Today's Challenge: A card from current release year (any sport) with a unique photo.
Does 2019 count?
2019 Topps Series 1 - #48 Pittsburgh Pirates
This year in the flagship set, Topps included ballpark photos from all 30 major league clubs. Card #48 is a shot of PNC Park taken from the press box. I've spent many, many hours of my life at PNC Park and I know the building inside and out. It's consistently ranked in the top three or four best ballparks in the majors. I truly believe it's one of the best places on the planet to watch a baseball game. I've been to Fenway, Wrigley, and Petco Park. I'm biased, but PNC Park is a strong contender for #1.
Sadly, I don't believe Topps did PNC Park any justice by choosing this photo. It's a cloudy day and the crowd looks to be maybe a 2/3 capacity at best. The left field bleachers are empty. While the Pirates rarely sell out games these days, there are a few dates that will always get to capacity - the first of which is Opening Day.
When I saw that Topps was including a 15-card insert ballpark photo set in 2020 Opening Day, I was certain PNC Park would grab a spot and redeem itself. I was wrong. After some light research, I believe that only parks that hosted a true opener were included. The Pirates opened as a visitor.
Either way, Opening Day in Pittsburgh deserves it's own baseball card. As you'll see below, a home opener at PNC Park is worthy of a frame. I took that picture at the Opener in 2016. I'm no photographer and it was shot on my iPhone using the panoramic feature.
@Topps: I'm for hire! I'm sure we can work something out..
This inspired me to mess around with the Custom Card feature on Topps.com and I was able to whip this up:
Not bad!
Thanks again to Tim at Cardpocalypse for the great idea.
