When it comes to baseball cards, I applaud change.
It's what keeps us motivated as collectors. After all, if every set looked the same year after year, what fun would there be?
However, one of the extremely few areas where I don't advocate card companies mixing it up is with Topps flagship and Topps Opening Day. Most of the Opening Day cards are the exact same card as the flagship issue, with airbrushed uniforms to accommodate for offseason moves. (I do wish that Opening Day would be released before Topps flagship, but that's another story.)
But then we have the curious case of Tim Hudson. He didn't get traded. He's still an Atlanta Brave.
Granted, he still has a pretty nice shot gracing the front of his 2012 Opening Day card.
But why Topps decided to mess with this epic piece of photography, I'll never know...
This is my early nominee for "Card of the Year".
It also might be my favorite "hitting pitcher" card.
I traded for Hudson's Opening Day card thinking it would be the exact same card, only without the foil. I was surprised and disappointed to see that Topps had swapped the photos. Instead of a truly unique picture of Hudson at the plate, we get an action pitching shot.
While Hudson on the mound is nice, it's a photo we've seen duplicated many times before.
I don't have many gripes with Topps' offerings so far this year, but this is one of the few.
You kept this the same, Topps, so why not Tim Hudson?
As with a lot of other things in this hobby, I guess we'll just never know for certain.
Opening Day is really the odd duck of the Topps release calendar. Aimed at kids who don't really collect but too vanilla for most collectors. They include mostly series 1 players but then add some series 2 into the mix. They change the photos on some cards but not all. They really should keep OD the same (small set, good mix of players) but change EVERY photo in the set and keep it unique to that set. Don't put a series 2 guy in OD with the same picture that he will have in S2. That way, the set becomes more desirable to those who feel its just another parallel set to the main set. Chrome is the same way too but shiny.
ReplyDeleteAh, you beat me to it. I had scanned the very same Hudson OD card to illustrate the change.
ReplyDeleteI agree the Tim Hudson should have been the same in Opening Day and I am not one of those that thinks OD is a waste. In some terms it is probably better than flagship, but not in this case.
ReplyDeleteI will stipulate that the Hudson is in the top 5 at least for card of the year so far, but nothing in my mind is better than the Reed Johnson with the birds. Actually the only thing that could beat it out would be a Marlon Byrd with the gulls flying around.