Getting claustrophobic

Ever since I started this blog, I've come up with a decent amount of ideas for my posts.

Some involve only a single card, while others involve dozens. Either way, it's been a blast to search for a new topic to write about with each passing day.

However, I don't think I've ever had as much fun digging for cards that fit one of my post topics than tonight. I had a blast jumping from binder to binder during "the search".

As I was browsing through one of my Angels binders this evening, I came across the above card. "That's a lot of people", I thought. And then I asked myself the question that led to the entire theme of tonight's post.

What's the most people ever featured on a baseball card?

I'm not talking just players. Sweeping crowd shots like the Upper Deck Molina are great candidates. Imagine if that one was horizontal. (Since I just recently featured the famous Wade Boggs card on the blog, I'll leave that one out for now to avoid repetition. But it's a great one.)

It's hard to name a "winner" for certain, but I've come up with a few candidates. (Although I'm sure I'm forgetting some.)

Before we start, there's a couple ground rules.

While I love these types of cards, stadium shots are excluded.

That's too easy.

Also, the card has to be baseball-themed.

While I love my non-baseball card collection, including this Woodstock card, there's a lot of them that feature thousands upon thousands of people.

Besides, this one would probably run away with the "victory". (V-DB for "dime boxes", if you will.)

One more thing...

Event cards aren't excluded, but I've placed them in their own category.

Another great card, but not quite on the level of claustrophobia I'll soon feature.

A great panoramic shot of Shea Stadium after the Mets clinched their World Series victory over the O's in 1969. You can even see pieces of confetti flying around on the left side of the card.

Next, we've got the "The Shot Heard 'Round the World".

This was one of the first "Gems of Junk Wax" inductees. It quite possibly be my favorite card from the overproduction era, due to the fact that it tracks where Bobby Thomson's historic bat left his bat and eventually landed.

As a result, fans sitting along the third-base line and left-field bleachers are featured on this card.

It's tough to tell for certain...

...but I think this one has it beat.

This is one of my favorite baseball pictures, period. It's purely a bonus that it found its way onto a baseball card.

Too many tickets were sold at the first-ever World Series, more than Boston's Huntington Avenue Grounds (shown above) could hold. Pair that with a bunch of unruly fans jumping the gates and what do you get?

This.

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember reading that any ball hit into the crowd at this particular game counted as a double. A couple players managed to perfect the practice, which resulted in some fine hitting performances at the plate.

Disco Demolition Night would give this one a run for its money.

But amazingly enough, I couldn't find any cards commemorating the event in my collection.

Although it's not an event that necessarily deserves to be commemorated, I'd still like to see it on a piece of cardboard one day.

For now, the crazy card above takes the cake in the "event" category.

Now on to the single player cards.

This one comes nowhere close to "winning", but I wanted to show it anyways. I'm guessing it was taken after the Tigers won the AL pennant in 2006, thanks to a Magglio Ordonez walk-off dinger. (Which is also shown on a baseball card.)

Joel Zumaya has fallen on some tough times lately. I'd really like to see him get back to the level he was at in '06.

I wouldn't rule it out just yet.

This one's a bit of a cross between an event card and a single player card.

I'll feature this one as a single player card. Ralph Branca played a big role in the lore of "The Shot Heard 'Round the World", so I tend to think of that one as more of an "event", even though Thomson was the one who hit the homer.

Anyways, this was one of my dime box pickups from March's card show.

As I said in that post, there's a lot of these Pacific Nolan Ryan cards dispersed amongst dime boxes across the country. While I'm not a fan of sets that feature a single player, it does still have some highlights.

Like the above card, for instance.

It's Nolan Ryan. It commemorates a major moment in his career. It's a night card, too.

What else do you need?

While it's certainly a contender, I don't think it garners the "victory" in this category.

This is a great example of a card I never knew existed until I joined the blogosphere.

I first found out about it on "Thoughts and Sox", and the author of that blog, Adam, was nice enough to send it to me as part of a trade.

As much as I dislike Manny Ramirez, this is one of the best cards in my collection, at least in terms of photography. (Topps produced a lesser version of this same image on one of their cards, which I also own.)

This was the first card that came to mind when I thought of tonight's post.

However, this one might be the king of claustrophobia...

...but it's one awesome card.

Sure, it's a painting. But it's a rendition of one of the defining moments of baseball history, the final time Babe Ruth would step foot into Yankee Stadium.

I had to include it.

This card captures the three decks of the old Yankee Stadium, all of which were jam-packed for Ruth's grand finale.

It's hard to say with any certainty, but I think this is the most populous card in my collection.

All of whom just wanted to see "The Babe" one last time.

I might have forgotten a few of these "claustrophobic" cards, or perhaps there's some out there that I've never seen before.

Anyone else have any candidates?