(Here is what I am appreciating tonight: The opportunity that Mario has given me by choosing Night Owl Cards as the first blog to occupy Wax Heaven's revamped Heavenly Seven. A little over seven months ago I started this blog with no purpose other than to put my love for this hobby on the record. I am glad so many have taken an interest in the goofy things I have to say. I promise you that, barring personal upheaval or computer meltdown, I will keep blogging about cards.
Now, onto Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 28th in a series):
We used to have a photographer at the newspaper who was very good. He was especially good at taking sports photographs. That was important because you never know what you're going to get with photographers and sports. Some are exceptional at it. Some you can tell hate sports just by the photos they take. But this guy loved sports, and you always knew you'd get something good.
This photographer had what I call his "sky period." He would take a lot of our athlete feature photos with the sky in the background. Much like the Lee Smith card, here. The sky shot is always a dramatic shot. It makes the athlete look powerful, almost immortal. It even works with teenage athletes. They look majestic with sky and clouds in the background.
I liked our photographer's sky photos quite a bit. And other photographers on the staff caught on and started including the sky in a lot of their feature shots as well. We would get these types of pictures so often that we dubbed the photographer "Sky Captain." Somebody on staff printed out a collection of his "sky photos," stapled them into a booklet and titled it "Sky Captain" on the front cover. Needless to say, by then, we were starting to grow sick of the shots.
But taken in small doses, it still works. This Lee Smith shot really draws you into the photo. Topps used the sky shot several times in the early 1990s. It's pretty much fool-proof, as our photographers found out.
Nowadays, everytime you bring up Lee Smith's name you have to talk about whether he belongs in the Hall of Fame or not. I happen to think he does. He was the all-time saves leader from 1993 to 2006. He's now third all-time. He finished in the top five in the Cy Young Award voting three times, which isn't easy to do for a reliever.
He led the league in saves four times, including 47 for the Cubs in 1991. I don't know why he's not in yet. What's the hold up? Is it because he pitched for eight teams?
Is Bruce Sutter in? Rich Gossage? Rollie Fingers? Dennis Eckersley? OK, then get Smith in there. Time to start appreciating the relievers a little more.
(FYI: I did make it to the card show. Scans and a meandering story on their way.)
Now, onto Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 28th in a series):
We used to have a photographer at the newspaper who was very good. He was especially good at taking sports photographs. That was important because you never know what you're going to get with photographers and sports. Some are exceptional at it. Some you can tell hate sports just by the photos they take. But this guy loved sports, and you always knew you'd get something good.This photographer had what I call his "sky period." He would take a lot of our athlete feature photos with the sky in the background. Much like the Lee Smith card, here. The sky shot is always a dramatic shot. It makes the athlete look powerful, almost immortal. It even works with teenage athletes. They look majestic with sky and clouds in the background.
I liked our photographer's sky photos quite a bit. And other photographers on the staff caught on and started including the sky in a lot of their feature shots as well. We would get these types of pictures so often that we dubbed the photographer "Sky Captain." Somebody on staff printed out a collection of his "sky photos," stapled them into a booklet and titled it "Sky Captain" on the front cover. Needless to say, by then, we were starting to grow sick of the shots.
But taken in small doses, it still works. This Lee Smith shot really draws you into the photo. Topps used the sky shot several times in the early 1990s. It's pretty much fool-proof, as our photographers found out.
Nowadays, everytime you bring up Lee Smith's name you have to talk about whether he belongs in the Hall of Fame or not. I happen to think he does. He was the all-time saves leader from 1993 to 2006. He's now third all-time. He finished in the top five in the Cy Young Award voting three times, which isn't easy to do for a reliever.
He led the league in saves four times, including 47 for the Cubs in 1991. I don't know why he's not in yet. What's the hold up? Is it because he pitched for eight teams?
Is Bruce Sutter in? Rich Gossage? Rollie Fingers? Dennis Eckersley? OK, then get Smith in there. Time to start appreciating the relievers a little more.
(FYI: I did make it to the card show. Scans and a meandering story on their way.)
Comments
I loved watching Lee Smith, but not when he was with the Cubs, like in '91.