So I talked some heavy shit about 2010 Topps this week and swore that I wouldn't collect the set this year. But I couldn't help buying a pack at Target last night just to confirm how horrible they are in person as well as in scans. And wouldn't you know it, I pulled a card that confirms the craptastic nature of this year's Topps base set:
2010 Topps #83 Mark Teahen
This card is...
Mark Teahen has never played a game as a member of the Chicago White Sox. He was traded by the Royals after the season was completed [November 5th] and so this card is a complete fabrication.
This kind of card has no place in Topps Series 1...We're trying to document what happened in 2009 not what is going to happen this year. They should do this for possibly Series II or have him in a White Sox uniform in 2010 Heritage but not in a set that is released before he plays a game for the new team. This stuff pisses me off way more than the short print variations that Stale Gum gets so angry about.
2010 Topps #83 Mark Teahen
This card is...
Mark Teahen has never played a game as a member of the Chicago White Sox. He was traded by the Royals after the season was completed [November 5th] and so this card is a complete fabrication.This kind of card has no place in Topps Series 1...We're trying to document what happened in 2009 not what is going to happen this year. They should do this for possibly Series II or have him in a White Sox uniform in 2010 Heritage but not in a set that is released before he plays a game for the new team. This stuff pisses me off way more than the short print variations that Stale Gum gets so angry about.
Comments
I miss that.
I realize that airbrushing happens and I love the horrible looking cards from the 70's that have it. It's just the false nature of it all that bugs me. The back of the card doesn't even have a mention of the trade.
Now, what they did with the Manny Ramirez Stadium Club card in '08, that is bullshit.
How is it different? It seems to be the same thing...fake jersey put on actual game photo?
They airbrushed Doyle Alexander, standing on the mound in Yankee Stadium, into a complete Rangers uniform in his 1977 card.
That might not be in cool in your eyes, but it's been going on for ages. Maybe it's not cool. But it's consistent. It just doesn't bother me anymore.
The difference in the Ramirez card, was not only did they put Ramirez in a Dodger uniform, but they photoshopped Fenway Park into Dodger Stadium, pretended all the fans were at Dodger Stadium, not at Fenway Park, left the 99 Restaurant sign on the back wall as a "cute" reference to Ramirez's uniform number, even though that restaurant doesn't exist on the west coast, pretended Ramirez faced Matt Morris -- which he may have but not in that particular game -- and wiped out any evidence of the umpire.
It's that Topps took a specific moment in a time and messed with it in a thousand different ways, instead of just changing the uniform on a player.
The only mild concern I have with the Teahen card is no mention of the transaction on the back, which is what Topps customarily does with late trades like this. However, even in that case, it wouldn't be the first time it's happened.
Bullshit affirmed.
Airbrushing. Amazing stuff.