Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Double Vision

As is often the case, I found these two cards while looking for something else.  The first thing that struck me was that Topps and Upper Deck used the same photograph of Rick Wilkins in their 1993 sets.  I showed them to my right-brained wife who almost immediately pointed out that the people in the background were different on each one.  Have a look:
My guess is that the Upper Deck photo is the original and the Topps was manipulated.  I do think I spot an artifact.  There's a dark line above Rick's right shoulder.  I'm also pretty sure the visitor's dugout wouldn't be in any shot taken of a play at the plate.  Anyone else have anything to add?  Are there other instances you know of where the same photo was used by different card companies?

In case this song came into your head:
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5 comments:

  1. cynicalbuddhaApril 4, 2012 at 2:30 PM

    They were definately taken at the same time, but you can see that they are slightly differnt angles if you look close you can see the same people in each photo. In the Topps card there is a guy with a blue hat with a yellow stripe, that same guy is on the very right of the card in the upper deck. And if you start to compare the people to the right of him they all match. Do manipulation. Same play, same day, same second almost, different angle and photographer.

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  2. cynicalbuddhaApril 4, 2012 at 2:31 PM

    I meant no manipulation, well it is Topps maybe a little.

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  3. CaptKirk42April 4, 2012 at 2:44 PM

    I don't think it's manipulated the Upper Deck shot seems to be taken from a little farther right from where the Topps shot was taken from. Looking at the Upper Deck cad the people on the far left in the triangle area from the card edge to Wilkens arm are on the right of his head on the Topps card. The guy in the blue shirt on the UD left edge (in front of the guy in the hat) is above Wilkens head in the Topps, the lady by his arm in the UD is on the Topps right almost half between his head and the card edge. The guy next to her in the Topps card is beging covered by Wilkens arm in the UD. Just a slightly different point of perspective. Although the batters hand in the UD looks to be the Left hand? Gloved, while on the Topps there appears to be a batters hand but I can't tell which one and it's ungloved. So the People on the right of the Topps from his head to the edge of the card are on the UD card from the left edge to around his arm.

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  4. AnonymousApril 4, 2012 at 4:59 PM

    i agree with the above
    a different angle
    look at the backstop wall

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  5. JGBlarghApril 4, 2012 at 10:20 PM

    Agree with above; different angles. Check out the different distances between the chalk line and grass.
    But it certainly shows how much better looking Upper Deck cards where compared to Topps back in the day. Clearer and better colours.

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