Staging the Stars

[GeoPoto]

I managed to tear myself away from the riveting discussions regarding financial volatility and shipping peregrinations long enough to invent a reason to look at my cards. In the early days of card production, an "action shot" required staging. Players could be posed in various stages of throwing, swinging, preparing to receive, and so forth. The "art form" begins of course with the Old Judge days of dangling balls from strings and, for all I know, continues today. So, I decided to admire/critique the staging that lay behind the images on many of my pre-war cards. Here I show a couple of the highlights from my review.

The first card shown wins the prize for "Most Effort Committed to Staging"

The second card shown wins the prize for "Least Effort Committed to Staging"

The third card shown wins the "It's in the seats, Baby" prize for "Knowing Where to Look While Swinging"

And finally, the card shown wins the prize for "Forgetting What I Am Doing and Looking at the Camera"

[OhioLawyerF5]

I know it's not pre-war, but this is the best staged baseball card of all time.



Here's the description of the staging:

"I went to the dugout, got some really sticky baseball tape and tried to stick it to the ball and then to my pants' crotch. The ball was too heavy. It kept falling off. I tried to circle the tape around my quad, but the tape blocked out the ball's seams. I went up and down the dugout, looking for anything that was strong enough to hold a ball.

Then I found the Super Glue. Back in the day, we pitchers used it to cover our blisters. The trainer had the glue in his little kit, so I grabbed it. I didn't want to ruin my game pants, so Todd ran to the clubhouse and got a pair of old ones. I squeezed the Super Glue tube over half the ball. I doused it. I put on the pants, pressed the glued-up ball to them, then tried to let go.

The ball was stuck to my hand. I tried to pull it off, but the ball was about to peel off my pants. I moved my hand and the pants moved. I thought, I am not taking this photo with my hand on my crotch. Someone grabbed a tongue depressor from the trainer's kit and slowly started to pry my fingers off the ball. It took a while, but my hand finally got free. Now I just had to get the photographer.

I walked up with the ball stuck to my pants, and the guy was like, "No-no-no." I was expecting that. I told him that I had a clubhouse full of players who weren't going to sign their card contracts unless I got a ball in the nuts. I looked as serious as possible. The photographer stared at me for a second, trying to figure out if I really meant it. "Son of a bitch," he finally said. "Go ahead."

He gave me one shot. I could feel the ball starting to fall off. "Take the picture! Take the picture!" I yelled. I threw up my hands and closed my eyes. That was it."

Here's an article about it:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...card-ever-made

[brian1961]

Timothy---I love the picture, man! That's a scream. If you needed a sound byte, I immediately thought of an old favorite Tom & Jerry cartoon, "TEE FOR TWO". The climax has Tom immersed in a pond at a golf course, safe for the moment from a swarm of angry bees. Tom smugly squirts up water at the bees from his long air hole tube. Now they're really p-----off. Up the swarm goes to begin a group dive bomb. As they descend, Jerry obliges them with a giant funnel. Down the bees go through the funnel. There's this hilarious pause, just as before a volcano erupts. Then Tom bursts out with his loudest "AHHHHHHH!!!"

Timothy, should you wish to treat yourself to this scream scene, go to YOUTUBE, type Tom and Jerry, Tee for Two. Due to legal issues, the person who loaded it up had to divide the cartoon in 3 parts. Select Part 3; trust me, it's worth your time. When Tom screams, think of your poor unfortunate getting a fastball right there.

Cheers. --- Brian Powell

[BioCRN]

"So what pose should I make for the photo?" - Hughie Jennings

"Well, uh..." - Photographer

"Sigh. Okay." - Hughie Jennings