Infamous Billy Ripken Card Gets G-Rated Bobblehead By Rich Mueller

It was the baseball card that created a national stir—not that any of the newspapers that wrote about it could actually write what was written on the bottom of Billy Ripken’s bat 29 years ago.  The Fleer card that began emerging from those pinstriped gray wax packs in early 1989 included two words written in felt-tip marker.  One word was “Face” and the one above it wasn’t fit for publication.

Nearly 30 years later, the infamous card lives on and now, it’s getting its own bobblehead courtesy of the Hagerstown Suns.  The South Atlantic League team affiliated with the Washington Nationals will give a Ripken bobblehead to the first 1,000 fans through the game on Friday night, one that offers a sort of bleeped out version of the card.

Minor League Baseball is generally considered a family friendly enterprise so Ripken’s smiling visage won’t be complete with “F— Face” on the bottom of his bat.

A Maryland native, Ripken played minor league ball in Hagerstown in 1984 and part of ’85.