NitPicking 2011 Topps Vintage Chrome: #VC47 Domonic Brown

What a difference a fortnight makes.  You go a abroad for a few weeks and floundering prospect turns into a the most dangerous hitter in the league. With each passing game the Phillies look more and more like a .500 team, but at least Domonic Brown gives fans a reason to look forward to the future. 

2011 Topps Vintage Chrome #VC47 Domonic Brown

Shortly before hitting the road I posted the first Phungo Card of Dom Brown and noted he was doing well but:

"he is going to need to hit better than .250 with a .301 OBP for the Phils to succeed"

Well I don't think Dom Brown reads Phungo, but if he does, I would like to think he was inspired.  Since that posting on Monday May 13th he has been on fire.  He has batted .355 with 13 Homers and 29 RBIs in 24 games. His slugging percentage rose 187 points over the period of 93ABs, pretty good for a man already 132 bats into his season.  His 162 game projection for the period is 88 Home Runs and 223 Hits.  Oh and 41 Stolen bases as well.

Symmetry 

1996 Topps Charlies Hayes #255

This is a bit odd, one player is batting and the other is in the field but the Dom Brown card on the Left sort of evokes the Charlie Hayes pose on the right.  Both players in shades heads tilted in roughly the same direction.

Nitpicking 2011 Topps Vintage Chrome Inserts
Maybe I get a a bit more uppity then I should when Topps is messing up minor details when just making cards of a design they have already produced.   But if your to lazy to come up w/ new designs you deserve to be harassed.  

There are a couple of issues I found with the 1996 redux in 2011 all minor but interesting.

First off there is a change that I like - the 2011 variety has the player name in bright yellow.  It is much easier to read then the originals.  This is a noteworthy difference but a bonus.

Now for the differences I attribute to pure laziness on Topps part. 
1) the inset pix next to the players name isn't angled
2) B-side: The photo on the flip side of the card is a recycle of the front shot.  This wasn't done in 1996.
3) B-side: What is with the home plate color? 

 Here is your overanalysis on the differnces:

Inset pix

1996 Topps #385 Heathlciff Slocumb

Check the inset pix next to Heathcliff's name.  It is angled slightly forward, dont' see it? check the 'P' on Slocumb's cap - much more italicized on the inset.  It is kind of a cool feature gives the whole card just a touch of forward movement.  I don't think this happens on every 1996 Topps card but it occurs on a lot of them.  Near as I can tell Topps didn't do this with any Vintage Chrome cards.

Flip-Side

We can clearly see violations on the both the picture and the Home Plate graphic.

Brown's b-side pix matches the photo at the top of the post from the front.  While Charlie Hayes has an new pix on the back.

The second issue boggles my mind a bit more.  Why the red pate on the Dom Brown card?  I think in 1996 the Plate graphic came in either green or red, but the Red was reserved for AL players, while NLers like the Phillies are on a green plate. Not sure if this was the intention but the colors match the ones uses for the NL and AL stat books that were available commercially in the 80s and early 90s.

I have a small sampling of 2011 VCs and all of them are NL and all of them feature red plates.  I don't get it - sheer laziness on Topps part.  


More Recycling

This is a reuse of the image on the b-Side of the Dom Brown VC card isn't the end of this cards duplication.  The pix on this card first appeared on the Dom Brown 2011 Topps base card that sparked a "Twink Controversy" among collectors.  You can read more about the base card and the Twink in this column at The Phillies Room


Sources
Baseball-Ref
BaseballCardPedia.com
RadiCards

Philly Show in Valley Forge Friday Through Sunday

The PhillyShow returs to Valley Forge this weekend. Team Phungo is a bit under the weather so I am not sure I will be attending. Game time decision for Saturday. Tix for the show are $8. Some local papers have a $1 off coupon in the Friday Sports sections.

1992 Topps #754 Charlie Hayes
Among the autograph guests this weekend are HoF and Politician Jim Bunning, Steve Bedrosian, Charlie Hayes, Eagles RB Brian Westbrook, Ravens and Rutgers RB and recent SuperBowl Champ Ray Rice and Wrestler Ric Flair.

On Saturday Sixers Alum and ambassador Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins is scheduled for complimentry autographs.

For a synopsis of the PhillyShow in December click here.

The Phungo Card Show info Post is here.

  

Swag from 30 Year Old Cardboard - Charlie Hayes

1990 Donruss #548 Charlie Hayes

The fine folks over at 30-Year Old Cardboard had the good fortune to win a whole bunch wax packs in a contest run by Autographed Cards

And even better, Brian the fearless leader over at 30-year Old Cardboard was good enough to contact me and let me in on some of his bounty. He sent over about two dozen cards including the Charlie Hayes card above.

First off let me note that 30-Year Old Cardboard has been a long standing member of the Phungo BlogBlogBlog roll. Brian is a Cubs fan with an affection for the vintage cards of their stars from the past. He is also very involved in TTM collecting and is currently involved in a nice series on great rookie cards from the 70s. Definitely check in with 30-YOC whenever you get the chance.

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Charlie Hayes was one of my favorite players from some of the dreadful early and mid 1990s Phils teams. He was a line drive hitter with a real solid glove at 3rd base. Though he would probably be classified as a journeyman, Hayes was good enough to stick around 14 years with seven different teams.

I remember Charlie Hayes for two specific fielding plays. One was catching the final out of Terry Mulholland's no hitter in 199o. The other is for catching the final out of the 1996 World Series for the Yankees over the Braves - I was very happy for Hayes and the Yankees at the time...I suppose I didn't realize that moment was the beginning of the latest Yankees Dynasty.

In addition to playing in the MLB World Series, Hayes is one of the few Major Leaguers to also have played in the Little League World Series. Hayes was also the first choice of the Colorado Rockies in the 1993 expansion draft.

Currently Charlie Hayes is passing on his baseball expertise as an instructor at the Big League Baseball Academy in Tomball, Texas near Houston. Another former Phillie Mike Jackson also teaches at the Academy.

Charlie's son Tyree is a pitcher in the lower levels of the Tampa Bay Rays minor league system. A year ago he did not rank among the Rays top 30 prospects but he appears to have improved in 2008.