Blog Archives
Fun Cards: 1987 Topps Chris Cornell
I’m still processing the news from last Thursday. Chris Cornell, lead singer of one of the greatest bands ever from Seattle (sit down, Nirvana, you’re not even in this conversation), allegedly took his own life after a concert in Detroit Wednesday night. Soundgarden was scheduled to play several shows through the end of this month, and was reportedly halfway through writing songs for a new album.
You never know what is going through someone’s mind, even when they are seemingly sitting on top of the world. Please, friends, take care of yourselves emotionally. If you are struggling, seek assistance. Every prescription does not affect every person the same way, and the side effects are more pronounced in some. Work closely with your doctor to get things straightened out, get on the medication (if that’s necessary) that works best for you, and don’t ignore the warnings.
Take a closer look…1987 Bo Jackson vs. 2010 “Yo Mama” Bo
In 2010, Topps produced a special insert set called “Cards Your Mother Threw Out.” Those cards became affectionately known as “Yo Mama” cards to collectors everywhere. I loved pulling cards of older players that I watched growing up, including several Hall of Famers. One of my favorites was Bo Jackson, who didn’t make the Hall of Fame, but was one of the most entertaining athletes on the baseball diamond and the football gridiron.
But take a closer look, side-by-side, at Bo’s 1987 issue and the 2010 insert. Notice any differences?
First off, the photo quality on the reprint is downright awful. It looks like it has been printed by a low-quality laser printer. I suppose Topps no longer owns the negative? But beyond that, what are the other differences? Start in the upper left hand corner…
The team logo is different! According to Chris Creamer’s SportsLogos.net, the Royals used the logo on the left (the 1987 card) until 2001, and on the right (the 2010 insert) beginning in 2002. I have not looked at other reprints to see if their logos have been changed as well, but I imagine they have.
Now move down to the bottom left of the card…
The Topps logo is an iconic identifier, but in 2010 they partially covered it with the “Future Stars” banner. The original is on the right, with the circled (R), while the reprint is on the left, with no trademark or copyright symbol.
But there is a lot more going on at the bottom of the card…
The original is on top, the reprint on the bottom. Immediately one notices the slight color change in the nameplate, and the difference in the font thickness. The border is slightly different as well, with the star from the “Future Stars” extending further to the right. But look behind the “Future Stars”…notice anything missing? The bottom of the fence has been Photoshopped out of the picture! I’m not sure what the reasoning is behind that move, except to make Bo look closer to the fence than in the original.
Not only was the fence removed from the picture, the stripe on Bo’s leg is altered ever-so-slightly. Instead of curving to the right with his leg, it’s curving to the left. I found that rather odd.
I was quite surprised to see so many differences between the original and the so-called “reprint.” Do you see more? Have you noticed any of these things on other official Topps reprints?
George Foster’s Career in the Eyes of Topps (and a couple of fun cards to boot)
Inspired by Wrigley Wax’s Tile Tuesday series, I decided to feature all of George Foster‘s Topps cards from his career (excluding subsets such as League Leaders) in tile form…
Foster began his Topps career in 1971 as a “Rookie Star” with Mike Davison, whose final big league game was in October of 1970. After being traded to the Reds for Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert, Foster became an integral part of the Big Red Machine, primarily manning left field but also spending some time in right and center. His 1977 MVP season was one of the best of the decade, hitting 52 home runs (when 50 actually meant something) and driving in 149, compiling an 8.4 WAR in the process. Foster was traded before the 1982 season to the New York Mets for Greg Harris, Jim Kern and Alex Trevino, but he was a shadow of his former self in the Big Apple. In August 1986, Foster was released by the Mets and signed eight days later with the Chicago White Sox. He played only fifteen games in the south side, and Topps failed to produce any cards of the once great slugger in a White Sox uniform.
There have been a handful of custom cards made by bloggers to represent Foster as he might have appeared in the 1986 Topps Traded set. I made a pathetic attempt in 2008. Steve at White Sox Cards did a much better job using an actual photograph in 2009, though the only photo he could find was tiny. Dick Allen Hall of Fame went above and beyond with his Photoshop skills last year.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a couple more photos of Foster wearing the White Sox uniform, so I decided to do a new 1986 Topps Traded as well as a 1987 Topps Final Tribute.
Now had I thought of it earlier, I would have also included Foster’s appearance in Topps’ 1990 Senior Baseball set in the tile. Oh well, at least I thought to link to it before hitting the “publish” button.
(BTW, to give credit where credit is due, that 1987 Topps font comes courtesy of The Phillies Room.)
Cards from GCRL
I recently sent GCRL a few Dodgers and double play cards, and he sent back a few Reds cards. Three I needed, and one I could never have enough off. The latter first…
1987 Topps Eric Davis. A classic card, a card every kid in Cincinnati owned and wanted more of. Of course, since 1987 Topps was so abundant, it wasn’t difficult to stock up on these puppies. I can just imagine Kal Daniels standing next to Eric the Red, with #44 explaining, “This is a baseball, Kalvoski. If you hit it, they pay you lots of money and the people love you. If you go into a slump, Cincinnati will hate you and demand that you be traded.”
We go next to 1970, and another card crossed off my wantlist…
1970 Topps Al Jackson. The famous (infamous?) 1970 set with all the hatless and black-hatted dudes and hideous gray borders. Seriously, who thought this was a nice design? Jackson didn’t play in 1970; his career ended in 1969 after appearing in 33 games for the Redlegs. He also played for the Pirates, Mets, and Cardinals.
The third card looks like 1972, but is actually 2003…
2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Joe Morgan. These things are getting more and more difficult to keep up with. You can’t just look at the last year of stats on the back anymore; now you have to get out your magnifying glass and find the copyright date. I love retro cards, but maybe Heritage is enough? I don’t know.
Finally, speaking of retro…
2013 Topps Archives Mat Latos (1990 style). I’m a 1990 Topps apologist. I think it is the best looking set of that year (not that the competitors were very good). Sure, it could have been better (check out Uncle Doc’s Redefine the Design post), but I liked it back then and I still like it today. I like the color coordination on Latos’ card with the red border. That was probably the thing that bugged me the most. Chris Sabo shouldn’t be on a purple-bordered card. He just shouldn’t.
All in all great selection of cards. Thanks Jim!
Foreign football cards
While trying to find a Turk Schonert football card (and failing…do any exist?), I made an interesting discovery. I stumbled across this article on boston.com mentioning Schonert, and displaying this non-Schonert card, which looks like a 1987 Topps issue, but there are some small differences.
Underneath the team banner, there is a small strip that says “1000 Yard Club,” and the Patriots logo is shown in a circle in the bottom right corner. I have never seen a card like this before, and I hate not knowing stuff, so I started scouring the internet for information. A Google image search for “1987 Topps Stanley Morgan” produced two main results: Morgan’s 1987 base card with a different photo, and Morgan’s 1987 glossy 1000 Yard Club insert card with the same photo as the card to the right. Surely no one went to all the trouble to switch out the photos, add a strip under the team name, and add the team logo to the front of the card, did they?
Nope.
In 1987, Topps released a set of American football cards for the UK market with these variations and a slightly smaller size. There were only a few cards per team (88 cards total) and some of the cards do feature the same photo as their North American counterparts, while others trade out the regular photo for the glossy insert photo. The card backs are different as well, showing only the previous year’s statistics, facts about the player, and some information about the game of football. For instance, Rueben Mayes‘ card educates the UK collector about the “power sweep” play.
You can pick up a complete set on eBay for only $69.99, or hand-pick your favorites from sportlots.com; many of them can be had for as low as eighteen cents plus shipping (click on the “football” radio button and search for “1987 Topps American/UK”). Had I made this discovery a week ago, I would have purchased the four Bengals included in the set: Boomer Esiason, James Brooks, Cris Collinsworth, and Tim McGee.
But no Turk Schonert.
I feel a “fun card” coming on.
Countdown to ’52 Challenge… (1986)
The first trade has been completed and I now own a virtual 1986 Topps Rob Picciolo!
Now we need to turn Mr. Picciolo into a 1985 Topps card…any 1985 Topps card! Make me an offer I can’t refuse at toppsmillion.com!
Let’s turn a 1987 card into a 1952 card…one year at a time.
Is it even possible? I got one Topps Million Card Giveaway code, and cashed it in for this beautiful 1987 Topps Jeff Stone card…
A mighty fine card, but one that I already own. So I thought, what if I could trade it for a 1986 card…any 1986 card. And then trade that 1986 card for any 1985 card. And 1985 for 1984…and so on, all the way to 1952.
Wanna help me out? Just make an offer to trade any 1986 card for this 1987 Topps Jeff Stone card at toppsmillion.com, and I will accept the offer and post an update. Ready, set…GO!
I’m making an offer you can’t refuse…
That’s right folks, you can have an original 1987 Topps Jeff Stone! If you are the lucky person who unlocked the 1956 Mickey Mantle, then Jeff Stone can be yours! Just accept my offer… *waving hand like Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope*
The Bengals are done
Words cannot possibly express how much I really don’t care. I tried to get into it, and for a while I was caught up in the excitement of the Cardiac Cats. But when all is said and done, I don’t care. Football just doesn’t do it for me. Baseball is what it’s all about. BRING ON SPRING!
Here are the rest of the Bengals (’87 Style) cards that I never got a round to posting during the season…
To see the full gallery, you can click here.
That’s it folks. I will probably do another edition of current Bengals on old cards next season, just because there is no baseball to fuss about. But until then…R-E-D-S…R-E-D-S…R-E-D-S…
