The Billy Ripken Card

aaron cohen — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:14:32 +0000

You know exactly what I'm talking about and you can't believe it's been 20 years also. You remember it like you remember the The Griffey Card, they came out at about the same time. You remember what a big deal swears were, especially the F word.

That's right, the Billy Ripken 'error' card with Fuck Face written on the bat handle is 20 years old. Darren Rovell from CNBC got Ripken to talk about it:

When people recognize me, I see the look on their face. They think of the card immediately and, before they even ask, I say, 'Yeah, it was me.' I don't know if it happens daily, but, to this day, it still happens a couple of times a week.

I remember being shocked that a famous person, Cal Ripken's BROTHER!, would swear on a baseball card like that. And his dad was the MANAGER! Not only did he have to have Thanksgiving with his dad, but he had to work for him everyday and his dad would know he swore! I was equally gleeful at looking at my brother's 1972 Topps Billy Martin card with his middle finger extended down the barrel of the bat. (I would likely be equally scandalized by Frank Thomas' 1994 Upper Deck card if only I was 6 years younger).

Here are some different versions of the Ripken card. My brother (older and the superior collector, obviously) had the original with the swear clearly visible, while I happened upon the blurred out white writing one at some point.

(Via Baseball Musings)

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Unlikely Words » swearing

The Billy Ripken Card