What was so difficult about the Yankees logo?

 

 

I posted this card last night in response to a Twitter request to "post a baseball card." It seemed like an appropriate response that wasn't the freakin' Ripken F-face or '89 Junior card yet again.

I hope everyone knows the '75 Rudy May by now, even if it's just by me mentioning it a couple dozen times. It's truly bizarre in the most wonderful way and all comes together as a happy accident, right down to May's mournful face.

But what I keep thinking about when I see this card is "how did they get that logo so wrong?" The Yankees logo isn't that difficult to replicate.

I remember trying to draw my own baseball cards as a kid, down to the logos on the hats. The Yankees logo wasn't an issue. Sure, it wasn't Cincinnati Reds easy but it wasn't that blasted Detroit Tigers logo either. Throw a few more brush strokes in there, English D.

Here is the standard Yankees logo. A wide "N" with the end "legs" curved at the middle. The "Y" standing tall, reaching above the "N."

 

The May card gets that part right ... um ... sort of.

The "Y" is standing tall, sure, but it's also levitating. The "N" is curved on the sides, but the right leg is curved at the top instead of the middle and the whole letter looks like it's about to collapse.

It actually makes a nice graffiti symbol but I don't think that's what Topps was going for here.

The card is the most obvious example of the struggles the Topps artists endured with the NY logo in the 1970s (yes, yes, I know, they had to paint tiny logos onto tiny negatives).

 

This all began in 1972 when it's obvious that Topps made a conscious decision to start painting hat logos onto players who had recently changed teams. I can see the memo that went out to all the employees in 1971: "There will be no more plain airbrushed hats!"

What was common practice between 1968-71, blacking out logos with paint so players were wearing generic caps, pretty much came to a halt beginning in '72, although there are still several wholesale airbrushing jobs that year -- the Texas Rangers in particular.

The Rich McKinney logo painting isn't that brutal, although the whole logo has floated up to the top of his hat. The brim is light blue, too, but I'll try to stick to just the logo.

 

The follow year I'm thinking Topps got cocky. Two logos on one card when it's clear you haven't mastered it yet? The logo on Alou's hat has the same problem as the May card as the the right leg curls too dramatically. But then there is the logo on his jersey that might be the tallest New York logo ever to appear on a card, How far down does that thing go?

 

 

 The following year continued the struggle. Wayne Granger's "NY" manages to cover almost the entire width of the hat and has also migrated northward.

 

Topps also added a Traded set that year, perhaps to give its artists extra practice on the Yankees logo. This logo appears to move in the direction that Sudakis is tilting his head. Kinda neat. A logo that moves with you.

 

The Traded set was back in 1976 -- keep practicing boys! The logo is starting to look better, even if its placement is off.

 

This logo on the 1977 Don Gullett card isn't egregious, but it's definitely off. I think what hits you is this card comes just five cards after this card:

And both cards are within the first 15 cards in the entire set! 1977 is going to be a wild ride isn't it?

Finally, we arrive at 1978 and the final masterpiece. This is less about the logo and more about the entire player and exactly where he happens to be (Candlestick Park!). Nothing seems right even if nothing is glaringly wrong at first glance.

By this point, Topps had no qualms about airbrushing entire uniforms (Eric Soderholm and Doyle Alexander examples in '77). Perhaps if they painted the entire player nobody would notice the hat logo is off!

I'm sure I could do an examination of a card for each year of the '70s for every team. The Yankees ones are just so obvious because: a) the logo doesn't seem that difficult; b) it's the Yankees; c) George Steinbrenner was in charge. I'm surprised he didn't call Topps and order them to create better logo likenesses on every card.

Anyway, that's what I thought of when I posted that Rudy May card.