Tuesday, August 11, 2015

2016 Chachi Preview #1 Maikel Franco


As has been my tradition over the past few years, when Topps releases the first images of its flagship set for next season I've also unveiled the Topps design from the past that will be used for next season's Chachi set.  Based on the votes cast by you, and careful consideration from the 2016 Chachi Set Planning Committee, I'm pleased to announce that you'll be seeing a lot of the 1970 Topps set on this blog next season.


Here are a few other thoughts on this selection:
  • This marks the oldest Topps set to date to be used for a Chachi set, and I don't imagine I'll ever delve into the designs of the 1960s.  The 1970 Topps set is the oldest complete set in my collection other than my prized complete 1956 Topps set.
  • Here's a link to my post on the original 1970 Topps Phillies cards.
  • Starting with Series 2, card #133 in the original 1970 set, Topps began placing a vertical white line at the bottom of each card between the player's name and position.  If I remember this when I'm creating the cards, I'll do the same for the opening day line-up.
  • The original 1970 set features individual cards of 25 Phillies players and manager Frank Lucchesi.  The Phillies team name appears in five different colors on these cards as follows:
Black - 9
Red - 6
Yellow - 5
White - 3
Blue - 2
  • I haven't decided yet if all 2016 Chachi cards will have a red or white or blue team name or if I should mix in black and yellow in the same ratio as the original set.  These are the things I honestly think about.
  • I also haven't decided if each coach will get his own card or if I'll use the template for the Rookie Stars cards to fit multiple coaches on a card.
  • I'm going to use the World Series subset cards as Highlight/Record Breaker cards in the 2016 Chachi set.  As much improvement as the 2015 Phillies team has made, I think it's safe to assume that I won't be needing actual World Series cards in the 2016 set.  Maybe I'll go with black and white short-printed photo variations to pay tribute to the originals.
Thanks again to everyone who voted or provided comments!  Here was the final tally:

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't hold much hope that my favorite (1978) would win, so I was hoping that 1970 would come through... I have to say I was greatly surprised at how decisive a win it was!

I was pondering your "color dilemma" (because, of course, these are things I think about as well) and flipping through my 1970 cards and it occurred to me - this will be the first Chachi set where the uniforms worn by the current Phillies are more-or-less the same as worn on the originals. Pretty cool...

My first reaction to the colors is to not go strictly by the Topps ratio, but allow the photos to dictate which color works best... Bright colors in front of dark backgrounds and vice versa. You could also stick to one or two colors for the Phillies and use the other colors for some of the "inserts".

I was mildly surprised that there aren't any Phillies which have the team name as "PHILS"... I guess I was thinking of CARDINALS/CARDS and YANKEES/YANKS.

I didn't realize until I started looking, but there were actually a couple of cards with *green* teams... Bob Locker (Pilots) and Dick Hall (Orioles) are the two I have.

I don't know how you'd do it, but I'd like to see some sort of Lowell Palmer "tribute".

OK, that's all I've got for now (as if it weren't enough). I have a feeling 2016 Chachi's going to be a fun set.

Jim said...

I'm pretty excited about this selection too. I like your idea for the color choices. I won't know until I have the photos picked out, but I can see going with red/blue/white/black/yellow depending on how it works with each particular photo.

First photo I find of a current Phillies player in shades gets the Lowell Palmer tribute card!