One card only - Tony's first home run

Opinion is divided on 'manufactured relics' like this card. They're usually found as bonus cards in blaster boxes. While I realise they aren't to every collector's taste, they're a bit out of the ordinary and I like adding them to my collection. This particular one was an eBay purchase from a seller in Germany.

Card Number 1035: Topps First Home Run Medallions, 2015; #FHRM-TG

These cards were bonus cards in blaster boxes of Series Two of Topps's flagship set. The 'medallion' is a heavy piece of metal embedded in a partial hole scooped out of the foamboard material used to make the 'card'.

Credit to Topps for using a photo of Tony in a uniform from roughly the right era to commemorate an event in 1982. (I feel like I'm crediting Topps for doing the bare minimum these days!)

If I was more co-ordinated I would have posted this on 22nd August! But sadly I have only just realised I have missed that by a handful of days. 

Wrigley Field is on my list of ball parks I want to visit. As Tony hit his first home run there, I think I might have to make it a priority when I'm next planning a trip to the USA.

Total: 1035 cards

One card only - game-worn Gold Label

I'm not sure how it has been two and a half months since I last blogged. Anyway, I'm hoping to restart this soon. I have about 50 cards sitting to be blogged, some of them for several months. But today's card only arrived at the start of July from my friend Gawain.

Card Number 1025: Topps Gold Label, 2002; #GMR-TG

This 'Major League Moments' insert card has been printed in a dark purple tone, rather than this just being a dark scan.

Unlike modern cards with their little cloth swatches of unknown origin, this card specifies the date it was worn - 30 September, 1999.

On the back it explains why that date is meaningful. Tony got 7 hits from 8 at bats over two games in a double-header at the end of the season.

This card was released in 2002 and Tony had retired at the end of the 2001 season. However, news seemed to take a while to get through to Topps HQ. Tony had a card in the Topps flagship set in 2002, and this card may well have been lined up before they knew he had retired. 

Also, you may have spotted this is a "class 2 platinum" card. Gold Label cards are divided into all kinds of classes and subdivisions. I think the platinum ones were meant to be rarer.

Total: 1025 cards

Modern Monday - a framed relic from A&G

This was an eBay purchase that arrived in the first few days of 2022.

Card Number 911: Allen & Ginter framed mini-relic, 2021; #MFR-TG

The mini card could be popped out of the frame if one so wished to do that. The swatch is a dark blue that could be a Padres uniform from the latter end of Tony's career. The photo is an interesting choice because it isn't the photo used on the Allen & Ginter base card or mini in 2021. Here's a reminder of what that card looked like.

The relic card looks like it has been rendered off the photo used by Topps for the Stadium Club Chrome card in 2020.

I haven't got an explanation why Topps switched out the photos for the mini-relic card. The eBay win included a 2021 Allen & Ginter relic card of Trent Grisham as well, and that used the same photo as his base card. That was a full-sized relic card, though.

The back looks nicer than the average Allen & Ginter card. The card acts as a guarantee of the genuineness of the cloth swatch, except...

... below the logo, it says the memorabilia isn't from "any specific game, event or season". So, what exactly is it from? 

Topps have produced relic cards for Tony for the last few years and I'm beginning to wonder how they are doing this. Surely at some point, they will run out of articles of clothing that Tony touched. This is beginning to feel like the trade in religious relics in Europe in the Middle Ages, when there were enough venerated bits of wood, all supposedly from the cross that Jesus was crucified on, to build a large structure. All those holy relics, ranging from bits of bone from long-dead saints to items touched or blessed by Jesus himself or his mother, often had very vague provenance. Topps seem to be following a similar path in terms of guaranteeing the genuineness of a relic while issuing a subtle disclaimer.

Total: 911 cards

Blog post number 394!

When I started this blog I was aiming to collect 394 cards featuring Tony Gwynn. To think that almost a year and half later I am posting my 394th blog post is a bit surreal. I've picked a stand out card for this blog post. It was the card that sealed the deal for me in buying a large parcel of cards from Greg in France a few weeks back.

Card Number 759: Upper Deck Pros and Prospects, 2000; #TGw

Tony's penmanship is lovely on this card. The blue ink is naturally streaky, which makes it look like it has been hand-signed. However, there are no other images to compare it with on Trading Card Database to see if there are variations. It's also great that the swatch of jersey has a pinstripe on it, instead of being a plain white patch. And as a final bonus, this is a relic card released during Tony's career!

According to BaseballCardPedia, these autographed memorabilia cards were included at a ratio of 1 every 96 packs. (Which feels like quite good odds to me.) There were 21 cards in this range of relic inserts. Tony's cards were denoted as TGw, because there were also cards signed by Tom Glavine, denoted with TGl.

The back doubles up as a certificate of authenticity. This is how card companies used to reassure collectors that the cloth swatch was genuinely connected to the player on the front. Somewhere along the way that has been lost. 

I feel this card is eminently suitable for an arbitrary personal milestone! I hope you agree. Thank you for reading my blog, and commenting, if you are one of the people who comments. I appreciate people taking the time to leave their thoughts and am grateful for all the encouragement. 

Total: 759 cards

One card only - metal manufactured relic

Brian sent me today's card. It's a "manufactured relic", which is basically a chunk of metal embedded in some 2mm thick foamboard.

Card Number 706: Topps 70th Anniversary Logo Patch, 2021; #T70P-TG

The metal logo rather dominates the card. These were included in blaster boxes of Topps Series 2, as a bonus item along with the packs. 

The back is fairly plain, manly explaining the nature of the card. This is quite helpful information as it has the year, card type and the set name on. I'm actually surprised Topps have been this helpful. Usually they bury the details or leave it up to the collector to hunt the card down on Trading Card Database.

Manufactured relics like this aren't everyone's cup of tea, but, hey, it's a new Tony Gwynn card for the collection and I am never going to say no to one of those. 

Brian is better known among UK collectors for busting lots of junk wax. He also sent me another card that's 30 years older than this one. I'll be posting about it tomorrow.

Total: 706 cards

Kicking off my seventh century of cards

A couple of weeks back I had a message from Glenn, asking if I was interested in a relic card from 10 years ago. My collection is a bit thin from around that time, and I'm unlikely to turn down a relic card. 

Card Number 601: 60 Years of Topps Relics, 2011; #T60R-TG

Weirdly, this card arrived the same morning as my first 2021 card, which felt ironic as that card celebrated Topps's 70th anniversary and this card was issued to celebrate Topps's 60th anniversary.

It's hard to make out on the front, but this card was issued  commemorating the players in the National League with the most multiple-hit games since 1920. Tony was fourth on the list and the second one-club man after Stan Musial. There is a lot of arbitrariness to the selection of this statistic - why that particular statistic, and why only after 1920?

And for that matter, the front says this little swatch of white cloth is game-used memorabilia, but there is a disclaimer on the back that says "The relic on this card is not from any specific game, event or season." Make of that what you will.

Looking at my collection stats, this is the third card I've acquired from 2011 and the seventh material relic card. I haven't yet reached the point of feeling jaded by these little cloth patches and this card was interesting enough in terms of marking a niche statistic to make it worthy of kicking off my seventh century of Tony Gwynn cards!

Many thanks again to Glenn for sending me this card.

 

Total: 601 cards

One card only - a hint of pinstripe

It's been a week since I last blogged, but I'm back! 

A couple of weeks ago I made an offer on a bundle of Tony Gwynn cards on eBay. It was the first time I'd used eBay's global shipping service which handled all the customs taxes on my behalf. In the end I ended up being charged about the same amount each for the cards, the postage and the import duties!

However, the parcel arrived safe and sound without the dreaded grey form of doom or being misdelivered to another street (as happened last November) and I got to open a joyful packet of cards from the late Nineties and early Noughties.

I decided to start with what would have once been the pick of the bunch - a relic card. I have a few plain swatches in my collection already, so it's nice to have one with a hint of a pinstripe down one side.

Card Number 585: Upper Deck People's Choice Game Jersey, 2002; #PJ-TG

(A card 'number' that sounds like a Star Wars droid!)

One thing I don't understand with these swatch cards is why they didn't apply a bit more thought to them. This would have looked a lot cooler if they had angled the pinstripe to run diagonally across the window it appears in, or at least line it up to the stripe is down the middle of the relic piece.

The same photo is used on the back, although it is decolourised. There is also a large blurb about how it is genuinely a piece of a shirt worn in a game.

There's a good reason why Upper Deck wanted to underline the authentic game-worn pedigree of the fabric. A couple of years earlier the Pacific trading card company was accused of buying uniforms off the rack in sportswear shops and cutting them up for relic cards. There are some incredible details about another mistake they made that outed a player for using a corked bat.

Upper Deck made their CEO, Richard P. McWilliam stake his name and reputation on the validity of that tiny square of fabric. However, they don't say which game(s) Tony wore it in, or show a picture of the actual shirt - unlike the direction DonRuss took showing the very bat they chopped up for a bat relic card.

I'm hoping to post regularly all week, this week. See you tomorrow!

Total: 585 cards

One card only - streaks and a plain patch

As is customary for this blog, it's Sunday so that means one card only. As is also customary for this blog, there will be a short complaint about the card hobby at the moment.

But first, the Padres 2020 season came to an end in the early hours of Friday morning (UK time). One benefit of getting up for a 2am first pitch was it meant I could text my friend who was being kept up all night by her brand new twins and say "Hi, I'm up in the middle of the night too!" I didn't last the whole game. 8-2 down at the end of the fifth inning I went back to bed. I wasn't too surprised to see the Dodgers had gone on to win the game and the series when I woke up in the morning. 

It's been an exciting season to be a 'Slam Diego' fan. Fernando Tatis Jr has become a very hot property in the collecting world and it's been funny watching my fellow collectors scramble to pick up Padres cards in the various Facebook groups I'm in. Until this year I've had a free run at anything Padres. Now I'd have to be quick if I wanted to buy any. I'm not complaining. It's nice to be a fan of a popular team for a change.

However, being in those groups, I have noticed how many people are putting relic and autographed cards up for sale. There is a constant stream of newly minted, newly pulled relics up for grabs. Now you can buy boxes that guarantee you a relic inside and it feels like they are almost too common. In fact they are so common now, a friend gave me a Topps hangar fatpack as a birthday present, and I pulled a relic card out of that. It was the first time I had ever done that in my life, and I feel that if I'm pulling them, given the rarity of how often I open packs, then it shows what I mean about them becoming almost commonplace.

But that is the situation at the moment. I've seen several people ask if we are into a second over-production era. I think we are. Except this time it's not just junk wax. It's also junk parallels and junk relics and junk autos. There are a few people still building sets out there, but there are also people accumulating lots of special insert cards that they don't really want. 

Anyway, enough of my complaints. Today's one card only dates from a time when relic cards were difficult cards to pull from a pack.

Card Number 401: Pacific Private Stock, 2001; #148

It's a dark blue swatch card.

On the back there is a note about the item's provenance. It claims to be from "game used gear" and specifies the season it was worn - 1999. The Padres introduced a navy blue 'alternate uniform' in 1999. An alternate uniform is different from a 'road uniform', which was dishwater grey for a number of years.

Summarising the 1999 season, the cardback mentions Tony's batting average and a 16-game hitting streak, but doesn't mention his 3000th hit that season.

Hitting streaks are odd things. Tony's record was 25 games in his first full season (1983). He is third on the all-time Padres hitting streaks list. Weirdly the top two streaks in Padres history are both by catchers - John Flaherty surpassed Tony's 25 with a 27 game streak in 1996, and the all-time leader is Benito Santiago with a streak of 34 games in 1987, which was his rookie year. That's actually still the longest hitting streak by a catcher in Major League Baseball. 

So far none of the big hitters in the Slam Diego line up in 2020 have had a streak to rival these records. Maybe one of them will next season.

Total: 401 cards

One card only - mini retro relic

Continuing on from the retro theme of yesterday, here is another example of a card company producing a retro card that borrows its look from another company. This time it's Topps who replicated the classic T206 design that was printed by British American Tobacco from 1909-1911 and distributed in various products of the company. 

The original T206 cards are highly collectible. One thing they didn't have was relics.

Card Number 290: Topps 206 Relics (Season 3), 2003; #TR-TG

It's a 'mini' card that's more the size of the original tobacco cards, and comes in a frame.

Where this differs from most other relic cards is the tiny piece of fabric can be seen from the back of the card as well.

There's a holograph on the back as well as a mark of authenticity. Unlike the original T206 cards, though, there wouldn't be much money to be made in forging this one. Trading Card Database currently values it at $1.67.

There are three different versions of this card, and as this is from 'series 3' it might explain why the copyright notice is for 2003 when the set is listed as 2002 on Trading Card Database. I'm listing it here as a 2003 card because that's what it says on the card and while I'm used to cards being copyrighted in the previous year to the set being released, it feels silly to list this as a 2002 card when it's copyrighted a year after that.

Total: 290/394

Aztec Hero

Writing about my own university days in yesterday's blogpost reminded me of a few cards I own that feature Tony in his college playing days.

Tony earned a scholarship to San Diego State University, but to play basketball. He played Point Guard for the SDSU Aztecs for four seasons and still holds the following records for them:

• Career Assists
• Most Assists in a Season (with two other placings in the top ten)
• Most Assists in a Game - first, second, and third place on the all-time list

Despite his scholarship, eventually Tony was allowed to represent the Aztecs at baseball as well. He was drafted to the NBA San Diego Clippers and the MLB San Diego Padres after college, and opted for baseball because he felt that would offer him a longer career.

There are trading cards with pictures of Tony as a basketball player. However, the ones in this post show him playing college baseball.

Card Number 147: Panini Contenders, 2015; #91

It should come as no surprise that Panini, the masters of licensing loopholes, found a way to produce interesting baseball cards without a MLB licence. This card is an "Officially Licensed Collegiate Product". Well, it's a bit of money for the alma mater. I'm sure none of the players would mind.

I think this is quite an attractive card, but as we will see they made the most of that photo.

Here it is again on the back.

There are 99 cards in the base set featuring contemporary players like Aaron Judge who had been drafted just two years previously and hall-of-famers like Tony, Dave Winfield and Ozzie Smith.

There were also several insert series in the set, including the next card.

Card Number 148: Panini Contenders, 2015; #O-14

I told you that photo was doing a lot of work for Panini. Here it is on a second card. This verson is less cropped and shopped than on the base card, but is also less crisp.

Guess what photo they used on the back of the card.

Yes, there it is again. I don't know if this is a record for numbers of times the same photo has been used in a card set, but it's got to be in there somewhere. There were 47 cards in the "Old School Colours" insert series. 

Panini weren't the first card company to use photos of famous players in their college days to get round licensing restrictions. The year before this Panini set came out, Upper Deck included Tony in their 'Legends' section of their 'College Colors' range.

Card Number 149: Upper Deck College Colors, 2014; #7

I think the choice of a black and white photo is deliberate to invoke feelings of 'it was a long time ago...'

One thing about this photo is that at least you can make out most of the word 'Aztecs' on Tony's uniform.

Like the Panini cards, the photo is re-used on the back.

This is another "Officially Licensed Collegiate Product". That licensing stamp is a new one on this blog and makes a change from the MLBPA or the National Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame, which are two other organisations licensing photos to baseball card companies while MLB restricts their official licence to just the one company. 

Incidentally, this 26-card set is listed as a 'promo' set on Trading Card Database and is a multi-sport set, not a baseball card set, with 13 legends and 13 'rookies' from various sports. Other "legends" with cards in the set include Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods. 

The craft of baseball card companies to find new ways to print 'official' cards of players using innovative licensing makes me wonder if eventually we will get cards with Little League photos of Major Leaguers. Panini have gone a step in that direction already.

Card Number 150, Panini Century, 2010; #34

Before he went to university, Tony went to Long Beach Polytechnic High School. Given that he is wearing a sweatshirt saying 'Poly' on it, I think it's a reasonable assumption this is a photo of him in high school.

Yes, the grey square is a small scrap of cloth. This is a relic card. The weird chunk of white space is because there were autographed versions of this card. This is the unmarked version but the space for the auto is still there.

It's a pretty dull cardback, although it is serially numbered. The blurb about the cloth patch says it is from a game-worn item, but there isn't any detail about the game. I don't know why card companies  don't specify in which game, or games, the items were worn. It seems like that would be information they would know if the items are as authentic as they say they are. 

That feels like a nice way to reach the 150 card mark on this blog!

Total: 150/394

Two really nice bat relic cards

Relic cards with a swatch of cloth in are all well and good, but when a player is known for their mastery of hitting, bat relics are just that bit more relevant.

These two bat relic cards are recent acquisitions (one only arrived earlier this week) and I'm finding it hard to decide which one I like the most.

The first bat relic I acquired was made by Upper Deck, and what really drew me to it was the way they had printed Tony's number like a watermark on the sliver of wood embedded in the card.

Card Number 117: Upper Deck SP Game Bat Milestone, 2001; #B-TGw
This card is part of the 'Piece of the Action' insert series.

I think this is really lovely looking card, complete with a wood-grain effect and the 'Bound for the Hall' motif. Tony has a grimace of concentration on his face, but other than that there is really nothing to quibble with regarding this card.

The back says CONGRATULATIONS! There's a facsimile signature from the CEO of Upper Deck authenticating the wood is from a bat used in a Major League Baseball game.

Of course, there's no real way of knowing whether the bat was genuinely used. It's not as if there's a photo of the bat they chopped up on the card, or anything. That would really be asking too much, wouldn't it? Well... not if you're DonRuss, no.

Card Number 118: DonRuss Classics Legendary Lumberjacks, 2002; #LL-25
They picked a really handsome colour scheme for this.

The piece of wood isn't particularly snazzy.

But on the cardback you can see where the wood came from.

Yes, that's the actual bat. It's a shame it doesn't detail which game it was used in, and also that they couldn't find a photo of him wielding a bat that colour for the card front.

This card is sequentially numbered 500. Some of the other cards in this range were numbered to 50, so they obviously sliced this bat up a bit more thinly to make more cards.

Total: 118/394

Relics from 2020

It's feels anachronistic to be talking about "relics" from 2020, as that's this year. Anyway, here are two relic cards from Topps' 2020 flagship series.

A few posts back I showed the latest 'retro' card that Topps have put out.

Here's the relic version.

Card Number 96: Topps 1985 Insert Series Relics, 2020; #85R-TG

It's a dark blue swatch, although it looks black in the scan. It's probably from a road uniform. The back stipulates that it's not from any particular game, event or season.

At least the cardback screams CONGRATULATIONS! to make you feel a little bit special. I acquired this card from Ian in the Baseball Cards UK Facebook group.

Card Number 97: Topps Rookie Retrospective Medallions, 2020; #RCR-TG
Topps didn't use 'rookie card' logos back when Tony first appeared on a card. Now, 37 years later, they have decided to fix that oversight by printing a super-thick foamboard card and inserting a metal stud into it.

The printing on the card is actually that fuzzy. I think it's because it's printed on foamboard rather than card stock. These cards come in the 'Blaster Box' that Topps sell with 7 packs and one of these cards in each box, although I got mine off eBay. There are 50 players honoured in the set and the cards all have parallel versions at different levels of availability.

The back is particularly dull. There isn't even an exclamation mark after the word 'congratulations'.

These medallions are classed as "manufactured relics" and are totally a novelty item. Still, something a bit different, and technically I have another rookie card.

Total: 97/394

One card only - Topps Reserve

I have a few Tony Gwynn relic cards. There are loads of different types of 'relic' cards out there, with almost any kind of thing Tony ever touched chopped up and stuck into baseball cards. I have some swatches and some bat splinters embedded into various cards. For today's post I'm going to show you the first one I ever bought.

Card Number 45: Topps Reserve 2002; #TRJ-TG

It's a piece of plain grey cloth! So many of Tony's swatch cards are grey. It claims to be from an authentic game-worn uniform, but how can you tell really?

CONGRATULATIONS! screams the back of the card.

I still have a slight thrill at the idea of relic cards. I actually pulled one recently from a Topps 2019 jumbo packet that a friend brought me back from America. Talk about the buzz when you realise you've got something a bit out of the ordinary!

I'm not exactly sure when I acquired this card. I know I bought it off eBay and it was the first Tony Gwynn relic card in my collection.

Total: 45/394