Last time was a piece of cake for Hostess, a 7-2 win over Topps. Will gum win this time?
Two very different kinds of photos here. Pose, location, even uniform are very different. Hostess has a spring training shot in front of a woodsy background, with not even a fence visible between the players and the trees. Topps has Manning in his bright red jersey sprinting out of the batters box on a sunny day in Cleveland, with the fans so clear in the background you could almost recognize faces.
Rick Manning was a speedy outfielder who won a gold glove in 1976. He played 13 years in the major leagues for some bad Cleveland and Milwaukee teams, never making the postseason. He was never all that good himself. He didn't hit for average (.257 lifetime) or power (never more than 8 HR in a season). Only 11.7 WAR in 13 seasons indicates that he was little more than replacement-level during his career. His most notable accomplishments with Cleveland were stealing teammate Dennis Eckersley's wife (leading to Cleveland trading the future Hall of Famer to Boston) and for his 33-year ongoing run as Guardians announcer, the longest active streak in the majors.
gum
ReplyDeleteAction shot + red uni = win for gum!
ReplyDeleteGotta go with gum. Rick Manning's walk off single ended Paul Molitor's 39 game hitting streak in 1987 as Molitor watched from the on-deck circle. Of course, an 0-4 during the game didn't help the cause. I listened to that game on the radio.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna go Hostess, mostly because I think the Topps card should be cropped more tightly. It's a great photo though (the Hostess is a very nice photo too).
ReplyDeleteGUM
ReplyDeleteFirst time I'm picking Gum.
ReplyDeleteHostess usually seems to have the better photos, but this time the Topps is far superior.
ReplyDelete