Appreciation: 1988 Topps Jay Baller

1988 was an especially good year if you happen to like awkward headshots and closeups. More than a handful of guys got traded at the end of 1987 and were rewarded with lousy airbrush jobs. And then there's the case of Jay Baller, who pulled a Warren Brusstar on the unsuspecting Topps photographer, unleashing a lensful of splotchy chest hair, dotted with perhaps the earliest white-guy bling known to man. What is that a pendant of, exactly, a Lincoln-Mercury symbol? Was he bragging about his new Town Car paid for with Tribune money? I can't figure it out. Luckily, I won't have to--this is going to my friend Steve for his birthday as a magnet.

If you, too, want a baseball card magnet, let me know by email.