Friday, January 27, 2012

Airbrushed Fridays: 2011 Topps Opening Day #59

There's only 22 days until pitchers and catchers report. 22 days! That's only three weeks until we can start talking about baseball for real instead of just checking mlbtraderumors.com periodically to find out if anyone is going to hand Edwin Jackson a big contract.

Russell Martin is a three-time All-Star catcher who does a little bit of everything, but doesn't seem to do anything extremely well. Having the benefit of playing in major markets his whole career seems to have helped him to the accolades he's received. He will enter his 7th major league season in 2012.

Why did Topps airbrush Russell's photo? Martin was a surprise free agent acquisition by the Yankees last offseason. He had a strong start last year and found his way to the All-Star team by virtue of being a Yankee, and not being as bad as end-of-career Jorge Posada. However, he had not appeared in a Yankees uniform at the time this set was released.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? As far as Photoshop jobs go, this isn't bad. It's probably not too difficult to go from Dodger road grey and blue to Yankee road grey and navy blue. This is more of a case of knowing that the season hadn't even begun when this set was released.

If you are interested in obtaining a card featured here, please send me an e-mail. If you have a card you would like to nominate for Airbrushed Fridays, please get in touch as well. I will require that I am able to see the card in person, either on loan or as a donation, so that I can examine the card and experience it in all its cruddiness.

1 comment :

Comments are highly encouraged, but then again, so is eating your fruits and vegetables.