Nothing sketchy about this card

This was another card in the envelope that arrived from Casey in California recently. It's from another one of those random Skybox ranges as the Fleer company flirted with bankruptcy and was releasing all sorts of different sets trying to find one that would capture the imagination (and cash) of collectors. 

Card Number 1040: Skybox Dugout Axcess, 1998; #126

It's a"7th inning sketch", like the 7th inning stretch, geddit?

Unlike other card sets that featured artistic renditions of players, this card has had the art effect switched on in a very early version of PhotoShop, which was only 10 years old in 1998.

There is a great factoid on the back about Tony flying to watch his son, Tony Jr, in a basketball game. Like his dad, Tony Jr later swapped basketball for baseball and had his own major league career starting about ten years after this card was printed. (Here are some Tony Gwynn Jr baseball cards.)

Dugout Axcess was a 'one shot' for Skybox. Fleer was taken over the following year and the Skybox brand disappeared along with the sets. There were three cards of Tony in the set - I've blogged the other two here - and he also makes a cameo appearance on Ken Caminiti's card, which is one I will have to try and track down some day...

In the meantime, thank you Casey for filling this gap in my collection.

Total: 1040 cards

Modern Monday - recent retro with Topps Archives

I have some cards from the new 2022 Topps release on their way to me in the mail! In the meantime, here is a card from last year that looks a bit older.

Card Number 975: Topps Archives, 2021; #140

Topps used seven different former card templates in their 2021 release of Topps Archives. Tony appears on a card laid out in the 1973 template. 

I have zero complaints about that card front. It's a great photo that works well with the design. Tony's face is visible and so is the team name on his chest. Neither of those things are a guarantee with photos that Topps put on cards!

On the back we have a little cartoon guy wielding a bat that looks like a bowling pin, and a succinct factoid. I'm going to award this card a bonus point for that. There's a second concise factoid just above the stats box.

I like cardbacks with clean and complete stats boxes and relevant factoids that don't go overboard with flowery language.

I am sometimes critical of Topps, but this is probably as close as it gets to the perfect baseball card. 

A big thank you goes out to Gawain for sending me this card!

Total: 975 cards

Some older Gold Label cards

I selected today's cards with Fuji and YoRicha in  mind, because they said they liked the Gold Label cards that I posted at the beginning of the week. All these cards are slightly pearlescent so I used the overhead scanner on them. The results are a bit flakey, but at least the design is visible. 

Card Number 968: Topps Gold label, 1998; #14

Awkward photo juxtaposition ahoy!

Seriously, that photo arrangement makes it look like Tony is kneecapping his larger self.

These 'cards' are printed on quite thick plasticky card - much thicker than usual card stock. The material they are printed on contributes to the sheen on the card. It also warps slightly. 

The candid photo on the back should have a thought bubble saying "Huh!?" next to it. 

Right, okay, back on Tuesday I questioned what Topps was doing by discounting the 1994 season and the .394 batting average that everyone associates with Tony on their modern Gold Label cards. Back in 1998, Topps didn't have an issue with Tony hitting .394 in a season that was shortened by strike action. Here they have it as his career best batting average. They also explain how they calculated the 'average season' using 'at bats' rather than the number of games. That makes more sense and just adds to my suspicion that the company's employees knew what they were doing back in the late 90s compared to the people working there now. 

I have one of the books mentioned in the factoid - Tony Gwynn's Total Baseball Player. One day I hope to get hold of The Art of Hitting as well. 

Card Number 969: Topps Gold Label Class 1, 1999; #6

Topps introduced the class system to the range in 1999 and the shine on the cards was even more iridescent.

That fielding photo looks really familiar, but I don't think it was on a Topps card.

On the back there is another cameo portrait of Tony with a quizzical expression. 

The factoid about Tony's loyalty doesn't mention that apparently other top players were annoyed with him for staying with the Padres because it was dragging down the market value of all the other players. (Did that really happen? Now it's all part of the mythos.)

For those taking notes, the career best batting average on this card is .394. Also, a bonus point for this card having the class number on the back (by the team logo) - which makes it a lot easier for people like me trying to work out which cardback is which!

Card Number 970: Topps Gold Label Class 2, 1999; #6

One of the photos has been changed on the front, along with the team logo behind Tony.

The cardback is virtually identical apart from the class number.

Card Number 971: Topps Gold Label Class 2, 2000; #11

In this year's set the class is printed on the front of the card, etched into the foil.

That photo on the back is from the photoshoot that Topps used on some of their tribute cards in the 2000 flagship set, except this time, Tony isn't looking straight down the camera lens.

So a couple of things about this cardback. Firstly, the important career batting average high point stat is correct! Secondly, a factoid about walks! This is a really rare topic for factoids, because although Tony drew a fair few walks (as is obvious by the factoid!), generally he made contact at the plate. Except when opponents opted not to pitch at all! 

I always love learning something new from a card - so kudos to Topps for this!

Total: 971 cards

FFF - Seeing Stars with Fleer Ultra

Some of my Fabulous Fleer Fortnight posts have had a lot of cards in. So today is just a couple of cards with a starry theme.

Card Number 943: Fleer Ultra All-Star, 1995; #8

This card uses two photos on the front to create an interesting effect. 

The back of the card talks about Tony's setting the modern batting average record in 1994, and notes a few other areas where Tony led the leagues. I will always, always highlight how difficult it was to strike Tony out when he was in his prime, so look at the final two lines of the write-up.

Given that Tony had 54 multi-hit games in 1994, you were twice as likely to see him hit twice or more in a game than see him strike out, if you went to a game at random. That is just incredible, really. 

Card Number 944: Fleer Ultra, 1996; #580

The 'Ultra Stars' was a subset towards the end of the 600-card Fleer Ultra set in 1996. I have a panchant for cards that actually feature stars on them, even just stylised ones. 

The only quibble I would have is that, given the amount of photoshopping the designers are doing here, why didn't they remove the tiny amount of the catcher's glove that is just creeping into shot?

Tony's expression on the back would turned into a meme these days. 

You know which meme I'm referencing.

I wonder what Tony was looking at...

Anyway, the write up on the back is right on the money. Whoever wrote it had clocked Tony's renaissance in the latter half of his career, noting how he was improving as he headed into the decade. There is a mention of Tony's extensive study of other players on video - which was less of an innovation by the mid-90s than when he first started doing that in the 80s. 

So those are some starry cards for Saturday. I hope you like them too.

Total: 944 cards

Friday Flair in Fleer Fortnight

Flair was Fleer's high brow range of cards for much of the 90s. I've accumulated a few in the collection and here are some that haven't appeared on the blog previously.

When I previously blogged about Flair cards, I posted the card from 1993 and the card from 1995, but didn't have the card from 1994. So, let's set that right.

Card Number 938: Fleer Flair, 1994; #436

This card is everything you might expect from a premium card in the mid-90s. Full bleed picture, gold foil tints, elaborate swirly fonts. It's also everything you would expect from a Fleer card in the mid-90s. Confusing juxtaposition of photos, cropped off feet...

There is a full photo background on the back, with a Topps-esque shot half showing Tony's face and with his butt pointing towards the camera! However, it is unusual to have an action shot with Tony wearing his trademark wraparound shades.

For the first few years that Fleer produced Flair, they were relatively uncomplicated sets. Then towards the end of the 90s they started getting more complex, with parallels, rebrands and strange numbering systems.

Card Number 939 Fleer Flair Gold version, 1996; #174

In 1996, every Flair base card came in either a silver version or a gold version. The silver versions had gold lettering, and the gold versions has silver lettering. The cards were all shiny, using the Fleer 'etched foil' approach that gave the cards a gritty sort of surface feel. 

As with other Flair sets, this card has a composited image of pictures of Tony on the front.

Despite the abundant use of photoshop on the card, the designers left the grass stain on Tony's knee. 

There are two photos on the back as well, and a huge stats box.

After 1996, Flair was rebranded as Flair Showcase. That was when things started to get weird with the brand. In 1998 Flair Showcase was released as a 'tiered product' with four different versions of each card released, numbered from Row 3 to Row 0, with 3 being the most common and 0 the most scarce. Furthermore, each row was divided into 30-card sections, which were also of unequal scarcity. It's all very complicated. Even Baseballcardpedia has difficulty explaining it.

Card Number 940: Fleer Flair Showcase (Flair), 1998; #Section 2 Row 3, Seat 19

I'm going to count this as a #19 card! Row 3 means it was the most common version of Tony's cards in the set.

This was a really difficult card to scan. This was captured using my overhead scanner and is slightly over-exposed.The line on it is in the etched foil coating.

At least when they made an unnecessarily complicated set, Fleer had the decency to add the word 'Flair' under the set name so collectors could instantly tell which bit of the set the card was from. Although, they could have been more original and used a different word than Flair, which was the brand!

The cardback looks a bit, well, creepy, to be honest. It's the combination of the colours and Tony's hyper-focussed facial expression.

The word 'showtime' on the back indicates which subsection this card is from. "Flair Showtime Flair Showtime" are the most commonly occuring cards in the set. You were more likely to get more than one of these cards in a packet than none at all (if I've worked out the ratios on Baseballcardpedia correctly).

Card Number 941: Fleer Flair Showcase (Style), 1998; #Section 2, Row 2, Seat 19

Another #19 card. Or the same one? These 'Row 2' cards were the second most common cards in the set.

This card looks better. There is a big 'e' on the red advertising hoarding behind Tony. It looks really familiar but I don't think it's the e in Budweiser. It might be the e from the word Coke. 

It's the same photo on the back. The entire background has been wiped but because the whole picture hasn't been tinted blue, it's less freaky looking. 

This card is in the Showstopper division of row 2 cards. Again, that makes it one of the most common of the Row 2 cards, with these cards appearing at a rate of 1 every 2 packs.

I don't have the rarer Flair Showcase cards from 1998. But Flair continued their weird numbering system the following year, although there were only 3 rows. (They dispensed with row 0.) They also dropped the number of subdivisions across each row down to 3. The reduction in complexity may be an indicator the range was having problems so it's no surprise that Flair went on hiatus after the 1999 set before being brought back in 2002 for a new run.

Card Number 942: Fleer Flair Showcase (Power), 1999; #Row 3, Seat 9

The 'power' cards are the most common version of the card - this is in the 'Showtime' subdivision, which was the most common subdivision, making it one of the most common cards in the set overall. 

Fleer seemed to like having a picture of Tony running towards the camera on the cardback as they used a picture of him like that for the second year running. 

The green bar for the factoid is very prominent. It's a good factoid too, retelling the story of Tony's draft day when he was also offered a place with the Clippers in the NBA.

That's all the flair I have available to blog at the moment. At some point I will have to go a-hunting for rare flair to share.

Total: 942 cards

FFF - 80s Wednesday

A couple of Fleer Star Stickers from the 80s for your enjoyment today... kicking off with a spot the difference challenge.

Card Number 933: Fleer Star Stickers, 1986; #50

"Wait, Jon, did Fleer use that picture of Tony on the Star Sticker from 1987 as well?

"Well, reader, it looks likes they did. That's very observant of you! However, if you look closely you will see there are some teeny tiny differences."

They fixed the over-exposure on the second picture and Tony's smile is a fraction different. There is a minute difference in the electronic scoreboard on the edge of the balcony to the right of Tony as we look at him here. But those are obviously the same fans in the seats. These photos must have come off the same roll of film.

The back has some stats and some factoids. As usual, I will highlight how interesting the factoids on these early cards are. They were soon eclipsed by other achievements as the awards piled up. This has interesting stats from Tony's batting title winning season in 1984 and showed how he was setting club records already.

Card Number 934: Fleer Star Stickers, 1988; #123

The year before Fleer used grey borders on their flagship set, they tried it out in the Star Stickers set. The little stars around the border are cool, though.

The back just had a stats box and no factoids. Fleer did add in a "stat breakdown" at the bottom of the card, dividing up the stats according to day and night games, and games at home in Jack Murphy Stadium compared to games out on the road. 

From the looks of that breakdown, home games at night suited Tony!

Total: 934 cards

Canned cards

There is a fine line between "innovatove" and "gimmicky". Today's cards cross that line because unlike almost every other baseball card ever, they weren't sold in a packet. They were sold in a can. 

Card Number 874: Pinnacle Inside, 1997; #56

In 1997 Pinnacle Inside cards were sold in cans with 24 different designs on the outside. One of the cans had Tony printed on it. However this card would have been inside a can.

Tony is guffawing in the main photo. It really shows his fun-loving side. He has a more serious expression in the black and white photo to the side. The "TM" after the word Padres makes it look like he has a blue neck tattoo.

This could be a great cardback.  It has a nice lay-out with interesting info. The bullet points don't quite line up though. Also the factoid on the left about his 6-hit game is sort of marooned there. 

Pinnacle carried on canning cards the following year.

Card Number 875: Pinnacle Inside, 1998; #37

In 1998 there were 23 different cans, and again, one had a picture of Tony on the outside.

It feels like Pinnacle couldn't match the photo from the previous year, so they didn't try. The stats down the left hand side are from the previous season, but they don't explain that.

A slightly better photo on the back and a better lay-out for the tidbits of information.

There is some new information on the back including that Tony's hobby was playing sports video games. This seems to be a popular past-time among many professional sports players.

1998 was the last year that Pinnacle canned cards, because the company collapsed that year. Like Pinnacle Mint, this gimmick has yet to be resurrected by the current owners of the brand, Panini.

Total: 875 cards

Tuesday Twins - lookalikey Leafs

In the 1980s Leaf was DonRuss's imprint for the Canadian market. Leaf cards were near-identical 'twins' of DonRuss cards.

Card Number 839: :Leaf, 1986; #41

Tony is watching his team-mates batting to try and suss out the pitcher's arsenal of throws. His look of concentration here would translate into a tendency to swing and make contact with the first pitch he faced when he went up to the plate. 

The back of the card also follows the DonRuss template, but with some French on there for the bilingual Canadian market.

There is mention of a wrist injury in 1985 that hampered Tony's attempt to defend his 1984 batting title. DonRuss / Leaf liked to mention this wider context to explain the figures. Tony had quite the list of injuries catalogued on their cardbacks. 

Card Number 840: Leaf, 1987; #235

The famous "tyre tread" design got reused North of the border.

This card illustrates something called "poor centering". This is very common in cards from the 80s.

The cardback doesn't have all the same information at the DonRuss cards because of the space needed for the French translation. Some of the career highlights carried over from one year's card to the next. It's always interesting to see what they dropped and what they felt was worth repeating.

Total: 840 cards

I am very busy at the moment so will be taking a short break from blogging. I hope to be back in action before the end of the month!

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

Saying goodbye to Upper Deck week

After lots of Upper Deck cards this week, what better way to sign off than some of the cards produced when Tony signed off his career?

Card Number 832: Upper Deck Tony Gwynn Celebration of 20 Seasons, 2001; #unnumbered

This one-sided 'thank you' note to the fans acts as a 'header card' for the five card set. Trading Card Database lists these cards as an insert series in Upper Deck's 2001 set, but Baseballcardpedia does not. These cards feel like they were given out as freebies somewhere, based on what this card looks like.

The back of the card is totally blank. I have made the rare decision not to show the cardback because there is literally nothing to show.

Card Number 833: Upper Deck Tony Gwynn Celebration of 20 Seasons, 2001; #1

This card has the same design template at the Upper Deck 2001 set. Tony's base card from that set was the 267th card that I blogged about. 

Considering this was a 'tribute' series, the massive stats box on the back feels a bit unnecessary, particularly when it was replicated across all the cards in the set (which it was!)

The factoid kicks off the series with the best known statistic about Tony Gwynn - his .394 batting average in 1994.

Card Number 834: Upper Deck Tony Gwynn Celebration of 20 Seasons, 2001; #2

While I would never want to underplay Tony's achievements, it feels a bit odd to read the claim on the cardback that Tony "flourished" in the post-season. Tony only played in the post-season three times, which amounted to a National League Championship defeat and two World Series defeats. 

The Padres lost both their World Series without taking the series to game 7. In 1998 they lost 0-4 to an absolutely dominant Yankees team. 

Tony's personal post-season records weren't particularly spectacular by his exceptional standards - with the exceptionof the 1998 World Series when he posted .500. He Posted .368 in the national League Championship season in 1984. but only .263 in the World Series - well below his career average. 

There was then a 12 year wait for Tony's next post-season appearances, in 1996. The Padres crashed out in the divisional series and Tony posted a .308 batting average. The three post-season series in 1998 saw him build up to that .500 World Series average. In the four games of the divisional series his batting average was a measly .200, and in the Championship series he posted .231.

In total, in 27 games in the post-season, Tony posted an overall batting average of .306, which is well below his career average. It's not really what I would describe as "flourishing". (Although, he still has more World Series appearances as a Padre than anyone else who has ever played for them!)

Card Number 835: Upper Deck Tony Gwynn Celebration of 20 Seasons, 2001; #5

I'm missing number 3 and 4 in this little set!

This is easily the best photo on the cards I've got from this set. Tony always seemed to take really good "candids".

I'm not sure on the timing of this card set release because this refers to Tony's retirement in the past tense.

As I remarked about the first card, having the massive stats boxes on all these cards seems daft. 

Total: 835 cards