Back in 2003, the popular rumor in Boston was that the Red Sox, White Sox, and Rangers were going to put together a three-team trade that would send Manny Ramirez to Texas, Nomar Garciaparra to Chicago, and Magglio Ordonez and Alex Rodriguez to Boston. Nobody knows for sure what would've happened had that trade gone through, but for a minute or two there I could see A-Rod and Ordonez in Sox uniforms.

There have been other players whom I thought would end up on the Sox one way or another (Todd Helton is at the top of that list), but one guy I never saw on the Red Sox was Fred McGriff. Maybe it's because I was raised on the Lou Gorman-led Sox ("What would we do with Willie McGee?"), but the Sox already had Mo Vaughn at first. What would we have done with Fred McGriff?

My grandfather grew up in a small town in South Dakota. His sisters were the switchboard operators for the town, and his father the postman and local semi-pro baseball team manager. He likes to tell the story of how, towards the end of one season, his father lured a star pitcher away from a rival team. And then, instead of pitching him in the big games that followed, kept him on the bench. When asked why he would do that, my grandfather laughs and says that his dad had the luxury of not using the star pitcher--as long as he wasn't pitching for the other team.

And when the A-Rod and Ordonez trades fell through, what did the Yankees do? Did they say "Why do we need A-Rod when we already have Derek Jeter?"

This is one of those little things that we with the Lou Gorman mindset never figure out: having Mo Vaughn at first and Fred McGriff, be it at DH or lounging on the bench, perhaps could've pushed the Sox closer to the pennant. Instead we defensively scoff at even considering the possibility.

We all know it's coming, and I'm probably not too far off base to assume there's a room of monkeys with typewriters at One Whitehall coming up with ideas. I'm speaking, of course, about the next Topps gimmick card. Let's see, in the last three years they've sprung Guiliani and the Sox, the Bizarro Jeter, Poley Walnuts and the deftly geo-targeted whoopsie of Alex Gordon in Kansas-area Wal-Marts.

So what's next? I have an idea. Get someone like Manny Ramirez (a popular player who also seems a bit eccentric) to take out his braids and cut his hair like this:





My Photoshop skills used to be a lot better, but I think it would look something like this:




And you know, Manny doesn't even really have to do it. Presumably, Topps' graphic artists could just fake it. God knows they've had the practice. And if it's as big a hit as I think it will be, I think we'll be looking at a full blown insert set for Topps 2010.

Reader Joe thinks he can top Topps – and not just with a base card design. He's even included two possible insert sets.


"I had a few ideas for inserts that Topps has not done yet. The base is sort of Plain Jane. Grill Stars w/Manny and his Grill-A-Later 300 and Ballpark Idolizers."



































Not thrilled with the new design for Topps 2008? Think you could have done it better if only you had the chance? Well here it is, buddy. Send me your best designs and I'll post them on the blog!