Sports Cards--Bicycle Spokes Beware!

The trading card has ignored its humble beginnings. Thin, gray stock has been replaced with the latest in printing technology innovations.

BY ERIK CAGLE

The year was 1977. The baseball player in question was Rick Jones, pitcher, Seattle Mariners.

Jones never made a name for himself in the bigs—he was a mere footnote in the expansion era and not even as memorable as Toronto Blue Jays slugger Steve Bowling. But it was Jones' mug on the front of his 1977 Topps card that arguably hastened a new era in card printing technology. You see, Jones' image was not a photo but a painting, a poorly-done painting at that, not unlike some of the airbrushed horrors Topps employed during the period.