Green on green

 

This kind of post gives me the warm fuzzies, as it's the kind of post that I, and lots of other bloggers, did all the time a dozen years ago.

In other words, find something quirky on an appropriate holiday and run with it.

So, you know, on St. Patrick's Day, post green cards! Feel free to drink green beer while you do it. It makes it more fun. Blogging is supposed to be fun!

I've done the green-card posting thing on this day before. But I haven't done it in a long time, eight years in fact.

So to make it up to you, I found the best green cards I could of players named "Green."

Yes, next level stuff.

I'm sure I've done something like this before, but it was probably just for Shawn Green, because I have a lot of his cards and he's got a lot of green cards. But how about some equal time for those other Greens?

You know, like Pumpsie Green. Pumpsie actually has an early green parallel card as his 1962 Topps card is one of the green-tint variations. But for image-on-the-internet purposes, this card works better. There's the little green team box and look at all that green, green grass.

 

Dallas Green was one of the first "Greens" I knew in baseball. He was a manager by then, and it would've blown my mind back in the '80s if you told me there are cards of him as a player. Heck, he even looks like a manager here.

 

The other Sean Green. When players named Green play for teams with green in their unis, that's the best. Because that's when you get fun grade-school stuff like "Green" colored green and then I start setting personal records for writing the word "green" in one of my posts.

Tyler Green is pitching in front of a green wall on a lot of his cards.

I mean, A LOT, you guys.

 

Then there are happy accidents, such as the ones that happened in the '60s and '70s when Topps chose random design colors for teams -- green for the Red Sox, why not? -- and then someone named Lenny Green comes along and makes it look like a plan years in the making.

A minor league Green on green.

 

 

Green swatches of players named Green even makes you forget there are no logos.

Here is Taylor Green on another green card. Trust me, it's really Taylor Green in there.

The color parallels over the last 20 years have made spotting Greens on green a little easier. A few more images I found:

I wonder if green parallels of Greens go for more green?

Anyway, here are possibly my five favorite Green-on-greens:

Nick Green, 2006 Topps

Don't think I didn't notice, in my first year returning to modern-card collecting, this card of someone named Green, wearing green with green in the design. Wow, is this what they're doing with cards these days?

Grant Green, 2013 Topps, emerald parallel

The 2013 emerald parallels are the best green parallels of all-time. I'm not going to say that Grant Green inspired them, but that's quite the rookie card debut for a Green (but not the best green rookie card debut as we shall see).

Dick Green, 1967 Topps

The first ball-playing Green that I knew, although he had much more hair by then. It seems like a necessity that a player named Green play for the Oakland A's, as one of the few green-wearing teams in MLB. Dick Green filled that obligation and played his entire 12-year career with the Athletics. Because of this, he has a number of Green-on-green cards.

 

 

 1967 Dick Green goes the extra mile by making sure his card back is green as well.

Shawn Green, 2002 Fleer Tradition Update

Of Shawn Green's many green cards, this is the greenest. It's so green that it's not the first time I've shown it on St. Patrick's Day. And I know the green on this card will never fade.

Gene Green, 1958 Topps

Finally this fantastic bit of cardboard. This is Gene Green's rookie card. I so want to know that Topps specifically chose this color background for his card. I have my doubts, but if Topps could put almost all of the Dodgers in yellow in 1958 -- there's got to be a reason for that, right? -- then it can pick out green for someone named Green.

I can't think of a greener card, other than if Gene Green was eating greens in the picture ... or taking greenies.

 

P.S.: The word "green," or some form of it, is in this post 72 times. There's something for you to shoot for this time next year when you're wearin' green.