Random Ray - 1995 Topps Embossed

This is a really hard card to put on a blog post and really appreciate.  It's a Topps Embossed card.  The card has texture and it is not quite the same without being able to touch the card.  All I can do is describe the card and hope that you get a chance to touch a 1995 Topps Embossed card at some point during your life.  Totally worth it.  

I think this set was supposed to be a modernized version of the 1965 Embossed insert cards. The 1965 version just had the players head on the card and they did not wear very well.  I have a few hanging around, none of them look very good.  

As much as I do not like picking on the 1960s Topps sets, it did not seem like a big challenge to improve upon the 1965 Embossed cards.  Maybe my Embossed cards are the only ones that look like this and I am horrible at handling cards.  The silhouette design is not exactly my favorite either.  

Here is the card.  

 

Ray Lankford is raised from the surface of the card.  The embossing is even layered, so his arm is higher than his torso, which is higher than the background of the card.  I love the picture of Ray Lankford in the gray Cardinals road uniform.  I say this once a month, but I miss the blue hats and batting helmets on the road.  Yes, they still wear them, just not very often.  The overall design is really simple and I like the concept behind the card.  This would be a good kid friendly set, if Topps was into that sort of thing.  

The TMB logo at the top is goofy.  

Yes, bring back this product.  

No, do not bring back the brand logo.  Just write Embossed in the corner.  We are cool.  

Back of the card.  

I like the layout with the picture, stats, and some interesting factoids about Ray Lankford.  What is going on with the background of the card?  It makes the facts hard to read and does not fit in with the front of the card at all.  Topps should have just gone with a solid dark color here to mark the yellow stat box and white writing on the facts pop.  

Is that a close up of a geode?  

Overall, I really love this card.  I wish that Topps had stuck with this product a little longer than one year.  Topps has revisited Topps 3D, this would be a fun one to try again.  I'd even be alright if the back looked like a geode again.