The same fans on two different cards from two different years

Earlier this week I did a post on how Topps removes umpires and blurs fans faces on their cards while Upper Deck does not. The Topps card that I scanned for the post was a 2004 Topps card of Baltimore Oriole Larry Bigbie #453. I was going through some other cards and I came accross another Topps card that not only had the umpire removed but the catcher was also removed. This card is a 2005 Topps card of Baltimore Oriole Jay Gibbons #103.



Something that I found even more interesting than no umpire and no catcher is the fact that the same fan is featured on both cards. But wait, if Topps blurs out the faces of fans then how do I know its the same fan? Well the fan is wearing the exact same clothes on both cards.

When you look at the cards, the fan is to the right of the batter wearing a white t-shirt and shorts. He has a hat on and is drinking a beer. Seated to his right is a boy wearing a bright orange t-shirt. So how can this be explained? Topps must have used a photo taken in 2004 for both the 2004 and 2005 cards. Maybe? But if you look at the rest of the fans on both cards, they are all different. So the photos must be from two different games right? Well what are the odds of these two fans wearing the exact same clothes to two different games? I really don't know how to explain this. I did find it really interesting though. I would love to hear any other theories about how these two fans wearing the same clothes ended up on Topps cards from 2004 and 2005 on photos taken during what appears to be two different games.

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Series 2 - Trade

I bought a box of 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Series 2 a few months ago. I'm not collecting the set, so I have about 300 cards that I am willing to trade. If you're trying to complete the set or if you need a specific player just let me know and we can work out a trade. Thanks!


Here is one card from the box; however, that I'll be keeping. I'm usually not a fan of studio shots, but I love this card.

Umpires and Fans on Baseball Cards

Looking through some cards lately, I've noticed that Topps removes umpires and blurs the faces of fans on their baseball cards, while Upper Deck does not. Anyone know why?

Here is a 2004 Topps Larry Bigbie card #453

Umpire is nowhere to be found and fans faces are blurred out

Here is a 2008 Upper Deck Garrett Atkins card #484

Umpire is featured and fans faces are not altered

Rick Vaughn "Wild Thing" Bobblehead

Last night, the wife and I took the kids over to Goodyear ballpark for a Halloween event. One of the booths was being run by the Cincinnati Reds and Cleaveland Indians. They each had a little bean bag toss game for the kids. The prize for the Reds was a Reds/Goodyear ballpark visor (yawn), but the prize for the Indians was a bobblehead. So I took my 3 year old to the booth and let him play the Reds bean bag toss game. No one was running the Indians bean bag toss so I walked over to table and asked the man how we got a bobblehead. He said that his wife was the one running the bean bag game but she was currently at home plate for some of the festivities, so they would not be doing anything until she got back. So my son and I waited patiently for about 5 minutes until the lady returned. The man told his wife that my soon had been waiting to throw the bean bags. The woman then turned to my son and told him he could pick one of the bobbleheads because he had waited. I think that in order to win a bobblehead you had to get all three bean bags through the hole, not an easy task, so we got lucky. So there were two options, the Rick Vaughn or a crazy looking Shin Soo Choo bobblehead. We choose the Rick Vaughn bobblehead. My son then went and played the bean bag game and he got 2 out of 3 in the hole so maybe we would have won it anyways.

Here is a picture of the Shin Soo Choo bobblehead that we passed on. Which one would you have picked?

2005 Fleer - the GOOD, the BAD, and the WHAT THE ...

I was going through some cards the other day and I found a big stack of 2005 Fleer cards. As I went through the cards a few things stood out to me.

THE GOOD

There are some great action shot featured horizantally.

THE BAD

Apparently if Fleer didn't have a good action shot of a player, then they just asked the player to stand with their arms behind their back and they used that picture.








WHAT THE...

And we thought that Barry Bonds has a big head. Check out the size of Jason Schmidt's head in comparison to the rest of his body. He looks like a human bobblehead doll.

Trade with The Priceless Pursuit

I sent some 2008 Heroes cards to Joe over at The Priceless Pursuit some he could check them off his list. He sent me back a nice stack of D-Backs cards. Thanks Joe and good luck finishing the 2008 Heroes set! Here are a few of the cards that Joe sent.

2006 Upper Deck Artifacts - Luis Gonzalez

2004 Upper Deck - Luis Gonzalez

Looks like a 3-Run Homer

2007 Goudy

Brandon Webb Conor Jackson

1998 Collector's Choice - Travis Lee

On the back of the card in the red section it talks about Lee's performance on 3/31/98, Opening Day, the very first Diamondbacks game ever. I was at that game and even though the Diamondbacks lost to the Rockies 9-2, it is one of my fondest baseball memories.

Let's Trade

I have seen several other bloggers post pictures of cards to see if anyone is interested in trading. I thought I would give it a try. Here is a group of cards up for trade. Right now I am looking for cards of Mark Reynolds of the the D-Backs. Let me know if you have questions about any of the cards or are interested in trading. Thanks!

Quarter Cards

Extra funds are low right now but I still need my cardboard fix, so sometimes I will hit up the card shop and just look for some cheap singles. Such was the case on Friday when I stopped at the card shop on the way home from work. I found these cards in a bin marked 4/$1.

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Here are a few Mark Reynolds cards. I recently decided to start a Mark Reynolds collection. My goal is to get 223 cards of his from 2009, which would be the same as the number of strikeouts that he had this year, setting a single season record.

I would also like to collect the entire Trading Card History insert set from 2008 Topps and I happened to find these 2 cards so i picked them up as well.

The 4/$1 bin that I was looking through had Diamondbacks and for some reason Angels. I found 7 D-Backs cards and needed an 8th card to round out my purchase so I started looking through the Angels cards. I found this one and just had to have it. If you look closely, it looks like Garret is going to make the catch. If you look at the fans, only a couple are actually looking at he ball. How could they miss a play like that?

O-Pee-Chee Blaster

A few weeks ago, I purchased a couple of packs of 2009 O-Pee-Chee at Target and then used the $2 off coupons on a blaster. I was really hoping to like the cards, but I didn’t get anything that blew me away. I didn’t get any auto or relics, which is fine. I don’t really expect to get much when I buy retail. I don’t know how to explain it. I was just left wanting more. One thing that I can’t stand is all of the studio photos that Upper Deck used. And some of the shots that they choose to feature on cards, have really made me scratch my head. Take these three cards for example.

Really? Really? Upper Deck couldn’t find any better picture to use than these? Wow! Okay so something about 2009 O-Pee-Chee did blow me away!

Book review: Vindicated by Jose Canseco

I recently finished reading Vindicated, by Jose Canseco. Let me start by saying that I am not a huge fan of Canseco, but I don’t dislike him either. Vindicated is the follow up to his 2005 best seller Juiced. I think I was hoping that Canseco would blow me away with some of the names that he named in this book, but I think that performance-enhancing drugs in sports is now so common that there are very few names that would blow me away, if I found out that they were using some sort of performance enhancing drug. I think that the biggest shock that I got from reading Vindicated was how much Jose Canseco hates Alex Rodriguez. In fact, on page 190, he writes: “So A-Rod, if you’re reading this book, and if I’m not getting through to you, let’s get clear on one thing: I hate your ------- guts.” Most of this hatred comes from the fact that Rodriguez apparently had a thing for Canseco’s wife. Anyways, I enjoyed the book and wish Jose the best.

Eric the Red (Eric Davis) Autograph

I live within walking distance of the new Spring Training stadium for the Cleaveland Indians and the Cincinatti Reds in Goodyear, Arizona. The Indians began using the stadium this past spring training and the Reds are going to be joining them in 2010. Last night, the Goodyear Ballpark and Recreational Complex Phase II Grand Opening ceremony was held on the Cincinnati Reds practice fields. The ceremony last year for the Indians featured Hall Of Famer Bob Feller. I was excited about this event but I didn't know who, if anyone would be signing autographs. When we got to the practice fields we were given a program of the nights events and I was pleased to discover that former Reds star, Eric Davis would be on hand to sign autographs. Because I didn't know who would be there I had only brought blank Autograph Cards with me. However, they were providing 8x10's free of charge, so I had Eric sign an Autograph Card and an 8x10. The former All-Star and Gold Glover was extremly nice and very talkative. Thanks Mr. Davis!

A Piece of History 500 Club - Jim Thome Bat Card

I remember when Upper Deck first introduced the A Piece of History 500 Club Bat cards featuring every member of the 500 Home Run Club. Since its initial release, several players have joined the 500 Home Run Club. Upper Deck has recently produced an A Piece of History 500 Club bat card for several players, including Jim Thome. I had been watching this card on ebay for a while and was even outbid once. I saw it at my local card shop about a week ago and was happy to spend $10 for this great looking card.

While I would love to collect all of the A Piece of History 500 Club cards, most are way out of my price range. I do however plan on collecting a bat card of every member of the 500 Home Run Club. So far I only have 6 of the 25 members. I have Thome, Griffey, Thomas, Sosa, Sheffield, and Jackson. If anyone has any bat cards of 500 Home Run Club members that they would be willing to trade, please let me know. Thanks!

TTM Success - Stan Musial

On July 1, 2009 I sent Stan Musial a letter and a card asking him for an autograph. On October 13, 2009 I recieved an envelope from Stan the Man. He had returned the card that I sent him unsigned, but included an autographed postcard. This was well worth the wait. Thanks Mr. Musial!

Doger Blue for Diamondback... Pink? Trade with Night Owl

I recently sent some Dodgers cards to Greg of Night Owl Cards and he returned the favor by sending me some Diamondbacks cards. As I was going through the cards to see which cards I would scan and post, I noticed a theme among several of the cards.

All of these cards feature players wearing pink to support the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, in its efforts to find a cure for breast cancer. For the past several seasons, on Mother's Day, Major League Baseball players have used pink bats and worn pink wristbands and the symbolic pink ribbon to support breast cancer awareness. I found it interesting that 5 of the Diamondback cards that Night Owl sent featured players wearing pink. Thanks Night Owl!

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Another card that Night Owl sent got me thinking about Upper Deck and how it will respond to Topps having exclusive rights to team logos and trademarks starting next year. Take a look at the card below. It is a 2009 Bowman Justin Upton card. I think Upper Deck could produce a card similar to this next year and be in compliance. Is it the greatest photo ever? No. Would I want a whole set of cards featuring players backs? No. But I think that Upper Deck can get creative and produce decent cards in 2010. I just don't want a bunch of cards that have obviously been photo shopped. Good luck Upper Deck!

Trade with My Past Time... I Love It!

I had sent some Dontrelle Willis cards to Alfredo of My Past Time... I Love It! and this week I recieved some D-Backs cards in return. Here are a few of the cards that I recieved. The cards that I scanned all happen to be part of retro based sets. It's amazing to me how popular these types of sets have gotten. Me personally, some I really like and some I really don't like. I really like Allen & Ginter and Heritage but I really don't like Goudey. I haven't made up my mind yet on the Goodwin Champions yet. Thanks Alfredo!