Turns out a cartoonist by the name of Dave Coulson and Topps trading cards were true contemporaries. Back in 1992, the duo teamed up to launch a children’s trading card series depicting major leaguers swollen from the waist up like some kind of steroid freaks. Out of 132 players, Barry Bonds (pictured right looking quite the norm), Rafael Palmeiro and Roger Clemens were included in the caricatures, leaving no doubt that Dave Coulson and Topps are either psychic, or the devil, which is synonymous to our mother.

Unfortunately, Jose Canseco wasn’t included in the transformation, nor was Mark McGuire. Rats. But Ozzie Smith was given the best of the bulk, which means someone should get a vile of that guy’s blood stat. There’s integrity left to restore in baseball and we can’t have Ozzie Smith strolling around thinking he got away with murder. Murder! Pictures of the cards after the jump.

Rafael Palmeiro looks a bit chunky, so he probably wasn’t working out throughout his entire cycle.

The yellow background is fitting for a coward like Roger, don’t ya think?

And then there’s Ozzie. Dude was totally roiding in this picture. The Hall of Fame board should conduct an investigation concerning his admission…just to be safe.

Topps pretty much predicted the steroid era in 1992 [Fan IQ]
Did Topp’s tip off steroid era? [Fox Sports]
Images [Topps/Fox Sports]