options for Tony. (Ken Griffey Jr, who was card #16 in the set was either "Home Run" or "Hit by Pitch"!) I'd love to know what the rules were for this game.

The cardback is exactly the same.

I like having some quirky cards like this in my collection. They're something a little bit different. I don't think they were a great success though, because they were only released for one season.

Total: 204/394

Monday Mixer Miscellany

The usual round up of unconnected odds and sods today, although there is sort of a theme here. These cards are just slightly odd ones.

Card Number 101: Upper Deck Collector's Choice "Push Out", 1999; #24

Trading Card Database lists this as "mini bobblehead". I'm intrigued whether they actually work as bobbleheads, but I'm not pushing out my push out card to find out.

The back has the instructions of how to assemble it.

This is one of those innovations from a card company that leaves me wondering if anyone actually did this.

Card Number 102: Score, 1992 (All Star), #779

Another case of putting Tony's real head atop a cartoon body.

I actually really like this card. I even love the funny way they've written 'All Star' in a cartoonish font. Panini own Score now, and they've revived this style of card, which is a great choice for a retro card design in my opinion (I have a card of Fernando Tatis Jr in this style that somebody sent me.)

In a previous post about Score base cards I said that Score tended to have better cardbacks than card fronts. Not true in this case, but this is definitely one of the better cardbacks for an All Star card. For one thing it has the National League line up for the 1991 All Star Game.

For the record, the 1991 All Star Game was in Toronto and the National League lost 2-4. Tony had 4 at bats, got 2 hits, scored 1 of the National League's 2 runs. He made it home when Andre Dawson hit a home run. (Box score)

Card Number 103: Upper Deck Collector's Choice You Make the Play, 1996; #17 (Groundout variant)

I think that is officially the longest set name I will ever write on this blog. 'You Make the Play' was a baseball card game you could, um, play, in some way. There are two versions of this card, a "Groundout" and a "Single". Every card in the 90 card set has a variant, making it a 180 card set in actuality.

Every time I see this card with Tony surrounded by a neon glow it makes me think of the Ready Brek Kid, with his bright orange outline after he'd eaten Ready Brek. The adverts had the tagline "Central heating for kids!" Which in turn reminds me of the rumour that Viz Comic got done for a tasteless joke that a high strength lager was "Central Heating for Tramps!" It's funny where a train of thought ends up, and mine always ends up there every time I see this card.

The back is like this.

All the card backs in the set are the same, so that you can actually play the game. From the packaging pictures on TCDb, it looks like You Make the Play cards were inserted as 'bonus cards' in regular packs of Collector's Choice cards. 

Card Number 104: Upper Deck Collector's Choice Stick-Ums, 1998; #23 

Another insert from Collector's Choice packs. They are stickers, not cards.

You actually get five sticker elements on the front, which include Tony, his name, and two San Diego logo motifs. The fifth sticker is a generic baseball.

The back is a checklist of the Stick-Ums. There are some star names on the list.

That's the end of this week's Monday Mixer. I hope you enjoyed it.

Total: 104/394