"Jeter, You're Doin' a Heck of a Job"

I never collected baseball cards. They don't hold any special place in my childhood memories nor did they shape anything about my baseball fanhood. I'm actually always sort of surprised that they're still being printed. Do kids really still collect them? It's a nice notion to think that they do, sort of a quaint throwback in an era where one's fanhood is more likely to be announced by maintaining your own lame team blog.

If kids still are collecting baseball cards, I believe it's safe to say they're not being done any favors if this is the current state of the card:


You'll note the ghostly presence of Mickey Mantle looking on from the dugout, and the utterly bewildering presence of President Bush standing up in the crowd, somehow in focus in a sea of blurry spectators.

Yes, it's an error. Somebody at Topps was screwing around with the card in Photoshop, and it managed to find its way out into the world. That's Topps's story and they're sticking to it. Topps, however, might not bother running a corrected version of the card, so all of these Jeter cards will feature the Captain striking out under the watchful eyes of two of America's most famous alcoholics. Apparently this means the card won't be worth as much as it would if a corrected version were produced.

And Here's Our 2007 Derek Jeter Card ... What the Fungus? [Deadspin]
Mantle Active Again on 2007 Topps Derek Jeter [Sports Collector Daily]