Wednesday, February 13, 2008

2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #81 Orel Hershiser



Why this card is awesome: Because of the totally wacky pose. It's like the photographer told him to start his windup, even though he's clearly not on the mound and (hopefully) not going to fire the ball.

I also love the very casual spring training shot with players warming up. And, there's something very unusual for a baseball card, which is a wheelchair behind Hershiser on the right. I can't tell if the person in the yellow shirt is in the wheelchair or behind it, but nevertheless it's quite unusual to see.

By the way, this card (as you can see from the title) is from the 2004 fan favorite set, not the 2003 set as with the Puckett and Lyons cards we've already seen. If you compare it to Hershiser's regular card, you'll see that the wording for both the team name and Hershiser's name is a bit narrower on the 2004 card.

3 comments:

Mike S said...

Not like anyone cares, but here's my other minor quibble with the Fan Favorites set. When choosing the design for each player's card (at least for the top players), they went with the make year. Orel Hershiser was clearly the pitcher of the 1988 season. However, I associate 1988 Topps with the 1987 season, 1989 Topps with the 1988 season, etc. When I think about Orel's great year of 1988, the Topps card that comes to mind isn't the one that was featured in this countdown, that's for sure.

Byron said...

That guy in the wheel chair is probably former Dodger and Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campenella.

Before the Dodgers moved west, Campenella got into a major car accident and was paralyzed from the waist down.

I remember reading that he'd go to Vero Beach in the spring and instruct the LA catchers.

Luke said...

if i didn't know baseball, i would say that's Inspector Gadget!

wowzers!