From the Pedro Binder

1999 Topps Opening Day

The Opening Day sets from Topps confuse me a little bit. It would be cool if it were a set of cards including players in opening day line-ups. Or, even cards of players on opening day rosters. I’m pretty sure that’s what Donruss did with their set in 1987. That’s a cool idea. Instead, the Topps versions seem to be a cheaper version of their base sets. Sometimes they have a simple logo to differentiate them. Sometimes it’s a different colored border. It’s really a parallel set that you have to buy separately.

In 1999, Topps went the “different colored border” route. Instead of the golden color on the base set, they went with silver for Opening Day. On the bright side, that carried that theme all the way through. The logo is silver foil, the name is in silver foil, and the line going around the corner of the picture is silver. It ties it all in together. On the not so bright side, all that foil is still a pain to read.

With the Pedro card, the fact that he’s in his away uniform actually helps with the silver look to the card. It might have been more startling if he was in his home white. The picture of Pedro is great. His eyes are on the target. He’s ready to unleash another one of his Bugs Bunny change-ups to a helpless batter. As always, I like the floating logos and design elements. They allow the picture even more room to be seen. Pedro is right there for everyone to see. Again, the mound creates a nice place to hide all the information, while also proving contrast to make it easier to read. The location of the name along the left hand side makes flipping through a stack annoying. But, I’ll cut Topps a little slack.

Overall, it’s a nice card. I like the Opening Day version better than the regular design, despite the few issues.

It just works.