Then again, I was also really ticked; Boo Topps!
Let's start with the good stuff.
One thing I constantly harp on is the re-use of pictures on cards of the retired guys. While I understand that there is a limited pool of pictures to choose from, I wish Topps would stop using the same pictures over and over.
Well, with two of the three retired Cubs in Archives, Topps used pictures that I have never seen before on any card. That is fantastic!
Look at this picture of Ernie Banks at Wrigley Field. Home whites, scoreboard in the background...this picture is awesome. And its not on any of the 371 cards of Ernie Banks in my collection. This is a great find for Topps....just please don't have it show up on the next 20 Ernie Banks cards.
Fergie's card is another new find. I have 84 cards of Fergie and none have this picture. I can say without hesitation that the picture is from 1971 and that it was taken in Candlestick Park. Look over his left shoulder and you can see the expansion project at Candlestick. The same thing showed up on many cards in the 1972 set.
These cards show a few other angles of the in-season construction at Candlestick as the ballpark was expanded to accommodate the '49ers.
This is the picture that Topps chose to use for the 1972 set, a shot from spring training. I like the Candlestick picture more that what they used.
So, now that I've shown Topps some love, it's time to do some bashing. Sadly, its the modern players that they messed up; messed up big time.
Take a look
The picture on the Archives card is the same one that's on the factory team set, and presumably will be on his card in series two. The different cropping isn't fooling anyone.
Lake's got the same picture from both Turkey Red and Heritage.
Why on earth would Topps be reusing pictures of any modern player?
The only two reasons I can come up with aren't flattering: cheap and lazy.
Can anyone come up with a flattering reason for Topps to be reusing pictures?
Those Banks and Jenkins will now be used on 7-9 of the next 10 releases featuring them...
ReplyDeleteAnd for what it's worth, I like the crop job better on the Archives Fujikawa than his factory team set.
I think Charlie Brown said it best when he said "AUUUUUUUGH!!!!"
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw that faux 1973 card, I didn't even see the photo at first. The first thing I saw was the wrong colors being used for the player name; "FERGIE JENKINS" should be in red, and "CHICAGO CUBS" should be in blue. And -- WHAT THE--?? The position is supposed to be all capitals! What the hell are they doing????
The player's name on the 1989 cards should be centered, not left-justified. The 1986 cards should have "CUBS" and the little position circle in red.
...Not to mention that there was a nearly-identical photo of Fujikawa in Heritage.
I'm telling you, this is not making me want to run out and buy Archives.
Cheap, Lazy, I think that covers it perfectly. At a time when photography literally costs nothing, Topps treats it as if each picture is sacred. Even if it is a neat picture like the Fujikawa, no one wants to see it over and over and over again.
ReplyDelete