Topps 'Dreadshot' Madness
 

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??


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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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Randomly ran across a 1968 card on eBay, and it got me thinking and searching.
The end result is I found another sixty percenter!!!

• Jim Bunning had a Topps card career ranging from 1957 to 1971, for a total of 15 seasons, with 9 of those years ungloriously featuring Mr. Sneaky Fastball's noggin.

A crazy 60% of the Hall of Famer's total!!

A realization: What's wild is, Banks and Koufax both had 'mandatory' 1955 and 1956 head shot cards (with Ernie also having a 'mandatory' header in 1954), but all of Bunning's cards came after those years, so he didn't benefit from forced headshotophobia.
His close-ups occurred organically.


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(Editor's note: Although there is no actual definition of what constitutes a true 'headshot,' my general basis is the head/hat should occupy about 50% or more of the 'active area.')

Not a fan of most head shots...


There are two that really bother me...the 1961 Topps Harmon Killebrew...my favorite player, TERRIBLE looking card. I get the Senators/Twins hat issue...but that situation created some really bad cards. The other is the 1967 Topps Mickey Mantle. The close up head shot, ugly green dugout paint backdrop. Such an iconic year, a simple pose of him swinging or holding a bat...anything different...and I do believe that card would actually be worth more.

Totally agree on the 1961 Killebrew!

Mike

But I 'fixed' that one for you. How soon they forget. :D

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