a tale of two crops

i like to think that topps gave some thought to the use of the teoscar hernandez photo on his 2024 topps update 1989 35th anniversary insert

hernandez pointing to the sky becomes him being acutely aware of the border in which he is trapped. of course, his left foot is cut off at the bottom, but it's less noticeable because of the card's design.

in that same release, topps gave us this card

that's cody bellinger's autumn tales insert, and it recounts his home run robbery of fernando tatis jr in the 2020 postseason. unfortunately, topps chose to crop the photo such that bellinger's glove is not fully visible even as he breaks the bonds of the interior border of the card.

just three years prior, topps gave us a card with the same photo in their 2021 topps big league release

that's the blue parallel, and while it is more tightly cropped than the 2024 update insert, we are still given the full view of bellinger and his glovework.

i think topps could have easily given us both the wider shot and the full photo by not centering bellinger's body horizontally on the 2024 card, instead moving it to the right and down a bit. so maybe they don't give thought to photos, borders, and crops after all.