2010 BS

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.

Comments

Captain Canuck said…
Canada does it right. If that had been an OPC card, there would have been a little notation on the card "traded to White Sox 11/09"

I miss that.
John Bateman said…
This is a great action card. Topps has been airbrushing cards for 45 years. That is what makes it great. It is getting harder and harder to tell when they do it. This one is almost undectable.
Matt Flaten said…
You are so right Captain!

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.
night owl said…
This doesn't bother me much, because like John says, Topps has been doing this since I was a wee little one. In fact, they've been doing it since before I was born.

Now, what they did with the Manny Ramirez Stadium Club card in '08, that is bullshit.
MarieBay said…
what is even funnier about the photohsopped crap cards is that they don't even look right because they never go with the folds of the uniform or the directions of the hat. they just paste the words or logo and dont try and make it look like it belongs. they did that with burnett in last years bowman and it looked awful.
Matt Flaten said…
Night Owl,

How is it different? It seems to be the same thing...fake jersey put on actual game photo?
Steve Gierman said…
I am so divided on this card. The cursive "Chicago" looks out of place and the number is too small, but it is a Sox card.
night owl said…
It's different because this card is in line with just about every other photoshopped/airbrushed card Topps has done. As far back as 1973, Topps was photoshopping an entire group of outfield teammates into different uniforms just to get the guy they were featuring in the right uniform (Tommie Agee).

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.
Roy said…
When did MArk Teahen get on base? let alone advance to third with the KC offense..?

Bullshit affirmed.
Unknown said…
I wouldn't have caught that unless I was a fan of his or those teams.

Airbrushing. Amazing stuff.