NEW YORK — As President Bush smiled and waved from the stands and Mickey Mantle looked on from the dugout, Derek Jeter swung his bat. Talk about pressure.
The game never happened, of course. It was just someone's idea of a visual gag — pulled off in a recent Topps baseball card through digital manipulation.
"We saw it in the final proof, and we could have axed it," Topps spokesman Clay Luraschi told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "But we decided to let it run, we wanted to print it. We thought it was hilarious."
The card will be changed when Topps issues a complete set at midseason, Luraschi said.
Jeter said he had not seen the card.
"I don't know anything about it," the All-Star shortstop said after New York's workout Tuesday in Tampa, Fla. "I can't tell you anything."
Luraschi did not identify the person at Topps who made the alteration on Jeter's card, No. 40 in the set. Luraschi said that fixing it before it was released would have caused shipping delays.
It's not the first card to have silly errors or odd prints, said T.S. O'Connell, the editor of Sports Collector's Digest.
"For collectors, there's a real giggle factor for something like this," he told the Daily News.
The Daily News put the story on its front page Tuesday and Newsday also reported it.
The Jeter card could join other famed oddball cards, like the 1969 Topps of Aurelio Rodriguez. That card featured a photo of a bat boy instead of the infielder.
Another collector said the joke would raise the price of the card, which currently goes for $2 on eBay.
MARLINS UNHAPPY WITH GIRARDI: Florida Marlins officials were unhappy to hear that their manager last year, Joe Girardi, gave rival pitcher Jon Lieber helpful tips during the season.
Lieber said his season with the Philadelphia Phillies turned around shortly after he was roughed up by the Marlins last July 31, and he credits a phone call from Girardi, a former major league catcher. They played together with the Chicago Cubs from 2000-02.
"He just mentioned that the hitters said everything that was coming in was just very flat," Lieber told the Philadelphia Daily News. "I wasn't on top of the ball like I should have been."
Both teams contended for the NL wild-card berth, and Lieber beat the Marlins twice in September.
HONUS WAGNER CARD SELLS: The "Mona Lisa" of baseball memorabilia, an almost mint condition 1909 Honus Wagner tobacco card, arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday in the company of an armed guard but without its new owner, a mysterious Southern California collector who shelled out most of a record $2.35 million for it.
TWINS, CRAIN STRIKE DEAL: The Minnesota Twins and reliever Jesse Crain agreed to a three-year contract Tuesday.
The 25-year-old Crain went 4-5 with a 3.52 ERA in 68 games last season, finishing strong to help the Twins rally for their fourth AL Central title in five seasons.
In his final 22 appearances, the right-hander was 2-0 with a 0.38 ERA and allowed just 14 hits.