Short Prints. Super Short Prints. Ultra Rare Short Prints. Variations. Some are worth thousands upon thousands of dollars, and some are worth next to nothing. Rarity, value, and appeal span the entire spectrum. Regardless of all of that, one of my favorite parts of the modern baseball card collecting hobby are Short Prints.
A few years back I wrote an Ode to Stadium Club, an article about my love for one of my favorite products in the hobby. This is in the same vein of that article as I look to express my love of Short Prints. The majority of that love, similar to my love for Stadium Club, is due to the image on the card. Sometimes it will be a different form of a variation that will intrigue me. On occasion, it will simply be the rarity of the card. And I will be honest here, the scarcity and implied value due to potential rarity help give these cards that extra boost.
What are Short Prints?
New collectors often don’t know what Short Prints are. Even returning collectors don’t know or don’t have any idea of the evolution of Short Prints. I vaguely remember it from the end of my first collecting phase during the Junk Wax Era with the Upper Deck versions (more on those below) but was generally in the dark about their evolution when I returned to the hobby.
NOT A SHORT PRINT
First, don’t mistake what we refer to as Short Prints today with Parallels like a base gold parallel numbered out of 50, blue parallel numbered out of 150, etc. Oftentimes you will run across these regular base card parallels billed as “short prints'' when people are looking to sell them on places like eBay. While technically these cards are shorter printed than the base cards, that’s not true in the spirit of Short Print cards today. That’s not to say that Short Prints can’t have parallels - they can, although it is less common.
The history of short prints goes back to the standard printing process of trading cards - they are printed in sheets and then each card is cut from those sheets. If a printing sheet was say 132 cards and a checklist was 700 cards, that would be 5 standard sheets of cards (660 total) plus one odd sheet to get the last 40 cards. That last sheet of 40 cards would often be printed less frequently, giving rise to the manufactured short print. We still see an homage to this in various nostalgic sets today like Allen & Ginter, Gypsy Queen, and various Heritage products, but those “printed less, but still printed a lot” short prints don’t hold a ton of value.
Acuña Bat Down
Short Prints have their roots in scarcity due to the printing process, but those really aren’t what I am interested in. The evolution of Short Prints, at its best, is when lower print run cards are created AND have interesting, fun, iconic, etc. images used. This non-scarcity Short Print scenario first came about in the 2007 Topps Flagship products. They are often using the same number in the checklist as a regular base card, and if they are rookie cards, they can have significant value. The 2018 Topps Series 2 Ronald Acuña Jr. Short Print (Bat Down) and the 2018 Topps Update Series Juan Soto Super Short Print (Gatorade Bath) have gotten to the level of simply being known by their nicknames and each are worth big money in highly graded forms.
Let’s dive into those more modern Short Prints. I’ll start with favorites from my collection and then finish up with ones I don’t own for whatever reason (typically cost, but sometimes just haven’t gotten around to buying them).
Favorite Short Prints in my collection
The Classic “Scarcity” Short Prints
Short Prints because they showed up less frequently than regular base cards, but not a variation of the name, image, or some other change.
Michael Jordan - 1991 Upper Deck Lo Series - the one that started it all for me, I was a Michael Jordan fan as a kid and had a poster of him on the wall of my childhood bedroom. Little did we know how that batting practice from June of 1990 would potentially be a spark to lead one of the NBA’s greatest of all time to take a break from basketball and give baseball a shot in 1994. I remember seeing this card and thinking how cool it was, but was never fortunate to pull it. There was one MJ Short Print in every two boxes of Lo Series and I was a pack buyer as a 12-13 year old, not a box buyer. When I returned to the hobby, this one was a must-have, so I added it to my collection.
Deion Sanders - 1992 Upper Deck Lo Series - Upper Deck did a few different in motion style cards, but this one is unique with two sports pictured AND it being a short print. You get the football-baseball combo feel that no one outside of Deion or Bo Jackson pulled off simultaneously in modern times. One of my favorite Deion baseball stats is that he led the major leagues in triples, hitting 14 of them in just barely over half a season of games (97). This card gives you a bit of that running feel as speed was the true plus tool that underlined Sanders success across both sports.
Russell Wilson - 2014 Bowman Baseball - Russell Wilson has various different baseball cards, and I was aware of it early on in my return to the hobby as he had both a base and an auto (in Yankees gear) in 2018 Bowman Chrome. I always like quirky cards, and athletes moonlighting in other sports certainly qualifies for me. What makes this one different from the various other Russell Wilson prospect cards is that this one truly qualifies as that scarcity-based Short Print. So scarce that I didn’t know for years after I got back into the hobby that this even existed. The odds of pulling one were 1 in 9300 Hobby packs, or roughly one in 388 Hobby boxes. A true Short Print and a quirky one is a winner in my book.
The Name Variations
Rather than the player name on the card, an alternate name/nickname is shown on the card. Typically found in Donruss, Optic, and Heritage products, they might not blow anyone away, but they also shouldn’t be ignored. Here are a few of my favorites.
Rafael Devers - 2018 Panini Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Base - Not all nicknames are alike. Some are tame, some are cool, and some make me laugh like an immature kid. With Devers, his nickname falls into that latter category. And that’s because “Raffy Big Stick” is a great double entendre. I love Rated Rookie cards, especially of the Optic (chrome) variety. I love that bit of cleverness. And I love Short Prints. Put it all together and it becomes an easy inclusion for one of my favorite name variation cards in my collection.
Buster Posey - 2018 Donruss Baseball - One of my PC players and we get his actual name on the card rather than the name he goes by. Admittedly these cards aren’t that scarce (I have three of them), so the value is truly just in having a PC card with Buster’s given name rather than the one we all know him by. However, outside of Giants fans or collectors who chase Buster Posey cards, does anyone know his real name is Gerald? I tend to doubt it. Even though this card doesn’t capture it, he’s actually the third of that name, so his full name is Gerald Dempsey Posey III. The more you know!
Shohei Ohtani - 2018 Donruss Wrapper Redemption Japanese Text - There are various cards where you will find short print versions where the manufacturer uses the Japanese Text (kanji) for Shohei’s name instead of the English characters. This one is my favorite as it’s a rookie card with the Rated Rookie logo AND it’s a variation. I recall opening a decent amount of 2018 Donruss, but I was not that well informed about the hobby at the time, so the fact that Panini was doing Wrapper Redemptions with 2018 Donruss was, for whatever reason, completely off my radar. Sending in 24 pack wrappers to Panini would get you the Rated Rookie pack - one Rated Rookie card of Shohei Ohtani, Gleyber Torres, and Ronald Acuña Jr. One in every five packs would come one card with a name variation. Of the three variations, the Ohtani is obviously my favorite as I collect his cards (I mean, who doesn’t) and I’m a sucker for kanji. This may be my favorite name variation out there.
The Image Variations
The good stuff. Fun photos, cool pics, baseball players doing non-baseball things, and ones that can touch your heart.
Yadier Molina - 2019 Topps Series 1 - When it comes to catchers, you regularly get the zoomed out shot of the catcher in his mask or you get the catcher on the offensive side (hitting/running) where you get to see their faces. Rarely do you get this type of close up (Gary Carter gets the same type of shot as a Short Print in 2019 Series 2) and it just stands out as almost like a warrior in his mask ready for battle.
Chipper Jones - 2019 Topps Series 2 - A young Chipper laid out on a 70’s era couch in the locker room gives us a fun behind-the-scenes look at a hall of famer in his early playing days. The couch is somewhat the star of the show, and it felt a bit off when I did pull this card that it would be in the Braves locker room. Well, after a bit of looking up the source material, it is a Braves locker room, but not THE Braves locker room. It was the Richmond Braves locker room, and it was actually the visiting locker room in Syracuse, New York - the Mets Triple-A affiliate. Now it makes a lot more sense. That looks like a Minor League locker room couch, and I can’t begin to imagine the stories that couch could tell.
Max Scherzer - 2020 Topps Series 1 - Throwback uniforms are almost always a great look, especially when it’s the Expos uniforms - in my opinion just a great look and a ton of nostalgia for me. Add in the pitcher batting scenario for that extra flavor here, which, I do know there exists collectors who specifically search these type of cards out. I actually have other Short Print cards of pitchers batting, but it doesn’t have that added flavor of the Expos uniform. And now, moving forward, outside of Ohtani, pitchers batting is essentially a thing of the past and will seem like a novelty in the future.
Shohei Ohtani - 2022 Topps Series 1 - As I said earlier, I collect Ohtani’s cards. So I was beyond excited when I pulled this card out of a personal box. The photo just puts it over the top as my favorite Ohtani short print in my collection. This is from the 2021 All-Star Game Home Run Derby, so we get the rarer shot of the player hitting in their hat rather than their batting helmet. We also get to see the personality of Ohtani with the smile on his face calling for the pitch. Like, bring it on, we all know this ball is destined for a short life on it’s way to a new home beyond the wall.
Ken Griffey, Jr. - 2017 Topps Update Series - There are so many fun cards throughout the years where you get players behind the television cameras. There’s two reasons that this one makes the list for me - first, it’s Ken Griffey, Jr., one of the greatest players in baseball history and another player whose poster I had on the wall of my childhood bedroom. Second, and it’s a bit more subtle, but the red rectangle with white lettering advertisement in the background is for Donruss. A competitor of Topps in 1991 when the photo was taken and in 2017 when this card was produced. I can’t imagine that anyone realized that, because it would have been easy to choose a different Griffey, Jr. photo for the Short Print in that product. There are plenty of other Griffey Short Prints worthy of inclusion, but this one gets in my list because of the Topps oversight.
Ted Williams - 2017 Topps Update Series - Another one from one of the greatest baseball players of all time. This time we get Williams completely outside of the baseball context, no team uniform, out participating in another sport-like endeavor. In fact, Williams was an avid fisherman and it was his first love, more than baseball. Not only is he in the Baseball Hall of Fame, he is also in the International Game Fish Association’s (IGFA) Fishing Hall of Fame. I like to think Ted was catching fish at .400 average or better just like he was when hitting baseballs.
Johnny Bench - 2019 Topps Update Series - The next baseball great in the list in a non-baseball sporting activity, Johnny Bench playing golf. Bench has been an avid golfer as an adult including playing in several Senior PGA Tour events after turning 50 and running a yearly charity golf event known as the Johnny Bench Golf Classic. I know of a few different baseball card collectors that are also golf fans and specifically search out these types of cards. The list is surprisingly long, some being Short Prints and an occasionally ones make it in as regular base cards (2018 Topps Update Angels combo card of Upton, Ohtani, and Trout on a golf cart). I’m not one of those golf collectors specifically, but I still find enjoyment with this card and am happy to have it in my collection.
Cody Bellinger - 2022 Topps Stadium Club - Towards the end of the 2021 season, the entire Dodgers team and staff dressed up in costumes as they showed up for the final road trip of the year. There are a few Stadium Club Short Prints that ended up coming out from that Dodgers costume “party”, but this is the only one I currently possess. First, these costumes never grow old, at least for me. My juvenile sense of humor is largely responsible for that. It also may be because I’ve never worn one - I can’t imagine having to deal the hassle and sweatiness of wearing one. Maybe I’m wrong and they’re a treat to where? Anyways, I find this one hilarious given Bellinger’s personality and when I saw this card, it’s hard NOT to think of the Ancient Alien meme guy.
Seiya Suzuki - 2022 Topps Update Series - A Super Short Print that I personally pulled out of a retail Blaster box. Odds on that are 1 in 180 Blaster boxes to pull an SSP, and it was a rookie, AND it was of a player I collect! I might be understating it, but I was very excited to pull that card. I enjoy cards that include cultural homages, and this one has it with the Japanese bow, so another bonus. Final bonus is that this was actually from Seiya’s first MLB home run hit on April 10th, 2022, a three-run jack and as he’s rounding third base, the Cubs third base coach Willie Harris bows to Seiya and he bows back. Ethan Roberts, a Cubs reliever who has been collecting his 2022 rookie cards, has the exact same card and got it signed by Seiya in Kanji characters - about the only way this card could have been any better. An absolute favorite that’s not leaving my collection.
Skip Schumaker - 2012 Topps Series 1 - Animals on cards are awesome - you rarely get to see it. Add in the mythology around the Rally Squirrel being part of the Cardinals’ success in winning the 2011 World Series and you have an epic card. The photo is from the fifth inning of Game 4 of the National League Division Series when the Rally Squirrel made his second appearance (the first being in Game 3) by crossing home plate in the middle of a Skip Schumaker at bat. And that is why it’s a Skip Schumaker card - that’s his lower leg/foot in the left of the photo. But it’s really a card of the Rally Squirrel, and it’s cool that the card itself doesn’t call that out. I probably spent more than I should have on this card, and I am by no means a Cardinals fan, but I had to have it in my collection.
Buster Posey - 2019 Topps Series 1 - There are a lot of Buster Posey Short Prints in my collection, and ones that I don’t yet own, to choose from, but I’ll restrict it to my two favorites. I am a sucker for any country themed cards, regardless of it being the U.S., Canada, Japan, or wherever. When it comes to catchers, any time there is an opportunity to go with some sort of theme, it really can be taken advantage of with their catcher gear. One of my favorite players, Buster Posey, shows that off for his Fourth of July Independence Day themed gear from 2018. This card is an easy inclusion in this list for me personally and should be for anyone that collects country-themed cards.
Buster Posey - 2020 Topps Series 1 - This is my favorite Short Print. Full stop. And when I pulled it, I honestly didn’t realize fully how special this card would be to me personally. Sometimes you just don’t see the forest for the trees. I knew this card was Posey in his 2019 Player’s Weekend jersey, which is an automatic cool deal in my book. I just love seeing different jerseys - variety is the spice of life in my opinion. But what I missed, and I later came to learn, was that his chest protector was beyond special. Posey has always been a supporter of the fight against childhood cancer, and he had this chest protector signed by kids fighting against childhood cancer. As I said, it’s special to me personally because my daughter has similarly been fighting cancer for over five years. Buster Posey is a Hall of Fame catcher, but bigger than that, he’s a Hall of Fame person, and this card exemplifies that.
Favorite Short Prints Not in my Collection
This is not an all inclusive list, and I don’t know every short print that exists, but here’s a small sample of the ones from current releases back through 2018 that I would love to add to my collection at some point in the future.
Julio Rodríguez - 2023 Topps Series 1 - I’m not going to dive too deep on the shift Topps made for its Flagship products in 2023 (Series 1, Series 2, and Update Series) for their approach to Short Prints, but I will use this one example to discuss it briefly. Rather than do a subset of Short Prints that were using the same card number as a different card in the checklist, sometimes the same player, sometimes a different player, Topps decided to do one Super Short Print for each base card in the product. They are calling this the Golden Image Mirror Variation and I like the idea, but it also comes with the situation where these cards are much longer odds to pull out of packs. It used to be that you would regularly hit Short Prints in retail and hobby boxes, but that’s no longer the case for the 2023 Flagship products. So, it’s a good with the bad situation in my opinion.
On to the card - the Julio Rodríguez Golden Image Mirror Variation was the one used to promote these new Super Short Prints, and it is a great photo with a great player as the subject. The Home Run Helmet (I’ve seen it called a Swelmet as well), a Star Wars/Darth Vader type homage, celebrating a home run in the dugout with teammates, and with the huge smile gives it that extra juice that you don’t get in most baseball cards. I haven’t seen every Golden Image Mirror Variation and I don’t own any yet (that will likely change relatively soon), but I’d be more than happy to have this one in my collection.
Pete Alonso - 2022 Topps Stadium Club - A Super Short Print, Alonso is pictured here with the Mets Home Run Horse. Team-specific home run props have become a really fun thing for MLB teams, and one that involves a stuffed horse (my daughter has quite a few similar horses of the stuffed animal variety) gets an automatic entry into this list for me. There is another similar Short Print from Topps Opening Day, but this one gets chosen because it gives me that feel of a person winning a prize at the county fair.
Clayton Kershaw - 2022 Topps Stadium Club - Along with the Cody Bellinger above and the Mookie Betts below, one of the photos that made it onto a 2022 Stadium Club Short Print from the Dodgers Costume Road Trip at the end of the 2021 season. It’s always a bit strange when group photos are assigned to a single player, but because it’s one of the greatest modern left-handers in baseball, I’ll let it pass. The others in the photo were from the starting rotation in 2021 - Julio Urias, Max Scherzer, and Walker Buehler - not a bad group. The biker gang look is fun and it contrasts with Kershaw’s personality, giving a bit of added flavor.
Mookie Betts - 2022 Topps Stadium Club - The final one from the Dodgers Costume Road Trip, Mookie and Gavin Lux go with the White Men Can’t Jump costumes. Similar to the Kershaw card in that it’s strange to see more than just Mookie featured on this card, but it is only attributed to Betts. Anyways, this was a favorite movie of mine when it came out as I was a fan of the actors (Snipes, Harrelson, and Rosie Perez) and it gave me false hope as a white male playing competitive sports in my early teens. Unfortunately, the movie title was much more truth than fiction, at least in my case. I’d love to have this card in my collection, even as a Giants fan.
Randy Johnson - 2022 Topps Stadium Club - Randy Johnson has had some great Short Prints throughout the years including the classic awkward pitching batting, playing the drums, and with a camera in his hand. He is passionate about photography and studied photojournalism as a college student at USC in the 1980’s. With his playing days in the past, he’s turned to photography as essentially a second career - you can view his gallery at his website. I chose this one because it’s cool to see him engaging with his passion in combination with his Hall of Fame induction. A first ballot Hall of Famer on stage focused on capturing the moment is a cool photo, and an even cooler card, if you ask me.
Albert Pujols - 2022 Topps Update Series - I had to pick a card from the final season of one of the greatest modern hitters and a future first ballot Hall of Famer. I love that he got his farewell tour as a Cardinals where he built his career. There were plenty of Short Prints for Pujols to choose from, but I knew immediately which one I would choose as I began to think about this article. I went with the one that captures his one and only pitching performance in his career, an early season blowout win by the Cardinals over the Giants in 2022. A Super Short Print, there isn’t anything NOT to like in this card - Cardinals jersey, final season of a Hall of Famer, a once in a career activity, and rarity.
Julio Rodríguez - 2022 Topps Update Series - Team legends being paired with current team stars are simply great cards to begin with. Two fun personalities - the young, up and coming franchise player in Julio Rodriguez, and Ichiro, one of the best hitters in baseball history who also has a fun and joking demeanor, make this a winner even if it was a base card. In fact, it’s not just a regular Short Print, but the rarer Super Short Print which kicks up the value. Add in the Rookie Card value and there isn’t really anything not to like about this card. That is, unless you are trying to acquire it, because it will cost you over $1K to pick it up at the moment.
Manny Ramirez - 2022 Topps Update Series - The iconic hand-operated scoreboard that sits at the bottom of the Green Monster in Fenway Park. Manny being Manny. This photo was captured back in July of 2008 - during a Red Sox pitching change, Manny went behind the scoreboard and took a phone call. No idea if it was his phone, the scoreboard operator’s phone, or just some random phone Manny found lying around. Perhaps he was recounting the story where he spiked drinks in the Red Sox clubhouse with Viagra. Who knows when it comes to Manny.
Matt Chapman - 2022 Topps Series 1 - I hate seeing what’s currently happening in Oakland and with the team. While not the primary team I root for, I still am a fan of the A’s having grown up in the Bay Area, and really enjoyed the most recent foundation of the two Matt’s that they had with Chapman and Olson. Getting to see happier times, behind-the-scenes locker room celebrations, in this case after a victory over Cleveland in July of 2021, brings back memories of happier times for that organization. And it’s called a “victory shot”, which I knew nothing about until this card came out. That’s some of the fun of seeing these Short Prints - even teams you are a fan of can have fun stuff going on you didn’t know about.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - 2021 Topps Series 1 - Cards that feature family generational ties are almost always going to end up as favorites of mine. In my Ode to Stadium Club article, the 2020 Stadium Club Mike Yastrzemski with his grandfather Carl. One of the cooler things about this card is that you get the Father/Son duo, but well before the son was even close to an MLB player. Vladdy Jr. was in fact 5 years old at the time, with this photo being taken at the 2004 MLB All-Star game. I actually like that they labeled the card as one for Junior rather than Senior - how many players have baseball cards with them as 5 year olds on it. This one is an Ultra Short Print, so availability is super scarce and not cheap, adding to the desirability of it.
Bo Bichette - 2020 Topps Stadium Club - The base card is fantastic as well and is included in my Ode to Stadium Club article. There are many cards out there that showcase a player’s “flow”. However, Bo’s flow is something to be marveled at - I mean, just look at it. I have no problem admitting that I am very jealous of his flow, and this card shows off that flow in its full glory. Add in that this is a rookie card and from one of my favorite products and I have a hard time not spending a LOT of money to try and acquire this card.
Andrew McCutchen - 2020 Topps Series 2 - The Uncle Larry Short Print. A much celebrated Short Print from the beginning of the pandemic boom. A tweet from Philly sports radio personality Howard Eskin during 2020 Spring Training referred to Andrew McCutchen as Lawrence McCutcheon. Born from that slip of the twitter tongue, Uncle Larry became an instant phenomenon. So much so that Uncle Larry got a 2020 Series 2 Short Print, which regularly sold for $100+. As time has passed, the prices have come down, but they are still nowhere near what other Short Prints of the exact same rarity from the same product sell for. McCutchen also has a Super Short Print card from this exact same set, and while it’s rarer, the price for it is often less than the Uncle Larry Short Print. Some Short Prints just hit different and this one definitely falls into that category.
Lou Gehrig - 2020 Topps Series 2 - As has been a theme throughout, I love cards of baseball players outside of the baseball environment. In this case, it’s Lou fly-fishing looking natural at it. I wish I knew more of the story behind this photo or even Lou Gehrig as a fisherman. There is an old photo of Babe Ruth and Gehrig posing with caught fish while out on a boat in Jamaica Bay. One of the gifts he received on the day he gave his famous speech and retired from baseball, in this case from the Yankees’ grounds crew and stadium workers, was a fishing rod. And that’s about all I could find out about Gehrig’s fishing exploits. Sometimes, it’s better that there is an air of mystery around a card, especially a Short Print as cool as this.
Magic Johnson - 2020 Topps Update Series - In 2020 Topps Update, we had for the first time in recent memory for Flagship cards, the Super Super Short Print (SSSP), or Ultra Short Print. There were just five of these cards, and this one is by far my favorite. Magic holds a minority stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers team ownership, and thus it is perfectly logical that he could appear on a baseball card with the Dodgers team jersey/logo. One of the greatest of all time basketball players getting an official baseball card is another one of those unexpected, quirky situations that I love to come across. It’s likely never going to be in my collection due to its scarcity and what I would guess a price point to be, but I would love to own this card.
Aaron Judge - 2020 Topps Series 1 - Back in 2007, the Topps Series 1 Derek Jeter base card photoshopping into the background then President George W. Bush in the stands and Mickey Mantle in the dugout. While the card was not a Short Print, there was still almost a Short Print like buzz around the card. Fast forward to 2020 Series 1, and Topps pays homage to that card with a Super Short Print (SSP) for Aaron Judge by photoshopping Babe Ruth. This was prior to Aaron Judge becoming just the 16th Captain in Yankees history, and the first since Derek Jeter held that role. But with Judge now having that honor, it adds to the synergy of this SSP.
Pete Alonso - 2020 Topps Series 1 - Alonso has a few different nicknames with Polar Bear being one of them. Topps absolutely nailed it on this one, and I love my animal cards, so I am an easy mark, even if I’m not a fan of the Mets. Similar to the Judge above, this is another rare SSP. Since this is a rookie card, and it’s got that added flavor of being a direct representation of the player’s nickname, it is regularly going for $1K+. This card hits all the notes - quirky cool, scarcity, and value.
Kris Bryant - 2019 Topps Stadium Club - Besides the 2021 Topps Now Miguel Cabrera first home run of the season card, I can’t think of any other card that so heavily showcases snow on a baseball card. I’m sure there are others, but there can’t be many of them given how that type of weather almost always shuts down baseball games. This specific instance was taken on what was supposed to be the Cubs home opener on April 9th, 2018, but had to be postponed due to the snow. I just love cards that have sneaky rareness - like I said, how many baseball cards exist with snow falling? I’m going to guess not many.
Frank Robinson - 2019 Topps Series 2 - One of the greatest hitters in MLB history that, for whatever reason, is rarely mentioned in those conversations that happen in current discussions on those topics. Follow that up with being the first black manager in MLB history and it is baffling to me how little his name is mentioned in the history of baseball discussion. For that reason alone he should have a card included in this discussion, and his 2019 Topps Series 2 fits the bill. This photo was taken during the 1969 Orioles season, when Robinson was the judge of the team’s Kangaroo Court. Wearing a Judge’s wig and holding a baseball bat as if it was his gavel, I would likely plead guilty regardless of the charges if I was facing that staring me down. You can see why one of his nicknames was The Judge.
Dizzy Dean - 2019 Topps Series 2 - A Hall of Famer playing a sousaphone (it’s a type of tuba apparently) on a baseball field, something you don’t see every day. I tried to find context but couldn’t - if anyone knows, drop me a line on it. Even lacking that context, it’s a fun, unique card and it’s also a Super Short Print. That added rarity gets it onto my list, but an added personal note is that my father used to mention Dizzy and Daffy Dean to me all the time when talking old-timey baseball stories to me, and given my father’s age, those stories likely came from his father and got passed down through the generations. However, none of those stories included anything about Dizzy playing big brass instruments.
Babe Ruth - 2019 Topps Series 1 - Just like the Johnny Bench golfing Short Print, this card is another legend of the game playing golf post-career. However, the Bench is just a regular Short Print while this Ruth is a much rarer Super Short Print. A nice touch is that the regular base card it is linked to/replaces, number 250, is of Shohei Ohtani, and we all know the lines drawn between these two players. What I didn’t know about Ruth was his love of golf, but even more, that he had a huge impact on growing the game. He was a huge celebrity in his time, and brought a ton of attention to golf as the media circus of the time regularly covered his every move. I could go on, but the general point is that as fun as Short Prints can be, they can also enlighten you on topics you had no idea about.
Mike Trout - 2018 Topps Heritage - Topps Heritage is a throwback product and for 2018, it was a throwback to the Topps 1969 design. In the original 1969 Topps set, Topps mistakenly used Angels bat boy Leonard Garcia’s photo instead of Angels third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez’s photo on his card. Topps recreated that as an “error” card in 2018 Topps Heritage, replacing Mike Trout’s image with a bat boy from the Angels (I was not able to verify the identity of the bat boy). While technically a purpose-made “error” card, I consider this a Short Print. And a Short Print with a cool story to it. Imagine if you were that Angels bat boy and had an honest to goodness baseball card with one of the best to ever play in Mike Trout listed on the card. Super cool, even if the price point, in the hundreds of dollars, isn’t.
Rally Goose Short Print and Craig Kimbrel Base Card
Rally Goose - 2018 Topps Update Series - Similar to the Rally Squirrel in that a Flagship Short Print card showcasing an animal that became a team’s spirit animal as they rallied to victories post-appearance. Unfortunately for the Tigers, it only led to a short term streak of victories before they went back to being mediocre and finishing under .500. A fun thing about this card is that, unlike the Rally Squirrel, it is entirely independent of the base card, at least at first glance. The base card is of Craig Kimbrel, of the Boston Red Sox at that time. However, when you put the cards side by side, Kimbrel’s pre-windup look into the catcher suddenly gives you the impression that the silhouettes between Kimbrel and the goose with wings spread overlay almost exactly. A fun card, and I'm a sucker for animals on cards - a Short Print animal card? Yup, it’s going on the list.
Bo Jackson - 2018 Topps Stadium Club - Bo is a badass, for so many reasons. One of those reasons is his ease with which he broke bats, often after striking out. Most times it would be over his massive quad muscles, but occasionally he would also do it over his helmeted head. A favorite Junk Wax Era (JWE) card of mine is the 1991 Score Baseball “Bo Breaker” card and it is a very similar photo (with early 90’s JWE design ethos). I love Bo Jackson, I love the Royals baby blue uniforms, and this is probably my favorite Short Print of his. He does have quite a few good ones to choose from, so if you are like me, I would suggest checking eBay and other places for more fun Bo Short Prints.
Clayton Kershaw - 2018 Topps Stadium Club - As I said earlier, Kershaw is probably the greatest modern left-handed pitcher of the last 20 - 30 years. But this card goes beyond the baseball side of life and gives us a glimpse into the human side of the Dodger lefty. In this case, it’s so cool that Kershaw’s daughter Cali Ann at the age of 2 years old is getting to throw out a first pitch with her younger brother Charley at her side and throwing it to her dad. I mean, how can you NOT love cute kids on a baseball card, and honestly, it’s rare to see photos of players and their young children on baseball cards. I love it, and it was an absolute must-inclusion in this list for me.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, I did my best to keep the focus on either Short Print cards I own or cards of the last 5-ish years. There are so many more in this time frame for Short Prints I don’t own, ones that go beyond my artificial date cut-off, or ones that I do own that didn’t make the cut. And there are plenty more that go back further that I didn’t touch upon as that would turn this short story into a novel the size of Moby Dick.
I see various people in the hobby getting burnt out on it for any number of reasons. And every now and then I feel that myself. One of the many ways I’ve found to get back to enjoying the hobby is to scan through Twitter or eBay simply searching Short Prints and finding ones I never knew existed.
Some people see Short Prints as gimmicks and not true to the core of collecting baseball cards. While I can respect their opinion, I completely disagree with it. I love Short Prints and think they are a great injection of fun into collecting modern baseball cards.