Last Known Photograph

Looking through my 2008 Topps cards, I came across this fellow:

Luis Mendoza is a rookie pitcher who might have a shot to crack the Rangers rotation. Ok, that's cool, it's nice to see a MLB Rookie card that is actually a real live rookie card (oops, maybe not) and might have some sort of impact in the league this year. The picture struck me though. I've seen a lot of cards from Topps with the lame Olan Mills backdrop or stood up against the firing squad wall, but this was the most nondescript photo yet. I've seen more interesting passport photos. Then I saw this card from that other set...

What the? ... Same lousy photo! Yet something sees amiss. What could it be?

Not only did Topps use the same stock photo of Luis, but they actually photoshopped the Rangers uni on him! They didn't bother to photoshop the Braves new AAA centerfielder Josh Anderson out of his Astros jersey, but they did the paint job on this guy. On top of that, according to his Transactions section on Baseball-Reference.com he was traded from the Red Sox to the Rangers in July 2006. Does this mean both major card manufacturers are incapable of finding a picture of this guy that isn't almost 2 years old? What the hell happened to the vaunted Topps picture vault? Apparently their photo staff now consists of some guy from Levittown armed with a cameraphone who tries to go to a few games each year and they scrounge through the leftovers at Glamour Shots for the rest. Maybe that's being unfair to Topps. It could be that Luis is just very hard to find.

A few things to get through the day

Between work blowing up, putting together packages to ship and general sleep deprivation, I think I'm just going to find an autograph to post and call it a day. Maybe if I can get a nap in I'll be refreshed later tonight. Meanwhile here's a few things that caught my eye while surfing around this morning.

Here's some pics taken at the Hockey All-Star Fan Fest last weekend. I would have liked to have gotten McFarlane's signature, but I'm glad I didn't blow all my 2008 Topps cash on hockey wax.

Wax Heaven has a great gallery/voter's guide of the 2008 Topps Presidential Candidates set. I hadn't seen any of them besides the Obama and I wondered when Mario had found them. To my surprise a gallery with both fronts and backs can be found at The Smoking Gun. This is actually quite appropriate considering the terrible mugshots that Topps used for some of these cards.

Finally, at The Bench I found this cool thread from Champs96ws about how to mount your favorite cards in a picture frame. I was considering possibly doing this with my Allen & Ginter type set once I was finished with it, but I wasn't really sure how to go about doing it. I have matted pictures in a frame before, it's not that difficult, but I had never thought about using foam board as a way to anchor the cards. I may end up doing this after all, since Tobacco-sized top loaders are easily found nowadays thanks to Topps and their retro sets. Here's a picture of the finished product:



The Smoking Gun celebrity mugshot link alone should keep any of you out there occupied until quitting time, but if you just have to have some more card blogging action, check out Cardboard Mania. I found this while browsing through The Bench and it looks pretty good, give it a shot. Here's a nice catch of some Topps shenanigans I'd never seen before, and I love the enthusiasm he has for old cards.

28 Packs Later

Apparently some strange things are afoot in the blogosphere today. I blew it off as some kind of viral marketing for a new zombie flick and picked up a few more packs of series 2 from the local addiction enabler.

To my horror I realized it was all true. Zombies are indeed among us. HERE IS PROOF:


Run! Run for the hills with the children before it's too late!