It may shock you. It might even… horrify you. This is a full-page advertisement from the inside cover of the December 1969 issue of Baseball Digest.
Let’s break it down.
THE GOOD:
It uses Standard. You remember Standard from such roles as the base typeface for Helvetica or possibly what the New York Subway system used before they switched to Helvetica.
Classic wasteful three-ink process for shadowed background. You only saw this in the late ’60s-early ’70s.
THE BAD:
A different, non-Standard sans serif for the text.
Three different leading sizes, none of which look right. The top head is okay. The subhead is smushed together. And the text is too far apart.
Head runs into the kangaroo line art on one side, text runs into it on the other.
“strongest, most abrasive resistant leather known.” It’s an abrasive leather? I suppose that would be helpful if you’re a pitcher who likes to cheat.
Full justification without paragraph leading. This not only makes the last graf look wrong, it puts two differently-kerned versions of “MacGregor” on successive lines!
DIFFERENT BASELINES FOR FOR THE TWO COLUMNS!
“…why so many pro’s choose…” So this was a problem 40 years ago. Good to know. YOU GOT IT RIGHT IN THE PREVIOUS SENTENCE, COPYWRITER!
This last one isn’t a huge deal, but in an international magazine, why are you giving cross-streets as your address? Shouldn’t you put the actual address? Or could you still be that vague with the 1969 United States Postal Service?
I love this age of design and type. I had no idea things could look so awful at the same time.
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