Monday, April 15, 2019

Buck Showalter's (almost) complete career Topps run

I have kind of gotten away from posting posts dedicated to individual players or managers on here, so I decided to post some custom cards I made of the first Arizona Diamondbacks manager, Buck Showalter. Buck was named the clubs manager in 1996, and could've got a card in the '96 set, but Topps didn't make manager cards again until the 2001 set. I’ve filled in the gaps, and have been able to give him a run of customs from 1994, when Topps ousted the Manager cards through the 2000 set, which was the last one Topps didn’t include managers in for a while. Throw in a 1992 Topps coach card, and I realize that I have a good number of Showalter customs.
Topps quit making manager cards in 2010 I believe, so Buck is missing a few cards since then, but I think these customs cover a good portion of Buck’s career. I will include his regular Topps cards, and label them in order to give you a full picture of his career, as well as label the customs I’ve made and point out missing cards.

1990 TOPPS TRADED Coach custom
(missing)

1991 TOPPS Coach custom

1992 TOPPS Manager
1992 Topps #201 Buck Showalter Front

1992 TOPPS Coach custom


1993 TOPPS Manager
1993 Topps - [Base] #510 - Buck Showalter, Jim Fregosi - Courtesy of COMC.com

1994 TOPPS Manager custom

1995 TOPPS Manager custom

1996 TOPPS Manager custom (Yankees)

1996 TOPPS Manager Custom (Diamondbacks)


1997 TOPPS Manager custom

1998 TOPPS Manager custom

1999 TOPPS Manager custom

2000 TOPPS Manager custom

2001 TOPPS Manager
2001 Topps #328 Buck Showalter Front

2003 TOPPS TRADED Manager
2003 Topps Traded & Rookies #T118 Buck Showalter Front

2004 TOPPS Manager
2004 Topps #295 Buck Showalter Front

2005 TOPPS Manager
2005 Topps #295 Buck Showalter Front

2006 TOPPS Manager
2006 Topps #594 Buck Showalter Front

2007 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2010 TOPPS TRADED Manager custom
(missing)

2011 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2012 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2013 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2014 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2015 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2016 TOPPS Manager custom

2017 TOPPS Manager custom

2018 TOPPS Manager custom

2019 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

There you have it, all of the Topps cards that currently exist, either in real or custom format, of Buck Showalter. He is just missing 1990 Topps Traded, 2007, 2010 Topps Traded, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Topps cards to complete his career Topps run. 8 cards is not bad for a guy who has been coaching or managing in the Major Leagues for just about every year from 1990-2018. Hopefully Buck gets back in the saddle sometime. He really deserves a good deal of the credit for the Yankee$ championship in 1996 and the Diamondbacks one in 2001. He got Baltimore into playoff contention, and is really a good manager. If $teinbrenner would've kept Buck one more year, we could be talking about Showalter going into the Hall of Fame, and Joe Torre would remind us more of Davey Lopes, a guy who had a decent career, but couldn't cut it as a manager. 

I have finished the 1968 Topps missing player checklist, and have made all of the templates for the set, so that officially leaves me with 5 more checklists before meeting my goal of having every missing player checklist from 1964-2001, along with 1951 and 1952. After those are done, I think I will get back to working on the 1993 Topps customs, and try to make templates for as many teams as I can for the sets I have missing player checklists finished on. Maybe sometime in the future, if it feels right, I may fill in the '53-'63 sets, but they will be on the back burner for now. If you feel like taking a stab at any of the '68 Topps set, give it a shot. All of the templates are there, and I have a link to a post on the sidebar on the basics on how to make a custom in MS Paint. 
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

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