Card of the Week: 1969 Topps #466 John Boccabella
Posted by Andy on October 13, 2010
This week we present a Card of the Week written by Night Owl of Night Owl Cards and 1975 Topps (it's far out, man).
The design chosen each year for a baseball card set can often determine whether collectors love, hate or remain ambivalent about that set.
One aspect of design is how that design enhances or interferes with the photo on the card.
Some of you might know that the 2008 Topps set was notable for a particular design flaw. The “bump” that featured the Topps logo and jutted into the top portion of the card photo affected how Topps displayed the photos on its cards. Often, the photo images were shrunken so the player’s head would not be covered up by the Topps “bump.”
That particular set got me thinking about whether there were other sets in which the design forced Topps’ hand as to how it displayed its photos. I quickly scanned Topps flagship sets over the years. I found out that, in most sets since Topps went with photography over illustrations, the design has not affected photo selection or positioning of the photo.
An exception is 1969 Topps.
Topps’ decision to superimpose the colored circle, which contained the player’s name and position, onto the photo required a significant adjustment. You can see it with the John Boccabella card. If you removed the colored circle, what would you have? You would have an obvious off-centered photo. In most case, an off-center photo would never fly as a choice for a player’s card.
But for 1969 Topps, an off-center photo was REQUIRED in many cases. There are hundreds of examples in the set in which an off-center picture was selected so Topps could position the colored circle and not cover up a player’s face.
The ‘69 set had several issues, mostly related to major league baseball expansion that year. Blacked-out caps and hatless players run rampant through the set. But the off-center photo phenomenon was a self-imposed issue.
Topps must have been so scarred by that design flaw that it chose designs that did not interfere with the photo for the next 40 years. Then 2008 came along and the bump reared its ugly head.
October 12th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Boccabella hit more than 1 homer off 3 pitchers:
Generated 10/12/2010.
He had nice numbers in particular against Herbel, albeit it in a very small sample.
October 13th, 2010 at 8:13 am
Back then, players didn't ride the AAA-MLB shuttle as often. It wasn't unusual for a team's AAA affiliate be located a couple of time zones away.
October 13th, 2010 at 9:05 am
i have this complete set ,, its a interesting one but no match for 1968 and 1967 sets , those are special
October 13th, 2010 at 9:16 am
An update: "Hundreds" is a "slight" exaggeration on my part. I went through the set just now and counted 77 examples of off-center photos.
October 13th, 2010 at 9:45 am
I find it amazing that almost 7% of his career at bats over 6 seasons came against 1 pitcher (Sadecki) who he didn't really hit all that well.
October 13th, 2010 at 10:08 am
Worst baseball card trade ever: 69 Topps Reggie Jackson for 69 Topps Ken Harrelson, which I made right before Jackson went on a home run tear and established himself as a national star.
It haunts me still.
October 13th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Always like the latter series cards in the '69 set because they featured the players on the expansion teams in their new uniforms.
October 13th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Awesome. When I saw the link, I laughed, Boccabella is one of my all time favorite baseball names. I never realized this about the off center for this set.
October 13th, 2010 at 10:39 am
At least they move the colored circle from side to side depending on which is better suited for the picture they have.
Honestly, it took me over 20 years to complete this set, so I have looked at these cards extensively and I never even once thought of this as an issue. Even as it is pointed out now, I still don't see it as a problem. This set has MUCH bigger issues that this, like the one's mentioned by Nigth Owl in his post, specifically the hatless player cards. They are so rampant and horrendous that the numerous cards with the blacked-out caps don't even bother me that much, since the subjects at least look like baseball players instead of accountants. I don't like, however, cards with portraits taken from a low angle, so you can't see the logo on the cap, but you get plenty of nostril instead (I am talking about you 1972 Topps Texas Rangers).
Actually, I like the Boccabella card from the post very much, compared to many other 1969 Topps cards. You can tell it is a higher series card (#466) just by the fact that you get a nice view of the new Expos cap. I would have preferred to be able to see a little more of the uniform, but at least it is a classic catcher's pose. Most of the other Expos cards have the hatless/blacked-out caps (ditto for the Royals, Padres, and Pilots).
Two other side notes:
1) The Seattle Pilots had cards in 2 Topps sets 1969 and 1970, but the team was in existence on 1 (1969) they moved to Milwaukee for the 1970 season.
2) Every time I see Night Owl's name on these boards, for some reason I think of the Little River Band song "Night Owl".
October 13th, 2010 at 10:47 am
@6 Tom,
Not a great trade. I feel your pain.
The worst move I made was in the late 70's when I could have gotten either the 1973 or 1974 Topps Baseball Card set for my birthday. I chose 1974 because I liked the design better. That was right before Schmidt's rookie card from 1973 exploded in value. 5 years later I had to pay more for the Schmidt rookie than it would have cost for the entire 1973 set back when I made my choice.
October 13th, 2010 at 11:35 am
I doubt they actually selected off-center photos. They simply cropped their photos to make room for the logo. With a different design, they would have used the same photos, but centered.
October 13th, 2010 at 11:40 am
I remember that when Leo Durocher took over the Cubs in '66, he wanted to replace Ernie Banks at first base with Boccabella. By the way, I have one of those Reggie Jackson 1969 cards. Actually got it in 1969, along with the Mantle card with the white lettering.
October 13th, 2010 at 11:44 am
@13,
Nobody likes a show-off, Steven.
🙂
October 13th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Great work as always Night Owl!
October 13th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
@11
Poor word choice on my part. By "selected," I meant "created." I doubt they actually picked off-center photos as well.
October 13th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
@#13: I am humbled.
October 13th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
There once was a player named Boccabella
Who was named a top rookie for Pocatello
(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
October 13th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
I remember the PA announcer in Montreal (Jacques Doucet? Jean-Pierre Roy?) pronouncing his name as Boc-ca-BELLLL-A...
October 13th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Along with obscure shortstop Hec-tor TORRRRR-es...
October 14th, 2010 at 4:44 am
Boccabella and Biff Pocoroba should have played together.
October 14th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Very interesting, I started a Montreal Expos card album this week with a few random cards from a local card shop, and the only 1972 card I picked was Boccabella! 1969 Rusty Staub is a cool card. Love those expos. I also found some old expos cloth stickers that have to be at least 40 yrs old and they stuck perfect.