[zeprock]

There are a lot of elements that go into a good baseball card. I love reading the stories on the backs of the Conlon cards. When I was young in the pre-internet days, I used to pore over the stats. Nowadays cards can be found with swatches of uniforms, bats, benches, balls, bases, shoes, caps, even dirt on them. Design is always cool and for me the more innovative, the more appealing, but one of the most important things is the photo. Sure we have many cards now with creative artwork that is amazing but there is still something about a great photo and so for today's post, I am posting nine cards from my collection featuring some of my favorite photos.

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1971 Topps #355 Bud Harrelson/Nolan Ryan in photo (One of the first cards to really grab my attention was this one of Mets shortstop Buddy Harrelson when I pulled it out of a ten cent pack back in the day. 1971 was the first year Topps regularly sprinkled action photos throughout their base set and this one of an unidentified Astros player sliding into Bud's tag at second base as the umpire keeps a keen eye on the play and the second baseman casually jogs by is a winner in my book. As a bonus we have a very young Nolan Ryan in the foreground giving the "out" call.)
1972 Topps #434 Johnny Bench IA (Love this shot of Johnny Bench going after a foul pop up. The photographer caught him just after he's pulled off his mask. Topps even put "In Action" on the front of the card. This card features two future Hall of Famers as Giants slugger Willie McCovey is in the background no doubt hoping the ball will be out of play.)
1992 Tuff Stuff World Series # Dan Gladden (I cut this card from a page in Tuff Stuff Magazine. It depicts the Twins Dan Gladden just after he crossed home plate literally upending the Braves catcher, Greg Olson sending him head over heals during Game 1 of the 1991 World Series. Gladden was called out on the play that stirred controversy due to him sliding in spikes high.)

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1994 Burger King Ripken #7 Cal Ripken/The Ironman (Love this shot of the King surveying his kingdom. This card, produced by Score, actually came from Burger King and shows Cal Ripken Jr. in the on deck circle with a panoramic view of Camden Yards prominently featuring the scoreboard and warehouse.)
1994 Conlon TSN Burgundy #1000 Ty Cobb (The stories of Ty Cobb on the basepaths are legendary. He was as rough and tumble as they came and would file his spikes into lethal weapons and slide in spikes high. This old black and white photo shows the grit and determination on his face, the ferocity of his slide, folding the base in half as the dirt scatters and the third baseman leaps to live to play another day.)
1996 Pinnacle Christie Brinkley Collection #1 Greg Maddux (As you can see, I have an affinity for the action photos but this one is of Hall of Famer Greg Maddux posed. The photo was taken by supermodel Christie Brinkley, who incidentally is pictured on the back, for Pinnacle's insert set featuring players from the 1995 World Series. I would have posed him with the ballpark in the background instead of a chain link fence but that is just me. It's still an innovative shot suitable for framing.)

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2008 Upper Deck #229 Manny Ramirez (I like this card. Not my favorite player but one of my favorite moments. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This one speaks volumes. Manny sealing the deal. His teammates pouring over the railing. The fans all in instant jubilation and the catcher starting his walk back to the dugout all before the bat comes to rest on the dirt. Beautiful.)
2016 Topps #96 Jose Bautista (Bautista was mostly a no-name player for the first five or six years of his MLB career knocking around for teams like the Orioles, Devil Rays, Royals and Pirates until he settled into Toronto's lineup. I am not a fan of his because of his apparent attitude. It seems like he can only hit when he's pissed and it seems like he was pissed a lot. Like the Ramirez card, this one captures a moment, one we all remember, perhaps the most famous bat flip of all-time. It eventually made it's way from jack-o-lanterns and Christmas sweaters to tattoos and even a corn maze. Study the photo though and you'll see that no one present other than the photographers saw the bat flip. They're all looking at the ball landing in the seats of the Rogers Centre in Toronto. This came during the 7th inning of Game 5 of the ALDS against the Texas Rangers who would somewhat exact their revenge the next season courtesy of Rougned Odor's right fist.)
2018 Stadium Club #180 Ted Williams (Here's a cool black and white shot of the Splendid Splinter bending his bat. Talk about a powerful swing. This all-time great could have been so much greater had he not lost four seasons during his prime to military service.)