Today just about every player in the 1989 Topps set is at least 60* years old. In 1989 just about everyone in the 1952 Topps set was at least 60 years old

Boy do I feel old 

This is where we stand today

1989 is to 2025 what 1952 is to 1989. 

Which brings us to this card - Today the after the homerun walk through the dugout celebration is  a common occurrence - This A's card is interesting because I think it is showing the origin of this type of celebration. It kind of makes sense this started in the late 1980s.

In 1987, I believe (the year of the lively ball) was the first year ever teams averaged 1.00 home runs per game and except for a few dips (each time the Pirates were good 1990-1992 and 2013-2015 range) Home runs have be over that level ever since and with it the dugout celebration. Also the All Star home run derby started in 1985. (and Babe Ruth saved baseball from the White Sox scandal with home runs)I don't think in my lifetime  we will see an extended period of time where HR per game per team drops below 1.00.   

* I am not taking in account any players that died before 60 and the 1989 Topps set had a few number 1 draft pick cards of players who wont reach 60 for 2-3 more years

-BREAKING NEWS - ITS OVER -THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES ALL TIME RECORD FALLS BELOW .500 FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 122 YEARS

 July 19, 2025 A day  that will love in infamy in Pirates history for the first  time since August of 1903 the Pirates all time record falls below .500 with the loss to the White Sox

BREAKING NEWS - The Pittsburgh Pirates all time record stands at exactly .500 for the first time in 122 years

 With the drubbing by the Twins today - the Pirates all-time record stands at 10,877-10,877 -Will they win tomorrow to stay above .500 - Only the Shadow Knows

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time record countdown to below .500 watch - Record: 10877-10876, .500 W-L% - Only 2 games stand in way of history

 The Pittsburgh Pirates hit the ,500 mark on August 22, 1903 and have been there ever since - or at least until maybe now - after winning 6 games in a row they have now lost 8 games in a row.

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time record countdown to below .500 watch - Record: 10877-10874, .500 W-L% - Just when you thought you were out

 THEY PULL YOU BACK IN. The Pirates had won 6 in a row and now they have lost 5 games in a row.  The watch continues.

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time record countdown to below .500 watch - Record: 10871-10869, .500 W-L% - Will it happen before the 4th of July

 It seems likely that the Pirates all-time record will fall below .500 sometime in early July unless some sort of miracle happens.

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time record countdown to below .500 watch - 10,869-10866 .50006 - closing in on imperfection, Lose to Tigers

 The Pittsburgh Pirates are back down to 3 games above .500. Their all-time record has been above .500 since August 22, 1903.

Sport Card Blogger - Page views per post analysis and comparison

 Analysis of Sport Card Blogger Stats – Pages views / per post.

 

Recently Sports Card Collection mentioned in their blog they reached 3 million page views. So I decided to look at other Sports Blogs to see how many views and posts that they have. Unfortunately most sports blogs do not have page views listed on their front page. So this is a limited but interesting analysis

 

Blog	Views	Posts	Page View Per Post
Night Owl Cards	6,727,950	5759	1170
Sports Card Collection	3,043,673	6311	482
Chronicles of Fuji	2,619,848	2601	1007
Cardboard Collections	1,876,217	1673	1121
Cardboard History	1,794,078	1100	1630
My sports card obsession	1,595,897	2675	595
Donruss 1982	277,199	1196	231

 

This information was taken from around June 7, 2025

 

Jim From Downingtown has a bunch  sports blogs that I can use in this post and they kind of blow the numbers out of the water. He posted from 2009-2021 or so on these blogs

 

 

Blog	Views	Posts	Page View Per Post
1968 Topps Baseball	544,102	258	2018
1966 Topps Baseball	462,104	214	2159
1969 Topps Baseball	385,757	174	2216
1970 Topps Baseball	339,767	140	2426
1963 Topps Baseball	163,844	58	2854
1965 Topps Baseball	76,522	50	1530

 

A Few Observations

*It is surprising that Cardboard History (i thinking posting since 2017) has more views per post than Night Owl but that could related to a number of factors.

*Less posts could mean a higher page view average . You can see that when observing Jim from Dowingtown's blogs with 1965 Topps baseball the exception. 

*I did notice a spike in views in my Blog a few years ago when I was hardly posting. I am assuming Autobots, Spam or something and not real people.

*I have always associated Cardboard History with The trading card database which may create more traffic.

*If everyone stopped posting today, everyone's page per view would go up.

Addendum Cards over Coffee stated  on June 22, 2025 they reached 400,000 views in about 750 - posts which gives them an average of 533 page views per post - they have only been posting since 2020

There will be no 2025 Topps Roman Anthony rookie cards

 The cut of date appears to be earlier than ever for Topps on who will get a rookie card. It appears the date was May 31, 2025.

The set up now appears to be

June-September - previous year show up as rookies in Topps Series 1

Opening Day rookies appear in series 2 plus some left overs from last year

Update gets all new rookies who came up after opening day until May 31th. 

Roman Anthony will appear in Series 1 next year and probably be the headline rookie.

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time record countdown to below .500 watch - 10,860-10856 .50009 - Staying above water

 I believe the Pirates hit their peak in early 1993 taking their All-Tme records above .500 at 553 games. It now stands at 4.

A problem with Baseball Part 2 - The MLB batting avg. will be .248 or below for 6 straight years tying the worst stretch since 1904-1909

 

This maybe because teams are using so many pitchers.  The current average is.244 (it is possible the average could finish above .248 before the end of the year. 

When you look at - it is probably worse in todays game

A comparison (looking at the best each of the categories during that time on a per game/per team basis)

                 1904-1909                     2020-2025

Runs             3.89                            4.28

Singles         6.50                            5.39

Doubles       1.50                            1.69

Triples         0.46                            0.15

Home Runs 0.14                            1.28

Steals           1.22                           0.79

Error            1.88                           0.58

Baseball has tried everything in the last few years to put balls in play.  Because there was almost 4 as more errors back then - it meant the  ball was probably put in play more. A lot of those errors were probably because of poor conditions or poor fielding gloves or over zealous scorers. 

Strikeouts  3.85                            8.66

If you would time warp and put 1900s game in to stadiums today - I think fans would be more enthused as there would more action and not everyone would be waiting for the long ball 

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time record countdown to below .500 watch - 10,854-10852 .50004 - History is almost here

 The Pirates are losing 4-1 the ninth I have already chalked this one up as a loss - Bob Uecker Style

This will be loss 10852.

The Pirates have been at or above .500 since August 22, 1903.

Topps officially licensed NBA cards coming October 2025 and Topps NFL cards coming spring of 2026

 The Topps 2025 industry conference was held a few weeks ago and it looks like the end of the line for Panini.

Topps basketball launches in 5 months with officially licensed Copper Flagg rookie cards. Thus it looks like we have seen the last of NBA Hoops which began in 1989.

The NBA is back with Topps for the first time since 2010

The first Arch Manning cards will be in 2026 Topps football sets. As Topps gets back into football for the first time since 2015.

On a somber note rest in peace Score Football, a person favorite will see its last set released next month.  (1989-2025)

 

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time record countdown to below .500 watch - 10,854-10848 .50013 -

 The Pirates hold steady since they fired Derek Shelton staying 6 games over .500. They have gone 3-3

They reached .500 on August 22, 1903 and have been above it ever since. 

A Problem with Baseball Part 1 - The Los Angeles Dodgers used 42 different pitchers last year.

 

That was not to honor Jackie Robinson.

Heck the Marlins used 45 different pitchers.

As an old school collector these numbers are incomprehensible. I used to know the 20-25 players on a team because they would appear on Topps cards (thinking mostly the 1980s).

Now I can not comprehend who pitched for the Dodgers.

Some Stats 

The 1974 Dodgers used 13 pitchers and four of them did not get 10 Innings.

The 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates used 14 pictures - Chuck Tanner once famously said he would like to use a picture every 3 innings. In games 5 of the World Series he started Jim Rooker used him for the first five innings and then brought in Bert Blyleven and used him for the last 4 innings. The Pirates were down 3 games to 1 at the time. 

Earl Weaver used 12 pictures that year with 2 of them only getting 3 innings total.   

The reason why teams you all these pitchers because they now through so hard, the managers need to limit their innings, pitches, games etc.... All these pitchers have led to another problem.........

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time countdown to below .500 watch - 10,851-10845 .50013 - Derek Shelton fired

 The Pirates were 140 games over .500 when Derek Shelton - They are now only 6 as history awaits. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time countdown to below .500 watch - 10,851-10844 .50016 - A Philadelphia Phillies Note

 In infamous history is about to be made as the Pirates all-time record is steaming to below .500.

One idea for this post came from when I was in Philadelphia some 17 years or so ago.

When I was there (I think Steven A Smith was writing for the Inquirer) in a Sunday edition of the newspaper there was a big story about how the Phillies were going to become the first major North American franchise to lose 10,000 games (now they were only going to compete against the other original 7 National League teams for this honor. - there is no NFL. NBA or NFL team that had a chance to do it first)

It was not all bad for the Phillies since they won the 2008 World Series

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time countdown to below .500 watch - 10,851-10842 .50020 -

 This fall to below .500 is happening real fast.

The Pirates were about 200 games below .500 as of the end of 1891.

The Pirates reached .500 on August 22, 1903 with a all time record of 1409-1409 after a sweep of the Philadelphia in a double header 

On August 24, 1903 they tied Philadelphia in a game.  Then on Monday August 25, 1903 the Pirates again sweep Philadelphia in a doubleheader to have an all time record of 1411-1409 for .50035 winning percentage.

History is happening - 122 years later..............

The Pittsburgh Pirates all-time countdown to below .500 watch - 10,851-10840 .50025 - A Chicago Cubs note

History will be made soon at the Pirates All Time mark falls below .500

 Here are some of the baseball teams that started in the 1800s where are they currently in in relation to the .500 mark

Braves +162 - They made an incredible run in the last 35 years to get over .500. Since 1991 the Braves have finished over .500 - 29 times and below 5 times. They currently sit at .500

Cubs  - +567 - In one of the most unbelievable statistics in American Sports History the Cubs franchise all-time record has never been below .500. They won there first four games in 1876 and have never look back. - We are talking about 149 consecutive years at being over the .500 mark. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates countdown to below .500 watch - 10,850-10838 .50027

 Something extraordinary is going to happen as the Pittsburgh Pirates all-time record will fall below .500 soon. We will examine this  event in coming posts.

The Back of the Baseball Stat Tournament Rogers Hornsby (1922) v. Hank Aaron (1959) for the Championship

 

Until about 1980 there were 8 basic stats on the back of baseball cards.  In 1976 I created a tournament among the TSN all-time all-stars – I picked what years I thought were the best years for Ruth(1927) Williams (1941) Cobb (1911) etc… and had them compete. I remember who won - Rogers Hornsby 1922 -I decided to recreate the tournament and expand it to see if Rogers Hornsby 1922 season will still win.

Aaron 1959 goes against 1922 Rogers Hornsby for the Championship

Rogers Hornsby1922  vs. Hank Aaron 1959

 

	Hornsby	Aaron
AB	623	629	Aaron
RUNS	141	116	Hornsby
HITS	250	223	Hornsby
2B	46	46
3B	14	7	Hornsby
HR	42	39	Hornsby
RBI	152	123	Hornsby
BAT	401	355	Hornsby
			Hornsby 6-1

 

Rogers Hornsby (1922) has done it again.

50 years later Rogers Hornsby 1922 season is still the greatest of all time based on the stats on the back of the baseball card. No one is able to beat his stats from that year.

 

 

Hornsby								Mantle
Helton	Hornsby							Pujols
	Bench	Hornsby					Mantle
Cochrane		Cobb					Clemente	Brett
Bench								Clemente
						Clemente
Cobb				H		Aaron		Aaron
Musial				O				Banks
	Cobb			R			Aaron
Gehrig	Gehrig			N			Bonds	Mays
Suzuki			Hornsby	S	Aaron			Bonds
			Carew	B	Rose
Ruth				Y				Rose
Sosa	Ruth							Stargell
	Carew	Carew		W			Rose
Traynor		Wagner		I			Killebrew	Jackson
Carew				N		Rose		Killebrew
				N		Cabrera
Williams				E				Yaz
Ramirez	Ramirez			R				Cabrera
	Wagner						Cabrera
Wagner							Snider	McCovey
Robinson								Snider