2023-2026 San Francisco Giants Fan Fest photo cards

     It has been a few years, but the Giants have produced a new series of black & white photo cards for their yearly Fan Fest events.  This design showed up in 2023 and continued through 2025.  Looks like these may be standard 2.5" x 3.5", rather than the taller format from previous years.  Still blank backed, they feature a fairly modern design with a hint of the previous years elements.

So far, I've only spotted the following:

Hayden Birdsong
Alex Cobb
Michael Conforto
Camilo Doval
Thairo Estrada
Jordan Hicks
Luke Jackson
Bryce Johnson
J.P. Martinez
Randy Rodriguez
Sergio Romo
Landen Roupp
Taira Uematsu CO
David Villar
Tony Vitello
Ryan Walker
Matt Williams

2016-17 & 2018, 2019 San Francisco Giants Fan Fest photo cards

(Updates at the bottom)

     eBay saved search comes through again!  It appears that the Giants updated their Fan Fest photo card design a tad for the 2018 event, and I just picked up a lot of cards on eBay that included a previously unknown Hensley Meulens card.

     In this new design, the team logo is now in a square that fits within the edges of the name and team bars, the player name is slightly wider, and the team name and position are now italicized.

2018 design

For comparison, below is the design that was used from 2013-2015.

2013-2015 design

 

The other cards I have found with this new, square 2018 design are as follows:

Jose Alguacil

Tyler Beede

Travis Bergen

Ty Blach

Steven Duggar

Aramis Garcia

Matt Herges

Nick Hundley

Ryder Jones

Evan Longoria

Andrew McCutchen

Mark Melancon

Conner Menez

Hensley Meulens CO

Alyssa Nakken CO

Buster Posey

Pablo Sandoval

Rick Schu CO

Chris Shaw

Andrew Suarez

Breyvic Valera

Pat Venditte

Tony Watson

Mac Williamson

Curt Young CO

I'll update the list as I find more.

--UPDATE-- 

     Slight update here, as I just discovered that there was another design change that I missed.  Between the 2013 design and the 2018 design, there was subtle change that I am now calling 2016-2017.  Swiped from an eBay listing, the Ehire Adrianza features the newly discovered design, and the Jeremy Affeldt the earlier design.  The two differences being on the 2016-17 design the team/position banner features the larger, italicized text, and the banner does not extend beyond the end of the logo circle.

For this 2016-17 design, I have identified the following players, so far:

Ehire Adrianza

Ray Black

Matt Cain

Brandon Crawford

Matt Duffy

Gorkys Hernandez

Chris Heston

Nick Hundley

Steven Okert

Josh Osich

Jarrett Parker

Hunter Pence

Buster Posey (crouching)

Buster Posey (throwing)

Jeff Samardzija

Chris Stratton

Albert Suarez

Kelby Tomlinson

Mac Williamson

Ron Wotus

--UPDATE-- 

Another design has surfaces for the 2019 Fan Fest cards.  So far, this Dereck Rodriguez is the only card I have seen on eBay:

--UPDATE 3/10/2024--

A recent eBay listing has added several more cards to all of these sets, including more from 2019, so that now stands at:

Craig Albernaz

Andrew Bailey CO

Brian Bannster CO

Tyler Beede

Kai Correa CO

Jaylin Davis

Alex Dickerson

Mauricio Dubon

Mark Hallberg CO

Dustin Lind

Andoan Richardson CO

Dereck Rodriguez
Austin Slater

Drew Smyly

Catching Up With Bam-Bam's SGA Team Set Cards

    As I seem to have missed the last few of his newer cards, this should clear the to-do list on recent acquisitions for my Meulens collection.  Sponsorship for the yearly San Francisco Giants stadium giveaway team set has changed hands multiple times since 2012.

    The set had been sponsored by Emerald Nuts for several years, but that ended in 2012 with this set (which is a glaring example of why foil text on card fronts is a bad idea):

Team Issued Cards and Fan Packs

     As I scour the web for information about uncatalogued cards, one of the main areas of interest is always Major League team-issued cards and photos.  I've posted a bit about some of these in the past:

1987 Cleveland Indians Photocard
Team-Issued Stadium Give-Away Sets in Japan
1994 Chicago Cubs Old Style team issue photo card
1992 or 1993 New York Yankees postcard set (update)

    They can range anywhere from fully featured baseball cards to over-sized photos to postcards to simple black & white cards with blank backs.  They have been around for nearly as long as the hobby, but they definitely don't get the love or attention they deserve.  These days, the most common way to acquire them would be as part of a "fan pack" from a team.

2011 San Francisco Giants Emerald Nuts SGA - Coaches

     For the seventh consecutive season, Emerald Nuts sponsored another team set give away for the San Francisco Giants. For me, that means one more card of Hensley Meulens and Roberto Kelly. Fortunately, this year, the day after Baseball Card night, several people put the sets up for sale on eBay, and one was even kind enough to sell me an extra coaches card for an extra $1, so I could have one for both player collections.

     The design is obviously the main 2011 Topps set design, and disappointly they used the same coaches photos from last year's card, only this time without the fake ballpark crowd background.  As far as I know, the Giants are the only team to have Topps produce them a team set every year as a ballpark promotion, and one of few teams to consistently have a yearly team set give away.  You would think that would be mandatory.  But then you'd also think baseball cards in boxes of Cracker Jack would be mandatory, too.

     Topps does produce a blister-packed team set for each team every year, different from what is issued in the main base set, but those are usually only 17 cards or so, and are intended for sale at the ball park or in retail outlets.  While they are listed in Beckett every year, I don't know how many collectors are aware of them.  The main difference between this set and the Topps retail team set, aside from the Emerald Nuts logo, is the inclusion of the coaches.  I really think that if Topps included the coaches in the yearly retail team sets, more people would pick them up.

     Getting back to the card at hand, the Giants once again find themselves struggling to make the playoffs, and the only reason they are even close is their amazing pitching staff.  I just don't see them repeating as World Champions in 2011.  And some of that will obviously be heaped on their hitting coach, Hensley Meulens, but I would also put some of that on their 1st base/baserunning coach, Roberto Kelly.  The Giants are 13th out of 16 teams in the National League in steals.  This coaches card make a point of detailing Kelly's 235 steals over his career.  While he was pretty good in his early days, stealing as many as 42 in 1990, that's still 235 steals over 14 seasons, for an average of less than 18 a year.  To his credit, Andres Torres did manage 17 steals in the 107 games he played.  Unfortunately for the Giants, Andres Torres can't hit the broad side of a barn, managing a pitiful .219 batting average.  Not something you want from your lead-off man.  I've not seen anything written about replacing Kelly, but I'm curious if he has the same problems as Meulens.

     That brings the focus back to Bam Bam.  The Giants hitting is the second worst in the National League.  One has to wonder if there is some sort of executive problem here.  By all accounts, when players actually follow his advice, their hitting improves.  Yet the team seems to be loaded with guys who simply refuse to be coached.  Quoth Brandon Belt after making an adjustment in the batter's box (emphasis is mine),

“Bam Bam thought that would work.  I finally did what he told me to do. It’s going to help. That pitch I hit (Thursday) night, an inside fastball, I’ve been taking it for strike three. It’s just being in a good position to hit. When I’m just able to react up there, that’s when I feel I’m at my best.”

     How many other players need to finally do what they're told?  Do you blame the hitting coach for a player that refuses to be coached?  Why not just bench them or send them down to Fresno, and bring up someone who actually wants to win?   It was said that the Giants previous hitting coach, Carney Lansford, wasn't a great communicator.  And while Bam Bam is multi-lingual, and seems to have a better rapport with the players, communication is a two way street.  Maybe Carney's biggest problem was that they players just weren't listening.

      In any case, the checklist for the 2011 Giants Emerald Nuts set has been added to the Inventory Manager over at SportsCardForum and TradingCardDB.com.

Lots of Press for Bam Bam

    With the Giants in the World Series, not to mention unleashing 20 runs in the first two games, there is are a new crop of articles about the man that helped make that happen, the San Francisco Giants hitting coach, Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens.  Here he is in his 2010 Topps Emerald Nuts card along with coaches Tim Flannery and Roberto Kelly, his first card since becoming a Major League coach.  I might actually consider collecting modern cards again if they'd eliminate several of the annoying reprint insert sets and go back to including coaches in the sets.

 
The Big Five with … Giants hitting coach Hensley Meulens (NBC Sports)

Former Yankees prospect Hensley 'Bam Bam' Meulens is now a Giant hit in San Francisco (NY Daily News)

As Giants make a World Series run, hitting coach Meulens is gratified by success (The Canadian Press)

Pregame interview with Hensley Meulens (MLB.com) 

Muelens logró la fórmula (El Universal, Venezuela)

Meulens recuperó el poder bateador de los Gigantes (Terra, Argentina)

And of course, this one:

Bonds says he wants to be the Giants' hitting coach (Washington Post)

Yeah, how 'bout you start in the Arizona Fall League with the Arizona Giants, first, Mr. Bonds.  I think Mr. Meulens has the job pretty well in hand.  

"Tickets...please." (Player photos on game tickets)

      One of the lesser known rarities that the middling player collector must pursue is the mostly uncatalogued season ticket depicting the player with whom the collector is obsessed.  While a few of these have made their way into the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, most of them are still just floating out there, sitting in junk drawers, shoe boxes or the pockets of coats and jackets sitting in the back of closets.  The lucky stubs turn up on eBay and end up in the collection of some loving family.

       Yeah.  Even minor league teams issued season tickets featuring players.  Good luck in the hunt!

"License and registration, please."

"Sorry, officer, I must've left my MLB Properties license in my other pants."

In the late 1980s, you knew you were highly touted as an up-and-coming prospect when there were a handful of these babies on the dealer's tables at card shows. These Rookies sets began in 1987 and continued on until at least 1990. Branded "Broders"; a catch-all term for unlicensed cards that got the name after photographer Rob Broder issued a couple of sets of full color cards that were intended as advertising for his 8" x 10" photos, but which ended up taking on a life of their own.

There was a set issued in 1987 with Broder's name on the back, but then there was this set with the cartoon on the reverse, which is what continued year after year. In some cases, players were included in the sets for several years. They typically sold for anywhere from 25¢-50¢ per card, and though the hobby magazines were always adamant that they held no collector value, dealers had no trouble selling them (in some cases, in the aforementioned magazines). Due to their unlicensed nature, these days, these sets can be extremely difficult to track down as they were issued in a wide variety of names, rarely featured any indication of who printed them and are no longer listed in any of the current price guide and catalog publications (though SCD's Standard Catalog listed many such sets as recently as their 2003 edition).

This was the first such unlicensed card issued of Hensley Meulens.



In 1989, Meulens would make it into the first series of the set. Another feature that makes these sets tough to pin down is how they differ in dimensions. Some had square corners, some with smaller rounded corners and some with an extremely rounded corners (like the 1987 Indiana Blue Sox set).



1989 saw more producers get into the unlicensed arena, but almost all of these other sets, like these from the 1989 All-American Promo Cards Series, were probably just re-printed from widely available glossy 8" x "10 photos.





Pacific Cards & Comics, a card shop in Los Angeles, CA, was one of few producers of these sets that actually included their name on the cards (The Press Box being the notable other such shop).





These are the only unlicensed cards of Hensley Meulens that I know of, that first of the Pacific cards being the last I've tracked down. If anyone knows of any not shown here, I'd be very interested in knowing about them.

Returning to the present day, here's great piece by Lowell Cohn on Hensley Meulens, his approach as the Giant's hitting coach and the results so far:

Cohn: Bam Bam's placid approach has Giants hitting better

As they say, "Those who can't do, teach."

     Well, I don't know if I'd go quite that far in describing Hensley Meulens, as he had a fairly successful career in the minors and in foreign leagues (except for Korea), but he certainly never made an impact on Major League pitching. At the moment, Bam Bam is getting a lot of coverage by baseball media, as San Francisco has handed him the task of making hitters out of the Giants' lineup of wind machines. Perhaps he can reach them with his vast language skills and explain to them that their purpose at the plate is to reach base, and not just create a gentle, cooling breeze for the pitcher.

     Anyway, back in 2003, Meulens put his playing days behind him (partially thanks to an injury during the 2002 Mexican League season) and took up the challenge of imparting some of his 16 years of professional experience on a new generation of young players, and was hired by the Bluefield Orioles of the Appalachian League, Baltimore's rookie ball affiliate. Looking at the roster for 2003, most of the players were signed as undrafted free agents, and the rest were universally late round draftees, the lowest being 4th rounder, Tim Gilhooly (for whom 2003 would be his last of two seasons).

     Typically, rookie ball isn't where your promising young phenoms start out, they typically begin their career at A+ or AA, depending on maturity level, so I guess Bluefield was as good a place as any to start out a rookie hitting coach. Looking at the lackluster roster, almost all of whom would be out of organized baseball within two years (none reaching the Majors), Meulens first year coaching had to have been one of endless frustration with the team batting an anemic .238 and finishing a single game out of last place. However, he probably learned a lot that season. In any case, he is seen here, early in the 2003 season, just happy to be here, on his first baseball card as a coach.

     The set was produced by Grandstand Cards, who started producing sets for minor league teams in 1997. I don't think they're around anymore, as I can't find any information on the company, but they were issuing sets up to at least 2006. At the time, they were the only company aside from Best, producing minor league team sets on a wide scale. In 1998, Multi-Ad would enter the market (as Best was leaving), and Choice Marketing would join them in 1999.

"It was after 3. His blood sugar was low!"

     Grinning maniaclly out of his little box on this 2009 Emerald Nuts Giants card (brought to you by Topps, the Giants and the letter 'C'), one has to wonder if that was what the Giants management decided was the problem with Carney Lansford's hitting coachery in 2009. No, that opening dependent clause really doesn't go with the rest of the sentence. But I threw a comma in there. And that's OHHHH-kay!

     As everyone knows by now, Lansford was asked to leave the store, and Multilingual Mister Meulens was brought up from Fresno as his replacement. But that's not important, right now.

     Flanked by Flannery in the first box and Lansford on the left is one Roberto Conrado Kelly. Kelly is the Giant's first-base and baserunning coach. Before the '09 season, I caught this article on MLB.com:

Giants work on better baserunning

     Now, Kelly was one of my favorite Yankees when I was watching them during their miserable 1989-1992 doldrums. But after reading that article, and then watching the Giants scratch and scrape for wins this season with their casualty list of a roster, one can't help but wonder if Lansford was the only one they might have asked to clean out his desk. The Giants finished 10th in the NL in stolen bases. Their team leader, Randy Winn, had a whopping 16 steals. 16. Even now, as a Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson could still manage more than 16 steals.