Favorite "in action" cards

[Vintagevault13]

Photos depicting players "in action" were introduced on a large scale in the 1970's and have become the norm for modern cards. What is your favorite action shot from the post-war era? I will start with my personal favorite.




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[JustinD]

Not a question in the world as to my choice on that one -



For disclosure, my scanner is down and mine is not this nice. But it's still a damn nice one, lol.

[PolarBear]

[PolarBear]

[smrtn240]

It seems that the '73 Topps set had a ton of pretty cool action shots on their cards. I always liked this one

[Vintagevault13]

Don,

Nice '73's. While they don't get the love that other sets from the '70's receive, I think the '73 and '74 Topps sets have the best action shots from the decade. (and some of the best ever).


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[Vintagevault13]

Originally Posted by smrtn240

It seems that the '73 Topps set had a ton of pretty cool action shots on their cards. I always liked this one

Great card


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[pclpads]

1962 Bell Brand Willie Davis. Check one out if you've never seen one.

[mrmopar]

So many great action shots of the 70s. 71, 73 and 74 have some great horizontal, multiplayer shots too that are just cool.

Here are 5 that stand out, but are by no means necessarily the best. I prefer something extra in the action shot as well, such as an AS badge or a trophy.

75T Powell gets honorable mention too.

[David W]

Gibson scowling at a batter, and Maxvill channeling his inner Pee Wee Reese.

[stlcardsfan]

That Luis Alvarado card is so bad it is funny..better than a hatless head shot I guess.

[pokerplyr80]

Some great examples but I haven't seen a card with a better looking image than the 53 Reese. My all time favorite.

[PolarBear]

[PolarBear]

Great shot of the marching band.

[PolarBear]

Brooks Robinson crawling through the desert.

[jb67]

Some great in-action cards posted. Here is one of my favorites. Not sure what happened on this play but I love how the dust if flying around and the look that Bench has. To me the look on his face is one of don't mess with the best. He probably tagged someone out at the plate and then threw someone out trying to advance.

[mrmopar]

76T has a bunch of great action cards. That Bench is another of my favorites, but I went with Brock this time. Also love Fosse, Bando and Sanguillen. The A's had a run of great action shots in 73, 74 and 76 and I don't particularly care for them per se!

Oops, brain fart thinking Sanguillen was A's that year, so had to add Oliver and Parker...

[Collectorsince62]

Not pre-'80 but the 1997 Zenith Griffey is one of my favorites.

[Kurri17]

[QUOTE=Vintagevault13;1464848]Photos depicting players "in action" were introduced on a large scale in the 1970's and have become the norm for modern cards. What is your favorite action shot from the post-war era? I will start with my personal favorite.



Great thread. But I will go back to the beginning to say that I don't know that an action shot has ever better depicted the player in it than that '74 Reggie. I mean, that shot IS Reggie. Yeah, I know, it is actually Reggie, but you know what I mean. The fact that he was a horse's rear aside, the card could almost be a patented image, and hey, who more likely to want to patent an image of himself.

That being said, so many of these are great, but that '76 Bench has always been a favorite as far as photo quality, and I think the poster's description is spot on.

[stlcardsfan]

Love that Griffey!

[ALR-bishop]

Sentimental favorite

[Iwantmorecards77]

Wow - that Griffey may belong in the "breathtaking" thread! (not vintage, I know!)

[JollyElm]

Among the many, many great action shots from 1972, I've always loved this Tito Fuentes…

s-l1600.jpg

[kailes2872]

[QUOTE=Kurri17;1465524]

Originally Posted by Vintagevault13

Photos depicting players "in action" were introduced on a large scale in the 1970's and have become the norm for modern cards. What is your favorite action shot from the post-war era? I will start with my personal favorite.



Great thread. But I will go back to the beginning to say that I don't know that an action shot has ever better depicted the player in it than that '74 Reggie. I mean, that shot IS Reggie. Yeah, I know, it is actually Reggie, but you know what I mean. The fact that he was a horse's rear aside, the card could almost be a patented image, and hey, who more likely to want to patent an image of himself.

That being said, so many of these are great, but that '76 Bench has always been a favorite as far as photo quality, and I think the poster's description is spot on.

I also love his '78 and '80 pose. the '78 with the knee on the ground was one of my first memories collecting cards. I was 5 when he had his 3 HR game and I remember opening a pack early the next April with Reggie on top!

[Vintagevault13]

[QUOTE=kailes2872;1465758]

Originally Posted by Kurri17

I also love his '78 and '80 pose. the '78 with the knee on the ground was one of my first memories collecting cards. I was 5 when he had his 3 HR game and I remember opening a pack early the next April with Reggie on top!

Those Reggies are also some of my favorites. His swing was like no other. I talked my mom into letting me stay up to watch the 6th game of the 1977 Series. Watching Reggie hit those 3 homers is one of my favorite memories. Incredible performance. The 3rd homer was a MONSTER shot.


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[mrmopar]

Beat me to it. 78T Reggie is THE Reggie card.

[QUOTE=kailes2872;1465758]

Originally Posted by Kurri17

I also love his '78 and '80 pose. the '78 with the knee on the ground was one of my first memories collecting cards. I was 5 when he had his 3 HR game and I remember opening a pack early the next April with Reggie on top!

[MCoxon]

[QUOTE=mrmopar;1465782]Beat me to it. 78T Reggie is THE Reggie card.

100% agree. Top 20 hobby card, not just Reggie Card

[Exhibitman]

[mrmopar]

A couple great 74T FB cards, including one of my favorite FB images of all time:

Fran Tarkenton!

Like BB, FB had a lot of great action shots starting around 73 (72 IA subsets count I suppose) into the early 80s when it became commonplace.

[Kurri17]

Oh man this thread is in my wheelhouse. Great call on the '78 Reggie. Heck, a lot of great Yankee action shots in that '78 set. That '74 Tarkenton has always puzzled me. I distinctly remember my Mom coming home one day with a few packs for me and pulling that Tarkenton, and even at age 10 I was like "what the heck?!?", was it airbrush practice day? Don't have a scan of mine handy yet, but I think the '75 Tarkenton is one of the prettiest cards of the '70s as well. Keep 'em coming guys, this is fun for a '70s kid.

[mrmopar]

I know this is baseball and we took it off course, but Fran did get some nice action treatment from Topps in the 70s. My first favorite player.

[Vintagevault13]

Here are two other great ones from 1974.

http://cdn.sportsmemorabilia.com/spo...524913-400.jpg

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/73...61029447de.jpg




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[tschock]

For those who were there back in the day....

Imagine you were buying packs in the late '60s and early '70s. You've just gone through the bland 1970 year of portraits and head shots, World Series and playoff cards notwithstanding as those almost had to be action photos.

It's now 1971 and you go to the corner store to get your first few packs of the new Topps baseball cards. You sit down on the steps, open the first pack and start slowly thumbing through the cards. Del Unser, Vic Davalillo, Skip Pitlock, the usual fare (though I do love the black borders but the backs are crappy, and where are the year-by-year stats?).

Then suddenly BLAM! There it is. The #5 card of Thurman Munson. Talk about a game changer (both the player and the card)! Talk about making a piece of cardboard come alive! It brought the game itself onto the cardboard!

There are a LOT of good action photos, but in my opinion, this one really set the bar and changed the idea of what could be on a player's card.

[PolarBear]

Originally Posted by tschock

Then suddenly BLAM! There it is. The #5 card of Thurman Munson. Talk about a game changer (both the player and the card)! Talk about making a piece of cardboard come alive! It brought the game itself onto the cardboard!

There are a LOT of good action photos, but in my opinion, this one really set the bar and changed the idea of what could be on a player's card.

Totally agree. That is the card I think of as the first great action shot.

[jason.1969]

You guys inspired me to get out my shoebox (seriously). Many seconds of earlier nominations, but here you go.

[mrmopar]

There are just so many to choose from. I think because a majority of the cards from these years were a little less exciting, the action shots stick out for me. I am not excited about newer action cards in the same way, because many of the cards are now action shots.

I actually thought briefly that Len Randle was missing a hand when I saw this card. I was young and easily fooled though.

Most seem to gravitate towards star cards too, but some common players had some great cards too.

[mrmopar]

How about Hostess? Not that many good action shots on those cards, so they really stand out. Here is one of my favorites.

[PolarBear]

Munson about to take a hit on a throw home. You can see the ball coming in the upper right.

[David W]

Originally Posted by PolarBear

Munson about to take a hit on a throw home. You can see the ball coming in the upper right.

Munson also seems to be in the Doug Ault card and Fran Healy cards shown above

[Gr8Beldini]

Originally Posted by PolarBear

Munson about to take a hit on a throw home. You can see the ball coming in the upper right.

Best card in the set (outside of Willie Mays). The only thing that would have made this cooler was if were Thurm's card, instead of Crowley's. Thurm's '73 card kinda sucked.