Look at this picture:
Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Lofton has taken a swing at the ball. Where did it go? Is it heading out to the outfield or down the line? Let's see if a wider view gives us better indication:
No, not really. I mean, here we have the catcher in the view but does it reveal anything? Well, the catcher has his hand still in the position to receive the ball. So, this shot was either taken at just the right moment, or Lofton is WAAAAY ahead of the pitch. The guy in the background isn't even paying attention to what's happening at the plate, so he is no help.
Let's view the whole picture that is being offered in the auction:
Ah, there it is... The ball is fouled off and hovering just above Lofton's head in the photo.
If the first, cropped image had been selected for a baseball card, we would have no idea as to the outcome or the situation of the photo. The second image would make a cool card, too, with the catcher in view. I see why the whole image was not put on a card, though...
Finding just the right moment in time is not the only thing that comes into play when selecting images for cards. The markup/assembly folks have to also look at what works when everything else is cropped out - or if ANYTHING can be cropped out. Of course, in this day and age of easy-to-do photo editing, I'm not sure it really matters all THAT much...
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