Unflattering Sports Cards

[Déjà Bru]

From The Athletic and in four parts due to the constraint on image attachments per post.

The Bronny James ‘LEAVE’ card and the most unflattering sports cards of all time, ranked

By Brooks Peck



A particularly unique Bronny James rookie card sold on eBay for $1,802 Tuesday night. The card — his one-of-a-kind 2024-25 Panini Select Jumbo Patch Black Finite — features a piece of a Los Angeles Lakers jersey that includes the word “LEAVE.” The word is part of the phrase “leave a legacy,” a tribute to the late Kobe Bryant, which is printed above the jock tag on the team’s jerseys. But out of context, the patch creates a curious trading card for the Lakers’ controversial second round pick in the 2024 draft.

Bronny wasn’t the only member of the James family to have an unflattering basketball card produced recently. Many collectors have pointed out that his father’s 2024-25 Panini Prizm card showcases his hair loss rather than showing his face (a more flattering version of LeBron doing his signature chalk toss appeared in the 2008-09 Topps set).



These cards are far from the only unflattering or regrettable sports cards produced over the years. This phenomenon really seemed to explode during the 1990s, when sports card production was at an all-time high and photographers and manufacturers were seemingly looking for ways to keep things interesting. Below is an attempt at ranking some of the most egregious examples throughout sports card history, but this list is far from complete (also note that it doesn’t include pre-determined, agreed upon gags like Keith Comstock’s famous minor league card).

Unflattering sports card power ranking

17. 1991 Fleer Bill Pecota #565/Chris Sabo #80



1991 Fleer Baseball is widely considered to have one of the ugliest card designs of all time, but the set also features some highly questionable photo choices. Why pick a photo that makes it look like Bill Pecota is swinging and missing the ball a mile? Better yet, why do virtually the exact same thing to Chris Sabo too?

16. 1999 Score Rich Gannon #218



Again, this is just an odd action photo to choose for someone’s card. Rich Gannon probably still has nightmares about this moment and here Score commemorated it on cardboard.

15. 1992 Classic Four Sport Dave Tretowicz #218



Although Dave Tretowicz played for the U.S. in the 1992 Olympics, he never made it to the NHL after being drafted by the Calgary Flames. It seems this is one of just a couple of hockey cards he ever appeared on. And it features a photo of him with his eyes closed.

To be continued . . .

[Déjà Bru]

Continuing . . .

14. 1996 Pinnacle Bob Hamelin #289



There is no other explanation for some of Pinnacle’s image choices than that the company simply had it out for certain players. Bob Hamelin is one of them. Even he doesn’t know why Pinnacle chose to use a closeup of his Spring Training photo day ID shot (players hold up a card with their name on it so photographers can more easily identify each subject when going through all their images from the day). Still, Hamelin got off easy compared to some others…

13. 1993-94 Stadium Club Judd Buechler #45



Jud Buechler went on to be a three-time NBA champion with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, so you can’t feel too bad for him about this card existing.

12. 1991 Ultimate Draft Kerry Toporowski #48



Well at least Tretowicz, Hamelin, and Buechler had their faces visible on their cards. This is just a card of Kerry Toporowski’s backside! Clearly manufacturers were making cards just for the sake of making cards at this point.

11. 2024-25 Panini Prizm LeBron James #130
[Shown in previous post]

10. 1996-97 Upper Deck Elliot Perry #250



Elliot Perry’s nickname was “Socks” because he wore exceptionally high socks when he played. This is not a good enough reason to have this man lay in a bathtub filled with socks for his basketball card photo (and yes, this one probably violates the “no predetermined gags” rule we set out at the start, but this is just so weird that we’re making an exception for it).

9. 2005 Skybox Limited Edition Yao Ming jersey patch #43



Putting the piece of Yao Ming’s jersey directly over his face is a definite flaw in the design of this card. But at least you can see the ball clearly.

To be continued . . .

[Déjà Bru]

Continuing . . .

8. 2020 Panini Mosaic Jam Masters Blake Griffin #2



From one guy’s head being obscured to another guy’s head being bizarrely enlarged. This card is just terrifying.

7. 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection Pat Meares #304



Pat Meares must have done something truly terrible to the employees of Pinnacle for them to make this his baseball card.

6. 1990 Upper Deck Bill Buckner #252



The key to this card is the backstory: Bill Buckner let a ground ball go through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, contributing to the Boston Red Sox losing to the New York Mets to extend the team’s curse and prompt decades of scorn aimed at the first baseman. So when Upper Deck used an image of Buckner with the black hole of the opening to the field tarp roll behind him positioned right between his legs, it raised eyebrows. As it was recently admitted, this was no coincidence and the image was specifically chosen to poke fun at Buckner’s famous mistake years earlier.

5. 2018 Topps Gallery Austin Hays #99



This is just mean. Austin Hays does not look like this.

4. 2024-25 Panini Select Bronny James Jumbo Patch Black Finite 1/1

[Shown in opening post]

Unless James has a long career with the Lakers, this one just isn’t going to age well. However, it might be the first card in history that could increase in value if its subject is unceremoniously cut by their team.

3. 2013 Leaf Pop Century Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding dual autograph #CS26



This card features sticker autographs, which means Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding signed a sheet of nondescript stickers and then Leaf decided to put one from each on the same card. This decision likely did not thrill Kerrigan, especially under the framing of the two being “co-stars,” as she has tried to distance herself from Harding since being the victim of a very real assault ahead of the 1994 Olympics.

Other bad card pairings: 2008 Ace Authentic Grand Slam Margaret Court and Martina Navratilova dual patch (Navratilova has called Court a “racist and a homophobe“) and Leaf’s Trinity Rodman and Dennis Rodman “Family Ties” dual auto (Trinity Rodman has been very public about her difficult relationship with her father).

To be continued . . .

[Déjà Bru]

Continuing . . .

2. 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken #616



This has to be it, right? The most unflattering sports card ever — Bill Ripken’s famous “F— Face” card. Well, not so fast. Ripken eventually admitted to writing the phrase on his bat knob himself after initially claiming to be the victim of a clubhouse prank, though he never intended it to end up on a baseball card. And then, after the card had caused perhaps the biggest controversy in the history of the industry, he said he gave out signed copies of it to the groomsmen in his wedding. So even he didn’t find it too unflattering. Still, this card has to be in the top two on this list.

1. 2018 Panini Flawless Tobias Harris 1/6 #THS



Yes, this card is real. Although it’s from Harris’ time with the Philadelphia 76ers, the patch is from his Los Angeles Clippers jersey. When Harris played for them, the dating app Bumble was their jersey sponsor and an unfortunate segment of that patch ended up in this card. To have the largest letters on your basketball card spell out “bum” is just about as bad as it gets (particularly given how Harris’ time with the Sixers went). The current owner of this card displays it at shows with a “NFS” (not for sale) sticker on it. Because you simply cannot put a price on the Tobias Harris “bum” card.

Rounding things out, here is the aforementioned Chris Sabo card:



and this is what Austin Hays actually looks like:



and this, this is "Keith Comstock’s famous minor league card".

[Déjà Bru]

But, as usual, this is an example of "best/worst" lists that are often highly subjective and incomplete. For example, a simple Google search of "worst baseball cards ever" produced this one, that in my opinion beats several of those above, if not all:

1990 Topps TV Chuck Cottier

[David Watts]

Don't have a picture, but in 1969 the Aurelio Rodriguez card was actually Angels bat boy Leonard Garcia. The error was not divulged till 1973. Wasn't there a Bump Wills card that had him a Rangers uniform, but card said he played for a different team?

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Don't have a picture, but in 1969 the Aurelio Rodriguez card was actually Angels bat boy Leonard Garcia. The error was not divulged till 1973.

Here it is. The one on the left, that is. The caption on this composite photo is "Angels third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez is shown in the card on the right in the 1970 Topps card, but the 1969 Topps card, left, shows Angels batboy Leonard Garcia by mistake." Read about how that happened.

Originally Posted by David Watts

Wasn't there a Bump Wills card that had him a Rangers uniform, but card said he played for a different team?

Yep. It must have been the "T" on his cap that confused Topps.



That's definitely a Texas Rangers uniform. Here is Billy Sample's 1979 Rangers uniform:

The even funnier thing about this is that the back of the card has him on the correct team!

[David Watts]

Another one, 1974 Jerry Morales. Card says Chicago Cubs, but he's wearing a San Diego Padres uniform.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Another one, 1974 Jerry Morales. Card says Chicago Cubs, but he's wearing a San Diego Padres uniform.

Absolutely NO excuse for this one! "SD" on the cap, short for "Santo de Chicago" or something?

[low]

These are so good. I will never not chuckle at the Billy Ripken card. Just part of the 13yo in me.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by low

These are so good. I will never not chuckle at the Billy Ripken card. Just part of the 13yo in me.

Yes. The internet being what it is, you can find both versions of images of that card, with and without the discreet black box.

[CONN CHRIS]

Don Mossi

"He could ugly to all fields" - Bill James

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Don Mossi

"He could ugly to all fields" - Bill James

You know, ears make the man. Take your two index fingers, hold them to the screen over his baseball card, and cover his ears. Not all that bad, eh?

I had ears like that when I was young, and I suffered for them. Fortunately my head got fat as I grew (without steroids) and thereby compensated for them.