As a Red Sox fan, I'm always interested in how former Boston players are doing. Last week, my Payday Pack posts featured Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias. I've always liked Jose. I remember when he was coming up in the Red Sox farm system, he was lauded as a defensive marvel in the vein of Omar Visquel and Ozzie Smith. The belief was that if he could hit just enough to not be a liability, his glove would ensure a long career with multiple Gold Gloves. It hasn't quite turned out that way for him yet, but he still plays his position fantastically. He's even made an All-Star team!
Anyway, back to the Payday Pack card. I was genuinely curious about how his season from last year went, and as I flipped the card over, I made a horrifying discovery!
Allow me to present a tale of terror, illustrated by the back of various cards...
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| 2013 Topps #432 Jose Iglesias (back) |
Here we have Iglesias's first card in a Topps base set. This youngster doesn't have much of a career stat line yet, so Topps included his minor league stats in full detail. His career was just beginning.
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| 2014 Topps #653 Jose Iglesias (back) |
The next time we see him on a card, Topps eliminated his minor league credentials. "So what?" you may say. Topps does this all the time, and always has. It's not that big of a deal. Perhaps I'm being paranoid...
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| 2015 Topps #239 Jose Iglesias (back) |
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| 2016 Topps #144 Jose Iglesias (back) |
...after all, they continue showing his career as normal in the next two base sets, even designating his lost year of 2014.
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| 2017 Topps #441 Jose Iglesias (back) |
Last year, Topps decided to truncate his stats and show only the last 5 years of his major league history. Of course, they did this with all of the players, much to the grumblings of collectors everywhere.
Which brings me to this years set. Feast your eyes on this abomination:
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| 2018 Topps #32 Jose Iglesias (back) |
There's only 3 years of stats! What are you doing Topps? You're acknowledging his career has lasted 6 years, but you are only showing the latest half? Shouldn't 2013 and 2014 be there at least? I could even see an argument for replacing the injured year with 2012. There's no logical reason to only show 3 years. Look at all that empty space, Topps!
I don't know what Jose Iglesias has done to upset Topps, but if he doesn't make amends soon, his card backs will nothing but Twitter handles...
Card backs were a major part of learning about baseball. I like the social media on the back, but lots of wasted space for sure. Go Tigers!
ReplyDeleteI wish they would go back to showing full career stats. Not sure if that will ever happen.
ReplyDeleteThats a pretty big waste of space on the card. I hadn't noticed that. Speaking of wastes of space; Jose has become nothing but a cancer in the organization unfortunately. I was pumped when we got him and he is exquisite with his glove but his attitude killed that for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm genuinely curious: What has he done? I haven't followed his career closely, but I don't recall him being difficult personality when he was coming up with the Sox. It's a shame though, because he can field with the best of them.
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