Airbrushed Fridays: 1990 Topps Traded #13T

Three days left in the season. Time to be geeked!

Who is he? Glenn Braggs was an outfielder who came up with the Milwaukee Brewers back in their American League days. Braggs was a second round pick in 1983 and showed flashes of power in his years with the Brew Crew, though he never broke out as a star player. Don't feel too sorry for the man, however. In addition to playing baseball professionally for a living for a number of years at the highest level, he also married a member of En Vogue. En Vogue!

How did he get here? The charmed life of Glenn Braggs took a turn in 1990 when he was part of a four player midseason deal involving the Cincinnati Reds. It was a turn for the better, as the Reds would go on to shock the juggernaut that was the Oakland A's with a World Series sweep that year. Braggs would go on to play for the Reds through 1992 before taking his talents to Japan for several more years.

Repeat offender? No

Other versions of this card: 1990 Topps #88

Airbrushed Score: 5

Comments: It's not bad, but it's not good either.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1990 Topps Traded #121T

Life is short and cruel. Sometimes life is shorter and crueler.

Who is he? Russ Swan was a lefty reliever and occasional closer who spent the majority of his major league service time with the Seattle Mariners. Swan was a Washington native, but he was drafted by the Giants with whom he'd reach the bigs the first time in 1989. I don't know how one could verify this, but according to his Baseball-Reference page, Swan donned three different uniforms in four appearances as a Giant.

How did he get here? Early in the 1990 season, Swan was traded to the Mariners for seldom used starter Gary Eave. In Seattle, Swan became a bullpen staple for much of the early '90s. Cleveland signed Swan for the ill-fated 1994 season after he struggled mightily the previous year. That shortened season would find Swan saddled with a double-digit ERA and proved to be his last in the majors. Little information seems to be available about the former big leaguer, who sadly died in 2006 due to complications from a head injury suffered from a fall.

Repeat offender? No

Other versions of this card: None

Airbrushed Score: 6

Comments: The 'S' is a bit fat. Considering what we know about Russ Swan now, the whole photo is a bit eerie and Highway to Heaven-like.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1990 Topps Traded #52T

After Topps reached big success with their two most recent Traded sets, marked by the Olympians and strong rookie crop of the 1988 set and Ken Griffey Jr. himself in the 1989 set, the 1990 effort could have been filed somewhere between piss and poor. One notable addition, however, was the advent of Traded set wax packs. The entire traded set was issued in its usual factory set box with thinner, lighter card stock than its base set counterpart, but the wax packs contained cards printed on the standard card stock that everyone got to know and love over the years. I'm not certain which is the rarer version at this time, but I wouldn't consider your team set complete without a cards of each player in each card stock variety.

Brent Knackert logged 32 appearances as a major league pitcher in his career, including 2 starts and 8 games finished. Was he a fringe major leaguer? Certainly. The odd thing with Brent is that he appeared in the majors in two separate seasons, 1990 and 1996.

Why did Topps airbrush Brent's photo? I suppose Knackert's career could have been some sort of hoax and that he didn't really exist. The Mariners were a last place team in 1990 and Ken Griffey Jr. was still figuring out how to play the game. Growing up in the Portland area, we've always had Mariners game televised to some extent, and it's hard to pry my eyes away from baseball when it's on. I don't remember Knackert existing, though. It's even more curious that he showed up more than a half of a decade later.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Hand-drawn shirt and hat? Closely cropped photo? Actually, if it wasn't for the blip of color just above his right shoulder, I would seriously wonder if this was one of his class photos when he was in high school. Although, I suppose it's best to look directly into the camera when you're attempting to immortalize yourself into Senior Photo Glory.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1990 Topps Traded #23T

It seems like Bobby Cox was born wearing a Braves uniform, but as we see here this actually wasn't the case. I'm continuing on in my quest to find the newest or last airbrushed card that Topps produced. I'm guessing there was probably some sort of transitional period from where they neither airbrushed nor photoshopped pictures, but I haven't quite narrowed that down yet. We've stepped into the 1990s here with one of the most lackluster traded sets of all-time.

Bobby Cox once was and still remains is the Atlanta Braves manager. He actually managed the Braves in the late '70s up through 1981 with little success before taking over the helm of the Toronto Blue Jays, turning the Jays from a cellar-dweller to a playoff team in 1985. He ended up returning to the Braves as the GM for nearly 5 seasons before hiring himself as manager midway through the 1990 season.

Why did Topps airbrush Bobby's photo? I'm actually at a total loss for words on this one. Is this a 5 year old Blue Jays picture that they airbrushed? Why not go the full distance and use a picture from 1981? I suppose the Braves cap logo had changed by 1990, but this is just strange. He was the reigning GM, though, so you'd think they could have at least used a cap-less photo of him doing something remotely baseball-related.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Well, the 'A' logo is obviously bad and he's wearing a very nondescript solid dark blue that was probably a different shade of something in a past life. What's really wrong, though, is that the card is faking Bobby Cox into a uniform that he should be very real in.