Coaches Center Part 4: 2001 Topps Jose Cardenal

Jose Cardenal gets my fourth coaches card, this one from the 2001 Topps set. I figured I'd do one from one of my favorite teams, so Jose and the Rays were who I picked. The 2001 Topps set featured manager cards for the first time since 1993, and I chose to use the manager design for the coaches as well. I think it works well and the hardest part really was changing the "G" in manager to a "C" and "O" in coach.

Jose played in the Bigs from 1963-1980, and coached from 1993-2003. For those of you wondering, yes, he did play (and coach) for the Cardinals.  He was part of the Rays staff from 2000-2001, after winning 3 titles with the Bankee$ as a coach. I had the pleasure of meeting him in 2012 at Rays fan fest, and I wish I would've had this custom made back then so I could show him and have it signed.

I'm counting down the days until the 2016 Topps release and I'm sure you are too. I'm hoping to run by Target on my lunch break at work on Wednesday and pick up a blaster if they have them. I hope to pull some cards of Jacob deGrom, Ben Zobrist, Cory Kluber, Sam Fuld, other players I collect that are in the checklist, Rays and Tigers, and hopefully maybe a jersey card or two (just as long as they aren't some manufactured crap that counts as a hit). I hope you pull all the players/teams/cards you are looking for on Wednesday and look forward to seeing posts about the '16 set. Thank for checking out my blog.
-Jeremy