Topps Bubble (Gum) Headed
 

The dreaded headshot. Are there any collectors who actually enjoy them?

Here's a silly little playful undertaking...

• I've always noticed how many of Ernie Banks' Topps cards focused in on his noggin, so I went on-line and screengrabbed the 'regular' ones (no All-Stars, etc.) that could be rightfully called headshots. Since there is no actual definition as to what a baseball card headshot is, for these purposes let's say that a minimum of 40-50% of the top-to-bottom active image area has to be taken up by his head (and hat when shown).

• 'Mr. Cub's' playing career on Topps cards ran from 1954 to 1971, so a total of 18 seasons. Remarkably, 11 of those years saw his cards relegated to cranium-centric shots, or a whopping 61% of the total!! That would seem pretty extreme.


As a career percentage, are there any other Hall-of-Famers whose cards were as 'headstrong' as Ernie's??


Attachment 585994

Well, I've never let the fact that not a single person is paying attention to my thread stop me before, so onward we move...

• 'The Left Arm of God's' playing career on Topps cards ran from 1955 to 1966 (1967 Leaders cards don't count), so a total of 12 seasons, and 8 of those years saw his cards featuring the darling mug of the little boy that Mrs. Koufax loved so much. That is 66.666666% (two thirds) of the total!!

• It wasn't until the 7th year of his Topps run that he finally had a non-headshot design (1961). He is clearly the new frontrunner.

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Exciting stuff!

Jolly good fun!!

Yogi seemed to always be pictured in his full glory. I'll let you do the mock up and calculations though.

I'm away from home base, so I'm not offering images, but I looked at Frank Robinson (another HoFer with a long Topps run -- 1957-75). I get 8 head shots and 11 bodies, depending on how you assess 1974. I went body.

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