Show a Card that is 'Shocking' (whatever that means to you personally)...
 

Show a card that just rocks your world in a strange way for whatever reason, and explain why it does.

Here's mine:
This is Johnny Keane. He was born in November 1911, which means if this picture was taken during the 1965 season, HE WAS ONLY 53 YEARS OLD at the time...but since the uniform indicates the photo shows him as a member of the Cardinals, it could've been taken anytime between 1961-1964, meaning he was years younger than that!!

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Feeling old yet??? I shudder.

Well he only lived until he was 56 and barely made it to 1967 so life definitely took a toll on him.

To me, this card is shocking one because of what I paid for it ($125, paper loss / tape on the back...) but mainly because I never thought I'd own one again. Picked up in December. As a kid in the 1980's I had a nice one that also had paper loss on the back, but I traded it away for something...

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Wow, ol' Johnny is only a year older than me...haha...he looks 77 at best! Hard life for sure...

That's a good lookin' 55 Aaron. I've had a few come and go and I feel the same about the one I currently own...I still get giddy on pretty much any Hank Aaron...when I was a kid in the late 70s and early 80s he was my idol and to have his card was about the same as having a Ruth...unobtainable. Seeing an older brother of a buddy who had a wrinkled up 76 card with him as a Brewer seemed outrageous...that kid was a GOD. My first Hank was a 69 Topps card I got when I was 15...I will never forget that...felt like I had arrived...:)




Every time I see this card I just can't believe he let a photographer take his picture with his hair like this, classic hat head. I would have flat out refused!

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I wonder if I can make a fantasy card with a built in taser....

Thank you, I'll be here all the week.:D

This was shocking to us kids:

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And of course:

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Weird card from a serious set. What if it had been Mantle or Mays :)

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I don't know if I find it shocking that someone would trim such iconic sports cards, or that PSA didn't notice.

You think Johnny Keane looked old? Here's Earl Weaver at 58:

Weaver and Keane look like they've been married for decades; you know, just don't give a damn anymore about their appearances.

I’ve always wondered if there’s a story behind this one. Anyone know?

There's a thread about it from 2019, but it doesn't look like they decided on anything.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=273327

Hard to believe Bob Nieman was 35 in 1962. Looks closer to 55 or 65.
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He even looks older in his 61 Topps card. Crazy. Also died young at 58...

I resemble that remark. He looks 85 to me.

I resemble that remark.
Cliff - You are a stooge

I apologize in advance as my photo posting skills are non existent but the 1960 Lou Johnson card is a bit shocking.

Not any particular card, but I think it was shocking for me when I first got into collecting boxing in the 1990's to discover that with very few exceptions (ie. Isaac Murphy), the only black athletes who were ever pictured on Trading cards in America in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, were almost exclusively boxers.

As far as "shocking" baseball cards...I'm having a hard time thinking of anything relevant to me. The Billy Ripken card was more funny, then anything to me.

Maybe when I was a kid and I ran across the 1975 Zoilo Versalles MVP card with Willie Mays....and I loudly said to myself "WHO?"

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/dz4AA...o-0/s-l300.jpg

Other then that, if you go into the Non-Sports card realm...there's some 1938 Gum Inc. "Horrors Of War" cards that are legitimately shocking.

Yeah, I see that.


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Not sure if this qualifies as shocking, but the Moose looks shocked in this card, as though he sees the ghost of Babe Ruth and realize he can never live up to that standard.

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You wouldn't understand unless you're my age (58) give or take. Buying a pack of cards in April '71 and seeing this for the first time. There was never anything like it. All of the other cards are upright. This one is sideways. Never saw an action baseball card before. Topps never made action cards before... and what action! This isn't just some in-game action card. This was truly spectacular. AND (icing on the cake) the trophy! My 7 year old friends were always chasing the trophy guys. We didn't know better. We thought these were the best guys (hence the trophy). Pulling this from a pack and seeing it for the first time was stunning. Editor's note: In case my photo doesn't attach properly, I'm (obviously) speaking of the '71 Munson.

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You wouldn't understand unless you're my age (58) give or take. Buying a pack of cards in April '71 and seeing this for the first time. There was never anything like it. All of the other cards are upright. This one is sideways. Never saw an action baseball card before. Topps never made action cards before... and what action! This isn't just some in-game action card. This was truly spectacular. AND (icing on the cake) the trophy! My 7 year old friends were always chasing the trophy guys. We didn't know better. We thought these were the best guys (hence the trophy). Pulling this from a pack and seeing it for the first time was stunning. Editor's note: In case my photo doesn't attach properly, I'm (obviously) speaking of the '71 Munson.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=...AAAAAdAAAAABAW

What would happen if the card owner sent it to PSA for either a re-grade or just to re-holder the card? Would PSA turn around and now say, "it's not the legit 6 we told you it was. Turns out it's trimmed." PSA authenticated the card and the card was subsequently purchased based on that authentication. Are they liable in any way to the current holder?

PSA thinks not, but it hasn't been court-tested.

Munson is not the only horizontal '71 Topps card. Yes, most were upright - but there are others in that format, I'm not sure how many total - but Rudy May, Bud Harrelson, Jim Fregosi, and Roy White come to mind.

You are correct in that the Munson was the first Topps "action" format card in a set that included them. Topps would go on to use "In Action" photos while returning mostly to portraits for base cards in 1972, and then of course the '73 set is mostly action - with a variety of both good and terrible shots of that genre which make it pretty much it's own animal.

I think he's saying that he hadn't seen any horizontal cards in previous years.

Ok. Action shots were new to '71 Topps. Horizontal formatting was not. But makes sense that a '70's kid would not have seen a 1960 Topps card I guess.

What's weird is the 1971 Topps Thurman Munson card can be 'officially' called the first regular season Topps action card, because it is #5 in that set and the four cards preceding it numerically are all 'normal' cards.

There were several other action cards in the first series, so unless Munson was the first one pulled it wouldn't have been the first. To me the first action card was the 1970 Bud Harrelson. It showed him signing autographs at a game. That was surprising to me when I pulled it. When I saw more action cards in 1971, it was no big deal.

This one came to mind for me.



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delete

If this photo was taken during the 1964 season, Jack was a mere 35 year-old man at most...

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...but, since the picture seems to be from the same photoshoot as his 1964 card (meaning a 1963 shoot date, most likely), he was just a 34 year-old man (at most) at the time...

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Feeling old yet?

Oof! That Mantle... ouch.

However, that Wilt is most likely not trimmed, in my opinion. I have 3 of these Wilts, and a full set of the 61 Fleer cards. I'm very familiar with this set and have graded a bunch of these. The variance in size from the factory is remarkable (at least 3/16", maybe even a full 1/4" variance - it's THAT bad). Also, a large percentage of these have that horribly awkward diamond tilt like this one has. The bottom edge has the tilt too, it's just obscured by the bottom bumper, but if you look closely, it's there.

For my money, this is just one of the most ghoulishly creepy looking pictures to ever appear on a baseball card. It gives me nightmares. He doesn't look human...

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I remember getting a beat up version of that card as a kid...first thought...COOL a COBB...then staring at it...whoa...trade anyone??

Brooks would like a word....

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1964 Jim Umbricht
 

How about a card back? This was pretty sad for a child to read.

This card shocked me when I was a kid

Billy Martin giving the finger on a baseball card is shocking? I'd be shocked if he wasn't giving the finger.

Not technically a card but a lithograph sold at the stick in 1960…

For those not familiar, the reference to reeg is referring to Bill Rigney, the manager at the time.

And naturally, mocking a player’s accent isn’t something that is encouraged these days.

I'm sorry, but could a player possibly look any more like an absolute psychopath????

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Not a card, but pretty creepy. What was Joe thinking about ?

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I might not be shocked, but I crack up every time I see this card.



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Double psychopath???

How about this one

He loved rain delays...because there was nothing but wet Beavers.

Thank you! I'll be here all week.

Here is one from the famous cricketer H. Harry Butt.
Ok I'm done now

Agreed as a kid, that card gave me the creeps. This '77 Sanguillen card was shocking (still is) when I pulled it from a wax pack. Must have been late on a Friday when this one got through QC.

Instead of cowbell, the Topps guy was saying, "I got a fever...and the only prescription is more green!!!!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsQLlk-T0s

Why don't you guys consider the 1956 Topps cards to have "Action shots"? Is it because they were hand-toned? Or because they also have profile pics on the cards? Something else?

1952 Topps Clyde King
 

What shocks me is that "screwball artist" Clyde was actually able to find the direction of home plate. He had a 14-7 mark with 33 SO and just 50 walks in 1951.

This wonderful card just begs so many questions …

That '66 Keane in the OP scared the heck out of me that year--my first year of collecting. Scared in that old can't look, can't look away sense. Talk about rode hard and put away wet.

As a ballpark fan, the 1969 Topps Chris Cannizzaro was shocking because the photo was taken at the Polo Grounds, which as you all know was last used for MLB play in 1963.

https://caimages.collectors.com/psac...8_947x1596.jpg

I keep looking at one and he stares me down, then to the other....infinite loop!
Bwhahaha

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Whenever I see his skinny head topped by a hat seventeen sizes too large...

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...all I can imagine is that he took the cap off the bullpen buggy that brought him to the mound and wore it...

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May you all find someone who looks at you the way Long and Moryn look at Ernie Banks.

One begets the other . . .

Buzz Guy certainly fits the facial expression, don't you think? And talk about unfortunate luck, this Bob Gibson was also a pitcher.

It doesn't get more shocking than a big blast of lightning. Thankfully, Barry was evidently able to outrun it.

This card requires a little story to go along with it:

I bought this card on eBay and when I got it in the mail I noticed the return address listed Pat Neshek as the sender. I knew his name and realized I'd purchased this Greinke card from a former MLB pitcher and All Star.

Then I found this article where Neshek talks about Greinke being the only guy in baseball to blow him off when he asked for an autograph and I've always wondered if Neshek sold the card because it made him sick to look at:

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The Menendez Brothers courtside on the Mark Jackson Hoops:

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This one isn't shocking per se, but interesting if you know the story. I worked for the Birmingham Barons from 1997-2004 and the team card set was my project each year. In this set, we decided to create our own design instead of using the stock designs from Grandstand, which most Minor League teams did. I worked with my friend Brad, who was a graphic/web designer and did some graphics work for the team.

I would go through all of the photos we had collected and tried to use the best ones of each player we had. Brad and I saw this photo and thought it was great but there was one problem... the baseball was too far to fit into the frame without turning the card horizontally and that didn't fit the design. This was my 2nd favorite design we did. Brad said he could fix it, and cut the baseball and pasted it back so it would fit into the frame. We adjusted it several times to try to get the right angle and clarity of the ball, so no one would notice. No one ever did and it became one of my favorite action shots! It just so turned out that it was of a player that went on to play 12 years in the Majors.
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This is my favorite design we did. When I was the kid 1975 was the first year I bought cards and the first World Series I remember. 1975 Topps was and still is my favorite set (and my current collecting obsession) so I wanted to do an "Ode to '75". In 2003, no one else really got the reference, but to me, creating this design was a ton of fun. Grandstand was the printer and Len made us change a few things so as not to completely knock off Topps' design.

A funny story... When I took the players sets to them, Neal Cotts didn't care for the pink and purple border his card has. I told him it was good enough for Nolan Ryan so he should quit whining and for him to look it up. The next day, when he got to the park, he stopped into the office and told me he approved.

Note: You can see from these photos that getting good pics was not easy. We had to get all of the pics taken early in the season when it was colder and crowds were sparse, so it was hard to get any angles with fans in the background.
Note 2: The upper right card of Cotts was in an Update Set we did at the end of the year and features him in a throwback mid 80's Barons uniform. That game was played at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, built in 1910, is still the oldest ballpark in America. It is a shrine that should not be missed and oozes history, with Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Satchel Paige and Willie Mays (as a 17 yr old) playing there at one point.

Very cool card of Morse, Chris. And my younger brothers played Little League with Neal Cotts, pride of Lebanon, IL!

Shocking in the sense that when I got these autographs in person in Helena, Montana, when Nyman was a coach in the Pioneer League, I did not expect to hear the story of him striking out Mickey Mantle in 1968. One of the coolest sports memories I have.

I don't collect this set, but for some reason a Topps 1969 Hal Greer always shows up in my searches, and my first thought always is, "Who in high heck did Hal piss off at Topps to make them say, "Off with his head!!"??" Why didn't they reduce the size of the photo to make him fit into the design layout????

(If you look at the bottom screen grabs, you'll see how the majority of players in that set had their images playfully breaking out of the upper reaches of the oval confines, like Mr. Reed and Mr. Unseld.)

After searching through pics of the 99 card set, I found only one other player suffering this blatantly-guillotined indignity, Walt Wesley...but with him it seems to be the result of a careless layout error, because if you look at his 'center' position, it is skewed over to the side to make room for his head and 60's hair (as can also be seen on the Reed/Unseld cards) to invade the white area. Someone apparently forgot to crop the photo properly to make it look like the other cards in the set.

But what the eff happened with Hal???????


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Thanks! Neal and Mark Buehrle were 2 of my favorites during my time there.

Good entry, that is whack.

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Yes, along with the 2017 NCAA champions McKendree University women's bowling team.

And I agree, great 1975 Topps tribute cards.

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I was looking through my Kaline cards, saw his 1970 and was reminded of this thread. Al Kaline was probably "shocked" when he saw the released version of his 1970 card.

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Awesome story!

Has your Clyde King card been photoshopped, Steve, or is that an actual copy?
I'm guessing Clyde would have likely preferred another photo on his 52 Topps card than the one that portrays him, but my copy, and many others that I've looked at don't have him as crossed eyed as your copy.
Curious if your copy is a variation?

It was shocking to me to learn that teams could not afford to replace torn uniforms in 1968.

Topps Photog:
"Hey, Jer, today we're just gonna snap the standard posed portrait shot of you for your card...but how 'bout we try to add a little bit of flavor to it, some pretend game-action?? I got it!! Okay, make believe you're running downcourt at full speed...when you suddenly stop and lunge out to swat at the ball in your opponent's hands. Yes...perfect!! Feel your momentum stop!! Hold the pose!! Keep that chin up...yes, yes, just like that!!!!"

*CLICK*

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Hal Greer threw the pass that Johnny Havlicek famously stole.

That Barry Sanders card made me think of this card.

Shocking!

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