The 2006 Topps cards are among my favorites, but not because of the fronts. It's the backs that caught my eye, specifically the cartoons on the back. When I was a kid, it seem like every year there were those cartoons on the back of the card. They gave you the chance to learn some interesting fact about the player, along with a cheesy cartoon. And I loved them! Cartoons were a Topps design staple throughout my childhood. The only year they were missing was in 1971, when a picture of the player replaced the cartoon.
But times changed and the last set to feature cartoons was the 1982 set, until Topps brought them back in 2006. Too bad it was one and done; the cartoons haven't been seen on the base cards since.
I went through the 2006 Cubs and picked out six players: Michael Barrett, Derrek Lee, Corey Patterson, Juan Pierre, Geovany Soto, and Todd Walker. Then I scanned in their cartoon, but removed their name.
You job is to Name that Cub!
Match up the player with the correct cartoon and win nothing but the satisfaction of knowing that you have exceptional knowledge of a really lousy 66-win team.
1
2
3
4
5
6
I'll post the answers tomorrow, along with another round, this time the 1970 Cubs.
Good Luck!
By now many of you have already seen the pictures of 2012 cards that Topps released.
The design is fairly simple and I like that. Truly, the design isn't super-important to me. A good or bad design has never kept me from buying the cards. I'm a collector, and I collect Topps baseball cards. Good, bad, or ugly, I'll collect them.
But I don't have to keep going after the inserts. I said early this year that I wouldn't chase the inserts, and then I caved and bought a ton. In 2012 it will be easy to stay away from the inserts. As is their custom, Topps keeps going to the well and kills a good idea. The platinum anniversary cards were an interesting item for their diamond anniversary. Since people liked them, of course Topps has to bring back a variation the next year. 2012's will be golden. I thought gold was for 50th anniversaries, not 61st. For me in 2012 it will be base only!
Back to the design....because it is a fairly simple design, that makes it easy for custom cards. I didn't spend much time at all on it, but here is....
Topps 2012 Darwin Barney. We'll find out in February just how close I got to the real thing.
I thought the Diamond Die Cut cards looked pretty nice, but I didn't really think I would have a chance to get them. You needed code cards and some luck. I had neither: no code cards, since I don't buy wax; no luck since...well, I'm a Cubs fan. What does that tell you about my luck?
But then they started showing up on ebay, and after a while, the prices started dropping. So I put together a checklist of the Cubs. There were five current players: Marlon Byrd, Starlin Castro, Tyler Colvin, Carlos Marmol, and Aramis Ramirez. I figured the Castro was going to be a bit more than the others, and it was. But the Bryd and Colvin cards; they were pretty cheap. It only took two weeks to get all five.
Take a peek:
There are also two Legends that I need to chase down. Ernie Banks was on the original checklist and I have purchased his card. However, the seller didn't have the card in hand, so I have to wait for Topps to ship the card to him, and then him to me. I'll get it posted as soon as I get it.
The second Legend is Ryne Sandberg, Ryno was voted onto the checklist as a part of Topps' Diecut vote-in. I don't believe the card is available yet, though Topps does have a picture of it on their Facebook page. I'm not sure how many are going to be made, but I have a feeling that the Sandberg card is going to be a tough one to get.
For now, I'll just have to live with this fuzzy picture I borrowed from Topps.
I've seen a lot of positive comments about the '75 Mini parallels with Lineage. I like them, too. You can take a look at all of the Cubs first, and then I'll have a few things to say about Topps' re-creation job.
These first two have different pictures than the base card. I have no idea why the pictures would be changed. I don't believe that was something that was done in 1975. I've got the original Cubs '75 mini set and they are all identical to the regular sized cards.
The rest of the cards have the same picture.
As far as the color combinations, it was:
Orange/Yellow: 4
Yellow/Blue: 2
Green/Yellow: 1
Orange/Blue: 1
Yellow/Orange: 1
Now, about the way these were made...
First, the "CUBS" font is not the same.
The '75 is on top, Lineage underneath
The C on the Lineage cards is rounded, while the original C has a flat part. Same with the S, more rounded with Lineage than the originals. It seems like every time Topps recreates older cards, the fonts are not identical to the original. I don't understand that.
The next problem is the size of the cards. The Lineage cards are about 1/8" narrower than the '75s. They did match the heights, but why not the width. Doesn't anyone at Topps own a ruler?
While Topps did match the height, they didn't match the size of the two color pieces. You can see that the top color is shorter on the Lineage mini.
Finally, Topps changed the way the infield positions were labeled. On the '75s, it was "2nd Base" while with Lineage it was "Second Baseman".
All of these inconsistencies drive me nuts. If you're going to re-create a card, why make changes?
I remember back in April when the sell sheet for Lineage came out thinking that this could be interesting. Then I completely forgot about it. Fast forward to August and there are cards popping up on ebay and a few blog posts about it. Oh yeah, I thought, I suppose I should look at getting a Cubs set.
I was able to pick up a Cubs set for only a couple bucks. There are nine Cubs on the 200 card checklist. With 30 teams, the average should be 6-7 cards, so the Cubs come in a little high. Of the nine, three are Hall of Famers. And Topps has given Ernie Banks the day off, though they seem to be now on a Dawson and Sandberg kick.
A nice shot of Sandberg turning a double play against the Reds
Dawson taking a cut at an empty Wrigley Field.
Fergie in a vintage pitchers' pose from 1972. The team logo in the bottom left is different than what is on more modern players' cards. I suppose Topps wanted a logo from the player's era. Unfortunately, they picked the wrong one. That red C is just as appropriate today as it was in 1972. Instead, Topps should have gone with....
...this one. This is what the Cubs logo looked like up through the late '70s.
Next, of the six current players, four are still with the Cubs
....one is in Cleveland
....and one is in limbo
I'm not overwhelmed by Lineage, but I'm not underwhelmed either. "OK" is the best way to describe it. There are lots of cool inserts that replicate inserts from the '60s, but there aren't any Cubs on any of those checklists. The best feature of the entire product is the '75 minis and I'll have those tomorrow.
There are lots of bloggers, including me, that like to play the "Name the Game" game. You look at the action on a baseball card and try to figure out the actual game situation on the card. If there is a scoreboard in the the background, that makes it very easy. If you just have players pictured, it makes things a bit tougher.
But I never noticed that in 1997 Upper Deck made the game a snap to play. On the bottom of the cards, they had a description that went with the picture. And many mentioned the game the from which the picture was taken.
Here is Brian McRae stirring up trouble against the Reds on April 17, 1996. It looks like he is diving back to first on a pickoff play. That would make this the first or fourth inning, when he walked in each.
In the same game, Bret Boone tried to score from second on a single to left, but was thrown out at the plate by Luis Gonzalez. It looks like it wasn't even close, as Scott Servais had the ball and is just waiting for Boone to collide with him.
Rey Sanchez is all smiles after the Cubs beat the Mets on May 12. Sanchez had a bunt single and a walk in four at bats, though each time he was stranded on base as the next batter, pitcher Jim Bullinger, struck out.
Upper Deck did a really nice job with this, and I wish that Topps would do the same thing today.
