3) 1995 Fleer Ultra #49, Mike Moore
Card #3 in the countdown brought to my mind the sports term "game face." Bob Knight expressed his annoyance about the term in one of his famous interviews. As Knight mimics a series of overexaggerated facial expressions, you could rightly conclude that he just doesn't buy into the notion of the game face. But what about an "accidental game face," as I am calling it. A look that just happens naturally in the course of competition. The Michael Jordan tongue wag comes to mind. So do Mike Moore's crazy eyes, right? They might now after this picture, which cannot be unseen:
The look didn't catch on, for obvious reasons. But what if Moore hadn't posted a 5.42 ERA in 1994 or a 7.53 ERA in 1995? Maybe it could have become the game face to end all game faces.
2) 1992 Donruss Triple Play #46, Pat Kelly
The 1992 Triple Play set is quirky. There are odd "Awesome Action" cards, an awkward "Little Hotshots" subset showing a picture of a player when he was a kid, and some strange photo choices. It makes for an entertaining set in some ways, but you have to feel for a guy like Pat Kelly. Did they really have to do this to him?
I suppose it's not the first card to show a player misplaying a ball. But I say give the guy a break!
1) 2001 Topps HD #51, Randy Johnson
If you recall the last installment of the Frankenset by Page series, you would remember Blue Jays pitcher Pat Hentgen taking the crown for page 4. A card showing an AL pitcher batting in the DH era but before Interleague play is tough to beat. Well you know what? So is a really tall pitcher batting:
Johnson had a good year in 2001, winning his third straight Cy Young Award and leading the Diamondbacks to their first and only World Series title. Johnson would win the Cy Young for a fourth straight year in 2002. In the 2001, World Series, the Big Unit won three of the four games in the series for the Diamondbacks, posting a super stingy 1.04 ERA. With that kind of pitching dominance, of course you'd show him batting on his baseball card, right?
As soon as I saw the Pat Kelly... I immediately thought of that 73T Dick Green.
ReplyDeleteI did, too! I think that proves there aren't many error cards out there!
DeleteNow that's a scary face on the mound! When I played little league, the best kid on our team by miles always when to bat with the biggest smile on his face, just absolutely grinning from ear to ear, and he always clobbered the ball. He said he liked to get in the pitcher's head. Eventually, we all took after him and went to bat with huge smiles and funny faces. I'm not sure if it actually helped or not, but I do remember hitting two doubles the same game I adopted this method.
ReplyDelete