If they were full bleed: 1985 Topps edition

Here's an old blog series I haven't done in a while: If They Were Full-Bleed. It's where I mess around in Photoshop and whip up an approximation of what classic card designs would have looked like had full-bleed (no border) designs been all the rage back then like they are these days.

Be warned, it might hurt your brain to see very familiar cards turned inside-out like this!

Here's a Kirby Puckett rookie in what 1985 Topps may have looked like without borders.

And howabout Steve Carlton? Lefty's '85 Topps card isn't among his best, but getting a little more of the photo not eaten by the border doesn't hurt.

What do you think? Is it blasphemous to see '85 Topps without borders, or could you see yourself hypothetically collecting a set like this? I think it could have pulled off the full-bleed look just fine.


And here's a bonus "what if?" card for you. What would Jose Canseco's iconic 1986 Donruss Rated Rookie card look like if he had a full mustache instead of the peach fuzz?

Probably not anything like that, but I still think it's pretty funny! LOL

Thanks for reading. Have a great October.

If They Were Full Bleed: 1979 Topps Edition

Time again for this fun little series where we use our imaginations (and photoshop) to picture what classic baseball card designs would look like if they were full-bleed. The borderless concept had been around for decades, but didn't really gain mainstream traction until the early 90s with the rise of Stadium Club.

But what if Topps had been ahead of the times and put out a full-bleed flagship set in 1979? Well, it might have looked a little something like this!

Here we have the top-dollar card of the 1979 set, the Ozzie Smith rookie. Looks pretty good without the white space, and would have cut down on the notorious off-centeredness this card is known for.

Side by side comparison with the real version:

Let's do another one for good measure.

Joe Morgan brings an All-Star banner into the mix.

And the side by side:

The color is a little off, but I do the best I can when I come across the original raw photos, usually thanks to Topps Vault auctions.

That's it for this time. If you missed them, check out the first and second installments of this series as well.

So what do you think of the full-bleed 1979 mock-ups? Love 'em or prefer the originals?

If They Were Full-Bleed: ribbons in the wind

Ready for more fun photoshops of classic card designs reimagined without borders? Let's do it! This is the sequel to this post. Today's edition focuses on Topps designs from the past that prominently feature banners.

1974

1974 Topps without borders. That's actually kinda nice.

Here's the real version of Bill Melton's 1974 Topps card. Seems pretty cramped by comparison, though yes, this is a particularly tightly cropped card.


1980

1980 Topps is pretty similar to 1974. As with its counterpart, the ribbons just fly kinda aimlessly through the air without the border to be pinned behind.

Maybe I could have kept the thin colored border on these, but really the whole point of this exercise is to see these designs without borders of any kind, so they had to go.

(Always love seeing Bert Blyleven on the WS Championship Pirates team of 1979.)


1989

This is probably the best-looking of these full-bleed mock-ups, due in large part to the banner still having an anchor thanks to the team name. 1989 Topps would rank among my least-favorite Topps sets, but I'd say this is a big improvement over the real Bruce Benedict.

This rounds out the banner trilogy. A case could be made that 1965 Topps should be in this group, but that's a tri-cornered pennant, which while in the flag family, is quite different than these ribbons. So that'll just have to wait until another time.



So what are your thoughts? Would you have preferred any of these theoretical cards to the originals? To me, only 1989 is really a significant upgrade. 1974 and 1980 might have worked better if the thin colored borders remained or the ribbons continued all the way to the sides or something. Maybe ending in a little curly-cue (see 1997 Stadium Club). Perhaps a "Hot Wheels logo" type design with the ribbon attached to circles that could include name, position, or whatever. While it seems silly, I could also imagine tiny airplanes pulling the banners. Do planes with banner ads still fly over stadiums these days? If so, that might fit the theme of a baseball card.

What if Topps came out with "Stadium Club Fantasy Heritage" or some kind of "Future Past" product like that -- a set reimagining updated versions of classic designs? Seems like a good excuse to once again go back to their well of history from the 50s and 60s. If they do something like that, I hope they offer me a job to help work on it!
Hey, let's try another plea for a baseball card job...

Attn: Topps (or other sportscard manufacturer), please contact me re: employment opportunities! My current job is ending by the end of the year. I'll work cheap and passionately! I've been called one of the most creative and innovative voices in the hobby today. Just the shot in the arm your company needs to thrive in this competitive marketplace. I'm not willing to relocate at this time, but come on, it's almost 2016! Everything can be done online these days. Looking forward to hearing from you!

If They Were Full-Bleed

Here's a new series called If They Were Full-Bleed where we use Photoshop to reimagine old designs if they had been borderless, a style that came to prominence in the early 90s. Sound like fun?!

Let's take a look!

There's a fine looking card! This one even got imaginarily graded!

Here's an alternate-reality 1971 Topps. What's cooler than black borders? NO borders!

Fast-forwarding to 1992, here's what the flagship set might've looked like had it been a bit more inspired by Stadium Club.

That's it for today. What do you think?