a different point of view

isn't it strange that most of the time, we watch baseball games as if we were sitting in centerfield, yet most baseball cards give us the point of view of someone sitting in the lower level infield seats?  it's not that unexpected, since the camera wells are usually located near the dugouts, and the only cameras in the outfield are tv cameras.  every once in a while, however, the cards give us that different point of view.

the first one of these that i was aware of was in the 1965 topps set.  it's also the oldest mickey mantle card that i own.

mantle did indeed hit a clutch homerun in game 3 of the 1964 world series against the cardinals.  too bad that blast isn't what is shown here. in game 3, mantle led off the bottom of the 9th with a walk-off home run.  barney schultz was the pitcher for the cardinals.  i am pretty sure that this card shows the mick on the road and batting against bob gibson.  still, it's a nice card.

fast forward to 1991, and topps gave us another gem - dwight evans.

what happened to the pitcher?

the first dodger card i saw with this vantage point being used was this 1996 pinnacle raul mondesi card

this is some sort of parallel, but the real issue here is that the image is kind of blurry.  as for other similar dodger cards, there is of course the really bad 2008 topps stadium club manny ramirez card with the extensive photoshopping and umpire elimination. 

there's no umpire on the 2008 upper deck first edition justin maxwell card either, but that makes sense

it's from the photo op during the construction of the nationals' stadium in dc.  the twins did a similar thing when target field was under construction with mauer, morneau, and cuddyer.  there's a poster as a result, but no card that i know of.

also in 2008, we have garrett atkins' upper deck card

featuring world series action.  upper deck did this in 2007, too.  i think it's the albert pujols card that features the centerfield view with jason verlander lurking in the foreground.

i mentioned target field a minute ago.  i was excited for 2011 cards to be issued as i was hoping to see the twins' new stadium on some cardboard.  2011 topps opening day didn't disappoint, with magglio ordonez's card

i think the card would look a little better if it weren't cropped to lose some of the 'target field' text.  still, i like the card a lot.  not as much as these next two, however.

this is from 2007 upper deck masterpieces, and it gives us the view from centerfield as reggie jackson hit his third home run in game 6 of the 1977 world series.

that's the dodgers' steve yeager wearing the catcher's gear.

even though the yankees beat the dodgers, i like this card because the 1977 world series is the first fall classic that i watched, and this is a much better representation of the series than the highlight card that topps issued in 1978.

even better is this card from the 1994 upper deck all-time heroes set

not only do we get to see yeager, we get charlie hough, too.  the dodgers outnumber the yankees on the card 2 to 1.

i know there are more of these cards (2004 topps juan uribe, for one) but for me, there aren't enough.  it would be pretty cool to see other cards - a double play card would be awesome - from the center field view.  don't you think?