Fun Cards: Topps Now TBTC for April 10

I had my doubts about Topps Now “Turn Back the Clock” cards when they were first announced. But honestly, I loved them as soon as I saw the first one. Not enough to buy them (unless there is a really cool Reds card), but the basic concept and design are better than I expected. Hopefully, Topps will go deeper than your standard Hall of Famers (such as Tom Seaver and Randy Johnson) and super popular players (like Dwight Gooden and Bryce Harper). But if they don’t, there are always custom card makers.

I created SIX different Topps Now TBTC cards for today…all Reds, of course. It was difficult to find era-accurate photos for some, but I did change up the team logo on each card to represent the proper era.

Did you know that Wally Post hit the first-ever home run in the first-ever game at Dodger Stadium? It happened April 10, 1962, in the seventh inning; the Reds won the game 6-3.

Would this have been a Topps Now card, if Topps Now cards existed in 1967? Probably not, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a “fun card” of the underrated Vada Pinson.

Another one that probably would not have been on the Topps Now radar at the time, but in hindsight, it was an easy decision to include Don Gullett‘s debut in this virtual run-down of important events in Reds history.

Another Opening Day home run? Of course! This one comes from Tony Perez in 1968. Tommy Helms also homered that day.

Now we’re talking. When is the last time you saw a new Nick Esasky card in a Topps product? A grand slam and a triple in 1984 may have made the cut for a Topps Now card.

If I were a betting man (which I’m not), I’d say this would be Topps’ choice for a TBTC card today. I don’t know for sure, especially since Ken Griffey Jr. already has a card in the series, but this seems like a safe bet.

I don’t know if I will create cards for each day of the year. I’ve got a lot of stuff going on right now, and this is just a hobby. But I had fun coming up with these six cards for April 10!

Stay safe out there, and don’t forget to wash your hands!

Trading with Chewing Liquorice

I recently completed a trade with Chewing Liquorice. For a stack of Expos, he sent back a treasure trove of Reds cards, many of which I had never seen, including a ton of Conlon cards from 1992-1994. This one commemorates one of Johnny Vander Meer‘s no-hitters…

These cards are fantastic as they help to keep the old stories alive, allowing us to learn about players that we never had the privilege to see.

There were a lot of other historical cards in the bunch, too. There were some 1991 Topps Archives, which were reprints of the 1953 Topps set. And some reprints of the 1954 Topps set, which I assume were released in 1992. They are not on my master checklist, so I will have to research them a little bit more to find out for sure, but they are exactly like the 1991 reprint set with glossy cardstock. Here’s the Ed Bailey card from that set:

All of the old players weren’t on newer or reprinted cards, though. Geoffrey threw in some fantastic vintage cards of Reds Hall of Famers and Baseball Hall of Famers, such as Wally Post, Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, and an O-Pee-Chee Joe Morgan:

So many cool cards were in this package, I can’t even begin to show them all. Buddy Bell, Ted Kluszewski, Reggie Sanders…

I don’t remember the Action Packed baseball cards at all!

And a whole slew of George Foster awesomeness…

That last item is particularly cool. The Ted Williams Company made pogs that you could punch out and included them in their baseball card packs. This is something I have never seen before…but that just goes along with the rest of the package!

There was a lot of other great stuff in the package, from Johnny Bench to Joe Nuxhall to Ernie Lombardi to Barry Larkin…love it, love it, love it!

If you have some Expos to get rid off, you need to contact Chewing Liquorice and work out a deal. He’s a great trader!

2009 Topps Wally Post

Another popular player from the 1950s Reds teams, Wally Post made his mark in 1955 when he smacked 40 home runs. No, in this day, 40 isn’t a huge number. But back in Post’s day…it wasn’t much either. At least not in ’55. Post was sixth in the National League with those 40 dingers. Willie Mays (51), Ted Kluszewski (47), Ernie Banks (44), Duke Snider (42), and Eddie Mathews (41) all had more round-trippers than Wally. The next year, 1956, Post hit 36 out of the park, good for 5th on the NL list. That same year, three other Reds (Frank Robinson, Big Klu, and Gus Bell) also finished among the top ten home run hitters in the senior circuit.

Despite his phenomenal numbers those two seasons, Post never went to the All-Star Game. He was voted to start in 1957 along with six other Redlegs. The commish stepped in and said, “The fans are stupid and they can’t vote no more.” Post was removed from the team, while Gus Bell was sent to the bench; Hank Aaron and Willie Mays were awarded starting spots in their places.

Retiring in 1963, Post was ushered into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1965.

By my calculations, there are only three more cards to post after this Post (yeah, bad pun). One started his career in the 1970s with the Reds, one made his big league debut in the 1980s for the Reds, and the third started in the 1980s also, but not with the Reds. If you look at the names to the left and think about who some of my favorites are, it shouldn’t be difficult to figure out the final three.