A Short History of Naughty Bat Knob Cards
The 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken was more than just a baseball card. It was a phenomenon. Even today, the card maintains an iconic status that transcends the Hobby into the realm of pop culture if not Americana.
While the most famous version of the Ripken card is the original, with F*CK FACE clearly Sharpied on the bat knob, there is an entire Hobby subculture dedicated to cataloguing and collecting the many variations that followed: whiteout on knob, white scribble on knob, black scribble on knob, and black box on knob being among the examples.
As just one example of the card's hold on the Hobby, even one-time Fleer rival Topps paid tribute to F*CK FACE with a dual autograph card featuring Bill Ripken and Jackson "Fun Face" Holliday!
𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞: Jackson Holliday & Billy Ripken unite for their first ever dual autograph card.
— Topps (@Topps) November 8, 2024
If you know, you know. pic.twitter.com/jwyH8gVQaM
Talk to just about anyone who's been part of the Hobby for a while, and they're sure to know the Ripken card well. What they may not know, however, is that it was neither the first nor the last of its kind.
Just one year after the Ripken, another naughty bat knob card hit hobby shop shelves. Curiously, the card once again featured an all-star infielder's less accomplished big league brother. In the case of the 1990 Pacific Senior League Jim Nettles, however, the bat knob did not read "F*CK FACE," opting instead for the far more tasteful A**HOLE.
It's hard to say "Grow up!" to a guy that's already playing in the Senior League, but c'mon, Jim, this is a family product! I mean, can you even imagine if a true legend of the game—a Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, or Mickey Mantle—resorted to such puerile behavior? Well, you may not need any imagination at all if you know the 1963 Topps set well.
Before we get there, however, we’ll take a look at even more bat knob hijinks courtesy of Tigers prospect Jim Lusader. Collectors landing his card from various minor league sets in 1990 might have presumed from the spelling that his surname rhymed with crusader. Leave it to the little devil then to clarify (or make lucider?) that the correct pronunciation was more akin to Lucifer!
Lusader’s grin on the cards suggests he was very much enjoying the gag, whether or not the photographers for CMC and ProCards were wise to it. Still, it was the Dark Prince who had the last laugh in 1990, derailing what had looked to be a promising career in Motown with a record-tying three error game in the outfield on September 8.
I could go on about Lusader, but as Bianca Del Rio likes to say, “Not today, Satan.” It’s time to take a look at the O.G. of all bat knob blunders.
By today's standards, the set's "Bombers' Best" card, featuring Tom Tresh, Mickey Mantle, and Bobby Richardson looks tame enough, but sensibilities were evidently different in 1963 when the censors at Topps found Mantle's bat knob a bit too suggestive. The result? Later printings of the card ensured the Mick had none of his (ahem!) stick showing at all.
To my knowledge, these cards—the Ripken, the Nettles, the various Lusaders, and the Mantle—issued over a magical stretch of 28 years, represent the Hobby's complete run of naughty bat knob cards. Still, even with a drought of more than three decades, what collector in the know doesn't at least look carefully every time they open their first packs from the latest product? One of these days, somebody somewhere is gonna slip up, and a new bat knob legend will be born.
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.