Baseball cards have long been a collectors item for both young and old fans alike. Sometimes card companies have taken liberties with how players are depicted on their cards. Over the decades, there have been many instances of cards being heavily airbrushed in ways that distort the truth. While airbrushing was a common practice for cosmetic reasons, some card companies took it too far resulting in some truly egregious alterations that misled collectors. Here are some of the worst offenders of doctored baseball cards through airbrushing.
One of the earliest and most infamous cases of airbrushing involved 1974 Topps rookie card of Dick Allen. At the time, Allen was a controversial figure in baseball who had friction with both fans and the media. Topps decided to take matters into their own hands and completely removed Allen’s Afro from his rookie card photo. They airbrushed his hair into a more conventional style, likely hoping to make Allen appear less threatening or counter-cultural to collectors at the time. The erasure of his distinctive natural hairstyle was jarring considering it was a key part of Allen’s look and image. It was simply shocking to see Topps alter his appearance so drastically through the technology of airbrushing.
A similar incident occurred with rookie cards of Ferguson Jenkins in 1963 and 1964. Topps decided Jenkins’s Afro hairstyle did not fit their desired aesthetic for baseball cards. So they airbrushed away his thick natural hair not once but twice on consecutive rookie cards. It was clear Topps was pushing a conservative agenda through their depictions of players, regardless of reality. This again demonstrated how airbrushing gave too much power to card companies to reshape identity and cultural expression. Both Allen and Jenkins lost important facets of their authentic appearances and style due to Topps imposing their own biased preferences.
Perhaps the airbrushing error that misled collectors the most was on the 1973 Topps card of Nolan Ryan. At the time, Ryan was emerging as one of the game’s hardest throwers and had just struck out 19 batters in a single game against the Tigers. His 1973 Topps card showed him with his leg stretched far back on the pitcher’s mound in an unnatural throwing motion that was clearly photoshopped. Topps decided to enhance Ryan’s windup for dynamic visual effect but in doing so, ended up depicting a movement he was physically incapable of. It completely distorted the reality of Ryan as a power pitcher and confused many about his true mechanics on the mound. This was Airbrushing taken to ridiculous heights just for superficial graphical impact with no regard for accuracy.
Instances of ethnicity erasure also occurred such as on the 1968 Topps card of Vic Power. Power was notably one of the few black players in the Major Leagues at the time. However, Topps lightened his skin tone significantly through airbrushing in an apparent attempt to downplay his race. It stripped Power of an important part of his cultural identity and heritage. Another example was the 1987 Donruss card of Ken Griffey Sr., where airbrushing lightened his skin tone as well while brightening other facial features. This disturbing pattern pointed to implicit, underlying biases at some card companies in how they selectively used airbrushing to minimize visible ethnic differences.
Sometimes card companies even used airbrushing to remove imperfections or temporarily alleviate injuries. The 1990 Upper Deck card of Bo Jackson, for instance,airbrushed away a visible lump on his forehead likely from a beaning or collision. On the 1985 Topps Traded card of Kirby Puckett, a small Band-Aid was erased from his nose via airbrushing to cover up a cut. While these touch-ups were minor compared to others, they still deviated from truthful portrayals of the players. The goal seemed more about crafting artificial perfection rather than documenting reality as it was.
By far, one of the most shocking uses of airbrushing occurred on the 1951 Bowman card of Joe DiMaggio. It depicted an injured DiMaggio with his arm held close to his body presumably due to a shoulder issue. However, Bowman decided to completely remove DiMaggio’s injured arm from the photograph using the new technology of airbrushing. It made him look like he had one arm amputated, in a bizarre manipulation that mystified many collectors for decades before the crude photoshopping was discovered. This example took airbrushing to the extreme in a misguided effort to mask an injury, but ended up distorting DiMaggio’s image in a frightening, almost science fiction-esque way.
While certain airbrushing helped improve cosmetic matters to varying degrees, some card companies clearly lacked restraint and oversight in their application of the technique. It allowed implicit biases and desires for superficial enhancement to dominate over accurately representing players. The extent of airbrushing occasionally crossed over into fake news territory by spreading misleading information. Some instances like DiMaggio‘s erased arm were just flat-out disturbing manipulations. It must be acknowledged that airbrushing was a norm at the time as a means to cover imperfections believed to distract the eye. Still, the worst airbrushed cards demonstrate how the lack of truth in depictions can undermine collecting value and mislead generations of fans.
Airbrushing was integral to the early mass production of baseball cards as a means to subtly improve images. Some companies took the cosmetic touch-ups too far by allowing preferences to reshape player appearance and erase cultural markers or even injuries at times. While intentions varied, the worst cases distorted reality in misleading ways. They demonstrated an overreliance on superficiality over truthful representation. Fortunately, advances in printing quality have diminished the need for heavy-handed airbrushing of baseball cards. But the most egregious examples from the past serve as cautionary tales of emphasizing optics over authenticity in sports depiction. When airbrushing goes too far, it can undermine the nostalgic collecting experience by distorting historical accuracy for generations of fans.
