Airbrushed Fridays: 1989 Topps Traded #46T

Technically it is still Friday in my part of the world, and currently I'm "enjoying" some playoff baseball between the Atlanta team and the San Francisco team. I came to the conclusion that I like a lot more Atlanta players, but I just have a real hard time rooting for them in the playoffs.

Gene Harris was a right-handed reliever who divided his time during his seven year career among six franchises. Current Atlanta GM Frank Wren was credited with drafting Harris on the back of his rookie baseball card here while he worked in scouting for the Montreal Expos.

Why did Topps airbrush Gene's photo? Harris didn't make his major league debut until the season this card came out. Why didn't they use a spring training photo, perhaps? Harris, like a number of others, fell victim to the whims of the airbrusher by virtue of being part of the Randy Johnson for Mark Langston deal that went down in late May. Oddly enough, Randy himself escaped the photo doctoring somehow.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Aside from the fact that Harris looks a little like a much shorter and much skinnier Shaquille O'Neal, this one has all of the classic tell-tale signs: goofy colored hat with matching jersey, strangely tilted logo and that weird haloing effect around the player. Actually, scratch that last one. I think Gene is just lined up perfectly with the background to make him look a little unearthly.

(If you are interested in obtaining a card featured here - but not this one - 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.)