One card only - leading the league

The second card in the couple that Brian sent me was an insert card from the Topps flagship set in 1995. It's definitely a contender for cards with backs more interesting than fronts.

Card Number 578: Topps (League Leaders), 1995; #LL4

The front has a dark background and the Topps logo and Tony's name are in hard-to-scan foil.

However, on the back we have a colourful list of names and a graph!

Cardback graphs are usually poorly annotated. This one looks like it might actually be in proportion. 

Another odd quirk on this cardback is showing the batting leaders for the National League and the National League West. The other players in the NL West top 5 in 1994 were Bip Roberts, who was back in San Diego after two seasons with the Reds, Andres Galarraga who played for the Rockies that year, and Mike Piazza and Brett Butler who were both playing for the Dodgers. (As an aside, I always smile when I see a Bip Roberts card. It wasn't his given name though. His given name was Leon.)

None of those four players featured in the top 5 for the National League, where only Jeff Bagwell of the Astros came anywhere near Tony's post-war record batting average score, and even Jeff was some way behind.

A final note is the consistency of the font used for Tony's name on the back and the caption to the left of the graph. This is the font used for player names on the front of the base cards in the 1995 set. 

I appreciate the consistency in font use - bonus point for this card!

Another thank you to Brian for sending me these cards. Keep busting those wax boxes!

Total: 578 cards

Forgotten Fleer 2 - around about the mid-90s

Circa is an odd name for a card range. But for three years in the mid-90s, Fleer used the name for some reasonably large sets (200, 400 and 300 cards respectively). This was while Fleer was owned by the Marvel Entertainment Group, which was struggling to deal with a bankruptcy situation. Looking at the cards, they have a comic book vibe to them.

Card Number 179: Fleer Circa, 1996; #186
This card is one of the earliest to completely cut the player from the photo background.

One thing Circa cards have that's a bit different is a quote from the player quote on the front. Tony sounds blase about batting titles, but he had another two coming his way yet.

The designers do exactly the same thing with the photo on the back. The shadow underneath him is most likely photoshopped.

I've not seen a knee injury referred to as "bad wheels" before. Also, surely they knew how long he was out injured. But then I guess this is "circa" so it's natural for them to be imprecise and say "about a month".

Card Number 180: Fleer Circa, 1997; #150
The Circa range doubled in size in its second year from 200 to 400 cards. This is the design that made me think of a comic book cover.

For the second year they had a quote on the front from Tony. I admire their commitment to accuracy by putting brackets in the quote, although it feels unnecessary.

They mention Tony's seventh batting title on the back of the card. He would go on and add his eighth title this season. They've also added "Circa Stats" that contrast Tony's batting average per season with how old he was. It makes no sense to me because some of the bars on the graph are for higher figures than the career total at the bottom, yet are shorter. It also doesn't include his entire career because it only goes up to when he was 29 and he would have been 36 when this was printed.

That would be a niche baseball card blog - cardback stats that make no sense at all.

Card Number 181: Fleer Circa Thunder, 1998; #250
The range had a name change for its final year and the word "Thunder" was added giving the card a tacky logo.

The same design principle was at work: a cut out of Tony dropped onto vibrant colours. The scribble at the top of the card is part of the printed design. It's not that someone went mad with a pen.

The back has another photoshopped shadow.

The quote has moved to the back, and this time it's got a full citation to boot. It's been edited, hence the ellipses, and that has made it opaque. "If you don't win, I don't care what you individually do... Being in the hunt is what it's all about." He must have been talking about his own performances and achievements not mattering if the team weren't in contention for pennants. In which case, that is almost exactly the gist of his quote on the 1996 card.

The Circa Stats are more up to date this time, and they have done them by season. The bars all make sense as well.

Circa Thunder disappeared as ownership of Fleer transferred. The cards themselves stand out even in the bold design era of the mid-1990s. The quotes on the cards is a quirk, but a good one in my opinion. It feels like you get more from them than from the regurgitated factoids that appeared on many cards.

And yet again, that's an entire run of base cards in just the one post.

Total: 181/394

One Card Only: "Now, that's a bat!"

I'm running a little series of posts about Stadium Club cards. I really like this one.

Card Number 157: Topps Stadium Club, 1995; #475
That's a bat suitable for a hitting champion.

I simply adore this photo. It is so odd and staged and Tony looks a bit embarrassed about the whole thing.

It also reminds me of the denouement of the Dr Seuss book I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, which chronicles the dangerous journey of a disaffected youth who wants to leave behind all the irksome beasties that are troubling him by escaping to the magical city of Solla Sallew, where they don't have any troublesome critters. He eventually gives up when he realises there are troubles everywhere and goes home to try a different approach to dealing with the things that trouble him. The last page always makes me laugh:

"But I've bought a big bat.
I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going
To have troubles with me!"

Anyway, this card picture makes me think of that line. "I've bought a big bat!"

The cardback is a definite contender for the 'Mid-90s Design Horror Award', if such an award existed. Topps have managed to orient the wording in three different directions! On the plus side it has bar charts.

I am a bit of graph nerd and I like a good bar chart. These don't seem to be based on actual figures and are more of a graphic representation. However they show that Tony was the league leader for hits and batting average, and the Padres leader for second base hits, third base hits and RBI. The blue bar chart is just the "Topps Skills Rating System", which I suspect are totally arbitrary opinions of Topps staff rather than based on any observed measurements.

Also, of note, this is the third Topps Stadium Club logo. The second logo lasted one season.

More Stadium Club cards tomorrow.

Total: 157/394

Monday Millennium Mixer

Three random cards from the year 2000 for your enjoyment today.

Card Number 134: Upper Deck Hitter's Club, 2000; #33
This was part of a small set released by Upper Deck that focused on the best batting players.

You can just about make out the foil number just over half way up the card. It reads .339, which was Tony's 18-season average up to the end of 1999.

The career projection graph on the back is actually charting his career batting. You can see the plateau in the mid-90s where he earned four batting titles in a row. This is one of those graphs that bug me slightly because the y axis starts a lot lower than needed. Maybe it's a uniform axis for all the players in the set, but it looks off to me. Anyway, that's enough graph nerdery.

Card Number 135: Pacific Vanguard, 2000; #32
Another card from 2000. Pacific seemed to lose their way a bit at the turn of the Millennium and produced this Photoshop image.

The sign in the background give me an Electric 6 earworm. Unfortunately.

The cardback mentions Tony's five gold gloves. Fielding was something he really had to work hard at when he first signed with the Padres. His diligence and commitment to improve is referenced by quite a few people in the book of reminiscences He Left His Heart in San Diego. He really earned those gold gloves.

Card Number 136: Skybox Metal, 2000; #1
Another one of the #1 card collection. Metal-coated cards don't scan very well.

In hand, this is shiny and has a bit of heft to it.

Tony's watching the ball on the back. His name is printed on the card, but on the scan it looks like it's been imprinted. One of the rare occasions when the scan looks better than the original.

That's the end of the Monday Millennium Mixer fresh from the turn of the century!

Total: 136/394