Short Print Legend

This was one of those late night 'see a card on eBay and make an offer which gets immediately accepted' purchases that arrived a couple of days ago. It's a short print from Topps flagship release last year when they subbed in "legends" to replace some other players.

Card Number 574: Topps (Short Print), 2020; #248

This is an unusual photo of Tony. I'm not sure what the booklet is that he's holding. It could be a game programme, with a loose piece of paper in. It's also unusual to have an advertising hoarding in the background. I'm a little surprised Topps didn't airbrush that out. At least it's for Coca Cola and Diet Coke rather than Marlboro!

Apparently if you look at the serial numbers in the legalese, that will tell you this is a short print. The regular card numbered 248 was Hunter Renfroe's card, which showed him as a Padre even though he had been traded to Tampa Bay. (He has recently been traded to the Red Sox so I wonder if Topps will show him a Red Sox uniform next year and his sojourn in Tampa will go unrecorded on Topps cards.)

Topps stuffed their Series 1 with short print and super short print variations, but I haven't found a figure for how short a short print was. I asked in the UK collectors group on Facebook and Andy M replied saying that short prints were available in fat packs in a 1:18 ratio and in retail packs in a 1:38 ratio.  Given that the "Advanced Stats" insert cards were serial numbered to 300 and their appearance ratios were about treble the short print ratios, Andy suggested that short prints probably mean a print run of about 1000.

However, Beckett has different ratio figures, which if true would make the short prints even smaller print runs. Beckett describes them as "pretty tough" to get. However this card had sat on eBay for a while, so much so my offer at just above half the asking price was accepted without quibble.

Total: 574 cards

A quick note: This is my 250th blog post, and I have run out of cards to blog. From now on I will blog as I add new cards to the collection, so this blog is going to be intermittent. (I took my first break last Sunday after 246 daily posts.) Of course if someone sends me a large number of cards I don't have, I will take up the daily schedule again!

One card only - Mystique!

Every so often I browse an eBay seller and almost inevitably I find a Fleer card range from the turn of the century that I'd never encountered before. And that's the short account of how I ended up with a Fleer Mystique card.

Card Number 467: Fleer Mystique, 1999; #68

In terms of unusual choices for photos on a baseball card, this one of Tony doing an impression of a pitcher is noteworthy.

As you can guess from the scan quality, the card front is shiny. It's also got the set name emblazoned across the background.

The card back is vaguely futuristic with its graduated silver sheen.

The factoid compiler has pulled out a selection of stats from the 1997 season that shows just how Tony peaked that season. It was his most productive in terms of hits, homers and RBI - in fact it was the only season he topped 100 RBI.

Although it's not numbered, this card is listed as a Short Print on Trading Card Database, but it was a cheap add to my eBay order, so I don't think it was that short a short print run.

Total: 467 cards

Triple Tuesday - three cards that look the same from DonRuss

These are cards from 2018. DonRuss is now part of the Panini stable of brands. This means more recent DonRuss cards feature players but aren't allowed to mention the teams for whom they play.

I'm not sure about the logic of including retired players in their base sets, but it seems to be a more common practice now. I'm not complaining. It's more cards for the collection.

Card Number 48: DonRuss, 2018; #165 

Nothing hugely exciting about the front.

Bit of an odd blurb on the back, talking about Tony tasting World Series glory late on in his career.

But DonRuss weren't done with Tony in 2018.

Card Number 49: DonRuss, 2018; #165 (Short Print)

The difference on the front is that it just says 'Gwynn' instead of 'Tony Gwynn'.

The back has a black baseball top left, instead of white. Actually, I like the way they have done this to denote a short print. Makes it a lot easier to spot them if you pull them from a pack.

But DonRuss still weren't done.

Card Number 50: DonRuss Optic, 2018; #131

I'm not sure how well that has come out. Optic is the DonRuss equivalent of Topps Chrome. This is a very shiny version of the same card as the DonRuss flagship base cards.

The information on the back reads exactly the same as the flagship base cards as well. The card has a different number, Tony moving about 60 spots up the set order, and the Optic logo is in the middle.

That's your triple Tuesday!

Total: 50/394
We've hit the half century!