2014 Topps Jim Leyland sunset card

It's been a while since I've shared any new customs, so I thought I would share my latest one.

Jim Leyland was a terrific manager, earning 1,769 Wins in 22 seasons, winning 3 pennants, and 1 World Series title. I feel like he should've beat the Cardinals in '06 and the Giants in '12, but what do I know? Topps stopped featuring managers in their base sets after 2009, so he wasn't able to get his sunset card in the '14 set. I corrected the mistake, and gave him the hero card number of 700. 
I think he has a chance at the Hall of Fame based on his championship with the Marlins, solid work with the Tigers, his 2017 WBC title, and for turning the Pirates into contenders in the early '90's. He really got screwed over by Bonds' throw in the 1992 NLCS, and by the long layoff between the '06 ALCS and World Series, and I hope voters consider that. With some of these managers like Lou Piniella and Bobby Cox coming up on the ballot who only won 1 World Series Title, but had many division winners, I think Leyland might have a chance to get in. We know Cox will get elected, and Piniella definitely has a shot, and then you will have someone to compare Leyland to and make voters see that he is up their with them.

I finished the 2012 Topps missing player checklist tonight, and started working on some 'blank' templates for the 2013 and 2014 sets. Here is one for 2013.

I just basically have to change the color of the sea turtle, and cut and paste the team logo to make it work for every team. I hope that when I finish all of the missing player checklists that I can also provide some templates for most of the sets. I know I have all of them done for every team in the 1986-2001 sets, and I have blank templates for the 1976, 1985, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2013, and 2014 sets. Another few can hopefully be covered with some templates I made that just need some color adjustments, a few like 1952, 1968, 1983, and 1984 are already done, 1957 is just a white border with writing, so that's covered, 1962 is just a wood border and writing, so it's covered, and another are covered by the Topps custom card maker on their website (2016, 2017, and 2018). That leaves not as many sets as you think left to make templates for. I may try to work on this for a little while once the checklists are complete. Check back if you are a custom card maker and you could use some basic 2.5 by 3.5 inch .png template files.
I think I will also try to list all of the sunset cards I have come across that will be custom cards. A few years I haven't listed them on the checklist, but I think I can go on bbref and look at the page of each year and the players who played their final season, and just match them up with my checklists. If they don't appear on it, they have a Topps sunset card. If they do appear on my checklist, then that means they need a custom sunset card for that year. I think it will be really cool to make my 'Sunset Card' page and it will allow you to look and see who got a sunset card in which Topps set, and also see the hoards of players that missed out and need a custom one. Plus, it will give me a ton of cards to work on.

It's going to be a fun end of the year and a fun 2020 here at Topps Cards that Never Were. Thanks for coming along for the ride and for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1994 Topps Traded Update Series #9 Tom Runnells

Tom Runnells played in MLB for 2 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds in 1985 and 1986. After his career, he spent the 1990 and 1991 seasons with the Montreal Expos as a coach, before becoming manager of the club midway through the 1991 season. He managed them through May 1992, before losing his job to Felipe Alou. After his time in Montreal, he managed in the minors for the Detroit Tigers organization in the minors. In Spring Training of 1995 while the major leaguers were on strike, Tigers manager Sparky Anderson quit managing, saying he wouldn't manage replacement players. Runnells was named Tigers manager, and managed them in the spring until the strike was settled in April and Anderson came back. Runnells came back to the Majors as a coach for the Colorado Rockies from 2009-2016.

Runnell's only Topps cards came in the 1991 Traded and 1992 main sets. He is missing cards from the 1993, and 2010-2017 Topps sets. This card covers his time as Tigers manager in '95.


I recently completed the 1987 Topps page and did some work on the 1988 Topps page.  Looking forward to working more on the '88 page and the 1983 set this week. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1994 Topps Traded Update Series #TU8 Chris Brown

Chris Brown played in the Majors from 1984-1989. He played with the San Francisco Giants from 1984 through mid-season 1987, and then was traded to the San Diego Padres in the Kevin Mitchell trade. He played with the Padres until the end of the '88 season, and finished his career with the Detroit Tigers in 1989. After his retirement, he signed as a replacement player for the Tigers during 1995 Spring Training while the '94-'95 strike was going on. He worked in Iraq after his baseball career, and passed away from injuries due to a house fire in 2006.

Chris's first Topps card came in the '85 Traded set. He got into the '86-'89 Topps sets, and missed out on a 1990 Topps card, as well as a card in my fantasy 1994 Topps Traded Update set to highlight his time as a replacement player. For those of you who don't know, the '94 Traded Update Series has the '94 Topps design, and is made as if it came out in 1995 and featured replacement players in anticipation of MLB playing the '95 season with them. I finished Brown's 1990 Topps card, so along with the '94 Traded Update card, Chris's career Topps run is finished. Here is the 1990 Topps Brown card.

I have been working on checklists and templates a bunch lately. I have all of the NL cards (besides highlight ones) done in the 1983 Topps set, and they are all posted on the FB Custom Card Page. I have done a few team checklists in the '98 Topps checklist, I have done a few templates/team checklists (with the help of Paul B.) on the '88 Topps set (I will post the page link soon), and I saved the best for last. I know everyone and their mom it seems loves the 1987 Topps set. Everyone remembers collecting it and it is famous for the wood grained borders. I worked on creating templates for the whole set, and posted the checklists for all of the coaches of the NL teams. Here is the link to the templates/checklist page. The templates are in .png form. The only thing I ask is if you are wanting to make cards off of the checklist for the set is that you use the templates I made and NOT the ones you can make from the Topps website. I made the templates from the actual '87 Topps cards, so the logos are exactly like the ones in the set, and the colors are the same as well. If you need the templates in .jpg forms or anything that can be created by using MS Paint and GIMP, I can e-mail them to you. I just hate how the custom Topps '87 cards made from their website look for some of the teams. I have coach templates made for them, and also have a file with a 'Future Stars' logo that can be cut and pasted onto templates as needed. I will keep adding cards to the checklist, so check back soon. 

Thanks for checking out my latest customs.

-Jeremy

1997 Topps #532 Bucky Buckles/Eric Dinyar/Roy Halladay Prospects

Today's card is a prospect card of 2 guys who should've made the Majors but got injured, and a guy who I think would've been a Hall of Famer if he wasn't injured and played maybe 4 more years.

Bucky Buckles is a guy in my Favorite Player Collection. I followed him in the minors, got his 1995 Topps card out of a pack that year, and besides having a cool name, he was a nice closer.
I actually saw Dinyar pitch a few times in 1996. I was 13, so I didn't pay attention to stats and players as close as I should have, but I went to enough Lakeland Tigers games that year that I'm sure I saw Dinyar pitch, and I probably have his autograph about 5 times between baseballs, a pennant, and random checklist/team cards (if I didn't have a card of a certain player when I first started getting autographs, I would have them sign a checklist card or a team leaders or team logo card).
Halladay is one of a select few players to throw 2 no-hitters in a season, and he is one of only 2 players to throw one in the playoffs. I saw the tail end of both of them. It's a shame that he didn't win a World Series with Philly, and although he was dominant, I don't think he will get voted in to the Hall because he was closer to 2000 K's than 3000. If he wasn't injured and played a couple more full seasons, I think he'd be a lock for the Hall. Maybe the voters will consider this and vote him in, because he was dominant for a 10-year stretch.

I've added some new names and a new template to the 2001 Topps Page, and did a ton of customs for the 1994 set today. Finished all of the season/postseason highlight cards, finished the All-Star cards, and did a few random ones as well. I think I'll probably work on some more '94 cards tomorrow and also try to add a team or two to the 1999 Topps Page. If things keep going at a steady pace, perhaps my goal of every player in the '90's getting a card will happen sometime in the next 5 years. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1996 Topps #534 Eric Dinyar/Bucky Buckles/Todd Revenig//Ryan Dempster

Today's card features 4 players, 3 of which put up great stats in the minors, and 1 who put up great stats in the Majors, and who could be seen pitching just a few weeks ago for team Canada in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Eric Dinyar appeared in the last post featuring a single card, and as mentioned there, in 1996 set a Lakeland Tigers record with 27 Saves. I got a few autographs of Eric on baseballs while seeing him pitch in Lakeland in '96.
Bucky Buckles has one of the greatest names ever, and had some decent seasons in the Minors for the Rangers organization. He had 18 and 16 Saves during his first 2 years in pro ball, The next 2 years, he didn't close, but did make it as far as AAA before getting hurt. He started back in rookie ball, and made it to AA before being released. I was fortunate enough to get an autographed cards of his online a few months ago. If anyone is interested, he does have a Twitter page.
Revenig made it to the Majors in 1992 with Oakland, and had some mind blowing stats in the minors. In 1990, he had a 0.81 ERA in 44.2 Innings, and in 1991 he had a 0.96 ERA in 47 Innings. In 1992 his ERA skyrocketed to 1.70 in 63.2 Innings, but he did have 33 Saves. He was injured in 1993, but came back and tried to make it back to the Majors 2 seperate times, but never did. He signed a card for me through the mail, and added an extra one for me in 2007.
Dempster pitched in the Majors from 1998-2013 with the Marlins, Reds, Cubs, Rangers, and Red Sox. He won the 2013 World Series with the Red Sox, and had career single-season highs of 17 Wins and 33 Saves. I got an autograph of him through the mail sometime between 2004 and 2011.
Topps could've made this card for us collectors in 1996 and give us a look at 4 guys who put up some great seasons, and who if not for injury, could've had a good shot at reaching the Majors.

I haven't really did much with customs lately, just because of commitments and work. Work has been hell the last 3 days, but I just got to get through tomorrow, and get everything baked as quick as I can, and then I get a nice day off and it won't be crazy for at least a week or two before the Mothers Day sale starts. I'll probably work on a few more 1994 customs tonight and maybe try to work a little more on the 1999 checklist. I'm also going to a Daytona Tortugas game in a week and hope to try to get a few autographs. If Brody Koerner is able to make the trip in a month or so (he's currently on the 7-day disabled list, don't know what for), then I'll probably try to see him play in Daytona as well.
Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

1995 Topps #700 Mike Myers/Scott Sullivan/Eric Dinyar/Danny Graves

Today's card features 4 players. 3 of them were valuable relievers in the Majors, and 1 of them was a great pitcher I saw play in the minors that had an injury cut his career short before he reached the Bigs.

Mike Myers pitched from 1995-2007 with a number of teams, and won a World Series title with the Boston Red Sox in 2004.
Scott Sullivan had a 3.98 ERA in 10 seasons in the Majors, mostly for the Cincinnati Reds. He went to Auburn University, and gets bonus points for doing so.
Eric Dinyar pitched in the minors for the Detroit Tigers from 1994-1997. In 1996, I saw him pitch a few times, and he set the Lakeland Tigers single-season record for Saves with 27. He was injured in 1997, and retired shortly after. He was elected to the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Hall of Fame in 2014.
Danny Graves played for 11 seasons in the Majors, making the All-Star team in 2000 and 2004 with the Cincinnati Reds. He finished his career with 182 Saves.

The next few cards coming up will be prospect and draft pick cards. Hopefully you will enjoy them. I have been working on finalizing all of the checklists that I have done by adding team photos that I could find, stadium cards, and notable draft picks that Topps missed. The 1989-1994 sets are done, as well as the 1996 set. I chose to make some customs tonight rather than doing the 1995 set, but I'll finish it soon enough. I think I will do the 2001 set and then just hold off with the '97-99 sets until all of the players are done for those. The 1999 set will be first (already have the Blue Jays and Rangers teams done), then 1998, 1997, and 2000. I'm hoping to finish a set or two by the end of the year and possibly more. Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

1995 Topps #583 Skeeter Barnes

I don't know how I missed it, but I skipped right over Skeeter Barnes and posted Buddy Bell's card a few posts ago. Now to fix the problem, here is Skeeter's 1995 Topps custom.

Skeeter came up to the Majors in 1983 with the Reds. He played with them in 1984 and the Expos in 1985. After spending 1986 in the minors, he got into 4 games with the Cardinals in 1987. He spent 1988 in the minors, and was back with the Reds in 1989. He spent 1990 in the minors, but in 1991, he was finally given a chance with the Detroit Tigers, and did well as a utility player. He played with them through 1994, and then retired. After his playing career, he spent many years as a coach and manager. I met him in 2003 when he was with the Orlando Rays and he signed a few cards for me.

Skeeter didn't get his first Topps card until 1991 when he appeared in the Traded set. He got into the 1992-1994 regular sets, and that was it. He only recieved 1 sunset card, a 1995 Pacific issue. Barnes is missing 1984-1986, 1988, and 1990 Topps cards to complete his career Topps run.

I'm hoping to get a chance to work on some checklists and templates when I get home from work tonight. The 1998 set is almost done, 8 more teams to go. 1994 has about 12 left, and then I just have the 1995 set left and a few touch ups on the 1997 set, and the templates for the '89-'01 sets will be finished. The checklists for the 1989-1991, as well as the 2001 sets are finalized and I will probably work on the checklist cards for the 1991 and 2001 sets too.
Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

1996 Topps Lou Whitaker

I kind of got to know Lou Whitaker while living in Lakeland, Florida in the '90's. I saw him play a few times in Spring Training during his career, and in 1998, I was being home-schooled and had just bought a box of '95 Topps from K-Mart I believe. 

Every 2nd Thursday, my mom would drive me to Orlando for a science class that was taught by one of the heads of the home-school organization we had to register with in order to have our records considered legit. Looking back, I would never want to home-school my kid (my first is due in late-November!). Home-schooling robbed me of socialization, my schoolwork was never policed too heavily and I think my mom just gave me A's in some subjects so I could pass. The science class I went to did help fill in some gaps though. 

Before we left for the class one day, we stopped at a gas station and I got a Surge and a bag of chips. While waiting in line, a gentleman was talking with another person about Alan Trammell like he knew him. I asked how he knew Mr. Trammell and he responded that he played 2nd Base next to him for 2 decades, and I was like "You're Lou Whitaker!!!"  I would always take one of my binders on trips that would be an hour or more, and I happened to bring my '95 Topps binder which had 2 Whitaker cards in it (base version and Cyberstats parallel). I told Lou I had 2 of his cards in the car and asked if he would autograph them. He told me he had a new sharpie in his office and to give him our address and he would come back and sign them. 6 hours later, he showed up at my door with the sharpie and a few copies of 'The Watchtower' (he is a Jehovah's Witness). He signed my cards and took a picture with me. 

He came back to my door a few other times with Jehovah's Witness stuff, and one of the last times I went to a Spring Training game in Lakeland (2010 I think), he recognized me from back then. He kind of got a bad/strange rap from the in-person/ttm autograph community, but I always thought he was ok from my experience with him.
Topps' last Whitaker card was the '95 card. His 1996 card is the only one missing to give him a complete Topps run from the '78 set to the '96 set (Lou played from 1977-1995).
I'm hoping to try to print out some customs in the next week so maybe next Saturday I will post about how that went. Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

1993 Topps Dave Bergman

Dave Bergman spent most of his career with the Detroit Tigers. He came to them in the middle of their 1984 World Championship season, and stayed with them till his final season in 1992. I had the opportunity to meet him a few times during the Tigers fantasy camp in Lakeland Florida through the years. He was a nice person, and I got many cards signed by him. Unfortunately, I found out he passed away recently.

He appeared in most Topps sets throughout his career. His last Topps card came in the 1992 set, and he missed getting a sunset card. Here is his final card. 

Now that I have a new laptop I'll probably be making cards more frequently, and I hope to try out some new regular types of posts. Perhaps not a certain day of the week, but more every so often, and once I get enough, I'll probably make a link on the sidebar. Some ideas include Favorite Players, which is self-explanatory, All Their Missing Cards where I will fill in all of a players missing Topps cards, Missing Managers where I will do a manager card from the Topps sets missing managers (1994-2000 and 2010 to the present). I might come up with a few more but hopefully these will be enough to get something going. I have my 3rd softball game of the season tonight, so maybe next time I post, I'll update everyone on how I'm doing. Thanks for checking out my blog.
-Jeremy 

Fun with Guillermo Hernandez!

I decided to make 2 'sunset cards' for Guillermo Hernandez. Most Detroit Tiger fans know that Guillermo's last year was 1989 and that he didn't get a card in the 1990 Topps set. So I created his 1990 Topps card. Few people (including myself until a few weeks ago) knew that Hernandez was a replacement player for the New York Yankees in 1995 during Spring Training while the regular players were on strike. An arbitrator ruled the strike over shortly after Spring Training ended, so Hernandez and over 700 other players never got to play that year or appear in any card sets. Since no sets were made featuring replacement players, I decided to make a 1994 Topps Traded card of Guillermo, since his replacement player appearance marked the official last time he put on a Big League uniform. I figured that since Topps already put the 1995 Series 1 set out before Spring Training (I believe in either January or February of 1995), that I would put replacement players in a 2nd series of 1994 Topps Traded cards, as if the set had been released shortly after the replacement players signed (I'd guess January 1995-late February 1995). So imagine that the '94 Topps Traded (Update Series?) was released in early March of 1995 (instead of Topps having to issue '95 Series 2 in March, just a few weeks after Series 1 came out), and that all the replacement players got cards, and this is what you would get.
I decided that I'm not going to make anymore backs to the cards, unless someone really wants them. It just saves me time, and makes the cards alot easier to make. Hope you enjoyed these 2 cards, and thanks for checking out my blog.
-Jeremy

2005 Bowman Kelly Hunt

I first heard about Kelly Hunt 10 years ago. I lived in Lakeland, FL, and Kelly played First Base for my hometown Lakeland Tigers. Kelly had a great year, ranking among the league leaders in HRs, 2Bs, and RBIs. During the season, I got to know Kelly, and found that we had a few things in common, including our Christian faith, taste in books, and music. After the last game of the season, Kelly gave me his bat, and we kept in touch for a few years. Kelly never made it to the Majors, but I think he deserved a card in 2005. If a few injuries would've happened in 2006, I think Kelly would've realistically been in Detroit. He tore up AA that year. Unfortunately, Kelly never got a Bowman card, so here is my version of his 2005 card.

I might make a few more cards that aren't in the 'Dick Pole Project', but rest assured, I will get back to the project shortly. Thanks for checking out today's card.
-Jeremy

1997 Topps Alan Trammell

I've been away from this blog for awhile, but I'm back, and just in time to finish the 2nd series. This card is interesting for a few reasons. First, it would've been the final Topps card of Alan Trammell. I also did a custom 1978 Topps rookie card of Alan, featuring him, Paul Molitor, Ozzie Smith, and Eddie Murray. So this card marks the first time in my set that I have done a custom rookie and final Topps card of a player. The only other player so far to get 2 cards in Nolan Ryan (a 1967 Topps rookie with Tom Seaver, and a 1994 Topps Season Highlights card highlighting the fight he had with Robin Ventura during his final season).
The 2nd reason this card is interesting is that card #25 (the last card in Series 1) was also from 1997 Topps, a 1997 Topps Alejandro Pena sunset card.
The final thing that makes this card interesting is that it is card #7. After Mickey Mantle died in 1995, Topps chose to make a Mantle card as #7 in the 1996 Topps set. After 1996, Topps chose to retire card #7 in honor of Mantle, so most of the Topps sets in the next 20 years would not feature a card #7. I had forgot about this until the other day, and decided that since I am completing Topps sets and had planned to fillin any holes number-wise, that I should fill in the missing #7 cards in the Topps sets that had them. This 1997 Topps Alan Trammell will be the first.

It's truly a shame that Trammell didn't get a final Topps card in the 1997 set. Most of the other sets that year (Fleer, Collector's Choice, Score, Pinnacle, and Upper Deck) gave him one, but not Topps. As I did the research for this card, I thought I would be swung towards the side of him being worthy of the Hall of Fame, but I am still unsure. He missed probably 20 games per season, and only had 1 or 2 spectacular seasons, and missed almost all of 1992 due to injury. I think he would've put up maybe a full season or 2 of decent stats with all the time he missed, and that would've got him closer to 3,000 hits (maybe 200-300 hits shy), but he really didn't have the power or speed that I assumed he had, and after typing in his Batting Averages, I would've guessed that his career totals would've been closer to .260-.270, not .280. I guess he was consistant for his era, but I think that he belongs in the Hall of Very, Very Good (the best you can be without getting into the Hall), not the Hall of Fame, and I am sad to state that, being a huge Detroit Tiger fan.

Series 3 starts off next with a 1999 Topps sunset card of Denny Martinez. I have put a link to the checklist of cards I plan on making in the future on the right hand side of the blog, and have also put some of my favorite blogs on the right as well. Check them out, there are some great custom makers out there, and as always, feel free to leave comments, suggestions, and ideas in the comment section. Thanks for reading.
-Jeremy

1994 Topps Sparky Anderson

1993 was the last year Topps included Manager cards in their sets until 2001. I think we missed out on a bunch of cool cards during that period. We missed a 1995 Topps card of Felipe Alou (manager of the great 1994 Montreal Expos team, we missed a 1996 Bobby Cox card (manager of the 1995 World Series winning Atlanta Braves), and we missed out on manager cards of the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays during their first seasons (I fixed half of that mistake with a 1998 Topps Buck Showalter custom that I made a few weeks ago).

I decided to try to make a 1994 Topps card of Sparky Anderson. I made the front basically the same as a normal card, but messed around a little on the back so it didn't have a picture and had more room for stats. I like how it turned out. I will be doing more manager cards in the future, and if you have any ideas for manager cards (or anything else), feel free to leave me a comment and let me know. Thanks for checking out my blog.

-Jeremy

1991 Topps Cecil Fielder Highlights

Cecil Fielder is one of my all-time favorite Detroit Tigers. When I really started following baseball in 1992 or so, Cecil was one of the most popular players in a game, coming off his 3rd straight season of leading the American League in RBIs. I saw him play a few times in Spring Training over the years, and in 2010 at Rob Ducey's

Pro Free Agent Showcase , I finally got to meet Mr. Fielder in person (he was a coach at the showcase). The whole concept of a free agent showcase was innovative, and as an autograph collector back then, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some signatures, and possibly meet one of my favorite Tigers. I contacted Mr. Ducey (himself a former Big-Leaguer) through the e-mail provided on the website, and asked him if it would be ok to attend and watch the tryouts. He replied promptly and said it was fine. I went to the tryout camp, and got many autographs, but still hadn't met Cecil. They had a break for lunch, and after the players got their fill, Mr. Ducey went up to me and asked if I would like some lunch. I said 'sure', and got some BBQ, and watched the rest of the tryout. At the end, Cecil came into the stands and was talking with a few scouts. I waited for him to get done talking, but he motioned for me to come over, and he happily signed a few cards and shook my hand. It was a great day for me as a baseball fan. I wish I would've made this card back then. I would've loved to show it to Big Daddy.

In 1991, Topps had a few subsets (All-Stars, Draft Picks, Future Stars, and Record Breakers), but no Season Highlight cards. Donruss produced a highlight card of Cecil in their Highlights insert set, and Score had a highlight card as well, but no highlight card for Topps. I used Topps' Future Stars template for this one, and think it turned out ok, and looks pretty close to what Topps may have done if they had made a highlights subset in 1991.

1978 Topps Rookie Infielders

If things play out like I think they will in the Hall of Fame voting in the next year, this card would've been the rookie card of 4 Hall of Famers. Topps made a seperate card for Eddie Murray in the 1978 set, and didn't include Ozzie Smith (his rookie would appear in 1979. I found an awesome blog called KOD14 in my search for photos, and though there's not much information about it, I believe I got the basic idea of the blog. The blog's writer and a few other people participated in a computer-based simulation using real MLB teams from various years. For every team, they took the rosters, and made Topps cards for the players who Topps left off (kind of like I am trying to do with my 1992 Topps set on my other blog). Being an Out of the Park Baseball fan, I really like the concept of the blog, and it almost looks like they are using OOTP. Well, one of the teams was the 1978 San Diego Padres, so the writer made a regular 1978 Topps card of Ozzie Smith. I looked at the writer's other blogs on his profile, and it looks like the group did a few more seasons and made more cards as well. I might have to contact them and see if I can get in on it. Back to this card, I wish Topps would've had the forsight to put Murray and Smith on this card. It would've been one of the most popular cards of that decade.