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1985 Topps Record Breaker: Dwight Gooden (Giant Gum Stick)

1985 Topps Record Breaker: Dwight Gooden (Giant Gum Stick)

Regular price $975.00
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Original baseball card art

Dwight Gooden debuted in April of '84... at the young age of 19. He would finish the season with a record-breaking 246 strikeouts. That spring, adoring Mets fans began calling him Dr. K, which turned into "Doc" for short. By mid-summer, Gooden became the youngest player to appear in an All-Star game... and in the fall he was named Rookie of the Year.

While Topps regularly issued Record Breaker cards throughout the junk wax era, I've always found the yellow starburst graphic on the '85 Topps to be the most iconic.


More about my giant sticks of Topps Chewing Gum

The last card inside a junk era wax pack would often get stuck to, or stained by, the piece of gum inside. My childhood memories of chewing hard sticks of bubble gum became the inspiration for making these large scale gum sticks. My gum sticks are typically tilted by 9 degrees, as a nod to the starting 9 on the diamond. 

  • My gum stick paintings are done on plywood as homage to the game's wooden bats. I hand bevel the wood with a router to create the proper shape, which also captures highlights on the edges and supplies nice drop shadows on the wall.
  • The sticks are painted with my own multi-layer technique, making them look realistic.
  • Each gum stick measures 12" x 36" and is designed to hang on a rotated angle of 9 degrees. This represents how the gum is typically positioned imperfectly inside the package.
  • Each painting ships ready to hang, with hardware already installed.
  • A printed and signed description of the artwork will be attached to the back prior to shipping.
  • All pieces are original artwork by yours truly, Matthew Lee Rosen.