Reader Luqman thinks he can top Topps. I'll let him tell you about it.
"This one’s rougher than most due to my near total lack of image editing skills, but I think you get the idea. Obviously the text should gradually get larger from left to right on the team name bar, and vice versa on the player name bar, however to do that competently is well beyond my skill level.
A few design points:
1. Since this is base Topps, there is going to be foil somewhere, therefore the player name, position, and Topps logo are in “foil”.
2. In terms of general card design, I like white borders, large pictures, and a splash of color
In terms of grading the design, I think if someone competent worked on the text, this could be a solid Topps design similar to a mix of 1974 and 1980, but at this point it kind of looks more like a marginal improvement on 1990 Fleer."
Not thrilled with the thick white borders of 2008 Topps? Think you could do better if only given the chance. Boy are you in luck. Send me your design and I'll post it on the blog!
I've already received one response to the open call for designs. In fact, the response came merely hours after the post ... Hmmm ... seems like there are those of us out there who've been thinking about this for a while. This design comes from reader Frank. He writes: "It isn't great but its simple and to the point. I tried to somewhat model it after the 1975 set, which is one of my favorites, with the multiple colors at the top and bottom of the card based on team colors."
Barring a major meltdown, Alex Rodriguez will play for the Yankees in 2008. It's also generally accepted that the total compensation of his new deal will eclipse the mammoth contract he signed back in 2001 with the Texas Rangers. And while Rodriguez's new contract will take care of the next ten generations of his family, why did he sign for so much? Is he that insecure about his ability? Or are the Steinbrenners that nervous that he'd jump to a rival? (And for the record, much of the Red Sox fan base hates Rodriguez with such a passion that it would have been a very risky move had the Sox tried to sign him.)
This trade comes in from Scott in New Jersey.
That's right. Scott sent me a stack of cards. And begged that he only get one or two in return. Um, okay. I can live with that. These scans are only the tip of the trade iceberg. In particular, check out the Post cereal cards that are completely non-sensical, not simply because the name of this set is 'First Collector Series,' as if either Post forgot that they created cards in the Sixties (with significantly more licensing) or that they considered these cards for newbie collectors. (As a side note, If I was just starting out collecting baseball cards, I probably would choose a set where I could figure out each player's team, not one that might lead me to believe there were only two teams: blue and red...)
Over the past fifteen years or so, Topps has put a lot of emphasis on their vault, their heritage, and their archives. They've trucked out old cards in new permutations, from straight-up re-issues in the Archives format, to All-Time Fan Favorites, to swapping in active players in the Heritage sets. Any sane person would say that they've really beat this horse into the ground and that they should move on to something else.
As a child, I was a big fan of using the card catalogue at the public library: you found the book you intended to find, but you also found loads of other shit you didn't know you wanted. The same basic idea is behind the SCD ... and is it all right if I just call it 'The SCD,' like a learned scholar or amateur proofreader calls the Oxford English Dictionary 'The OED'? Is that okay? Good. ... You may be looking for the variations of Diamond King in 1984 Donruss, but because everything's all thrown in there together, you also notice that the first ten or so cards after the DKs and Rated Rookies in the 1985 Donruss set are numbered the exact same way as 1984. You don't have that opportunity when things are digital: If you're looking for one thing, you'll find answers on only that one thing. It's the death of browsing, of learning about the hobby by osmosis, as so many of us did.
But this is not what I meant to write about today. About a month ago I won an auction on a lot of 1966 Venezuelan Topps cards. Whoever the young Venezuelan children were who owned these originally really got their money's worth. This card of Jim Bouton is my favorite. In fact, I would say that it's more fun to own a damaged card than it is to own the same in decent condition. It's like having a scar. I mean, who knows how this card of Bauer, Brooksie and Frank got these cool wavy cuts in it. Maybe the card got in a knife fight with a fired-up group of Hell''s Angels, or strung itself out on heroin and couldn't find any more veins.
One last thing about the cards that have been chewed up and spit out of the hobby machine, the ones that hope to be scooped up and given the five star treatment in my Three Ring Binder of Cardboard Pensioners: Damaged cards are more fun, certainly more than anything the hobby can throw out there today. Card companies should put out a product that includes a damaged insert set. I think I may have proposed this a while back, but it's an interesting idea. Companies essentially produce one kind of card: a gem-mint card. But if some cards are pre-damaged, then getting one in great condition, straight outta the pack, will be that much more exciting. Right?