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Topps Had To Retouch All The 2022 Cleveland Guardians Baseball Cards: Take A Look

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Topps Had To Retouch All The 2022 Cleveland Guardians Baseball Cards: Take A Look

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When the Major League Baseball franchise in Cleveland announced back in July that they would be changing the team’s nickname from Indians to Guardians the reactions were, as expected, mixed.

Some baseball fans liked the change and think it was way past overdue, while others were wrong.

One thing that most fans probably overlooked, however, was what are the baseball card companies like Topps going to do for photos of Cleveland’s players in 2022?

Sure, they could have just used some pictures of the Cleveland Guardians roller derby team, but that just wouldn’t be the same.

Instead, Topps decided to put their graphic design artists to work, and work, and work.

Naturally then, when Topps dropped the 2022 Topps Baseball Series I on Feb. 15, baseball fans had questions.

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According to a Topps spokesperson who emailed The Athletic, “As we always have, we retouched images on cards throughout our collections to reflect Clubs’ current branding and identities. This consistent practice provides fans with the most up-to-date collectibles representing their favorite players and teams.”

Not everyone appreciates all the effort Topps went to in making the new Cleveland Guardians baseball cards though.

Cleveland Guardians baseball cards had to be retouched due to the team’s name change

“It’s not gaslighting,” David Roth, a writer at Defector and former Topps editor, told The Athletic. “It is fundamentally a break in what a card should represent. It is different, not just as a rebranding sort of deal. This is conscious attempt to change the way a team is seen and referred to and represented. There are ways around it that don’t involve in creating something that didn’t exist.”

It is odd to see a player in a photo on a baseball card wearing something that he didn’t actually, you know, wear.

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This problem with the change in Cleveland’s team nickname on baseball cards is amplified by the fact that with no Spring Training, baseball card manufacturers have not had a chance to photograph players in uniform this year.

Thankfully, once the season begins that won’t be a problem… assuming it ever does.