Names of the Game

One of my favorite baseball names from the late 1980s.

Martinezeses

Edgar Martinez, 1987 Fleer

Hi Edgar!

CASE OF THE MONDAYS? LOL. Seriously though you look great. This is a great card, very pleasurable to look at with my eyes.

 Did you know?

... Cousin Carmelo Martinez plays for San Diego organization ...

I was wondering if that was the case but I didn't want to seem racist. There are a lots of Martinezes out there, and I can't just go assuming Carmelo and Edgar are cousins because that is racist. That is cool though that they are. They probs see each other on Thanksgiving and Carmelo's like, "How's life in quadruple A?" Then Edgar's like, "Why don't you have another turkey leg you fat cow?" cause Carmelo's kind of big, and Carmelo's like, "Thought you'd at least trim up the loose ends of the mullet for the holidays, what gives?" All of this is said in Spanish, by the way, and all in good fun, all in good fun. Typical Martinezeses Thanksgiving.

... First ML hit was a triple during 1987 season.

Of course I knew that you a$$hole. What do I look like, an a$$hole that doesn't know about things?

Oh man speaking of racist.

"LOOKS LIKE THE ALL-STAR BREAK IS HERE, BETTER TAKE A THREE-DAY NAP ON A HAMMOCK." - Edgar Martinez

Hey, Fleer - why don't you put a sombrero on him and tilt it over his face? Sheesh. (Yes, I realize Edgar Martinez is of Puerto Rican descent, not Mexican. Still, Fleer is racist.) However, it DOES seem like the nap worked, so there is that.

Anyhoo, Edgar Martinez would go on to have an aiiiiiight career, and, judging by this card, aged in reverse like Benjamin Buttons. He is now a little baby.

Also he has a website. It's official, so don't go thinking it's one of those Edgar Martinez parody sites.

"On the field, I got to play the game I loved, but supporting my community has always been a passio-- and so on and so forth. Please enter your email address to receive news from Edgar Martinez.

He also had one of the sweetest right-handed swings you - yes, YOU - will ever see. That beautiful swing was best captured here, on this card:

Braveheart

 Alex Cole, 1991 Fleer Ultra

Outfielder Alex Cole looked off into the distance. The enemy troops were fast approaching. "It's okay," Alex Cole thought. "I have my bats."

Alex Cole envisioned a world of freedom, where it didn't matter if you were a position player or a pitcher, black or white, man or horse, gay or super gay or even straight, whatevs. Like he himself had written on his nation's "Declaration of Things," "This should be a place where everyone can just chill. Peace out, - AC."

But the enemy (Hater Nation) didn't want to chill. They wanted to fight. Alex Cole was cool with that, too. Because Alex Cole was a triple threat.

He could get mad, take a hack (with a bat or axe).

He could rest on one knee and observe (like a general).

He could bunt.

So on that fateful day, as a nation looked on with both hope and trepidation, its leader, outfielder Alex Cole, turned around to speak, his imposing presence amidst the backdrop of a partly cloudy sky.

"Gentleman," he began, " ... and chickenheads HOLLA just playin'. For real though - today is a day that will live on in history, the day we stood our ground and earned our everlasting freedom once and for all! So grab your bats, make sure your wraparound glasses are super-tight, and let's do this, son! Also, if anything should happen out there - like if this gets out of control and sh*t goes DOWN - my hat says No. 2. So somebody find it and bury me with it, aiiiiight?"

Card vs. Card - May 2

The Cards: 1987 Donruss Rated Rookie Bo Jackson vs. 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations Frank Thomas

Bo knows victory: 21-6

The Lost Awkwardness of the Combo Card

1964 Topps "Bill's Got It"

The combo card just ain't what it used to be. Used to be, a group of players would stand around on the sidelines either before a game (most often the All-Star Game or during spring training) or during practice, and awkwardly pose with members of their own or another team. Included in every Topps set from 1957 through 1969 (with the exception of 1965), nearly every Fleer set from 1982 on, Upper Deck sets from 1990 to 1993, and random other sets (including 1960 Leaf), combo cards were exciting to receive in a pack, pushing collectors to further idolize players on their favorite teams. The photos were posed, and the titles were usually clumsy alliterations or hackneyed exposition — to entice the collector to flip the card and read the description on the back (see "Bill's Got It," 1964 Topps). The writing was usually terrible, and the connection between the players weak or nonexistent (many writers have highlighted this with great success, including Mike Kenny, our talented and hilarious contributor here at The Baseball Card Blog).

Still, it was something to get a combo card. It showed the manufacturer — and the players themselves — had a playful side, that baseball wasn't all business. We wanted our heroes to take the game as seriously as we did, but we also wanted to know they knew how to joke around. It's this idea — separation of business and pleasure — that made the combo card important to their respective sets.

2007 Topps "Classic Combo"

For Topps, the sets that included combo cards were mostly endless oceans of faces. And once the regular player photo moved off the sidelines and the action shot became de rigueur (around 1970–1972), the posed-combo-card playfulness disappeared. What makes this interesting is that when Topps re-introduced the combo card in its flagship sets beginning in 2006, the manufacturer brought it back as another vehicle for its action photography. The new Topps "Classic Combos" lack the very essence of what made those earlier examples so exciting: the inherent awkwardness of posing for a photograph as a couple or a group.

Collectors' brains are now tuned to action shots—action is all we see on sports cards. But awkwardly posed groups of players, often together for only that one photograph? You rarely see that these days. It seems like everything's scripted; that when not playing, players are ushered from one place to another by people with clipboards and headsets.

1963 Topps (left); 2012 Topps Heritage (right)

This last bit is important for how the combo-card concept has been approached in Topps Heritage sets. The Heritage brand emulates the original vintage Topps sets of the 1950s and 1960s. For combo cards, that means the awkwardness of the posed sideline group. Because of tight schedules or whatever other reason, however, players are hardly ever photographed together for Heritage sets. Instead, their images are layered over each other during production to create the illusion that they posed together. Or—and here it is again—an in-game action shot is used.

2007 Topps Heritage "World Series Batting Foes" - layered images

So to celebrate the lost awkwardness of the combo card, see below for some of my favorites. And make sure to check out The Baseball Card Blog's Facebook page for another combo card I'd like to see.

Cardboard Fenway: 1984 Fleer Rich Gedman

Cardboard Fenway - #87. 1984 Fleer Rich Gedman

Look at that bored Fenway crowd! The Sox must've been losing, which is not hard to imagine for the 1983 Red Sox.

Cardboard Fenway: 1981 Fleer "400 Home Run Club" Carl Yastrzemski

Cardboard Fenway - #72. 1981 Fleer "400 Home Run Club" Carl Yastrzemski

Great shot of the visitor's dugout behind Yaz here.

Cardboard Fenway: 1985 Fleer Jim Rice

Cardboard Fenway - #80. 1985 Fleer Jim Rice

Here's Jim Ed tracking a fly in the outfield at Fenway.

Cardboard Fenway: 1983 Fleer John Tudor

Cardboard Fenway - #82. 1983 Fleer John Tudor

Looks like a hit-and-run play in the works. Also, does Tudor have a mustache in this photo? I can't tell.

Cardboard Fenway: 1981 Fleer Don Zimmer

Cardboard Fenway - #79. 1981 Fleer Don Zimmer

I'm really hoping The Gerbil is in attendance for today's festivities. Perhaps he and Pedro can do a waltz.

Cardboard Fenway: 1984 Fleer Gary Allenson

Cardboard Fenway - #66. 1984 Fleer Gary Allenson

Remember when Fenway Park didn't sell out for every home game? Me too.

Cardboard Fenway: 1984 Fleer Rick Miller

Cardboard Fenway - #78. 1984 Fleer Rick Miller

Rick's in a hurry around those base paths. Also, check out how few people are in the bleachers in right field.

Cardboard Fenway: 1982 Fleer Bill Campbell

Cardboard Fenway - #28. 1982 Fleer Bill Campbell

Here's Bill with the Green Monster and light tower behind him. Even in closeup, the photography in this set is horrible.

Cardboard Fenway: 1984 Fleer John Tudor

Cardboard Fenway - #27. 1984 Fleer John Tudor

I never understood why the Red Sox unloaded John Tudor. Here he is with the centerfield bleachers behind him.

Cardboard Fenway: 1959 Fleer Ted Williams "1941 – All Star Hero"

Cardboard Fenway - #45. 1959 Fleer Ted Williams "1941 – All Star Hero"

Here's Ted crossing home after smacking a homer in 1941's All-Star Game. While not at Fenway, Williams wore his home whites, as the game was played in Detroit.

Cardboard Fenway: 1987 Fleer Dave Henderson

Cardboard Fenway - #61. 1987 Fleer Dave Henderson

Dave Henderson is one of those ballplayers who will forever be known to Red Sox fans, but probably not to too many others. And, like Dave Roberts nearly 20 years later, he is known for really only one or two meaningful moments.

Cardboard Fenway: 1986 Fleer Rich Gedman

Cardboard Fenway - #15. 1986 Fleer Rich Gedman

I didn't mean to bunch two Gedmans so close together, but here we are. And that's the right-field grandstand and bleachers behind him.

Cardboard Fenway: 1982 Fleer Joe Rudi

Cardboard Fenway - #18. 1982 Fleer Joe Rudi

Joe Rudi was one of those guys the Red Sox got about 10 years too late. Granted, they tried to get him as early as 1975, but still... Here he is on the field with the red Fenway box seats behind him.

Cardboard Fenway: 1991 Fleer ProVision Mike Greenwell

Cardboard Fenway - #51. 1991 Fleer ProVision Mike Greenwell

This might be the first card ever made that tried to give a persona to the Green Monster. Easily pre-dates the silly "Wally the Green Monster" mascot by about 10 years. Also, I always found this card confusing, in that Greenwell's nickname was fairly well known, and it was not "Green Monster's Friend." It was "Gator." So I always thought that Fleer was trying to rename the Wall as "The Green Gator."

Cardboard Fenway: 1986 Fleer Roger Clemens

Cardboard Fenway - #58. 1986 Fleer Roger Clemens

Here's the Rocket pitching during a game in 1985. Notice the rangy infielder behind him kind of looks like Marty Barrett.