We are a bit obsessed with being clever these days. Subtlety is key. You can't hammer people over the head with a joke. Every song or illustration must contain 14 different meanings. Each picture must look like something else. Bury that punch line because only a dolt reveals the payoff in the first sentence. Don't be like 1982 Donruss. A bat and a ball?? Right up front like that? Who does that? I tweeted out a couple of 1982 Donruss cards the other day and Phungo mentioned that it's been quite awhile since a baseball card set featured baseball iconography -- baseball-specific symbols -- on its cards. The most recent example is from 2013 Topps when a modified baseball diamond appeared in the lower left corner of each card. The diamond design, however, was so distorted that I immediately saw a sea turtle in it -- you know, that thing about every drawing having 14 different meanings. And so, "the sea turtle design" was born. The most recent Topps car...
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