Taking a stroll around my neighborhood this morning, I stopped in at the local hobby shop and plunked down $2 (!) for a pack of the brand new 2008 Topps cards. That's Manny on the foil cover there, arms raised. This year's design is quite handsome (white borders, modernist colored dots), and I sure was pleased to find a Phil Hughes sitting at the top of the stack. But I will admit to being shocked, and not in a good way, by the card beneath it:
Yes, that's Mitt Romney, of the GOP. (Distasteful and obsolete!) Apparently there are 12 presidential candidates, from both parties, mixed in with this year's set. I recall being disappointed, as a boy, at drawing a series of Jim Beatties when all I wanted was a Reggie Jackson. I can only imagine what today's kids will think of this, but I'm guessing it won't be positive. Not sure what Topps was thinking. Anyway, I hear Obama's the hot card, the media doesn't like the Hillary, and the McCains are all frayed at the edges.....
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Wow, what an abomination. I can only imagine what I would have felt opening up a wax pack only to find a Mo Udall or a John Anderson. I think I would have been beyond pissed.
The only explanation I can fathom for this is that it's an attempt at humor fallen terribly flat. Who wants their baseball mixed up with politics any more than it is, and what KID wants their baseball cards sullied by the likes of these careerist slugs?!
Posted by: SF | Monday, March 24, 2008 at 03:40 PM
What's worse is the "insert" card showing a photoshopped Giuliani celebrating with the Red Sox in the middle of Coors Field -- which I was "lucky" enough to pull.
Please. The baseball card industry is in sad shape indeed if these are the stunts it needs to attract buyers. (Hint: More easily attainable autographs and less throwaway crap = more customers).
Posted by: Paul SF | Monday, March 24, 2008 at 04:34 PM
Wow, that's just absurd.
Posted by: LocklandSF | Monday, March 24, 2008 at 04:39 PM
I seriously thought this was YF with too much time on his hands and a new Photo Shop license. That is nuts!
Posted by: rootbeerfloat | Monday, March 24, 2008 at 04:43 PM
"What's worse is the "insert" card showing a photoshopped Giuliani celebrating with the Red Sox in the middle of Coors Field -- which I was "lucky" enough to pull."
Sorry, that's funny!
Posted by: A YF | Monday, March 24, 2008 at 05:32 PM
Yeah, I agree it's funny. But I would have rather clipped it out of an editorial page than pulled it out of a pack.
Posted by: Paul SF | Monday, March 24, 2008 at 05:46 PM
What would be funny was if it said on the back of Romney's card that he's a lefty.
Posted by: SF | Monday, March 24, 2008 at 05:50 PM
For some reason, I read the title as Knoblauch.. I know, it's not even close, haha, but I didn't get the title until I realized!
Posted by: Lar | Monday, March 24, 2008 at 05:54 PM
Looking back at what I got, let me say I'm even more aggravated now that I realize that the MItt card was not a "bonus" but one of the 10 cards in the pack. So this is a case of completely false advertising. For $2, I expected 10 baseball cards (or, as it says on the bottom of the foil, 8 if there was a "relic" in there). Instead I got 9 baseball cards and Mitt Romney. So I was ripped off.
As for he Mitt card itself, credit the Topps folks for a perhaps unintentional joke. His bio begins, "Mitt Romney has been many things to many people...."
Posted by: YF | Monday, March 24, 2008 at 07:45 PM