A sports card photographer asked Topps to adjust the crop of his image of basketball star JuJu Watkins, as it altered his artistic vision. In a big win for creatives, the company agreed and made the change.
Los Angeles-based sports photographer Brian Rothmuller had his images of sports stars appear on roughly 5,000 cards by the three major collectible trading card companies in the U.S. — which includes Topps.
However, Rothmuller, a lifelong card collector himself, noticed that something was off in his image of JuJu Watkins, American college basketball player for the USC Trojans, on Topps’ card for the sports superstar.
According to a report by collectible news outlet cllct, Rothmuller, who works as a photographer for Icon Sportswire, took the image of Watkins following the USC women’s basketball team’s huge victory over crosstown rival UCLA on March 1.
In Rothmuller’s original photo, Watkins is seen signaling the school’s “Fight On” gesture to the crowd while heading to the locker room.
However, the Topps trading card cropped the image, cutting off part of Watkins’ hand and wrist, altering the essence of the photograph.
Great shout — it’s a beautiful photo, and we updated the card to make sure it captures your vision.
DM us your address, we’d love to send you a couple copies as a thank you! ❤️ https://t.co/zMGoWfjxKX pic.twitter.com/K5COxVWaPq
— Topps (@Topps) March 6, 2025
So, in a rare act, Rothmuller decided to reach out to Topps on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) and ask them to fix the crop on Watkin’s card. The photographer’s tweet went viral.
“I am always very honored when my photos get chosen for cards, but sometimes the crop of the photo takes away from my vision of the photo,” Rothmuller writes on X in a post to the card manufacturer. “Like in this instance of JuJu Watkins, @Topps can you kindly fix the crop of her hand being cut off.”
Rothmuller’s tweet about the spirit of his original image of Watkins amassed over 117,000 views on the social media platform. And within a few days, Topps responded to Rothmuller on X.
Topps heartily agreed with the photographer and offered a new design for Watkin’s card that matched his original composition and vision. The company also offered to send Rothmuller copies of the new card.
‘A Win for Creatives’
In an interview with cllct, Rothmuller says his “heart sunk” when he saw his image of Watkins had been cropped on Topps card.
Because Watkins is a potential generational talent, Rothmuller felt that her portrait on a collectible card carries significance and weight. The poorly cropped version of the photo didn’t have the same impact and meaning.
“It’s [The photo composition is] hugely important. I mean, especially for an image of a potential generational-type player like JuJu — if it was just an ordinary no-name or even a small star it wouldn’t mean as much,” Rothmuller tells cllct.
“People will look back and see that image, and they’ll see it how I took it versus just seeing a hand cut off and maybe thinking it’s not that great of a card.”
The photographer says he expected his request to Topps to be futile but hoped the company would understand his creative vision.
“I was floored that they actually did it, it makes them look good,” Rothmuller tells the publication. “A lot of other creative people reached out to me saying it’s a win for the creatives of the world.”
Image credits: Header photos via Topps.
