Revisiting Tony's Topps rookie card...

To celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2001, Topps picked 50 cards to reprint in a large insert series. Naturally, they included Tony's "iconic" rookie card from 1983.

Card Number 752: Topps Through the Years, 2001; #36

Topps added a gold foil 50th Anniversary stamp to the front. Although it's instantly noticeable that this is printed on much better card stock than Tony's actual rookie cards ever were.

Ignore the number '482' on the back - that was the number of Tony's card in the 1983 set. There is a little line below the 1982 highlights that says it's card number 36 of 50.

I wish Topps still did a highlight for players on cardbacks. 

A few years later Topps dusted off the 1983 template again.

Card Number 753: Topps Archives, 2015; #201

This card is in danger of setting off the Anachronism Klaxon for having photos of Tony late on in his career in the design template from the beginning of his career. If the cameo photo looks familiar, it's because it had been used by Topps before, for example, on Tony's Allen & Ginter card in 2013.

The retro styling extended to the back with the little outline of the batter next to the number. However, by this point there was no room for factoids next to the giant stats box!

The card stock, however, was in keeping with the 1983 design.

I have a small but growing collection of reprints and reimaginings of this card (and the O-Pee-Chee version from 1983 as well). I won't be surprised if Topps print even more in future. 

Total: 753 cards

Tuesday Twins - unexpected reprints

I received a parcel yesterday containing a job lot of Tony Gwynn cards I bought off eBay a few weeks back. When I bought it I knew it was a mix of new cards for the collection and several I already had, including quite a few base cards. Except, when the cards arrived and I could see the backs I realised that some of those base cards were inserts from later Topps sets. 

Card Number 623: Topps Cards Your Mom Threw Out insert, 2010; #CMT-43

Tony had 3 cards in this insert series.

The front is a straight-up reprint of Tony's card from 1994. The cardback explains why they chose this card.

I like this card as it refers to Tony's batting achievement in 1994. It's also nice to see a reprint that isn't of Tony's rookie card!

Card Number 624: Topps 60 Years of Topps insert, 2011; #60YOT-33

This is another reprint of an iconic card design. 

Basically this insert series reprinted a card from each year and this is the one they chose from the 1984 flagship set. The cardback explains about the Topps design for the year and mentions Tony's first batting title right at the end of the write up.

Again, I like this card because it's a reprint of a card that I feel I haven't seen a zillion times over. Admittedly it's a little bit self-indulgent to produce inserts celebrating yourself, but I'll let Topps off for that because this is a lovely card to have.

I know that after yesterday's post where I wrote about Topps's over-reliance on nostalgia, I'm being much more enthusiastic about these reprints than might be expected.  But there's nothing quite as exciting as realising that cards I'd mentally written off as a dupes turn out to be ones I can add to my collection!

Total: 624 cards

Tuesday Twins - from rookie year to sunset season

I've acquired a third brand new card released in 2021. It's another Topps insert, and another reprint appearance for Tony's rookie card, this time combined with his final base card proper. This card arrived via Greg, who recently joined the Facebook group for UK card collectors.

Card Number 611: Topps Double Header, 2021; #TDH1

Tony was the lead-off hitter in this insert series.

The front of the card is a straight up reprint of Tony's rookie card from 1983, with the additions of a silver foil Topps 70th anniversary logo.

On the back is Tony's 2002 card, with a grey surround - this means Topps avoided putting all their boilerplate legalese onto the card image.

This is a reprint I can really support, as it shows the length of Tony's career in a novel way. 

The 1983 card has been reprinted several times, reimagined 20 times in Project 2020, and even turned into somewhat dubious manufactured relic cards.

However, the 2002 template doesn't feature as often in my collection at all. In fact, I think Topps missed a trick here because they gave Tony the 1974 template in their throwback cards last year when they were also using their 2002 template for retired players. He is in the 1974 template again this year in the 70 years of Topps insert set.  It would be more fun to have the 2002 template with a different photo of Tony in it.

Back when I reviewed this card along with other cards from 2002, I noted that this picture could almost be an unlicensed DonRuss or Panini card, given the lack of prominent logos. There is just an arm patch that could be easily airbrushed off. 

The lack of care when it comes to photography is almost the defining feature of Topps cards. In Tony's first card you mainly see his bum. In his final card you can't see his face either.

At least Topps were consistent, is about all you can say.

I think there are actually nine different Tony Gwynn cards in Topps Series 1 this year. Beside the three I have, there is a short print in the base card design, a 1986 template insert, a chrome parallel of the 70 Years of Topps insert, a patch card, a cloth card (!) and a 1/1 cut signature. 

As I have three cards from Series 1, I am technically a third of the way through! Short prints are really hard pulls this year, apparently. So, with the exception of the 1986 insert, I think it's doubtful I will add any more. 

Total: 611 cards

Accessing the Archives

Topps Archives first appeared between 2001 and 2005. It was branded Archives for the first couple of years of release then rejigged as 'All Time Fan Favourites' for the next three years. The 'ATFF' cards used Topps templates with different photos in them, a habit that Topps has continued to this day. I've already blogged about Tony's ATFF card from 2005, which reused the Topps 2000 template and kept the year 2000 on the front.

Archives then went on hiatus and returned in 2012 featuring players in classic card designs. That's the range that has continued up to this year, and will probably carry on. Tony's Archives card from 2020 was featured in a Modern Monday post at the end of September.

Card Number 456: Topps Archives, 2003; #106

Bizarrely, Topps decided to use their template from 2001 for this card released in 2003. That's an even shorter gap between a set release and a template being reused in an Archives set than the one in 2005 that used the template from 2000. Annoyingly, I don't have the original 2001 base card it's based on - I have two parallels and this, so that's three cards in this template without owning the actual base card.

Batting donut bonus point! Given that Tony is in a game uniform, I think this must be a closely cropped photo of him 'on deck' waiting for his turn at the plate. 

I feel there must be some kind of story behind the image on his wrist. Perhaps someone can shed some light on it.

(Is that meant to be a drawing of him?)

The back is laid out like the back of a card from 2001, including the Topps 50th celebration logo. The green strip up the side explains that it's an Archives card.

Card Number 457: Topps Archives, 2012; #660 (original cardback version)

This is a straight up reprint of Tony's card from 1985.  

The back is a slightly different colour, because it's printed on a much better card stock. There's also a little bit of blurb underneath.

Here's the back of the original card from 1985 for comparison. 

There weren't 660 cards in the 2012 Archives set. There were 241 cards in the base set and then the reprint inserts were just given the same card number as the original cards. There were two #160 and two #164 as a result, for example, besides the base card with that number as well. 

Card Number 458: Topps Archives 2013; #190

Tony got a card in the 1990 template with a different picture on the front. He's dropping his bat having hit the ball.

For reference, here's Tony's card from 1990.

The 2012 card is a better print. The photos look at first glance like they could be from the same game. But if so, then  it's an early photo for a 1990 card, anyway. The black letters RAK on the sleeve were worn in honour of the late Padres owner Ray Kroc, and appeared on uniforms from 1984 to 1986. 

That begs the question, was the photo on Tony's card in 1990 actually from 4 years previously? Knowing how slapdash Topps were with their photography, it wouldn't surprise me. It looks like a different bat handle though, in the original card, so maybe they're not from the same time period.

This is the cardback from the Archives set. It has the same fonts as the card from 1990.

Topps could have given Tony the number 19 card. But number 190 is reasonably close.

Card Number 459: Topps Archives 2014; #105

Topps didn't worry about trying to get a photo from anywhere near the right era for Tony's Archives card in 2014. This is a picture from towards the end of his career, set into the 1986 template.

 

There's a lot of love out there for the 1986 template with it's bold lettering for the team names. Personally, it doesn't do much for me. I have a sentimental fondness for the 1987 design, and the 1984 and 1985 card designs are both lovely, so this is one I don't really look at too much.

In the stats box Topps only included Tony's stats up to 1998 - an arbitrary cut off point. Maybe they went for how it looked, not expecting anyone to read the back. But it annoys me and I'm going to ding a point off this card for it. (Because I can be arbitrary too!)

I hope you enjoyed this visit to the Archives.

Total: 459 cards

 

Tuesday Trio - Topps reprints

I could have called this blogpost "Why I've grown to hate Topps." For all that I moan about parallels, reprints are even more frustrating.

Card Number 216: Topps, 1997; #410
This is Tony's base card from 1997.

It's quite green. It's not very remarkable. Topps often crop their action photos too close and regularly seem to pick photos of players looking away from the camera.

The back has a big stats box and another photo of Tony running. It also mentions that if he managed another batting title that season it would tie the record for titles won in the National League. (He won it, of course!)

All in all this is a mundane baseball card. There's nothing particularly exciting about the 1997 series from Topps, and if you were going to pick cards of Tony's to reprint this would not be near the top of anyone's list.

Unless you're Topps.

Because only 5 years later they reprinted this card.

Card Number 217: Topps Archives, 2002; #19

Crucially they give it a big foil stamp on the front, saying what set it was from. Tony's name is in yellow print instead of gold foil. The back is a weird grey card stock and there is a strip up the edge. So it's clearly a different card.

I will say Topps got one thing right. This is card #19 in their set!

Then, as I was going through the large volume of cards I'd purchased from Gawain, I found another version of this card.

Card Number 218: Topps 60 Years of Topps (Original Back); #410
What alerted me to this being a different card was the silver foil on the front instead of gold.

It was a real troublesome card to track down on Trading Card Database. I looked all around the 1997 cards to see if it was a known error, or an opening day version. Unlike the 2002 card this cardback was the same glossy stock as the base card.

Then eventually I spotted the word "reprint" under the Topps logo.

If I had been more switched on I should have seen the Cooperstown Collection logo as well, alerting me to the Hall of Fame connection. Buried in the blurb at the bottom was the year, 2011, and then it was a case of going through all of Tony's cards from 2011, which wasn't too bad. He only had 182 cards released that year, and it was easy to skip through the short numbered relics and autograph cards to find the one I was looking for. (It was a slow year for Tony Gwynn cards; this is the only card from 2011 that I have in my collection so far. I have 7 from 2020 already!)

I can't figure why Topps liked this card so much they thought it was worth reprinting not once, but twice! There are so many other iconic Tony cards they could have chosen instead of one from the end of the Nineties, from a set that nobody raves about or is particularly interested in (as far as I know).

But that's Topps for you. They make odd choices sometimes. And it's up to collectors to look at the card in their hand and try to work out what the hell is going on!

Total: 218/394