1999 Topps Rafael Belliard

Growing up as a teenager in the late '90's, I got to watch a lot of good Atlanta Braves teams play on TBS. So I ended up rooting for them as a second favorite team behind my Detroit Tigers and before my Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays started playing. I even had my room painted in Braves colors at some point. 

Rafael Belliard was a key player on those clubs, starting a good share of games, and also coming off of the bench as a defensive replacement. Raffy got cards in Topps sets up till 1995, then was left off of the set starting from 1996 on. His last card on a major brand was in 1998, and no cards are listed for him in 1999 in the Trading Card Database, which I use for alot of the research as well as templates for my custom cards, so that means that nobody issued a card for Belliard with his final career stats on it.  

My custom just uses the relatively easy to use '99 Topps design, and I took the best picture I could find, resized it, and now Belliard has a sunset card. 

I hope everyone had a great 2015 and has a happy and safe 2016! I hope to post alot more customs, maybe put a dent on finishing some of the backs on my custom 1992 Topps set, and maybe get alot closer to giving many of the star players of the '90's and 2000's a sunset card, a coach card, a manager card, a highlight card, or a card the year after they won a World Series, as well as finish off the '98 and '99 Topps Devil Rays sets. Pretty lofty goals, but we'll see. Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

Missing Managers Part 2: 1996 Topps Mike Hargrove

In 1994, Topps didn't produce any manager cards, the first time in forever that they didn't at least include a picture of the manager on a team card. I've made a few manager cards from the missing '94-'00 sets, and I really like how the '96 design turned out. I knew I needed something to distinguish the card as a manager one, and I decided to experiment with a bar ontop of the name, and I think it turned out well.
Mike Hargrove led the Cleveland Indians to the '95 World Series, which they ultimately lost the the Atlanta Braves in 6 games. Hargrove's Indians made it back in '97, losing again to the Florida Marlins in 7 games, with Game 7 going 11 innings long. Nobody knows what would've happened in 1994 had the season not gotten interrupted by the strike. I know of at least 3 simulated seasons with 3 different outcomes. Topps famously did their simulation and put the results on the back of their Cyberstats/Spectra Light parallel set. In their simulation, the Indians beat the Braves in the World Series. Dateline NBC did a sim, and theirs had the New York Bankee$ beating the Cincinnati Reds in the Series. I did one using Strategic Baseball Simulator, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Reds in the World Series.  One thing is for sure, Hargrove was a great manager, and he should've had a ring. Florida wasn't the best team in '97, and you could argue that in '94 the Indians were the best team going. I will probably make some more manager cards of Hargrove, maybe finish out his Topps run of cards by making his '94, '95, and '97-'00 cards.
I hope you enjoyed this missing manager card. Thanks for checking out my blog.

-Jeremy

Favorite Player Collection Part 5: 1994 Topps Terry Leach

I figure hardly anyone except for maybe Mets, Royals, Twins, and maybe White Sox fans know who Terry Leach is. I started really following baseball during Terry's last year, so I really didn't know much about him until years later, even though I owned maybe 10 of his cards. I had been a big Florida State fan when it came to college football growing up. I hated the Florida Gators and really didn't pay attention to any other teams or rivalries. That changed in 2006. I moved to Montgomery, Alabama, and within a month or two, I had to decide which team to pull for, the Alabama Crimson Tide or the Auburb Tigers. That's the way it is in Alabama. You have to choose a side or they think you are crazy and it's like life or death with them. So I took a few weeks and kind of saw what each team had to offer. Auburn got screwed out of playing for the national championship just 2 seasons before, even though they were 14-0. They had a pretty good team and their fans for the most part seemed genuine and nice. Alabama fans just talked about past championships and how they won 20 titles and how great Bear Bryant was and how much lower class Auburn was. There were some nice fans in the bunch, but all I ever heard from 65+ percent of them was "Bear Bryant is God and Auburn sucks and we really did win 25 national championships, the NCAA doesn't know what they are talking about when they say it is only 9!"  So I decided to root for Auburn.
I collected ttm autographs back then and noticed that Leach was a good signer, so I got a few of his cards prepared to send him. I noticed on the back of one that he went to Auburn. I wrote him a request and put "War Eagle!" (Auburn's rally cry) at the end and sent it off. A few weeks later Terry sent the cards back signed with an index card inscribed "War Eagle!" on it. From then on, I collected Terry's cards.
Topps gave Terry his last card in the '93 set, even though he played his final season that year. He was left off of the '94 set and missed out on a sunset card. I made him this one, and I think it looks like it would fit right into the '94 set.
Terry recently wrote a book about life as a journeyman reliever, and tells some stories about his Auburn days in the book. I'm hoping to pick it up soon and check it out. He's usually good about answering his fan mail, so if you are into that, I'd send him a request.
I'm hoping Michigan State can beat the Tide so I don't have to hear about another Bama championship, but everyone knows that Bama pays the NCAA so they will probably have #26 in a few weeks.  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of nice Bama fans, but the constant, never ending, 24-7 houndstooth wearing loudmouths who won't shut up about all their titles just get to me. It's kind of why I really don't care for FSU at all anymore. Their fans just won't shut up and never give anyone a break. I guess I should just be happy that college football doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of thigs.

Hope you enjoyed today's post and had a great Christmas and have a happy new year.
War Eagle!
-Jeremy 

1993 Topps Bip Roberts Season Highlights

Bip Roberts is a fan favorite among card collectors. He appeared on Topps cards throughout his career, but did miss out on a sunset card, which I plan on making in the future. In 1993, Topps didn't make any season highlight cards, and they missed out on a chance to make a card celebrating Roberts getting 10 hits in a row. This is my take on what the card could've looked like. I got the photo from the YouTube video of the game where he got his 10th hit. Some highlights cards that Topps have made just have some random photo, instead of the photo from the actual moment, so I wanted to make sure I had a photo from the actual play instead of a random one.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Topps needs to scrap the current version of Archives and make it into a set of cards that never were. They could put this card in the set, and quadruple print it, and insert it into packs so you get 4 of the Roberts card in a row. I'm sure some collectors wouldn't appreciate Topps "Bipping" them, but I would totally enjoy the irony. I think eventually I'll do a post outlining what I think an Archives cards that never were set would look like and contain, and maybe even make a fake sell sheet of it. They could really put out a nice base set, have autographs of course, do a 1 in maybe 5 pack insert featuring a pair of players that mixes a regular Topps card with one that Topps didn't make. They could have a 1 of 1 card where you would win a complete Topps run of  a player (including cards that never were) that would be autographed. You could also do a Topps Chrome/Bowman Chrome/Finest insert, a "What if?" insert featuring cards highlighting scenerios that didn't happen (Jeter getting drafted by Astros in '92, Pujols getting traded to Padres in '00, Braves drafting Todd Van Poppel instead of Chipper Jones in '90, Bill Buckner making final out in the '86 World Series, and so on. They could do another kind of "What if?" set featuring what sets could've looked like if they had started out a year before they really did, like a '92 Finest set, a '95 Topps Chrome set, and a '96 Bowman's Best set. And to make things really interesting, have an insert set featuring team cards that never were, and include oddball relics on them (a Braves tomahawk, an Angels Rally Monkey, a pack of the Brewers secret sauce, some Cubs ivy, stuff like that), and make them maybe 10-50 in all and serial numbered. Just some ideas to make the Archives set something every type of collector (basically would collect). Who knows, some Draft Pick cards (Mike Trout, Madison Bumgartner, Kris Bryant) could start commanding crazy prices.

I hope you enjoyed the Bip card and my rant on Archives. Maybe someday Topps will listen...Thanks for checking out my blog.

-Jeremy

2001 Topps Doug Jones

Doug Jones was a valuable relief pitcher during his career. He set the Cleveland Indians saves record in 1988 and was generally at the top of the list of most saves every year. His rookie season was in 1982, but Doug didn't get a Topps card until the 1988 set. He appeared in most of the Topps sets from then on, getting his last card in the 1998 set. His last season in MLB was 2000, and he missed out on cards in the '99, '00, and '01 Topps sets.

I actually saw Doug pitch in '99 when the As came to Tampa to take on the Rays. Oakland didn't have a really good club back then but they must've had a lead in that game if they brought Doug in to close it.

This card was pretty easy to make and I think it came out pretty close to what a real 2001 Topps card would look like.

I'm almost finished making cards for the Dick Pole Project. Just have his '10 Topps card to do. I'll probably post them sporadically and finish up with a picture of his complete Topps run. Some great cards are coming up so stay tuned. Thanks for checking out my latest card.

-Jeremy

Card # 100!! 1999 Topps Tropicana Field

For card #100, I chose to make one that showcases my love for my local Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays without having to choose a player. The only time I've really seen cards of stadiums in Topps sets are in some of those team exclusive sets sold at ballparks from I believe 2008 to the present. I am going to try to give all the '98 Devil Rays a card in the '99 Topps set, so why not throw a stadium card in the bunch too?

I have attended many Devil Ray games, it's probably getting close to 50. I would go to close to 5 a year for a while, and even though I haven't been there since 2013, I will always remember some great times there.

In '98, the teams first season, I went to an early April game as my first one ever. They played the Oakland A's, and I'll never forget it. I saw one of my favorite players, Rafael Bournigal, come in as a defensive replacement in the 9th. Raffy lived in Lakeland in the offseason (my hometown), and I met him at the local YMCA and he gave me a ride home once (more on that in an upcoming post). I also  saw Ricky Henderson play in that game, a legend who changed the game. After the game, I went down to the dugouts to try to get autographs. As pitcher Kenny Rogers was there, and he had family nearby so he was talking to them. I had a '94 Pinnacle Museum card of Kenny and right as I was about to hand it to him, a lady comes over and says she doesn't have that card and wanted to trade something for it. She turned out to be Kenny's mom, and had a bunch of his cards in her purse, so I traded my card for a '90 Upper Deck one and got it signed. Then, Kurt Abbott was sitting in the stands talking to some people. That is still the first and only time I've seen a big leaguer in the stands chatting with people after the game. He signed a card for me too.

I saw Rays pitcher Tony Saunders throw a no-hitter against the Orioles in '99 for 6 innings. The first hitter in the 7th, Mike Bordick, singled up the middle, breaking it up. That was the only hit he and the bullpen would allow.

I went to Opening Day in 2009, and saw the Rays raise their 2008 AL Championship banner while the New York Bankee$ had to sit and watch. The Rays scored like 19 runs that game, and it got so bad that Nick Swisher, the Yankees outfielder had to come in and pitch.

I've seen great players play there, like Ichiro, Cal Ripken, Ivan Rodriguez, I almost saw Barry Bonds play there, but the 1 game of that series that I went to he took off because he went to a funeral.

I saw Ripken play in his final season, and he was spectacular, signing autographs during batting practice for almost an hour.

So as you can see, I have a ton of great memories (and not so great, like seeing Dennis Springer and Esteban Yan giving up homer after homer) at Tropicana Field. I wish the Rays could take the stadium and move it to Orlando or some city that is a good city and not a run down area. It isn't the most beautiful stadium, but it was like a second home to me since 1998, and for that reason, it is card # 100 in my custom set.

I just finished my last softall game of the season tonight. We only won 1 game this year, and played the only team we beat in the first round of the playoffs. It was a close game, and we were down by 2 going into the top of the last inning. 2 players were on with 0 out and we had cut the lead to 1 when I came up. I am far from an athlete, and I was basically learning the ropes this season as I hadn't played softball in about 10 years, and that only for a game or 2. I walked earlier in the game, but had been like 1 for my last 20 up to that point. I ended up singling to left and bringing the tying run home. I thought the ball was caught and a runner was being thrown out at 2nd or 3rd, but apparently it got through. We won that game, and got to play 10 minutes after our first one. These guys were pretty good, but we kept them at bay. James, our pitcher was on fire, getting all kinds of called strikes, and ended up striking out 3 hitters. The game was knotted 5-5 and I don't remember how many outs there were, but a guy singled just over our shortstop's head, bringing a runner to 3rd. We kind of screwed around getting the ball to the pitcher, and after stopping at 3rd, the runner raced towards home. I was catching, and didn't get a throw. We tied the game again later, but I grounded out with a runner at 1st in the 7th. From there, we led off the Away half with a runner on 2nd (the last out of the previous inning, who was me) and 0 outs. Bill, our 2nd baseman popped out to shallow right, John, our centerfielder flew out to center, and I tagged up, making it to 3rd. Then Paul, our leftfielder, grounded out to end our half. We got 1 out in the bottom half of the inning, but the runner scored and we lost in walkoff fashion. It was a heck of a game, and I'm glad it wasn't a blowout. So now my church-league softball season is over and Monday nights are free again, so I'll have another day where I can make customs and post them. I ended up hitting .310 for the season (9 for 29, all singles), 5 runs, 7 RBIs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, and a few nice catches in RF. Can't wait for next season.

Thanks for checking out my blog and enduring some of my Rays memories and softball update. Hope you enjoyed the first 100 cards in my set.

-Jeremy

1999 Topps Joe Carter

Joe Carter has appeared on many Topps card throughout his career, but also has missed out on a few cards. His last Topps card was a 1998 cards with the Toronto Blue Jays. He should've got a sunset card in 1999 with the Baltimore Orioles, but Topps didn't put him in the set. I made him one here to finish out his Topps run. I would've also loved to see Topps give him a card in the 1994 set highlighting his World Series winning HR in the '93 Series. This is what my version of the card would look like:

As you can see, the '99 Carter sunset card is the 99th card in my custom set. The 100th card in my set will be a kind of unusual card, but it has meaning to me, and since it is my set, I'm ok with that. I'll be doing some work with some blog themes in the next series (cards #101-150), and I may add some new themes if I can come up with some. 

I'll keep working on cards and probably post once or twice a week for the remaining of the year. Hoping to get some nice cards done and posted this year and get a few series done next year, maybe get up to the 200's. Thanks for checking out my latest card.

-Jeremy

2006 Topps Jason Varitek Gold Glove

A month or two ago I was reading a post about the 2005 Topps Alex Rodriguez Spokesman Insert set on 21st Century Topps Baseball, a blog dedicated to all things '90's Topps baseball up to the present. REJ, the owner of the blog stated how he wish Topps would re-issue more cards that never were, including some Mariano Riveras from '92-'95. I mentioned how I was working on a few, and asked if there are any more cards he knew of that Topps missed. He listed a card for the '05 Gold Glove Award winner at catcher was missing from the '06 Topps set. That seemed kind of mysterious, so I got to work finding out who the card was of and why it wasn't made. Turns out, it was mainly for the same reason that the ARod cards weren't.

In 1991, Jason Varitek played for the Team USA. Topps produced cards of the team in the '92 Topps Traded set. I guess Varitek had a feud with Topps or something, because he refused to sign a contract with Topps after that, similar to what ARod would do in 1992. After Varitek's '92 Topps Traded card, he missed out on cards in the '95-'06 (ARod would miss cards from '94-'97). It just so happens that Varitek won the AL Gold Glove award in '05 and that is why this card is missing from the '06 Topps set.

I might very well do a Missing Topps Cards segment on Varitek. There are some cool cards I could do, including his '95 Topps Draft Pick card, maybe even a '94 Topps Traded Draft Pick card, and a '96 Topps Prospects card. This card was a little difficult to make due to the curvature on the name part. I need to figure out a way to get text to go over a background without making it look all crappy. Paint has come a long way, but is still missing the mark on that part.

It's funny to see how there are a few players on Team USA cards who are missing Topps cards after that (ARod, Varitek, Charles Johnson to name a few). I wonder how many refused to sign Topps contracts and missed out on Draft Pick and early cards because of it. It would be interesting to get a list going.

I'm almost up to card #100 in my set. I really like how some of the cards have turned out, and I like the direction this set and blog is heading. I'm hoping to keep cranking out cards, and hopefully by next year, I will have a few of my usual segments with a good number of posts in them. I hope you enjoy reading them and seeing new cards that Topps should've made. Thanks for checking out my blog.

-Jeremy

1996 Topps Mike LaValliere

Mike LaValliere is probably best known for his role in the 1992 NLCS when Atlanta Braves first baseman Sid Bream beat Barry Bonds' throw to LaValliere, winning the game and the series for the Braves. I did a '93 Topps Postseason Highlights card of the play here. So, technically, this isn't the first card of LaValliere I've done on my blog.
Mike, or "Spanky" as his nickname is, was a good field, no hit catcher, who came up in 1984 with the Philadelphia Phillies. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals in '85 and '86, and then went to the Pittsburgh Pirates from '87- midway of '93. He finished his career with the Chicago White Sox from '93-'95. His '85 Cardinals team made it to the World Series, and if not for a bad call, would've won it, and his '90-'92 Pirates made it to the NLCS in all 3 years. Then, in '93, he threw out 75% of runners trying to steal on him.
Mike's last Topps card was in '94. He didn't get Topps cards in his final 2 seasons, although he appeared on cards in '95 with a few different sets.
I've been finding that the '96 Topps set is pretty easy to make cards with, although '94 Topps is probably right behind it in difficulty. This card of Spanky was pretty easy to make, with the most difficult part being making the small photo. I've been working with some of the more difficult sets like '95 Topps lately, and those sets will start to become easier to deal with once I get the letters from the sets cut out so they won't have to be cut out each and every time I use the design, and I'll be able to crank out cards like crazy pretty soon.
I only have 1 more regular season softball game left. Yesterday I went 0-2 with an RBI at the plate (I've been in a pretty bad slump the past 4 games), but I made 2 difficult catches in RF. The first kept sinking, and I somehow caught up to it and caught it, but as my glove hit the ball, the force made the ball pop out of my glove. It was all in slow motion after that. I was picturing dropping the ball and making an error in my head as all of this was happening, but somehow dropped to my knees and the ball came back in my glove, and bounced again, but I grabbed it with my bare hand and held on for the out. 2 innings later, the same guy that hit the first one was up again, and he hit it to me again. I thought the ball would land right where I was standing, but at the last second it curved to the left, and I reached out to the left as far as I could, and caught the ball. I spun around as I caught it, and hurled the ball back to the infield. I kind of wish I would've wore a hat because I'm sure it would've fell off and kind of looked like a catch Willie Mays would've made. If I can just get a hit in next Monday's game, I will have a .300 batting average for the season. I really hope that happens, and  a win would be nice too as we have only won 1 game this year (against the team we will be playing).
My next card will be one that one of my readers has requested, and I'll give the reason why Topps didn't produce it as well. Thanks for checking out my blog.

-Jeremy

Missing Topps Cards Part 3: Phil Nevin ('93, '94, '95, '98, '99, and '00)

Phil Nevin was the #1 pick in the 1992 MLB draft. His first Topps card was in the 1991 Traded set in the Team USA subset. He was on the '92 Traded Team USA subset as well. For some reason, he didn't get a '93 Draft Pick card even though he was the #1 pick. He got a special 1993 Topps Golden Spikes Award promo card that was given away at the award ceremony. There are only believed to be 600 in existance. Topps didn't give him cards in '94 and '95, which is understandable since he was in the minors. In '96 he got a Coming Attractions subset card in the set, and he got a regular card in the base set in '97. He was passed over in '98, '99, and '00 as he was just starting to find his way in the Majors. From '01 till his final card year in '07, he appeared on Topps cards. 

I don't like how the '93 card turned out all grainy and weird, but it is the best version I have so far. I really like the '94 card because it features Todd Greene from my Favorite Player Collection, and also because it has Charles Johnson on it, who I did a 1993 Topps Coming Attractions card of a while back. Its kind of cool to have multiple cards that never were of a player. I think I will definitely do another Missing Topps Cards post of both of those players in the future. 

I really wish Blogger would let you add more labels to posts. On some posts that feature a few cards with multiple players, I have enough characters to usually tag the players and sets, but not enough to tag team names or subset names. I want to make the posts easy to sort by sets and players so people who are interested in all the missing Topps cards from a certain year can easily find them and so they can find all the missing Topps cards of a certain player, but I'm sure people also want to find all the missing Topps cards of certain teams too, and since a few posts I haven't been able to tag team names due to running out of characters, some cards will be missing from a team search (like all of the card in this post for example). 

I would like to wish all my readers a safe and happy Thanksgiving. I am slow cooking a ham right now as we speak, and will be putting a turkey in the oven pretty soon. Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

Favorite Player Collection Part 4: 1996 Topps Quinton McCracken Future Stars

One of my favorite players in the late '90's was Quinton McCracken. "Q" was a speedy outfielder for the Colorado Rockies and was selected by my hometown Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays in the '98 expansion draft. He appeared on a many cards throughout his career. My first card I got of him was his '93 Topps Prospects rookie card. He didn't appear in another Topps card until 1997. He should've at least got a card in the '96 set, so I decided to make one of him in the Future Stars subset.

He got 2 cards in the '98 set ( a Rockies and Rays card) and got one in '99 as he was the Rays MVP in '98. I don't believe he got cards in '00-'02 or '05-'07 so I might have to do a Missing Topps Cards post of him. 

I got the '94 missing Topps card of Phil Nevin done. Will probably finish the rest this weekend so I can get caught up on the card numbers again. Thanks for checking out my blog. 

-Jeremy

Coaches Center part 2: 2002 Topps Bob Melvin coach

I decided to skip the next card in my custom set ( a 1993 Topps Phil Nevin Draft Pick card) because I wanted to fill in his missing Topps cards ('94, '95, '98-'00). While I'm working on those cards, here is a 2002 Topps coach card of Bob Melvin. For now, I'm making coach cards for teams that won the championship the year before. Melvin and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Bankee$ in 2001, and this is what the coach cards from th '02 Topps set could've looked like. I basically combined a manager card and a prospect card and was able to get the lettering to spell 'coach' and have it look similar to manager cards in the set. Doing the lettering for the name proved difficult. I have a few ideas I might try in GIMP to get it to work. For this one I used a white background and rotated the name, but when I did a screen shot and tried to paste the rotated name in Paint, it came out all pixelated. I think if I can put the background color behind the letters and then rotate it and paste it I think it might look better. 

Next time it will either be the missing Nevins or a '96 Topps card of one of my favorite players. Thanks for checking out my latest card. 

-Jeremy

1993 Topps Sid Bream NLCS Highlights

Topps last made postseason highlights cards in 1981. When they made them again, it was in 1997, just in time for the Bankee$ run of titles, so we really didn't get any worthwhile postseason highlights cards until 2002, a full 2 decades after Topps decided to call it quits on the subset. We missed out on a ton of great, collectible cards. I am trying to come up with some ways to incorporate these cards into Topps sets. Some of the designs are easier to work with than others, and some designs, like '96 for example, don't really give me much to work with, so I'm still clueless on what to do to the design in order to make it suitable for a highlight card. It's mainly a question of how to fit 'postseason highlights' and the playoff round and player name, but it's still challenging none the less.

I didn't have much trouble making this card. The bottom of the card gave me enough room for everything when I used a horizontal card. I was old enough to remember the postseason in 1992, but young enough (9) to where I didn't have my own TV so I only watched a few games when my parents weren't watching any of their shows, so I totally missed seeing this play live. I caught a few games of the World Series, including the final one. I remember staying up watching Dave Winfield hit a double in extra innings I believe, but must've fallen asleep after that because when I woke up, the news was on. There are so many postseason highlights cards that I could make from that era.....Topps really dropped the ball on those cards. 

I'll probably post more cards during the next few weeks. It might be slower because of the holidays, but I'm hoping I'll have some free time to make more cards and post them, if not in the next few weeks, then in the beginning of 2016.

Thanks for checking out my latest card.-Jeremy

2015 Topps Update Pride and Perserverance Bud Selig book card

I decided to post this card out of order just because I like it so much. It is the latest card I've done, and  I passed up about 10 others, but I will post them at some point. 

At first, in the mid '90's, I liked Bud Selig. He gave us interleague play, so I finally had the chance to see National League teams play since my closest team was the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays. I kind of liked the wild card and was glad that expansion have my area the Rays. But I failed to see the long term complications. The interleague play made the All-Star game pointless, the Wild Card gave him the excuse to add another wild card slot and another round in the playoffs, and I like that expansion gave Tampa Bay a team, but why not just move the Marlins to Orlando (near Disney, maybe?), or at least put them in downtown Tampa, not in crappy St. Pete. The Marlins owners didn't want the team, and neither does the city, so the Rays owners could take the team off their hands, it would thrive in a better location, and an expansion team could've went to a city that would like one like say, Norfolk, Las Vegas, Charlotte, or Brooklyn. 

Selig has added so many gimmicks to the game that it's a shell of what it once was in '91 (Fay Vincent's last year). Let's ignore the fact that he turned a blind eye to PEDs and then said that HE wanted stricter drug testing. Let's ignore the fact that he colluded in the late '80's. Let's ignore the fact that he lifted Steinbrenner's ban and let MLB become the first sport to lose a postseason to a strike and the fact that there STILL isn't a salary cap. Selig tried to do a good thing by realigning the divisions, but the reason he needed to do it was the Wild Card. He should've kept the leagues in 2 divisions and either had top 4 records regardless of division make playoffs, or let top 2 teams from each division in, and also had to sign a contract that he wouldn't add any more playoff teams, rounds, or expansion unless a 100% vote by owners and a player rep from each team. 

Interleague play shouldn't have happened. The All-Star game wouldn't be a joke, and players would want to play. As for the ASG tie in '02, I'll say what I said while watching the game:  The AL has Freddy Garcia pitching. Call Lou Piniella and ask his teams skipper if it's ok to pitch him more than 2-3 innings. If it's ok, call the NL pitchers manager, and ask same thing, if yes, problem solved. If either say no, have a player who already pitched come back in (if ok with managers, of course). Again, problem solved. Solution 3: just have a position player hit. I just offered 3 solutions to Seligs problem, and I can swear to you that I came up with them in '02 while watching the game. Selig decides to end game in a tie, and to make him look better and make up for interleague play cheapening the game, he lets the winner get home field advantage in the World Series. 

Then Bud gives us the WBC (is it still around, btw?). A good idea, but nobody wanted to play because it was during Spring Training. Why not do what Peter Gammons (a great candidate for Commish) suggested and make the season start a few weeks earlier and just make the All-Star break 2 weeks long and play the WBC then?  Or just play in in November?  Or push for baseball to be back in the Olympics?  

I realize hindsight may be making me a harsh critic of Selig, but some of these problems you could see coming. MLB playoffs are beginning to look like the NBAs where they are 3 months long and 6 or 7 rounds, and one of these years a scrub team will win the last Wild Card and beat the Favorite to win the World Series and we're going to see 2 ok teams in the playoffs instead of the 2 best teams. Meanwhile, Selig is sitting in his retirement home thinking "Ha!  They can't change anything I've done!"  I don't know if the game can get back to where it was in 1991. I would like to think it could. 

So I decided to make this card to point out all of the damage that I think Selig has done to the game. I'm sure lots of people will disagree and that's ok. I tried to fit everything on 1 card back, but decided to make it a book card so it would fit. I really like the idea of the set and really want to find cards of the diabetics in the set (Jason Johnson, Sam Fuld, and Buddy Carlyle)  I probably won't get too many more packs of Update, so maybe I'll get some when they appear on COMC, or if you have any you don't want, feel free to send them to me. I'm hoping they continue the insert set next year. 

It will be back to normal cards next post. Thanks for checking out my blog. 

-Jeremy 

Missing Managers: 1994 Topps Rene Lachemann

In the first segment of Missing Managers, I chose to make a 1994 Topps Rene Lachemann card. Rene got a card in the 1993 Topps set, but didn't get any cards after that since Topps didn't make manager cards from 1994-2000. This card was pretty simple to make because along with my laptop, I got the newest version of MS Paint. I didn't know Paint had updated versions, so once I got used to everything, it was a nice surprise. I have tons of more fonts to choose from (making some tough sets like 1994 that have difficult to replicate fonts a lot easier to deal with), and now the only things I really need GIMP for are rotating text and blurring colors.

I also made a card of Rene for my other blog , Completing the 1992 Topps set, where I am making a 1992 Topps card for every person who put on a uniform in 1991. Since Rene was a coach for the Oakland A's, he got a card in the set. I recently found out that I somehow missed 2 players in the (O-Pee-Chee) set, John Dopson and Nick Esasky. Dopson got in to 1 game in '91, and Esasky spent the year on the DL. I will be making those cards soon and hopefully it will finally complete the set.

Things have been crazy here, with me and my wife fighting stomach bugs and us traveling to Tallahassee, moving, and doing some dog sitting on top of that. If I never have to dog sit and live out of a suitcase and try to find stuff in somebody elses house, it will be too soon. I can't tell you how many times I've looked for a baking sheet, couldn't find it, settled on a really small one, pre-heated the oven, only to open the friggin oven door to find a clean full sized baking sheet just sitting there in the oven. Little things like that make me never want to leave my home again no matter how much someone pays me. And enough with my rant. I should be making some more cards later this week, including a '15 Topps Update Pride and Perserverance card of Bud Selig (spoiler alert: I don't care for the guy), and hopefully I'll post them this week. Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

Missing Topps Cards Pt. 2: Jeromy Burnitz 1991 Topps Draft Pick, 1996 Topps, 2007 Topps

Jeromy Burnitz was drafted by the New York Mets in 1990 and was a mega prospect. He missed getting a card in the 1991 set, but got prospect cards in the 1992 and 1993 sets before making it to the bigs in '93 and getting his own '94 Topps card. Burnitz never made it in New York, and was traded to the Cleveland Indians in '95. He didn't get a card in the 1996 Topps set (which if I'm not mistaken, was the smallest one Topps has ever done at 440 cards). Burnitz got traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in '96, and his career started taking off and he had multiple 30-HR seasons. He appeared on tons of cards in his Brewer years, and after 2002, he started towards the end of his career and played for a few different teams. Burnitz's 2002 Topps Traded bat relic card was the first Game-Used card I ever pulled from a pack, and it featured him with his first team (and 2003 team), the New York Mets. Burnitz went on to play for the Dodgers, Cubs, and Rockies, before suiting up for the Pirates in 2006, his last season. Jeromy missed out on a sunset card in 2007. 

All in all, Topps did a pretty good job of getting Burnitz a card in all of his seasons. The 1996 set was pretty small (probably due to lack of interest in baseball due to the 1994 strike), so many middle-of-the-run players and younger, unproven players missed out on getting cards in that set. Not sure why he missed out on the '91 Draft Pick card, but Todd Van Poppel also missed out on a card that year, and he was supposed to be Nolan Ryan. Many players have missed out on sunset cards over the last 20 years at Topps, and I suppose because the Pirates were rebuilding in '07 that Topps didn't include him. 

I hope to do a few more players for this blog theme. None currently come to mind, but if you can think of a player who missed 2 or more cards from Topps who played from 1988 to the present, let me know, and I should be able to come up with a few Topps cards to complete their Topps run.

Thanks for checking out my blog.

-Jeremy

Favorite Player Collection Pt. 3: 2003 Topps Brady Anderson

Brady Anderson is one of my favorite players. I know that most people think he did PEDs, and he probably did. I've liked Brady before his 50 HR season, mainly because of his cool sideburns. I grew my sideburns long in high school and have kept them that way pretty much ever since. I decided to add Brady to my player collection around 2005 or so, and have always kept a lookout for refractors and other interesting cards of Brady. I picked up a jersey card from COMC a few years ago, and also got his autograph on a 1992 Topps card at a signing a few years back.
Topps gave Brady a card in the 2002 Traded set and skipped his sunset card in '03. I believe his last card is the only on Topps missed for him.
I'm going on a short vacation so this will probably be the last post till maybe Monday or Tuesday. I'm hoping the Mets will come back and deGrom will get his ring, but right now it's not looking good. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

Favorite Player Collection Pt. 2: 2005 Topps Brooks Kieschnick

I've always thought Brooks Kieschnick would hit a ton of homers in MLB. I remember his cards being hot in 1994 and 1995, but I was 10 or so and I didn't buy many packs of cards cause I didn't get allowance or anything, and I never pulled a card of his until 1996. 

He got drafted in the expansion draft by the Rays in 1997 and I got his Rays card from a '98 Topps pack. I hoped he would do good for the Rays, but he didn't. 

He did get a chance with the Brewers a few years later, and made the most of it, becoming a great pinch hitter and also pitching for the club. 

I haven't ever seen a card with a player listed as a pitcher and a position player, although I do have 1 or 2 Draft Pick cards of players who pitched and played another position in college and has both sets of stats, but that's it. 

Kieschnick didn't get a Topps card after 1998, so we never got to see what a Pitcher/Outfielder card would've looked. Brooks did have a few Brewer cards from other companies, but no Topps version. 

This would've been his sunset card and even though '05 Topps doesn't list positions on the front, I think the photo makes it clear that he is a pitcher/outfielder. 

If I can figure out how to do the photo sillohuette from '04 Topps, I'm definitely going to do Brooks' card from that set. 

Hope you enjoyed part 2 of my Favorite Player Collection. Thanks for checking out my site. 

-Jeremy

Missing Topps Cards: Mariano Rivera 1992 Topps, 1993 Topps, 1994 Topps Traded Update, 1995 Topps Traded, 1996 Topps

I had planned on doing the next cards in order numberwise, but I started making a few random Mariano Rivera cards, and decided to do a post where I completed his Topps run of cards. I did the 1992 card as part of my 1992 Topps blog. the others came as a request from REJ who writes Century 21 Topps Cards. I could've paired some great pitchers with Rivera in the 1993 card, but since Topps chose to post a player from each Minor League class, the pickings were slim. Topps already had a Coming Attractions card for the Yankees in the '94 set, but I decided to give them 2 more (including one with Jeter and Posada) in the Traded Update set. Rivera had a card with Lyle Mouton in the '95 Traded set, but didn't have his own card, so I gave him a Future Star card, and finally the '96 card pictures him with 3 borderline Hall of Fame pitchers. 

I have never been a Yankee fan, but I have a little respect for Rivera since he does alot of charitable work in his hometown. I'll try not to post too many Yankee cards on my blog, but I think I can live with a few of Rivera. 

In one of the next posts, I'll do another Missing Topps Card post of Jeromy Burnitz. I don't know how many of them I'll do, but I'll do a few at least to get the ball rolling.

1994 Topps Dale Murphy

Today's card is one that I've heard many people say that they wish Topps would've made. After spending the 1992 season with the Philadelphia Phillies, Murphy signed with the Colorado Rockies as a free agent. He played for them in 1993, and then retired. Topps put Murphy on a '93 card with the Phillies in Series 2, but that was it.  Many players for the Colorado Rockies got cards in Series 2, but Murphy for some reason didn't get one. The '93 Traded set featued more Rockies, but Murphy was left out. O-Pee-Chee, Fleer Ultra, and Upper Deck gave him Rockies cards in '93, and as far as I know, he didn't get any cards from major brands in 1994.
Steve from White Sox Cards made a '93 Topps Traded card of Murphy, but as far as I know, nobody has made another sunset card of Dale.
I really wish Topps would make sunset cards of players no matter how crappy they do in their final season. I understand Murphy retired in 1993, but I'm not one to argue with history (except when it comes to putting the DH in BOTH leagues), and since Topps' first real recognized set in 1952 showed 1951 stats on the card, I believe that the current years' set should show the stats of the year before and therefore a player who retired in 1993 should get their last card in the 1994 set. It creates a point of disagreement with collectors, autographed set collectors, and even casual fans, but it is what it is.

I really have no rhyme or reason on which custom cards I will create next as you will be able to see in the next few posts, but I guess for now, I will be doing cards that sound like they would be fun to make, as well as trying to get some more cards made for weekly/monthy featured posts. The next few weeks might be slow as my work will be picking up for the holidays, we will be moving to a new place (hopefully with enough room for a man cave/baseball/music room), and we will be traveling to Talahassee next weekend. I will try to post cards when I can between work, church, moving, traveling, other commitments, and softball games. For anyone wondering, I went 2-4 with a run and RBI in my last game, and should've been 3-3, but I got robbed of possibly a double in my first AB and swung at ball 4 in my second. We still won and I hit the ball on the screws twice.
Thanks for checking out my blog.
-Jeremy

Favorite Player Collection: 1999 Topps Mike Simms

Mike Simms didn't become a part of my favorite player collection until after he retired. I probably saw him play a few times on TV while he was with the Texas Rangers, but never really tried to add his cards to my collection. 

Fast forward to 2005 or so. I started collecting autographs through the mail. When I saw that Simms was a good singer, I decided to send him a few cards to get signed. While choosing the cards, I looked at some of his minor league stats, and he had some great power numbers in the minors. So I sent 3 cards along with a letter with a Bible verse at the end, and a few weeks later, I got an envelope back. Mike signed the cards and wrote a nice note with the cards. After that, I decided to collect Mike Simms cards. I have added a few more to my collection over the years thanks to COMC, and now I can add this 1999 Topps card to my collection. Topps didn't have any Simms cards after 1992 if I'm correct, so they missed out on his final years as an Astro, his career season with Texas in '98, and missed out on making his sunset card (2000).

Hope you enjoyed this post on one of my favorite players. I will be adding many more cards of favorite players in the future. Later this week, I'll post a card that many bloggers have wanted made and Braves fans in particular will be able to cross it off of their want lists. Thanks for checking out my post.

-Jeremy

Coaches Center: 1993 Topps Larry Hisle/Rich Hacker

This card is the first card in a segment I will be calling "Coaches Center". In each one, I will make a card of a coach or coaches that Topps left out of one of their sets. Since Topps hasn't produced coach cards in many sets, I should have plenty of ones to choose from.

I used the 1993 Topps Managers design, and had coaches from the same teams on the same card (with the managers in the set, Topps chose to do 1 from the AL and one from the NL on a card). It turned out pretty well, I think (thanks GIMP!), and I might have to use the design to make a '93 Topps Traded Dick Pole card for the Dick Pole Project). 

Larry Hisle payed for the Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins, and Milwaukee Brewers from 1968-1982. He came to the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992, and won the first of 2 consecutive championships with them as their hitting coach.  

Rich Hacker played 1 season for the Montreal Expos (1971), and then went on to coaching. He was the St. Louis Cardinals 1st Base Coach from '86-'87, then coached 3rd base from '88-'90. He went to the Blue Jays from their, coaching with them from '91-'93. He was fairly successful, winning 2 titles with the Jays, and appearing in a World Series with the  Cardinals in '87.  He also has a card I made for the 1992 Topps set (on my other blog, I have completed the '92 Topps set by giving a card for every player and coach that Topps didn't have in that set). 

I hope you enjoyed the first segment of Coaches Center. Hang tight, because I have 1 more card to post on Monday, and then I will show a card that I have heard a good number of bloggers say that they would love to see have made. Thanks for checking out my blog. 

-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 

1996 Topps Billy Ashley

So I've finally got back to making some cards after compiling a list of cards I want to make (as well as ones that others bloggers have made) from the 1989-2015 Topps sets. I'm going to number the cards with the number for the Topps set on the bottom left, and the number for my custom set on the bottom right, and not make backs for the cards.

I don't believe I've really discussed myself too in depth in this blog so far, so let me write a little about growing up, and it will make sense of some of the players I've chosen in my custom series as well as some of the sets I'm working on.

I was born in 1983 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1989, my grandmother in Florida sent a few packages with baseball cards in them. My first packs of baseball cards were '89 Bowman, Donruss, and Topps. I then developed an interest in baseball. In 1990 I moved to Lakeland, Florida, and started going to private school. The next year, I decided I was a Detroit Tiger fan since I had lived in Michigan and since the Tigers trained in Lakeland in the spring. I traded cards with friends and tried to get as many Tigers as I could. In 1992, I started buying packs of cards with my own money, and 1992 Topps was the first set I remember purchasing. So that was the main reason why I chose the 1992 Topps set as the one I would complete by making customs of the players Topps left out. I was pretty much a Topps guy after that. I kept buying packs and trying to get Tigers the next few years, and then in 1998, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays started playing. I went to my first Rays game in April that year, and the Rays became my other favorite team. I didn't have much spending money growing up (since my dad was constantly switching jobs and I had 3 younger sisters), but every chance I did get money, I would usually get baseball cards. I was a big fan of prospects growing up, many of which only played a few seasons in the majors. Many were players the Rays got in the expansion draft. Many played for the Lakeland Tigers, the Tigers single-A team in my hometown who I saw a few times a year. Others were just players I noticed from cards I had got from packs. Some of those players include Bubba Trammell, Brooks Kieschnick, Daryle Ward, Eddie Gaillard, Greg Whiteman, Todd Greene, Bob Wolcott, George Arias, Derrick Gibson, and Billy Ashley. In 1997, the first jersey cards came out and the year before that, so did autographed cards. I generally only bought packs of cards from Wal-Mart, and maybe a few a year from the hobby shop at that point, so I usually never got inserts, but still enjoyed collecting and looked forward to getting cards of my favorite players. Around my senior year, I had a job and used a bunch of my money to add cards to my collection, adding a complete set or 2, and getting my first certified autograph card in 2001. The next year, I added my first game-used card. Between 2002-2007, I got most of my packs the same way, but added a few complete sets to my collection. I also was able to purchase a few more game-used cards as I had a full-time job since 2005. I started collecting autographs on cards in 1996, and in '05 did the through-the mail thing up until 2011 or so. I moved to Alabama in 2006, and stayed there through '09. I really added some cards of my favorite players from www.comc.com in 2007, and that really helped me out. Moved back to Lakeland in 2009, and kept getting cards of favorite players and Tigers and Rays, as well as a few neat relic cards the next 2 years. Then, in 2011, I met my wife. She took up most of my time, and I decided to change how I collect around then. Instead of just buying packs and packs, I wanted to focus on collecting cards of my favorite players and teams. So now, I have a few binders of Tigers and Rays, a binder with rookie cards, season highlights, and special cards to me, and a binder of favorite players. Most of my albums are in storage right now until we get a bigger house, and that's cool. I buy a few packs every now and then, but not nearly as many as I used to, and I still go to COMC and look at new cards for my collections.
That was lengthy, but I think it explains why I like to do more customs of '90's cards, and why I do customs of some random players instead of stars. Hope you enjoy this 1996 Topps Billy Ashley

I have a new laptop!! (and updated some checklists)

I finally got a new laptop and have installed GIMP on it. On one of my next days off, I will definitely make some new customs, but for now, I have updated the checklists of every Topps set from 1989-2002 so far. Here is a link to the page. If you see a card that is missing, see a card that someone made that I have not given credit for, or if you see a card you want made, please let me know. I value the opinions of my readers, and hope to make this an enjoyable blog. Thanks for bearing with me as I did without a computer for a while.

-Jeremy

On the Disabled List for a few weeks...

Well, the bad news is that I think my laptop died. It gave me the 'blue screen of death' about a week ago, and I haven't been able to turn it back on without getting the screen since. I did, however, finish the fronts to every 1992 Topps card on my other blog before it died, so I guess that's a positive.
I may get a new laptop in the coming weeks, so hopefully that will happen, because I will definitely have enough space on it to install GIMP again, and I'll finally be able to not have to worry about drive space for a while.
While I'm without a computer to make cards with, I am trying to compile a list of potential custom cards to make in every Topps set from 1989 to the present. Mainly sunset cards, some manager, coach, and highlight cards that Topps missed, and cards from every World Series winning team (except for the Yankee$). I know many people think that for the 1995 Atlanta Braves championship team that I should make customs in the '95 Topps set, but I've never felt that way. Since the '96 Topps set came out in early '96, and showed stats from '95, I only find it fitting to make customs of the '95 World Champion Braves roster in the '96 set since it not only shows the '95 stars, but none of the roster in the '95 set would match up 100% with the '95 roster anyways. I like it that way. I can buy a pack of cards and re-live the previous years season.
With that being said, I'm making lists of players for every set and am up to the 2004 set. It's time consuming because I am searching for the rosters of world champions and also seeing if they had cards in the next years set, as well as trying to see if other custom cards have been made for anyone in the set as well. I probably have missed some customs, but if you see one I missed, let me know and I will definitely add it to my list and give the maker of the card credit. I have up to the '90 Topps set done on the page I made listing all the customs, and that will probably be the furthest I can add to it on my phone right now because blogger keeps messing with the cursor the further down the page I get, but I do have all of the cards jotted down on notebook paper, and just need to do 17 more sets and I'll be set. Then once I get a laptop, I'll make some cards. Please let me know if you have any requests for cards in those years and if I don't have the card down, I will put it on the list of cards to be made. Thanks for your patience and for checking out my blog.
-Jeremy 

Card #70 1989 Topps Checklist 7

I spent alot of time researching players today, and I think I finally have a decent list of players who Topps missed making sunset cards of in the 1989-2015 sets. I am going to keep doing the checklist cards, going year by year until I have posted all of them. In any years that I have traded cards, I will (hopefully) just add the traded cards to that years checklist. As before, I will try to include cards that are made by other bloggers and give them credit.
For the '89 Topps set, I already made the Kirk Gibson World Series Highlights, Charles Nagy Draft Pick, and Dick Pole coach cards, JT from The Writers Journey

made the Dave Concepcion cards, Nats Cards made the Olerud Traded card, and GarveyCeyRussellLopes did the Sutton, Soto, and Rhoden Traded cards.
I will try to make a page with the complete list of cards for every year and mark off which ones are already done (by me and others), and have that up hopefully by tomorrow.
Thanks for checking out my latest cards, and I promise, once I get past these checklist cards, I will have some more cool player cards in the future.
-Jeremy

Card #69 1994 Topps Checklist #5

Today, I compiled a list of all the 1994 Topps custom cards that have been made and a few that still need to be made. I have made all of the ones posted above except for the sweet Generation K Mets card, which a blogger named Jay posted at his site (which isn't online currently).
The '94 Topps set is difficult to make in my opinion because of the font style. It isn't my favorite set to work with, but there are some cool cards still to be done, like a Dale Murphy sunset card, a Torii Hunter rookie, and some neat highlight cards. I also have some cards done for the '94 Traded set (and '94 Traded Update set for a few replacement players), but I will list them seperately in another post.
Next up, I might work on some regular cards for the custom set (I have 2 done so far that need to be posted), and maybe in a few weeks I will post another checklist and info card (probably '96 Topps).
As always, thanks for checking out my blog.
-Jeremy

Card # 68 1990 Topps Checklist #7 (and what's been done so far in '90 Topps)

This post is going to be a little detailed, but hang with me. Card # 68 in my custom set as a pretty plain and boring 1990 Topps checklist (the last card pictured). I decided to make this card so I could attempt to list all of the potential custom 1990 Topps card. I plan on doing this with most other Topps sets as maybe part of a type of post (don't have a clue on what to call it). So far in my custom set, I have made custom 1990 Topps cards of Mike Schmidt (regular and All-Star), Bo Jackson, Dave Dravecky, Mo Vaughn, Pete Rose, and Guillermo Hernandez. I did a search online to see if anyone else made any custom '90 Topps cards that I had on my list and found a '90 Topps Tommy John done by GCRL. So I added that card to the checklist as card # 801. I won't be inculding it in my Jeremy's Custom Card set, since I didn't make it, but will add it to the '90 Topps checklist since it is part of the '90 Topps set and since it doesn't need to be done.
As I get more ideas for '90 Topps cards, I will edit the checklist, but now you have an idea as to how many legitimate players weren't given a sunset card in the '90 Topps set and cards that need to be done in that set.
I hope this was an informative post and gave you a glimpse into the '90 Topps set and what it is missing. I plan to do many more posts (and checklists) like this, probably doing the 1994 Topps set next. This should give me the opportunity to document cards that need to be made in '90's and '00's Topps sets and show which ones have been made by myself and other bloggers and which ones still need to be made. Thanks for checking out my blog. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
-Jeremy