Topps Bubble (Gum) Headed

[JollyElm]

The dreaded headshot. Are there any collectors who actually enjoy them?

Here's a silly little playful undertaking...

• I've always noticed how many of Ernie Banks' Topps cards focused in on his noggin, so I went on-line and screengrabbed the 'regular' ones (no All-Stars, etc.) that could be rightfully called headshots. Since there is no actual definition as to what a baseball card headshot is, for these purposes let's say that a minimum of 40-50% of the top-to-bottom active image area has to be taken up by his head (and hat when shown).

• 'Mr. Cub's' playing career on Topps cards ran from 1954 to 1971, so a total of 18 seasons. Remarkably, 11 of those years saw his cards relegated to cranium-centric shots, or a whopping 61% of the total!! That would seem pretty extreme.


As a career percentage, are there any other Hall-of-Famers whose cards were as 'headstrong' as Ernie's??


erniebanksheadshots.jpg

[JollyElm]

Well, I've never let the fact that not a single person is paying attention to my thread stop me before, so onward we move...

• 'The Left Arm of God's' playing career on Topps cards ran from 1955 to 1966 (1967 Leaders cards don't count), so a total of 12 seasons, and 8 of those years saw his cards featuring the darling mug of the little boy that Mrs. Koufax loved so much. That is 66.666666% (two thirds) of the total!!

• It wasn't until the 7th year of his Topps run that he finally had a non-headshot design (1961). He is clearly the new frontrunner.

headshots-sandykoufax.jpg

[raulus]

Exciting stuff!

Jolly good fun!!

[mrmopar]

Yogi seemed to always be pictured in his full glory. I'll let you do the mock up and calculations though.

[GeoPoto]

I'm away from home base, so I'm not offering images, but I looked at Frank Robinson (another HoFer with a long Topps run -- 1957-75). I get 8 head shots and 11 bodies, depending on how you assess 1974. I went body.

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