Jim Hickman

Born on today's date, Jim Hickman.

Light blue paint in short supply that year at Topps.

Greg Minton

Born on today's date, Greg Minton.

"Hey, do we have to pay the player if it's an illustration and not a photograph. Can you call our attorneys real quick on this?" - some Topps executive

Gene Freese: 1934 - 2013

The right-handed hitter who Topps insisted was left-handed.

RIP

Jim Hickman

Born on today's date, Jim Hickman.

"Dodgers, Cubs, What's the difference? Hey, get an order in for that other shade of blue paint though. We seem to be out of it. Otherwise, this one is good to go." - Topps executive

Greg Minton

Born on today's date, Greg Minton.

"Hey, do we have to pay the player if it's an illustration and not a photograph? Can you call our attorneys real quick on this?" - some Topps executive

Eddie Lopat

Born on today's date, Eddie Lopat.

"Yeah, I can sign off on that one. Kids are dumb you know." - Topps executive

Mike Laga

Born on today's date, Mike Laga.

I would sue Topps for defamation of character via a tampered photographic image.

Get them for everything they got!

Jim Hickman

Born on today's date, Jim Hickman.

"Dodgers, Cubs, What's the difference? Hey, get an order in for that other shade of blue paint though. We seem to be out of it. Otherwise, that one is good to go!" - Topps executive

Mike Laga

Born on today's date, Mike Laga.

Pink....ish!

Umm, yea pink! Kind of.

I don't know if that Topps artist went on to bigger and better things but I do know that he/she probably did not include this one in their portfolio.

Claude Raymond

Born on today's date, none other than Claude Raymond.

Good thing for underwear.

Otherwise that would have put Billy Ripken to shame.

Two years running.

Shawn Marcum works pretty well on five hundred and some days rest

Maybe he* is on to something here.

*If I am Marcum, I would not pose for any more photos with those sneaky Topps photographers. I would tell them they are just going to have to use action shots from now on. They are just not going to walk up and snap pictures on a cold day and then laugh about it later like they did.

Can't we get any other poses?

We get it, once Manny hits the ball, he is going to first.

Why not show one where he is diving to cut off a ball thrown from another outfielder to the infield. Or the one when between innings he stepped into the Green Monster to "make water".

Come on! This guy can do a lot of things. Like a lot!

Let's see them.

Don't be so lazy.

We didn't even try!

Born on today's date, Kurt Bevacqua. Of course, Kurt's claim to fame is that he was the 1975 Bazooka Bubble Gum Blowing Champ as commemorated on this card.

You gotta admit, that is some bubble! They don't make them like that anymore! And state of the art measuring equipment too!

That is certainly an impressive accomplishment but there has always been one thing that has bothered me about this contest. Take a look at the lower right hand part of the back of this card. Unfortunately, you might need a superstrong magnifying glass; you know the kind you used to incinerate ants on the sidewalk on sunny days.

Anyway, it reads, "Tigers & Pirates did not participate."

What the....?!

The Tigers did not participate?!

Why not?!

In 1975, the Tigers had Bill Freehan, Willie Horton and also Al Kaline was recently retired and any of them could have represented the Tigers as I am sure Kaline would have come out of retirement for something like this.

Al Kaline is even in the Hall of Fame! I bet he could have blown a great bubble and put non-Hall of Famer Kurt Bevacqua to shame!

But they didn't even try! How utterly disappointing!

I note that the Tigers finished 57-102 in 1975 and this was good enough for (gulp) last place in the A. L. East.

I am not surprised.

Buncha quitters.

Don Mossi - 1958 Topps

Born on this day, Don Mossi.

Not everybody is eye-candy material, you know.

His mother understandably thought he was beautiful and who is anybody to say differently.

Tito Fuentes - Wearer of headbands

Happy 66th Birthday to Tito Fuentes!

You know, if a headband outside of the hat had any functionality maybe this would have caught on.

Card of the Year

It just is.

You can't deny it.

Happy New Year all!

What is going on here?

Why did guys look so ancient back then? These players were all in their 20's when these photos were taken.

I know that smoking was more prevalent back then but you could chain-smoke day and night and it should not accelerate the aging process this much.

And to top it all off, the manager looks like the rookie of the year.

What's the deal?

So that's why!

When I was a little kid, that 1969 Topps card above scared me. It literally made me a bit uneasy just looking at it.

You see, Zoilo Versalles does not at all look like a baseball player in this card. It really looks like the photograph might have been taken at the prison yard at Rikers Island or just before Zoilo did something horrible to get himself sent to Rikers Island. Why so angry?

Another thing. Zoilo Versalles looks like really really old in that card. At this point in his career, he would have only been 28 years old but in this card, he looks worn and weathered and closer to 48 years old. Where did the other two decades go?

I also remember that as a kid, I had a hard time assimiliating Zoilo Versalles' name with his face and that creeped me out a little. You know how Mickey Mantle looked like a "Mickey" and Joe Torre looks like a "Joe"? Well in my 7 year old mind, I thought this guy kind of looked like "Gonna Kill You" with his first, middle and last names but not really a Zoilo. I had never met a Zoilo before (or since) so I did not know what a Zoilo looked like. Was this the template? Ok but.....

As an adult, in looking through various Zoilo Versalles cards, I think they offer an important clue as to why he looked so darn angry in that 1969 card. It's probably the "Zorro" thing. Now Zoilo grew up in Cuba and no doubt worked hard perfecting his baseball skills enough that he came to the United States and then continued working his way up the minor league ladder and up to the major leagues. The pinnacle, right?

He then finally gets his own Topps rookie card in 1961 and he looks at it and sees himself identified as "Zorro Versalles". Zorro! This was probably the name that all the kids constantly teased him with growing up! He turned to baseball to get away from all that! He of all people did not need this type of error on his rookie card. He couldn't even show it to his family and friends!

Then Zoilo Versalles improbably wins the 1965 A.L. MVP and after that, people should be able to remember him by his real name, right? Especially a card company. No! On the back of the 1968 card, they mention his 1965 A. L. MVP award however it is accompanied by a Zorro cartoon figure playing baseball with a cape, mask and sword. What the...? He was 1965 A. L. MVP and this is how Topps "honors" him? He has reason to be angry. For the ten millionth time, he is not Zorro! Never has been. Never will be. He never even held a sword and only wore a mask at Halloween and also that one night. I can see how this could put anybody into a life-long funk.

Well, after all these years of wondering about that card, I think the mystery behind it has finally been solved. Listen here people! It's Zoilo! Not Zorro! He doesn't know nothing about fencing! He doesn't usually wear black! Get it right!

Everybody's got a right to their own name after all.*

*This does not however touch on the question of why this guy looks so "old" in that card. Oh, well. I know that Zoilo Versalles died in 1995 and no doubt had enough of the "Zorro" thing up until then. Because of that, we should probably cut him some slack regarding the "appearance" thing. Ok?.......but he did look pretty ancient there though.

If only everything was this easy

"Where are you going?"*

"Going to do some Christmas shopping."

"Getting anything for us?" (Skate Kid referring to himself and Computer Boy**)

"Maybe."

"Get cards!"

So I did.

That was easy.

(But if I open them, I will have to go get some more)

*When I was a kid, I really did not much care where one parent was going when they left the house but these kids are different.

**Computer Boy reads this blog but he knows that cards on Christmas is a certainty so no spoiled surprises here.

They did it again!

What the.......?

Countdown to lawsuit: 5,4,3,2....