1986 Topps Traded Don Baylor #6T
Boy, this is what a card should be. Everything you want is right there, front and center. Who is the player? That's easy to figure out. It's literally there in black and white. No glossy foil. You don't need to tilt the card to the light three different times to read the name. It's right there. Big and bold. And, speaking of big and bold, can you tell which team Don Baylor plays for? Yup. Couldn't be more obvious than that. How about the position? It's a little bit harder to find. But, the colored circle still lets it pop out for you. So, name, team, and position clearly stated right on the front of the card. Perfect.
What about the other important element? The picture? This card has that down too. It's nice and big. It's not squeezed in because of an enormous border. No graphics obstructing it too badly. It's just right there for you to look at. This one is also nicely cropped to keep Baylor the focus.
Now, Baylor's focus? That's another thing. What's with the grumpy face? Is something bad happening on the field? Is that just the way he looks? The questions are never ending.
Even with Grumpy Gus, this is a great card. It's a great example of the clean look cards can have, and how that can work.
Nicely done.
As for date: Clearly Detroit, and they only played there in April and August, so it's April (based on clothing and on the fact that they would be snapping the new players as early as possible for the traded set). All three games were day games. Game one, Opening Day, April 7, it got up to 68 degrees, so that's out. Games two and three, April 9 and 10, the HIGH only got to around 40. So it could be either. Opening day he went 3 for 4, game 2 he went 0 for 5. So if he really is grumpy, he'd be more likely to be grumpy after game 2, so I'll put my money on game 3, Thursday, April 6, 1986.
ReplyDeleteBut what I really wanna know is: what's up with that black hole next to his face?? The blue dugout wall seems to disappear, airbrushed out. It's almost like there was a fan in that spot and they cut him out. It would explain why Stapleton is facing that way, maybe he's signing for people. Also, his butt and side look weird, with another possible drawn-in black vertical bar just to the right of his waist.
Oh and to clarify, the "stuff" at top left is the light tower.
ReplyDeleteWhy did I not assume that you'd figure out why he was grumpy?
ReplyDeleteha
ReplyDelete