Ten Reasons This Card is Great

[Edgy MD]

1. The condidtion of the spring training practice field --- no better than your standard 1970s Little League field.

2. The moustache --- so neatly trimmed, but pointless --- yielding an effect no more impressive than that of a milquetoaste high school chemistry teacher (no insult meant to chem teachers). You will never be a Swingin' Oakland A, Mr. Harrison.

3. The apparently lower-case a, telegraphing just how modest the ambitions of the 1970s Braves were.

4. The squinty sad eyes, crying "defeat" even before the pitch is thrown --- or even before the non-pitch of this posed photo.

5. The two-tone hat, another seventies leftover that will forever cry "bush league," even when retro-revitalized for the 2011 MLB patriotism hat.

6. The prominent adam's apple, the telltale sign of a hapless Braves pitcher --- or sometimes even a good one, actually.

7. Everything about the 1974 set, part one: The font is some 1974 version of calibri --- the font of a designer who has been crushed by the world.

8. Everything about the 1974 set, part two: The utter lack of variety in the font, all a similar face, all in all-caps.

9. Everything about the 1974 set, part three: The pennant/arrow frames boxing in the names of the teams above and below, the colors almost but not quite matching the secondary color of the team, but smokier, and more repressed. Those flag arrow frames cling for security to the sides of the curved frame --- the signature design element on cards humbly designed to deliver to a humbed nation.

10. "Roric"?

[batmagadanleadoff]

1. The condidtion of the spring training practice field --- no better than your standard 1970s Little League field.

Isn't that Shea Stadium?

Compare the light tower:

Edited September 19, 2011 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

That would look bad for me.

The lighting tower and blackout screen in center suggest shea, but the lack of any cityscape beyond and the Brave in home whites says spring training to me.

[metirish]

Roric meaning and name origin

Roric \r(o)-

ric\ as a boy's name is a variant of Roderick (Old German), and the meaning of Roric is "famous power".

[batmagadanleadoff]

Niekro's card was probably shot on the same day as Roric's. You can see Mets in their home unis in the background. And that definitely ain't St. Pete.

The Braves are in road blue.

Edited September 19, 2011 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

I figured a variation of Rory, or Ruari.

Looks like the same almost white on the road as at home for the '74 Bravos. That sure can be Shea, I guess. What a dump.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Were Adam's apples, like, 30 percent bigger during the '70s, or were necks just a lot skinnier?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Shea's light tower in surrounding context.

[Edgy MD]

Oh, I accept that is Shea, in her more-chewed-up, tuftier days. Perhaps a wrestling event had just come through.

What other cards are great for ten reasons?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy DC wrote: Oh, I accept that is Shea, in her more-chewed-up, tuftier days. Perhaps a wrestling event had just come through. What other cards are great for ten reasons?

It's all good. That Roric's at Shea should enhance your opinion of his card.

[Frayed Knot]

I remember that the Braves of that era getting special permission to wear white on the road.

[Edgy MD]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Edgy DC wrote: Oh, I accept that is Shea, in her more-chewed-up, tuftier days. Perhaps a wrestling event had just come through. What other cards are great for ten reasons? It's all good. That Roric's at Shea should enhance your opinion of his card.

Absolutely, even if I didn't recognize it as such.

Look at all that foul territory. No wonder Yogi Berra re-retired after four games. A ball went to the backstop at old Shea, you needed to hail a cab to go get it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

1. Sideburns.
2. The angle. It's as though Larry is towering over the poor shooter.
3. The expression. It's as though he wants to tell you to fuck off, but knows he doesn't need to. You're gonna get the F out of his grill any second now, and if you don't, well, you might be introduced to this club casually draped over his shoulder.
4. White batting gloves.
5. Last year before the Rainbow Gut jerseys for the Astros. Not the most exciting things out there but some dignity to it.
6. The jersey appears to zip up.
7. There's a Johnny Lunchbucket quality to the whole thing: He's got his safety helmet on and tool of the trade close by.
8. The trophy. First of many for sure.
9. Yet as tough as this card makes Larry Milbourne out to be, he was actually a noodle bat, author of 11 home runs in as many pro seasons.
10. All-Star Rookie sure, but as his expression shows, he'd already seen much. By this point in his career he'd already been property of the Orioles, Giants, and Angels -- and his future would take him to Seattle (twice), the MFYs (twice), Twins, Indians and Phillies.

[Edgy MD]

That's like the point of view of the victim. Great contribution. Lot's of subtext there.

The noodle bat thing is what got me. I'm thinking "This is the Yankees just-passing-through reserve infielder." But everything about the stance says, "I'm fucking cleanup-hitting rightfielder... when I'm not under suspension for fucking some motherfucker up."

[metirish]

7. There's a Johnny Lunchbucket quality to the whole thing: He's got his safety helmet on and tool of the trade close by

Great stuff, even before I got to # 7 I imagined Larry could be heading to the building site for a days labour.

[Edgy MD]

I'll add a note about the signature. He seems to be forsaking one of the r's in Larry, like Lary Sorenson. He also added an extra hump to the M in Milbourne, because a dude like him always had time for one more hump.

[metirish]

1. The Look
2. The Glasses
3. The Bottom look
4. The composition of the image with the overhanging stand
5. The mustache
6. The Dimple
7. The Lens Glare
8. The Long Finger
9. The Glove hold
10 ?????

[Benjamin Grimm]

10. The redundancy. (What year is that card from, 1982? 83? Pretty much the only years I can identify for sure are those from the 1970's.) Anyway, the closeup in the circle was designed to give us a look at the guy's mug that we couldn't get from the action shot, but for this card, that doesn't come into play at all.

[Centerfield]

Not exactly within the rules on the first two, but I'll post anyway...

Musings #1: I never quite understood the school-photo type of baseball card. I guess times were different then and it was hard to get an action shot of every player. But how about Orel Hershiser? Hershiser who went 19-3 with a 2.03 ERA?

I mean, something is wrong when Hershiser and Tom Niedenfuer have the same exact card right?



Musings #2:



Has anyone aged more between baseball cards than Tom Paciorek between 1985 and 1986? I didn't realize it at the time, but I think sometime in the fall of 1985, Tom relinquished his ring of power to his nephew Frodo.

Musings #3: Ten reasons



1. This is his rookie card.
2. "He's a future Hall of Famer! Let's feature a shot of his ass!"
3. The uniform. A testament to how many different shades of brown, orange and yellow we can squeeze on while staying predominately white.
4. The socks: Different colors no?
5. "Mr. Gwynn, will you sign your ass for my son?"
6. Topps Design Meeting: "I think we should have little insets for their portraits, see, this way we can feature more ass-shots"
7. The ass-shot may actually be the more flattering of the two pictures.
8. Every time I see a picture of Tony Gwynn, I think of his voice.
9. After this picture was taken, the ass would only get bigger and bigger, but he would still find a way to steal 319 bases in his career. Good for 143rd all time. That's more than Lenny Dykstra, and only 8 less than Mookie Wilson. EIGHT!
10. Would have been better off with the school-picture type card.

[Centerfield]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: 10. The redundancy. (What year is that card from, 1982? 83? Pretty much the only years I can identify for sure are those from the 1970's.) Anyway, the closeup in the circle was designed to give us a look at the guy's mug that we couldn't get from the action shot, but for this card, that doesn't come into play at all.

Exactly. "Ok, this time, let's try it meaner, but no glove."

[Guest attgig]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Niekro's card was probably shot on the same day as Roric's. You can see Mets in their home unis in the background. And that definitely ain't St. Pete.

Is it just me or does this look photoshopped (before photoshop existed)?

The foul line doesn't seem to go down evenly(from the left side of his body to his right side), and if anything, kinda gets chopped into grass right near his glove.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The first thing that pops out to me in that Gwynn card was that he's not wearing No. 19

[Benjamin Grimm]

attgig wrote: Is it just me or does this look photoshopped (before photoshop existed)? The foul line doesn't seem to go down evenly(from the left side of his body to his right side), and if anything, kinda gets chopped into grass right near his glove.

I think, on the right side of the card, you're seeing the foul line, and on the left side of the card you're seeing the corner of the coach's box.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Musings #1: I never quite understood the school-photo type of baseball card. I guess times were different then and it was hard to get an action shot of every player.

I love those posed cards. To me, that's what a baseball card oughta look like. (I guess I'm a product of my times; the only cards I ever cared about were those from the 1970s.) One of the challenges I have in making my "retro" cards is getting good non-action shots that replicate the look of the 1970's cards.

[G-Fafif]

"I don't know why they always take my picture batting here. They should really see what I can do with a glove at Shea."

[Centerfield]

G-Fafif wrote: "I don't know why they always take my picture batting here. They should really see what I can do with a glove at Shea."

Do you see how he's squinting? I think he just had trouble seeing things in this ballpark.

[metirish]

Were a lot of card pictures taken in old Shea?, seems like it.

[Benjamin Grimm]

And at Yankee Stadium. I think Topps figured that since most players come through New York during the course of the season, they'd save money on travel.

[Edgy MD]

G-Fafif wrote: "I don't know why they always take my picture batting here. They should really see what I can do with a glove at Shea."

Why did we always need to know what a guy looked like hitting setting up to hit line drives into the dugout (and presumbly terrorizing his opponents), or pitching into the box seats? Was the budget so tight that they couldn't set up a photo shoot a little early and get some shots on the mound or at home plate?

Buckner kind of looks like a righthanded hitter screwing around batting lefty there.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Picture taken indoors at Astrodome, prompting the question why he's wearing a size 54 Long satin windbreaker in the first place: Is he covering up a spaghetti-sauce stain on his jersey? Is we wearing a jersey at all? Why is he so happy?