Frequent CSTB contributor David Roth broke thru to the rarified strata of Slate earlier this week, revealing that his former employer, Topps Inc. was not “a gum-scented, Willy Wonkafied dream palace.” But apparently, the gig had its moments.
My favorite was a card for the St. Louis Rams’ Harvard-educated backup quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick. The back text dealt with a question posed to him by his offensive line. Figuring that perhaps he’d covered this in Cambridge, they asked Fitzpatrick what would hurt more: getting kicked by a donkey or whipped in the face by an elephant’s trunk. Fitzpatrick went with the elephant slap. Bruce provided a source, and I checked it. All true.
Still not as cool as being an approved deadspin commenter, but I’m pleased you mentioned it. I should also mention this: I got an email from Ryan Fitzpatrick. Correcting his comment. I’ll quote from his email, which he did not give me license to do but he seemed like a nice enough guy, so:
“i just wanted to let you know that my response about the age old
elephant and donkey debate was that the donkey kick would hurt far
worse not the hit from the trunk of an elephant.”
Well, yeah, obviously. And the last bits of Topps’, and my, dwindling credibility circle the drain. Slate, I think, comes out fairly okay from this whole thing, except for the whole publishing me bit.
David…Nice gig set up. Don’t know if you caught the Primer thread.
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/slate_the_secret_lives_of_baseball_card_writers/
Thanks for the link, man. I responded to the comments, with my characteristic lack of pith and overlength.
They should have asked about the pain level of playing behind the Rams o-line.