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With any
luck this will be a historic picture of pitcher Frank
Brooks. It was taken the day following
his first professional victory. That's the local
sports section describing the triumph in Frank's
left hand. |
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| When I met him, infielder Brian
Hitchcox was on the DL and none too
happy about it. I got him to show his frustration
in this pose, which appeared on his rookie card.
This picture and tale also appear in the August,
2000 issue of Tuff Stuff magazine. |
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I posed
pitcher Brad Pautz in front of a
Days Inn sign. His baseball card shows him with
those yellow sunrays shooting out from his body.
It's a very grabby picture that just says
"star" all over it. In this preliminary
pose, Pautz reveals his zanier side doing some
sort of Egyptian dance. |
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| Marlon Byrd
is going to be a star. You heard it here. This
would have made a hell of a rookie card, except
the clueless printer rotated the picture 90
degrees, cutting off Byrd's hands in the process
and rendering the pose all but meaningless. Here,
finally, is a look at what Marlon's card was
supposed to look like. |
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We used a
different shot of pitcher Mark Outlaw
on his card. This photo is a bit
"serious" for a baseball card, but it's
also rather striking in its own way. |
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| Ryan Cody
was spending too much time on the trainer's table
and finally retired from the game. (Ryan actually
appeared uncredited as the guy being pummeled on
trainer Carl Heldman's card in the 1999 Batavia
set.) I thought Cody had an interesting face and
I liked this pose of him. We used it on his card,
although the GM didn't want all that billboard
writing to show through. The actual card has a
computer -repainted background. |
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Baseball and
beer is a long standing marriage. I thought
posing outfielder Joe Schley in
front of this beer ad was a nice touch, but the
GM didn't agree. Again, we had to use some
computer magic to minimize the free advertising
in the background on the card. |
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| Dean Muthig
is another one of those guys I found really
photogenic. There were lots of good pictures to
choose from when it came time to select his card.
This is one we passed over, although I kind of
like his impish grin. |
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It's hard to
believe that 6'7" Dan Wilson was barely out
of high school when this photo was taken. He may
someday become a dominating pitcher, although he
seems to be fighting the injury jinx early in his
career. |
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