Sports Cards Most Iconic Card Is Photoshopped
As we move into a time where Topps is producing football and basketball cards, we’re going to see a lot of unlicensed cards using photoshopped images. So far, Topps has done a good job with some of the images they've chosen for last year’s rookies, like Victor Wembanyama and CJ Stroud, even on their unlicensed cards.
In the past few weeks, Topps has released a full football product featuring last year’s rookies. Now that the new NFL season has started, football rookies are beginning to receive Topps Now and Panini Instant cards, but we will focus on Topps.
It seems that Topps has decided to choose photos for Topps now rookies of players who were in college still.
At its core, Topps Now is a concept designed to commemorate iconic moments. Baseball and soccer are two sports that Topps has heavily focused on for these cards, typically using photos from actual games. However, that is not the case for these recent cards, and it remains unclear why they have opted to use college images instead.
Did you know the card that has been graded the most by PSA and one of the most iconic cards of all time was photoshopped.
#OnThisDay in 1987, Ken Griffey Jr. was selected #1 overall in the MLB Draft.
— PSAcard (@PSAcard) June 2, 2023
Two years later came his hobby-altering 1989 Upper Deck Star Rookie, still to this day one of the most influential baseball cards ever produced. pic.twitter.com/MJihNHWOWy
The use of Photoshop didn’t deter people from buying the Griffey card. Perhaps it’s because Griffey is one of the best players of all time, or maybe many buyers aren’t even aware that the card is photoshopped.
Here is a video good breakdown of the Ken Griffey card.
This topic raises the question: will it matter that these cards were photoshopped 10 to 15 years from now? There have been many examples of Photoshop being used in the past, and in the coming seasons, we can expect to see even more of it.
In most cases, people don’t care if Photoshop is used—just look at the Ken Griffey card. It ultimately comes down to the player and the significance of the card. Therefore, I don’t think we’ll have an answer to whether people will care in 20 years; it will depend on whether the player turns out to be good or not.
Adam has been a sports content creator since 2016, initially focusing on creating sports-related graphics for his Instagram page. In 2018, he transitioned to writing and podcasting about sports cards. Since then, he has worked both independently and with companies within the industry, producing podcasts, videos, and written content on sports cards.