CARDBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY - George Brett

I'm so late to the party on this one....but I was sifting through some of my cards last night and stumbled upon a stack of 2015 Topps Stadium Club baseball.  They came from a heated round of 'pack wars' that I won oh about a year ago.

I've been on a bit of a baseball kick of late.  Chalk it up to a great stretch run (or frustrating if you're a Jays fan) to the season, some new #WalletCard Oscar Gamble pickups and some eBay cheapies to add to the tradebox.  So when I flipped through the stack of TSC I was doing it with a big grin.

There are some great photos used in the set (I think Stadium Club is generally known for its solid photography).  But when I got to a certain card - I stopped sifting.

2015 Topps Stadium Club

#210 George Brett

There's a lot that I like about this card.  First and foremost...it's George Brett - my favourite player when I was a kid.  After all, his last name was my first name.  How cool is that?  I always wanted a Brett jersey...I thought it would've suited me well.  Heck, I still think about picking one up.  It's now a tossup between Brett and Gamble (Cleveland Indians era).  Oscar is catching up in the race.

But back to the card.  The photo is just tremendous.  It harkens a time when players were totally accessible and many were more than willing to give a young fan a couple moments of their time...and a sweet sig on a newly purchased baseball.  This shot has a distinct 70's feel.  The stadium in the background, the jersey, the shaggy hair...it's all there.  But to me there's just a little more.

This card (it seems) has had a little work done to it.  It almost has a painted look to it.  I'm convinced that if this card was blown up 5 or 6 times in size I'd hang it in my office.  It looks like a fine piece of art.

The photo had me so interested that I began researching it on the good ol' computer.

Well worth the time.

I'll begin by sending you to a story on National Geographic's site.  It seems as though there a neat story about this pic.

note: Again, I'm so late to the party on this one....I'm talking a couple years late.  But like I said...it's a neat story.

Pop star Lorde said that this George Brett photo (which appeared in a 1976 edition of National Geographic) was the inspiration for her mega-hit 'Royals'.

"I had this image from the National Geographic of this dude just signing baseballs.  He was a baseball player and his shirt said 'Royals'  It was just that word.  It's really cool."

Seriously??  That's incredibly random...and the song has nothing to do with baseball.  But what the heck...a person can have ideas shoot into their head from the strangest and unlikeliest things.

This is the full version of the photo that was used in the article.  Taken by photographer Ted Spiegel, this moment in time really has a certain type of energy to it.  Not in a frantic or explosive way, but in a motivating and innocent mode.

But my hunch about the card having some work done to it might have some merit.  This photo looks to be a little underexposed (it could just be the scan) and you really don't get a full sense of the expression on Brett's face.  The card does a nice job of evening out the contrast and making everything  less harsh to look at.

There are few occasions where I like to see baseball cards showing players doing something other than play baseball.  The old "sitting in the dugout" shot or "fake pose" down the third base line doesn't really do it for me.  But this shot just has a distinct uniqueness to it that frankly can't be matched.

The more I think about it, the more I want to find a nice copy of this photo so I can hang it up in my office.