The G.O.A.T.

What is a G.O.A.T?  I think it's a useless topic of conversation. The needle is always shifting and moving. The game--baseball in this instance--is evolving constantly. So you really cannot compared what Babe Ruth did to what Hank Aaron did to what Barry Bonds did to what Aaron Judge is doing. Players weren't built like Judge back then, and Ruth might not have known what to do with facing 3 different pitches a game all of whom unleash uncontrollably fast pitches. Even WAR, which is suppose to maybe level the playing field, doesn't really capture what players do across the generations. So I won't even go there with that useless "stat". 

But yet we (you, them) do it. I do not participate in G.O.A.Tish conversations. And this obviously extends into other sports and other parts of our lives. Is Shakespeare the G.P.O.A.T (Greatest Playwright of All Time)? Is Plath the G.P.O.A.T (Greatest Poet of All Time)? Was I the G.C.O.T.C.G.(I.S.G.)O.A.T (Greatest Captain Of the Crossing Guards (In Sixth Grade) Of All Time?) Well, actually, I was. I jumped from Sergeant to Captain and skipped Lieutenant--which was unheard of in 1985. 

But, I'm also kind of a hypocrite. And this might be recency bias because I stumbled on, quite by accident, the Greatest Comprehensive Airbrushing Job On A Topps Card Of All Time (G.C.A.J.O.A.T.C.O.A.T).

And there really can be no debate.

I'm mostly unfamiliar with 2003 Topps. The above is the "Gold" version, serial numbered to 2003. This card is therefore more rare--and thus should be more desirable than, for example--the 2026 Topps Gold Ohtani, SN'd to 2026. It's obvious why Topps is celebrating their 52nd year (1952). The card back features, disastrously, the card number at the bottom of the card. If you are a person that stores their cards in a box: good luck. Unless you store them upside down, you'll be searching for your cards for a long, long time. 

But this card. This Darrell Rasner card is EPIC. I mean, it is close-ish to the 1978 Topps Greg Minton card. But I think this is worse, i.e. better. What say you?

Thanks for stopping by!