Comments on: Topps – retouching America’s pastimes…

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:17:29 +0000

That Jeter card is ridiculous!

Fine article, Mick. Glad to see one of my old hobbies make its way onto the site (yes, I have a large amount of baseball cards stowed away from my childhood!)

My fave from my childhood was the infamous Billy Ripken “fuck face” card. Basically he had the words ‘fuck face’ written on the handle of his bat, and Fleer had to scramble to doctor the photo. Variations included a black box, a scribble, and whiteout. Good times.

By: Mick

Mick — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:40:24 +0000

Thanks for the info on the Gordon card, Matthew!

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:59:35 +0000

As a long-time Phillies collector, I can point out all sorts of fun stuff Topps has flubbed over the years when handling airbrushing. But one of my favorites has to be the 2006 Tom Gordon card (#163) in which they went through all the trouble of doing another decent-by-their-standards Photoshop and then left his team designation as “Yankees”. So it’s not just the Photoshop department — the fact is that they have poor quality control in general.

(Here’s more on that Gordon card: http://www.sculu.com/sloppy-topps-flash-gordon-34162/)

By: Mick

Mick — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:17:19 +0000

You bring up a good point Matthew – I am actually surprised at the Lee card. The effort it would have taken to put the Mariners across his jersey (and that part WAS well done) requires much more Photoshopping skills than it would have been to remove the patch or properly colorize his cap. I don’t understand why Topps tries to make certain aspects so realistic while letting small details fall by the wayside. (Because, let’s face it – it IS the small details that make a Shop great.) It is almost like they are trying to intentionally be campy or something.

And boy, are you right about the Halladay card! EESCH!

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:03:04 +0000

Actually, with the exception of the HK patch, this looks like a fairly decent photoshop job by Topps standards. If you want to see some really awful photoshopping, take a look at what they did for the Roy Halladay card (#286) in this year’ Topps Heritage set — the Phillies script across his chest almost looks cartoonish.