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

1991 Topps Dick Pole

Card #3 in the Dick Pole Project is his 1991 Topps card. Pole and the Cubbies failed to defend their NL East crown in 1990, but he did get a solid double-digit win season from Greg Maddux. Pole would have 1 more season as the Cubs' pitching coach before moving on to San Francisco in 1993.

1990 Topps Dick Pole

Card #2 in the Dick Pole Project is his 1990 Topps card. This card highlights the 1989 season where Pole got a great season out of starters Mike Bielecki, Greg Maddux, and otheres, and the Cubs won the NL East. They had to meet the Will Clark and the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS, unfortunately, and weren't able to make it to the World Series.

With Pole's '89 and '90 Topps cards done, I just have his '91 Topps card, and a few changes on the '92 Topps I have already made, and I will be done with the cards from his first stint as Cubs pitching coach. Then I will do his cards as a coach of the Giants, which will be fun because there are more photos to choose from, and I will be making coach cards in the '94-'98 Topps sets, which didn't get any coach or manager cards, so I will have to come up with my own design for them.

I promise I will get back to the normal checklist eventually, and that I didn't drop the 1994 Topps Dale Murphy (I will finish the Dick Pole Project, and add the cards that I didn't drop from the checklist after the Pole Project is done). I have the feeling I will drop a good number of cards from this and the next series, and then stick with it (mostly) after that. Thanks for checking out the next card in the Dick Pole Project. Comments and input are always welcome.
-Jeremy

1989 Topps Dick Pole

For the first card of the Dick Pole Project, I decided to make his missing 1989 Topps coach card. There aren't many photos of Pole in a Cubs uniform to work with, so I used one that John Hogan used for his custom 2003 Topps Pole card for this one. I may have to use the same photo for a few of his cards, but I think the different designs and the backs will make up for it. I also made Pole's missing 1992 Topps coach card (without the back for now) on my other blog, Completing the 1992 Topps Set.

As I finish the rest of the cards in the Dick Pole Project, I will add this one, and make the back for it. Hope you enjoy this subset in my series of Topps Cards that never Were.
-Jeremy

Idea for a new project

I haven't posted on this blog in a while, choosing to work on my 1992 Topps project, but while working on it, I came up with a new project to do on this blog. While making coach cards for the Chicago Cubs in my 1992 Topps project, I made one for Cubs coach Dick Pole. Pole pitched in the Majors from '74-'79, but is missing 1979 and 1980 Topps cards. He didn't get any cards during his coaching career, aside from the 1992 Topps card I made and a 2003 Topps card done by John Hogan. Pole has been a subject of many blog posts and is a favorite of baseball fans because of his funny name. I have been wanting to make a few more cards on this blog, but most of the ones in the current series just don't seem as appealing as they did when I first made the checklist. So I think I'm just going to make the cards on the checklist that I do want to make and for the ones that I dont, I think I will try to make all of Mr. Pole's missing cards to fill them in. Thanks for checking out my blog.