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

[Jenx34]

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.
Mike Morse.jpg

[Jenx34]

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.

[stlcardsfan]

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

[Rad_Hazard]

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.

[Jenx34]

Originally Posted by stlcardsfan

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

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

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by stlcardsfan

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

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

And I agree, great 1975 Topps tribute cards.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[rugbymarine]

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.

[JollyElm]

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???????


1969basketball01.jpg

1969basketball02.jpg

[Kutcher55]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

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???????


Attachment 554608

Attachment 554609

Hal Greer threw the pass that Johnny Havlicek famously stole.

[frankhardy]

Originally Posted by Jenx34

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.
Attachment 554588

Awesome story!

[irv]

Originally Posted by Volod

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.

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?

[G1911]

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

[JollyElm]

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*

jerrysloan.jpg