Airbrushed Fridays: 2007 Topps #25

The playoffs start today, sort of. I am still really not liking this Wild Card thing. The Angels aren't in it. I should feel some sort of delicious satisfaction about the Angels missing out, but there really isn't much of a payoff for me. There were a lot of good teams in the AL this year and the Angels were just slightly worse than they needed to be. Last season or next season or three seasons from now, it might have been good enough. This year, it wasn't. If there's anything to take solace in, it's that the Angels dropped off enough money to fund a small country on the porch of a certain first baseman and he didn't even end up being the best player on the team. With the future Mike Trout seems to have ahead of him, he may never be the franchise player. Yeesh, even the other slugging Mike is worthy competition.

Who is this week's victim, and why do we care? Gary Matthews the Sequel was an average outfielder who had a flair for the dramatic catch. He randomly had one impressive season in a walk year with the Rangers and earned himself a ton of cash. 50 million smackaroos later, he was out of baseball having put in just three of his five contracted years with the Angels, who bought out nearly all of the remainder of his contract to see him in a Mets uniform for part of a fourth season.

Why does this card exist? Matthews had yet to appear with his Angels of Los Angeles-ishness at the time the 2007 Topps Series 1 product hit the shelves. His offseason signing will be mocked for years to come. I think last year's cash grab will also be a major boondoggle, but at least you know that the guy that signed it has his ticket punched to the Hall of Fame already.

Airbrushed Fridays is a weekly feature as the name seems to imply. If you know of a card with an altered photograph that you'd like to see featured, please contact me. You probably won't win anything other than a hyperlink and a used copy of R.E.M.'s "Around the Sun" on CD, but you never know!