Card of the Day: 2008 Stadium Club Manny Ramirez
Kudos to Topps for getting a Manny Ramirez Dodgers card into it’s 2008 Stadium Club release. I was pleasantly surprised when I ripped open a blaster this week and found this thing in the middle of a pack. It’s a neat picture and cool because it does feature ManRam as a Dodger. However, something about this image just isn’t right.
Now, for the record I have not gone on the Internet to answer this question, so this is strictly an original: Is this a Photoshop creation? Here we supposedly have Manny Ramirez taking a San Francisco Giants pitcher deep, but there are a few issues here: The background is not Dodger Stadium or AT&T Park in San Francisco, and the only pitcher who wore No. 22 for the Giants this year was Keichi Yabu. The man pictured here is “Morris.” Matt Morris, currently of the Pirates, pitched for San Francisco through mid-2007. And before his departure, Morris made a start as a Giant AT FENWAY on June 17, 2007. Manny didn’t homer off him, but given Manny’s body language, I suppose this could have been a lazy fly ball to left or even a foul ball. You just never know.
There are a few things that strike me as odd here. There is a man pictured in the front row whose hat looks like it was washed out (it appears almost light pink) and a man behind him is wearing an extremely blue shirt. If you look closely it definitely looks ‘shoped. Other fans also look like they’ve been made-over. And they aren’t the only ones .
As for the players, Matt Morris wore No. 35, but here the pitcher “Morris” is wearing 22. But we know those things can be changed in Photoshop. And Manny’s uniform is extremely white. The “Dodger’s” name across his chest doesn’t flow with the jersey (it’s crinkled, yet the name isn’t.) and the No. 99 looks slightly out of place.
If this is in fact an Photoshop creation, then it’s a pretty good one that passes quick glance test. But when dissected, it falls apart. Thankfully Topps did not insert any special characters into the background …
UPDATE: Had a quick e-mail correspondence with Chris Olds at Beckett about this card and it does in fact look like a Red Sox ‘shoped picture. Chris reminded me that Morris wore 22 in 2007, a tribute to former teammate Mike Matheny. And while Chris and the Beckett staff thought the advertisement in the background was fake, it does appear to be real. It’s for a chain of pubs/restaurants in the Boston area. I remember seeing the ads while watching games.
cardboardicons.com 
November 20, 2008 at 11:51 am
When I first saw your post and this card, I wanted it, and wished they were stocking Stadium Club blasters (or just plain Stadium Club packs) in my area. Then I read it, got disgusted and don’t care whether I have this card or not. Obviously, Ramirez is not in a Dodger uniform.
The thing that KILLS me about this is that really IS Fenway Park in the photo. (Ninety-nine is a chain of restaurants based in the Massachusetts area). So they freakin’ PHOTOSHOPPED THE FENCE DODGER BLUE, TOO. Unbelievable.
November 20, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Where is the umpire?
November 20, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Good call, Andrew. Ha.
November 20, 2008 at 3:14 pm
could they photoshop Matt Morris being a relevant player too? And Topps had nothing of Manny Ramirez in a Dodgers uniform anywhere. With the time involved making this, they could have made the same hump to take a disposable camera and get a Manny shot.
The Jon should work at Topps.
November 20, 2008 at 3:15 pm
That shot was taken at Fenway Park. It was during an interleague series between the Boston Red Sox and the San Francisco Giants. The game was on June 17th, 2007 to be exact. Matt Morris was the starting pitcher and did wear number 22 when he was with the Giants.
Here was the box score of that game,
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=200706170BOS
As always, Topps uses Photoshop to not only make the game appear at Dodger Stadium but have Manny in a Dodgers’ uniform. By the way Manny went 2 for 4 and with a home run.
November 20, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Great catch! This is almost everything with what is wrong in today’s card hobby. If this came from a $99 pack of 4 cards that would finish it.
November 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm
It’s a decent enough fake that I didn’t catch it, but it’s disappointing to see something like this in a set that used to be about the photography.
November 20, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Seriously. Topps used a real Manny in Dodger uniform picture for Update, but they go and do this for Stadium Club? What the heck is going on here?
November 20, 2008 at 6:39 pm
the first thing i noticed wrong about it was pub 99 restaurant sign..it’s an east coast chain restaurant. plus it’s obviously not dodger stadium..they might have well left the card out of the series..this card is an embarassment and not what card collecting is about.
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