Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Missing Noses, Chins, Eyebrows and Foreheads: The Worst Baseball Card Photo Cropping in History

 


I recently added the above card, #177 from the 1975 NST set featuring Shigeo Nagashima, to my collection.  

Its notable for the fact that although it depicts Shigeo Nagashima it does not depict all of Shigeo Nagashima's nose.  Or his left eye.  Or his left eyebrow.  Or the top and back of his hair.

You can really see those beads of sweat running down his face though.

This is the 1970s Japanese baseball card paradox.  On the one hand they feature some of the best photography in baseball card history and completely blow away the boring posed spring training shots that appeared on most Topps cards in the US from that period.  They are loaded with interesting shots, some candid, some in action, almost all taken during the regular season during games in the player's home stadium.

On the other hand they also feature some of the worst photos ever, mostly due to really bad photo cropping like the one above.  For all its faults, I've never seen a Topps card which cut the tip of the depicted player's nose off.

I have a small type collection of these on the go now.  They include:

Card: 1977 Calbee #17

You wouldn't know it but this card features all time home run leader Sadaharu Oh and all time hit leader Isao Harimoto singing a victory song after winning the pennant.  You can't see the top half of Oh and Harimoto's head.  They cropped it out in order to create more space at the bottom of the card for.....the backs of some photographers.

This card features 1975 PL MVP award winner Hideji Kato.  All of him except the top of his head.


Card: 1987 Calbee Tatsuo Komatsu

Ever wondered what former Dragons' pitcher Tatsuo Komatsu's chin looks like?  To this day I still don't know.  


Are there any examples out there of American cards (or other Japanese cards) cropped this badly?

8 comments:

  1. Look on the bright side, you may not be able to see all of Oh on that card, but you do get a nice shot of some random photographers, or at least the back of their heads :)

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    1. Yes, Oh's face appears on so many cards, but those photographers' backs only on this one. So we should appreciate it!

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  2. Good question. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I hope someone else lists some examples. As for these, they're the exact opposite in what I'm looking for in a card... but they still bring a smile to my face.

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    1. I'm very curious if there are any examples out there, I can't think of a single one of an American card with this problem!

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  3. Ouch, I wonder what gives? Maybe there are so many cards in the set they had to take what they could get.

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    1. It is a bit bizarre. The 1987 Komatsu is the hardest for me to figure, why cut off his chin?

      Have you ever seen a sumo card with odd cropping like this?

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    2. I don’t recall any sumo cards being badly cropped, but I do notice a fair amount of “butt” shots and photos where you can’t see the wrestler’s face.

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    3. LOL, I guess butt shots go with the territory!

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