Re-Defining the Design - 1987 Topps Jose Canseco

I must say that I quite enjoyed my little tinkering with the 1981 Topps design, and I thought I'd give it another go.  

Next stop for the Delorean Time Machine is the fall of 1986 during a Topps design meeting for the upcoming '87 release.  I won't bore you with made up dialogue about how the 87 set was designed, but I imagine (obviously) it was an homage to the 1962 release.  A 25th anniversary homage.  And that can only mean two words, wood grain.  

The 1962 set is okay in my book.  Not terribly exciting, but I do like the peeled back photo look.  Makes it feel like a scrapbook to me.

Anyways, 1987 rolls around and we are bombarded with what must be the most overproduced set in the history of humanity.  There were even 17 cards per pack, instead of the standard 15 at the time.  Which meant each wax box doled out 612 cards, a 72 card increase per boxes from years past.  

I for one am dead tired of the 87 wood grain.  I have a 5,000 count box full of these cards, plus an unopened wax box (612), two sets in boxes (1,584) and another set in a binder (792) for a whopping approximate of 8,000 1987 Topps.  Ugh.  As my wife would say, it would make good kindling.

After staring at a mind numbing 8,000 1987 Topps, I needed to change the design.  First off would be sending that wood grain pattern to the lumber mill.  Good riddance.  Next up was expanding the picture to be more like a 1991 Topps.  Photos to the border, or balls to the wall for you Little John fans.  Move the Topps logo to the upper right, add a thicker boarder, and voila.  A new cleaner take on a super stale design. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Re-Defining the Design - 1981 Topps Ron Cey

One thing that has always bothered me as a collector is how the card manufacturers literally drop the ball on some of their designs.  I've heard plenty of grumblings about 2010 Topps, and the similarities between early Upper Deck sets.

With the power of photoshop and the ability to jump into my way-back machine, I've decided to pay a visit to Duryea, Pennsylvania circa late 1980.

For the life of me, I have never understood the color choices selected for Topps sets.  One year it will be spot on to team colors, then maybe it's a design like '71, '75 or even (gasp) '87 that has different colors or abstract designs.  However, I cannot understand what they were thinking when they designed 1981 Topps.

The concept was great, put the team hat on the lower left corner.  Brilliant, save for the fact nobody wears a hat the actually says "Dodgers" then their position.  Cute thought, but failed the big picture.  Perhaps Topps was limited by the MLBPA from placing hat logos on cards, but doubtful.

And finally, what in the world was up with the color choices?  Green for the Reds, White Sox and Blue Jays?  Red for the Yanks?  The only ones that were remotely right were the Red Sox (Red), Mariners (Yellow) and Mets (Orange).  Although, being a Padres fan, I take great joy in seeing the Dodgers and Giants adorned in a pink silouette.  Quite fitting.

Anyways, after altering history, a new 1981 Topps card has emerged.  Behold!  A new 1981 Topps Ron Cey (The Penguin was only chosen because the Dodger colors are easy to simulate and their logo is simple).

BEFORE

AFTER

Moving the position to the baseball (ala 75 Topps) and moving the Topps logo to the upper right enabled the actual hat logo to be placed on the hat (of all places).  And, Ron Cey is no longer shrouded in Hello Kitty and has a fitting frame of Dodger Blue.

So, what do you think?