The final Pole custom

When I first started this blog, I decided to make all of Dick Pole's cards. I knew little about the guy, just that he had a funny name and I wanted to attract traffic to my blog and figured that Pole would do the trick. It didn't really work, but I did learn a lot about Mr. Pole and how he became a sucessful coach with the Chicago Cubs and how he turned Greg Maddux into an elite pitcher with his coaching.
Well, I had thought I finished all of Dick's cards, but when I came to the 2004 Topps checklist, I realized that he was a coach in the 2003 All-Star game, and he never got a card. I corrected that and placed his name in the checklist, and I took about an hour and made the card.

I used about 5 different All-Star cards to get the magazine in the background right. I mainly used Carlos Delgado's card, and then others to get all of the letters in Sporting News and the players in the background. A classy card to cap off Dick's career Topps run.

I was supposed to be getting a package of cards from COMC today, but I don't know where the heck it is. The USPS website said it is in Atlanta after 3-4 days of being in Texas, then later today it won't connect to the site because it can't connect to a server. COMC's site said it left a shipping center in Orlando at like 12 AM today. Last time I checked, it said the delivery date was unknown. Before that, it was today. I'll give the post office a break since it is busy this time of year.
I stopped at the post office today to mail out some card packages. John from Johnny's Trading Spot, Lee from Dodger Cardboard, and Chris from FanofReds should be getting cards from me soon. Also, Mr. Haverkamp, I have a stack of cards set aside for you and I need your address. Collecting Cutch had also commented on wanting to trade, and I have looked for some Pirates/PC guys, and have a stack ready to ship out, so if you want to e-mail me where to send it, I will get those ones out soon. It may be another batch of 3 packages, becuase I need to look for some Black Gold cards for Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown, and I will probably have a chance to do that in the next 24-36 hours.

The 2018 Topps Missing Player checklist is up (including the Traded set too), and the last main set, 2019, is sitting on the Phillies, with the Pirates on deck and the Cardinals in the hole. I should knock that out in the next 2 days as well. Might do a post on that one.

A quick thing before I go, I think this music thing may get it's first shot tomorrow night. Joe, our band leader at church is going to come over tomorrow night and look over some songs I wrote. I have 5 or 10 songs that might have potential to be recorded, and I want to get them perfect before I show them to him. They are all typed out with the chords and lyrics. I may reprint 1 or 2 in different keys and 1 had an alternate chord structure in the verse, so I might reprint that one as well. I have them organized in (I hope) the order of the best ones first. I really hope this works and I can make decent recordings of the songs. I might record what we do tomorrow. I just really hope this gets the ball rolling and that Joe gets as passionate about these songs as I am. He is a great guitarist and can sing pretty well, and if I can get him to play some lead guitar parts, sing, and perhaps drums on recordings, that is a good start to play in the DeLand original music festival next April. All you need is a CD, and I'm assuming an entry fee. By then, I think I will have found a drummer, and Bill, the electric guitarist at church, would be happy to come along and play either bass or electric if we played live. I might sing one or two songs, but my main thing will be doing my thing on the piano/keyboards. I play so much better when I don't sing, and I have specific piano parts I have written in each song that I want to be heard, so if I can just get a vocalist, I think we might just be able to make a CD at least.
I need to be to work in 6 hours, so I am signing off. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day.
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

The Pole Project is complete!

I finished up a few cards today, and have officially completed the Dick Pole Project, an effort to give Dick Pole a Topps card for every year he played or coached in MLB. Below are all of his Topps card, ones made by Topps, other bloggers, and myself and a short bio about each card.

1974 Topps- Pole's rookie card made by Topps shows him with 3 other pitchers. It's kind of funny because Mark Littell, to the left of Pole, invented a device called the "Nutty Buddy", a cup-like device designed to protect a pitchers' 'pole' from injury. 

1975 Topps- Pole's first solo card was also made by Topps, and features a facsimile autograph on it.

1976 Topps- This original Topps card came out the year after Red Sox won the AL Championship and lost to the Reds in the World Series.  Pole pitched in Game 5, walking 2 batters. It also had stats for the '75 season on the back, which was the year that he was struck by a line drive, giving him a broken jaw and damage to the retina in his right eye. 

1977 Topps-This original Topps card shows Pole's 1976 stats, which was his last season with the Red Sox. On the front, he is pictured with the Mariners, who selected him in the expansion draft after the '76 season. I kind of wish Topps would've made a '77 card of him in a Red Sox uni and made a Traded set with the Mariners photo, but since Topps put the Mariner card in the regular set and there was no Traded set, I didn't see a need to make a Sox card. I've seen a few customs of Pole's '77 card with another Mariner photo of him online as well. 

1978 Topps- This was the last Pole card Topps made. Pole's last season in the Majors was 1978, and Topps didn't give him the '79 sunset card. 

1979 Topps- My first custom of Pole, this would've been his final card as a player. I didn't think I would find a Mariner photo of Pole, but this one popped up on a search. About a year ago, I decided to only do customs of cards from 1989 Topps to the present, but I made a few exceptions for the Pole Project. 

1988 Topps Traded- This would've been Pole's first coach card. The '88 Topps set is alot easier to work with using GIMP, and I think I got the fonts pretty close, and I'm like how the card turned out.

1989 Topps- Pole's first regular-issue Topps coach card, I made this one mainly in GIMP as well. It features an older photo of Pole since Cubs photos from Pole's first tenure with them are difficult to find, but since the team logo hasn't changed much in 100+ years, I'm not too concerned with it. 

1990 Topps- I made this card using the same photo as the '88 Traded card. It's actually from a coach card, and I had to change the logo on the cap. This card would've featured bio about Pole and the Cubs from the 1989 season where they won the NL East and faced the Giants in the NLCS. 

1991 Topps- I made this card pretty similar to the manager cards in the '91 Topps set, and I like how it turned out. I wish I would've decided to use the regular Topps logos in early custom cards like this that I've made, but other than that, a nice card of Pole.

1992 Topps- I made this card as part of my attempt to complete the 1992 Topps set by making 1992 Topps customs for all players/coaches/managers that Topps left off of the '92 set. I've made fronts for all subjects who appeared in a game in '91, and the total number of cards in the '92 Topps set increased from 792 to 1468. I am making backs for the cards in numerical order, and am up to card #1020. Pole's card is towards the end of the set, but I made his back already. 

1993 Topps Traded- Dick was either a coach in the minors or out of baseball in 1992. He came to the Giants for the 1993 season, but Topps didn't make coach cards in 1993, so he was left off of the '93 Traded set, so I created this card. 

1994 Topps- I used the same photo for the '93 Traded card to make his '94 Topps card. The back highlights the 1993 season where Pole coached 2 20-game winners and the Giants won 100 games but still missed the Playoffs due to a dominant Braves team and mixed up divisions. 

1995 Topps- For this 1995 Topps custom, I used the '95 All-Star design, and love how it turned out. Pole's Giants missed out on the Playoffs in 1994, as did every team in MLB. The NL West was a pretty lousy division that year, but with Matt Williams challenging the HR record and Bonds in the lineup, it's hard to imagine the Giants not making the Postseason in '94. 

1996 Topps- I used the '96 prospects design for this custom, putting 4 Giants coaches on a card. 

1997 Topps- The only difference between this custom I made and a regular player card in the '97 set is the color bar with the coach designation on it. It's simple changes like this that Topps could've made in order to put coaches and managers in all of their sets. 

1998 Topps- This was Dick's last card with the Giants. Pole would head to Boston for the '98 season. I used a regular '98 Topps design in this custom, but instead of having the team name at the color bar in the bottom, I added the coach designation. 

 1998 Topps Traded- Topps didn't have a Traded set in '98, so I made this custom of him to give collectors what would've been Pole's first Red Sox coach card.

1999 Topps- In 1998 Dick coached the Red Sox, and got to coach Pedro Martinez in his first season with the team. Topps didn't have coaches or managers in their '99 set, so I made this custom.

1999 Topps Traded- Pole went to the Angels for the '99 season. I added a little rectangle to the top of the bar on this custom and used it to list Pole as a coach. 

2000 Topps- This would've been Pole's only regular Topps issue as an Angel. This custom is basically the same as a 2000 Topps card with Pitching Coach listed as Pole's position.

2000 Topps Traded- Dick went to the Indians in 2000, and although Topps had a Traded set in 2000, they didn't include coaches or managers, so I made this custom of Pole for the set.

2001 Topps- In the 2001 Topps set, they finally brought back managers, but didn't have coaches. I made this one using the manager design in the '01 set. 

2002 Topps- Probably one of the hardest set to make customs of, I did a lot of detailed work to make this card, using the letters from the word 'manager' on a manager card to make the word 'coach'. The sideways lettering on the color ribbon was also difficult as was cutting around all of the borders.

2002 Topps Traded- Topps included a few managers in the '02 Traded set, but again, no coaches. This custom was a little easier to make, but difficult none the less. 

 2003 Topps- Pole coached for the Expos in 2002. This custom was made with the manager design for the '03 set.

2003 Topps Traded- This custom was made by John from Cards that Never Were. He has this one listed as a 2003 Topps card, but in my opinion, this card should be listed as a 2003 Topps Traded card since all Topps cards have stats for the previous year, and Pole was with the Expos in 2002, therefore, his 2003 Topps card should feature him as an Expo, and his '03 Traded and '04 Topps cards should feature him as a Cubbie. 

2004 Topps- This custom I made features a cameo by Dusty Bakers' son at the bottom of the card. If the Cubs hadn't got screwed by Bartman and the lucky Marlins, I think they would've had a decent shot at winning the '03 World Series, giving Pole a championship.

2005 Topps- I thought this was a unique photo, featuring Pole behind a chain link fence, so I decided to use it in this '05 Topps custom I made. The only bad thing about 2005 Topps is that they list the name and team twice, but nowhere is the position of the player/coach/manager to be found. 

2006 Topps- I like how the '06 Topps design looks, but I know a good number of collectors don't agree. This custom was hard to make customs of due to the curvature on the nameplate and team heading, but I think this on I made looks decent.

2007 Topps- This custom I made is Pole's last Topps card of him as a Cub. Another Topps set with no position listed. The regular player cards feature facsimile autographs, but the manager ones don't so I didn't include them on the coach ones either. Kind of ironic since coaches and managers are more likely to do ttm autographs than most players.

2007 Topps Updates and Highlights- I found this photo of Pole online and knew I had to use it for a Pole custom. This card is his first Reds card. 

2008 Topps- I like the 2008 set more than most collectors. The 2007 set wasn't bad in my opinion, but when compared to 2008, the '08 set and the colors for the team names just blow it out of the water. I chose not to include the facsimile auto on this custom again due to the fact that the manager cards didn't include them. 

2009 Topps- I was really stoked for the 2009 Topps design when it was released, and I still like it years later. The set is really easy to do customs with, and it probably took me less than 10 minutes to make this one. 

2010 Topps- Pole's final season as a coach (so far) was in 2009 with the Reds. He may come back one day, but as of 2016, his final Topps card would've been in the 2010 set. I don't really care for the 2010 design (it is better than this years crap fest), and it's difficult with customs too. It looks ok, I guess, but I have a feeling I won't be doing too many '10 Topps customs.

So that completes the Dick Pole Project. I think I'll still post the individual cards just so I can have them come up if someone searches for them and so I can tag the posts, but I might do them back to back so I can get on to other cards in the set. The last Pole card I made brings my set up to 191 cards. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

Dick Pole Project Part 13: 2002 Topps Dick Pole coach

Today's Topps Card that Never Was is a 2002 Topps Dick Pole coach card. He was finishing up his 2nd year with the Indians in 2001, getting a nice rookie season from CC Sabathia. That wasn't enough to keep him from being let go, but the good news is that he ended up with the Expos in 2002. 2002 Topps is one of the hardest sets to master customs with in my opinion (along with 1988 Topps) because of the ribbon-y lettering on it. I am going to try to make some Topps Traded cards for Pole along with his regular ones, and it's going to suck having to deal with '02 Topps again as I will have to do a Traded card for him with the Expos. Best case scenario is that the Indians colors on the color ribbon match the Expos ones. If I recall correctly, I think they don't.

I did a '79 Topps Dick Pole yesterday to give him one final Topps card from his playing career. Today, I got an '88 Topps Traded and a sweet '93 Topps Traded card featuring Larry Herndon with him. I think by the time the Dick Pole Project is over with, he will have about 20 new Topps cards. Maybe somebody can print some of these customs and have him sign them (if he does ttm). I would love to see what he thinks.

I'm off tomorrow, so there's a chance I might be able to finish the 5 customs needed to complete the Dick Pole Project (player, coach, and Traded coach cards). I might update this post if I do. Thanks for checking out the latest card in my set.
-Jeremy

Dick Pole Project Part 12: 2001 Topps Dick Pole coach

The latest card in the Dick Pole Project is his 2001 Topps card. I was a senior in high school in the spring of 2001, and I eagerly tried to complete the 2001 Topps set when it came out. I would've loved for this card to be in the set. I went to a few Spring Training games every year, and had this card came out and I been a few years older and the internet had more info on it, I could've easily got this card signed at an Indians Spring Training game. I probably had the chance to get Pole's autograph a few times over the years, but didn't have any cards of him so I probably ignored him.

Pole would have 1 more season with Cleveland before moving to Montreal. I'm not quite sure, but it looks like Terry Francona in the background of the photo I used.

I haven't worked much on cards for this site lately (choosing to keep making backs in an effort to complete the 1992 Topps set), but that doesn't mean I will run out of cards for this site, as I probably have 40 or so cards in the reserves.  I will keep posting on and still keep making cards, don't worry.
Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

Dick Pole Project Part 11: 2000 Topps Dick Pole coach

BIO: Dick Pole played in the Majors from 1973-1978 with the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners. He then went on to coach in the Bigs from 1988-1991 and from 1993-2009. His name has made him a hit with bloggers and fans alike.

YEARS PLAYED/COACHED: 1973-1978 (player), 1988-1991 and 1993-2009 (coach)


TOPPS SETS APPEARED IN: 1974-1978

TOPPS SETS MISSING FROM: 1979, 1989-1992, 1994-2010

WHY I MADE THIS CARD: Just another card in the ever-growing Dick Pole Project. Only 9 more cards to go (including a '79 card) and Pole will have Topps cards for every year he played or coached in the Bigs.

NOTES:  The next few cards are going to be Pole cards and that will finish up his career Topps run, so I'll probably do one with all of his cards once they are all done. Thanks for checking out the latest card.
-Jeremy

The Dick Pole Project Part 10: 1999 Topps Dick Pole

Dick Pole went to Boston for the '98 season. Topps didn't make manager or coach cards in the 1999 set, so I had to use my imagination for this one. Since Topps had rookie cards with a gold bar that said 'rookie card' in them, I decided to do something similar for coach and manager cards. I wasn't able to find a photo of Pole as a Red Sox coach, so I photoshopped the Sox logo on another photo.

I had the idea the other day to possibly try to look for photos of players on YouTube. I found some older games that are on there, so that might be a possibility for if I can't find photos, just not sure of how broad a selection of games it has on there. I have 3-4 cards in my 1992 Topps project that I would love to find different photos for, and it would be great if I can find some videos of games from 1991 on YouTube.

Dick's next card will feature him on his 4th team as a coach, and usher us into the 2000's. That should be posted in a few weeks, as I have some other cards to post before it.Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

The Dick Pole Project Part 9: 1998 Topps Dick Pole

You may or may not have noticed, but I skipped card #111, which would've been the next card in the set. I had done a '95 Topps card of Bobby Thigpen featuring him in a Phillies uniform. Unfortunately, he played for the Seattle Mariners in '94, so I need to redo the card. Instead of not posting, I just decided to post the next card after the Thigpen, which is a '98 Topps Dick Pole card. 

Dick was spending his last season coaching the Giants in 1997. After the season, he would go to the Red Sox, then the Angels, then Indians, then Expos, back to the Cubs, then finally finish up with the Reds. 

For this card, I chose to make it pretty similar to a regular '98 Topps card, just substituting the team name in the bar at the bottom for the coach position. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The '98 Topps set is hard to work with because the gold foil at the bottom is tough to read with dark colors behind it. I took the easy way out on this card and just used the color on the border for the name and bar so you could see it. 

I haven't decided yet if I want to post all of the Dick Pole cards in one post or just spread them out and do them one by one because I have 12 more to go, and most of those will be in a row. It might just depend on how many cards I have 'on reserve' ready to post. I have been trying to keep ahead and have 20 or so cards waiting to post just so in case I can't work on any that I can still post some. With all the work on the '92  Topps set I have been doing, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep cards in reserves, but I've still managed to make a few now and then. 

I hope you've enjoyed the latest card in the Dick Pole Project. Thanks for checking out my blog. 

-Jeremy

Card #67 1997 Topps Dick Pole

The latest card in the Dick Pole Project is his 1997 Topps card. For this one, I decided to try to make it look like there was a gold bar just above the name and that would be where Pole would be identified as a coach.  I think it turned out all right. 

I've come up with a few burning questions now that I'm not really doing backs of cards anymore. The first one is how do I number the set?  This is card is number 67 in my set, and number 498 in the 1997 Topps set. Without a back you dont really know that. One idea is to number the card in the title. I had another idea maybe if I posted a card from let's say the 1990 Topps set to post all the custom cards I've done in 1990 Topps at the bottom and maybe number the cards for the '90 set at that point of the post. Maybe I'll do that at the end of every post or maybe periodically highlight a set that has a bunch of cards that I have done. I don't know. For now I think I'll number a card in the title and put is number according to specific set somewhere in the post. Hopefully that won't confuse readers. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. I might try to post again on Monday. 

-Jeremy

1996 Topps Dick Pole/Bobby Bonds/Wendell Kim/Bob Lillis

Well, I got over the shock of losing all of my custom card data and decided to start over from scratch. It won't affect this blog much, since the only thing I really repeatedly use on it is the "Jeremy's Custom Cards" logo. But my other blog will be basically starting from having 1992 Topps templates for all 28 temas to having to make templates for 22 teams. Sad day.

back on topic, today's card in the Dick Pole Project is his 1996 Topps card. I modeled it after the '96 Topps prospect subset. It also features Giants coaches Bobby Bonds, Wendell Kim, and Bob Lillis. I really like it.

I hope to work on Pole's '97 Topps card later in the week. Thanks for checking out my card.
- Jeremy

1995 Topps Dick Pole/Bobby Bonds

It's been a while since I've blogged last, but I am back with a new card for the Dick Pole Project.

Today's card is his 1995 Topps card. I chose to base it off of the All-Star subset from the '95 set (although I think for any Manager cards I make in that set will have the regular player design). I think it works pretty well. I have an idea to make his '96 card using the Prospects subset design and put 4 coaches on a card, but that one may not work, I will just have to wait and see.

In 1994, Pole's pitchers weren't as good as in 1993, but he had a Maris-like year from Matt Williams and a (at that time) career year from Barry Bonds on the offense, but the strike killed it all. I would look upset like Pole did if the team I was on had its season ruined by a strike too.

I would love to hear comments on this or any other cards, and ideas for more projects in my custsom set. Thanks for reading.
-Jeremy

1994 Topps Dick Pole

The lastest card in the Dick Pole Project is his 1994 Topps card. After a year in which he was either coaching in the minors or not in organized baseball, Dick Pole joined the San Francisco Giants staff in 1993. He inhereted a great team, and helped John Burkett and Bill Swift become 20-game winners. Unfortunately, for the Giants, MLB was still in the 2-division format, and the Giants won 103 games, only to finish 2nd in the NL West behind the Atlanta Braves. I never got why the Braves were in the West, when the NL could've made a team like the Chicago Cubs be in the West.

I already have the front to Pole's 1995 Topps card done, and I think the card is going to turn out great. I used the All-Star border from the '95 Topps set, and put 2 coaches on the card, so Pole's card also features Bobby Bonds. I'm pretty sure the back will be like the '95 Topps All-Star back, with coach bios instead of stats.
-Thanks for checking out card #5 of the Dick Pole Project.

1992 Topps Dick Pole

Dick Pole's 1992 Topps card is modeled after his card I made for my other blog, Completing the 1992 Topps set. For the coach cards in the '92 set, I put team leaders on the backs, as well as a team checklist, since Topps stopped doing the team leaders on the backs after 1991. The 1992 Topps checklists name off the team checklists, but since I am adding cards to the set, I felt the need to put the complete team checklists on the back of the coach cards, and to do the checklists in the set with a normal numerical list.

Pole's Cubs had a down season in 1991, and the Pittsburgh Pirates won the NL East. It would be Dick's last season with the Cubs, and he would go on to coach the San Francisco Giants starting in 1993. Thanks for checking out the 4th card in the Dick Pole Project.
-Jeremy