The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[KCRfan1]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

Here's my Johnny Bench choices:

The Good: 1976 Topps - one of my favorite baseball cards of all time. Classic photo; looks like something that would fit right in a Clint Eastwood movie.

The Bad: 1977 Topps - could the photographer have cropped it any closer? I can see the pores in his skin.

The Ugly: 1983 Fleer - really Fleer - is that the best photo you have of the greatest catcher of all time? Johnny looks like he's annoyed at something.

Tom,

It was hard for me to take Fleer and Donruss seriously when they showed up in the 80's due to a lot of their poor photo choices. Some are just goofy.

Bench is just winding up to nail the Fleer photographer......

[JollyElm]

How about B-Robby:

GOOD 1976 - Some people don't appreciate this card, but I friggin' love it. Granted, the blinding glare of the sun is off-putting, but it is surely a unique, playful shot that shows the nice guy we know him to be.

BAD 1958 - For the love of criminy, it looks like Brooksie's about to sneeze!!!!!! We know he's quick with the glove...sure hope he's quick with the Kleenex. Come On, Topps!!!!!!!!!!!!

UGLY 1975 - Can someone say mini brim? What in high heck is going on with that ultra short helmet bill?? (No offense, of course, to anyone who fancies helmets with truncated brims.)

brobinsongoodbadugly.jpg

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

How about B-Robby:

GOOD 1976 - Some people don't appreciate this card, but I friggin' love it. Granted, the blinding glare of the sun is off-putting, but it is surely a unique, playful shot that shows the nice guy we know him to be.

BAD 1958 - For the love of criminy, it looks like Brooksie's about to sneeze!!!!!! We know he's quick with the glove...sure hope he's quick with the Kleenex. Come On, Topps!!!!!!!!!!!!

UGLY 1975 - Can someone say mini brim? What in high heck is going on with that ultra short helmet bill?? (No offense, of course, to anyone who fancies helmets with truncated brims.)

Darren,

Of course you should already know that there are “almost” no bad or ugly Brooksie cards (well...I may possibly, begrudgingly, give you the ‘58). All of his cards are the BEST. The 1975 card is one of my favorites. How can you not LOVE the shot they used and the overall coolness of the ‘75 style. Gotta love the short, mini brim.

What’s kinda funny is someone asked the question about his helmet not long ago and this was my reply:

In the early ’70s, the Commissioner’s Office made it mandatory for anyone entering into MLB to wear an ear flap on your helmet. Exsisting players had a choice, but Brooks stated he liked the safety aspect, since he had been beaned in the head several times over the years, and chose to wear the ear flap. Brooks stated, “When I got the helmet with the flap and put it on, it seemed like the bill was a little longer than my normal hat. The flap was a little longer and consequently when I went up to hit I could see the brim and part of the flap. It made me lose my concentration. I took care of it by taking a hacksaw blade and cut off about 1 ½ inches off the brim and about ½ off the flap. That’s how I got my short brim."

See, possibly ugly to an untrained eye, but COOL at the same time.

[JollyElm]

Mark,
Hee hee. Do you really think that you didn't instantly come to mind when I thought of posting about B-Robs?

[Bigdaddy]

Whenever I see that '58 card of Brooksie, for some reason I think of Gomer Pyle.

Now try not to think of that the next time you see the card.

[geosluggo]

This is an enjoyable thread. I agree with Tom the 1976 Bench is one of the iconic cards of Bench and the modern era. And Darren is right that the 1958 coughing Brooksie is just awful. I kinda like the 1975 short-bill card, however. Here's my take on Hank Aaron --
GOOD: So many great Aaron cards to choose from, but I think the 1965 Topps is one of the nicest. Tightly cropped, showing his powerful hands and legendary wrists gripping the bat. Just a great baseball card -- if NASA had to put one card into a capsule to show other civilizations what baseball cards are, this would be a contender for the honor.
BAD: I remember being disappointed in the 1973 Aaron card from the moment I first ripped it from a wax pack as an 8-year-old. Here's a guy on the verge of breaking one of the most hallowed records in sports, and Topps chooses a photo of him looking up at a pop fly?
UGLY: The 1975/76 SSPC card of Aaron captures some of his end-of-career paunch maxing out his blue doubleknits. The 1976 Topps highlight card also shows Aaron's middle-aged gut, but it's a pretty decent action shot of him swinging the bat

[jchcollins]

It's a pretty standard profile shot, but I've always loved the pop of the green on the '58 Topps Aaron. Also that was one of my first old cards I had as a kid, and something about the nostalgia of those always make them special.

[Mark70Z]

Darren,

I figure you had to take at least a day off and possible two, to think constantly with no interruptions, long and hard, using all of your mental capacity to find any Brooksie cards that weren’t totally awesome. (As a side note I still can’t believe they used that photo for the ‘58). I think Brooks didn’t feel that well that day and it was after a run in spring training when the photographer snapped the photo. It was originally a B&W photo that was colorized. In fact the flexichrome artwork for the 1958 Topps is for sale on eBay. The card would have looked a tad bit better if they did a landscape card with more of his uniform present as well as make him farther (no farther than that...) away. By the way, Brooks doesn’t like the card as well (if you were wondering). Love the setup on the ‘58 Topps; would have been a great looking card with a different pic.

Tom,

Wasn’t it bad enough that the ‘58 Brooksie card was not quite the best looking card out there. Garsh; now I have to think of Gomer Pyle every time I see it (at least you didn’t mention Goober Pyle).