Red Sox Fan/Artist Digs Topps Gig

Content Originally Posted by sports Collectors Daily on March 25th, 2009.

Topps has gone artsy again this year with its sketch cards insert set.

One of the creators of the player renditions found inside packs is Brian Fox of Somerset, Massachusetts--a die-hard Red Sox fan known in large part for his sports art.

Fox is one of several artists hired to create cards for the baseball card maker, which has them packed in Series One. He and other artists chosen for the project got to pick 50 subjects.

Topps introduced sketch cards with some of its entertainment products. They made their baseball debut in last year's Updates & Highlights set.

Fox told the Boston Globe that he picked all the Red Sox on the list of players that Topps gave him to choose from.

"I did Mike Lowell, Dustin Pedroia, a few of Big Papi, David Ortiz . . . Josh Beckett (above), Jacoby Ellsbury."

He wasn't too bitter to create a Manny Ramirez card showing the former Bosox enigma in his Dodgers' uniform.

Fox said he found the 2x3" cards fun to work on but tough to make.

"They're really, really small, so I had to use a magnifying glass and jeweler's glasses. I looked like a wacko with all that head gear," he told the newspaper. Fox is no stranger to Red Sox art. He's donated paintings to charity auctions run by both Beckett and the newly retired Curt Schilling.