2022 Tabloid Cover Derby Round 3.07 BABY HOLD ON! vs CATCH OF de YEAR!

[Benjamin Grimm]

Vote for the tabloid cover that you like the best. Voting will run for seven days.

BABY HOLD ON!
New York Daily News, June 21, 2022.
Winner of Round 1.13
Winner of Round 2.02



CATCH OF de YEAR!
New York Daily News, September 1, 2022.
Winner of Round 1.22

[kcmets]

After seven years of hotly contested TCDs, you would think the cover editors
would learn that taking up 1/6th of a cover with (in this case) an ugly tennis
blurb can potentially mean the difference between Stockholm and Secaucus.

(still went with the catch)

[bmfc1]

The picture of deGr*m adds nothing. That catch warranted a full cover which is what we see in "Baby".

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, BABY HOLD ON is clearly a stronger concept, but I went for the stronger photo.

Change my mind!

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Catch of de Year might be my Cover of de Year!

[A Boy Named Seo]

It should be CATCH but they did everything they could to obscure a wonderful photo by including the Jake inset, which I agree offers nothing, and sharing the back page real estate with Serena.

Imagine that cover expanded to the top of the page without the Wimbledon blurb, where you could actually see Nimmo’s airborn legs, and no smiley Jake photo? What coulda been.

[bmfc1]

Yeah, BABY HOLD ON is clearly a stronger concept, but I went for the stronger photo.

Change my mind!

It is the stronger photo and I like covers that are "of the moment" (the picture of Peterson could be from any game). Nevertheless, to protest the insert and the banner at the top I voted for "Baby Hold On" (yet another headline that matches a song title) which I acknowledge is tantamount to voting "present".

[batmagadanleadoff]

The deGromification of that "Catch" cover is really annoying. Unfortunately, that cover says to me that Nimmo wouldn't have made the same effort for any other Mets pitcher. BS. That cover also tries very hard to make deGrom the star of that play. More BS. An insert of deGrom? The pitcher always benefits from a great defensive play. Would you include an insert of reliever Don Liddle on a back page headline of Willie Mays' famous WS catch of VIc Wertz's Polo Grounds shot? How about a "No Liddle Feat" headline? The misplaced focus is on deGrom and that deGrom's pitching win is more important than the Mets' team win. I get the sense that what the DN really wanted to do was to have that deGrom pic as the main one and the Nimmo catch as an insert.

And the headline itself obscures Nimmo. Ugh.

Plus, Baby Hold On is some top notch word play. Ideally, by now, surviving covers should be both strong visually and have excellent copy.

[bmfc1]

I wish that I had the talent to do a "No Liddle Feat" fake cover.

[G-Fafif]

One gets the feeling the News was taking its cue from SNY's deGrom reaction shot, which served to enhance the significance of Nimmo's catch from really nice play to season-defining moment if you were watching that night, as I imagine some in the paper's sports department were as they considered the back page.

[batmagadanleadoff]

[bmfc1]

LOL. Well done!

[Edgy MD]

The irony is that the giant wall in center field at The Polo Grounds invites all sorts of room for an inset photo.

Not that it can't be cropped out.

[batmagadanleadoff]

One gets the feeling the News was taking its cue from SNY's deGrom reaction shot, which served to enhance the significance of Nimmo's catch from really nice play to season-defining moment if you were watching that night, as I imagine some in the paper's sports department were as they considered the back page.

Enhancing the moment is fine by me. But I think the News smothered Nimmo and the moment in excessive deGrominess. The "de" in the headline was bad enough. Nimmo made that sensational catch. Not deGrom. That headline was a dealbreaker for me. And then the deGeom insert.

But I didn't even mention the subheading. (Is that the right word -- "subheading"? Or maybe strapline?) Nimmo .. robs HR for Jake. Not for Nimmo's own glory. Or the team's. This was all for deGrom, is the vibe I'm getting from this back cover. It's all wrong.

[Fman99]

These are both excellent. But I'm voting for the Nimmo shot.

[Benjamin Grimm]