What a card: This is the first Topps flagship card of Mike Fitzgerald. He had cards in the 1984 Donruss and 1984 Fleer Update sets, as well as the 1984 Topps Traded set. In fact, I believe the photo on his '84 Traded card is from the same game -- possibly the same play -- as the photo on this card. Judging from the '84 card, it appears that Fitzgerald here is following an infield play after he initially thought he had a chance on the ball.
My observation on the front: I think I just mentioned that.
More opinion from me: I haven't discussed this about the '85 set, so now is as good a time as any. Prior to the 1985 set, Topps issued two straight sets that were action-photo heavy, 1983 and 1984 Topps. When Topps went to a full photo (with no inset photo) in 1985, it also returned posed/profile shots to the flagship set for basically the first time since 1982. (I know there were some posed shots in '83 and '84 Topps, but relatively few). It seemed like Topps was going back in time with the 1985 set.
Something you might know: Fitzgerald is the catcher the Montreal Expos received in exchange for Gary Carter in the deal with the Mets in 1984. In fact, by the time this card hit stores, Fitzgerald was already a Montreal Expo, along with Hubie Brooks, Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans.
Something you might not know: Fitzgerald is one of only 11 catchers in major league history to hit a home run in his first big-league at-bat. Other notables are Terry Steinbach and Mike Napoli.
My observation on the back: Dan Gausepohl played between 1979-82, at one point playing on the same team as Tony Gwynn.
The blog wants to speak now: The Ballgames, News and Pop Culture (va-va-va-voom) tabs have been updated.
1 comment:
I agree about the photography choices in this set. Certainly an odd choice here and there.
On a general note, any card set with large 'team-color-coded-stuff' + a team logo is great in my book. I applaud your decision to blog about this set!
Nick J
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