Customs from Richard Part 4

Recently, I have been trading emails with Richard, one of my readers, who has been making some customs. You can look here for some of the ones I've posted previously. I have been working on doing templates for every Topps set from 1989-2001 or so, and trying to send them to him, and he has been sending me cards that he has made from them, as well as others he has created. I recently finished the 1989, 1996, 2000, and 2001 Topps templates, and sent them over, and Richard sent me a 4 part e-mail with probably at least 200 cards he has made. I chose to include just a few because there were so many great ones to choose from, but these are some of my very favorites, as well as the customs he has made to knock some names off of my checklists.

A cool photo of the Wild Thing.

 Richard has been making some Hall of Fame year customs, which is a neat idea. I like the photos he found as well as the Hall of Fame logo on the cards.

 These cards were cool. An '80's themed set, which had a good number of players in it. He sent me the templates to it, and I might just have to start my own custom set and make more. He also sent some others with '90's players in it, which is right up my alley since I started watching the sport on TV around 1992 when I was 9.

 Some 2016 Topps customs. I especially love the Dock Ellis with the smoke effect, which kind of resembles marijuana smoke.

 Some 1989 Topps customs.

 1990 Topps.

 1992 Topps Traded.

 1996 Topps.

 1999 Topps.

 2000 Topps.

 2001.

 2002.

 2004.

 2007.

 And last, but not least, 2011 Topps.

I made a reference page for the 1989 Topps set since I have both the templates and the checklist finished. I keep ignoring the 2001 Topps checklist, but I'll eventually add the AL teams and make a page for that set as well, but I can do that at work, and I really want to get templates made while I still have free time before baby Kyler comes in a few weeks. Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

1993 Topps #833 Brian Downing

Brian Downing played for 20 years in the Majors. More impressively, he only played for 3 teams during that time. He came up in 1973 with the Chicago White Sox, and stayed with them until the end of the 1977 season when he was traded to the Angels. He remained with the Angels for the majority of his career, only spending the last 2 seasons of his career with the Rangers in 1991 and 1992.

Brian got Topps cards in every set from 1974 to 1992, missing only his sunset card from the 1993 set. He also got into the 1991 Traded set. This 1993 Topps Custom completes Brian's career Topps run.

Some interesting things I learned when researching for this post are that Brian played himself in an episode of 'The Jeffersons' in 1985, and that Brian has some cool cards with him wearing huge glasses in the 1977-1979 Topps sets. I might have to get them on my next COMC order.

I'm hoping to make a page for the 1989 Topps set at some point on Saturday. I'll post the complete checklist as well as templates. Next up is probably the 1990 set. I think I figured that there are at least 80 possible border combinations, with 5 colors (blue, green, orange, purple, and red) for the outside border, and 4 different varieties with each color (dark square on top left, top right, bottom left, and bottom right). When you get past that, then there are 5 colors for the team name and the box with the player name (blue, green, orange, white, and yellow). Each team only has 1 color, but it is still confusing. I think I may just stick with 2-3 different versions for each team. It's amazing the things you learn when making templates. Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

1997 Topps #505 Frank Viola

Frank Viola came up to the Majors in 1982 with the Minnesota Twins. He pitched with them until the 1989 trading deadline, when he was dealt to the Mets. Viola was a 20-game winner with the Twins in 1987, and also won a Cy Young Award, World Series title, and World Series MVP honors that year. He won 20 games in 1990 for the Mets, becoming one of only a few pitchers to win 20 games in a season in both leagues. After spending 1991 with the Mets, Viola pitched for the Red Sox from 1992-1994. In Spring Training in 1993, Frank and teammate Cory Bailey pitched a combined no-hitter against the Phillies. Frank spent 1995 with the Reds, and his final season was 1996 with the Blue Jays.

Frank appeared in every Topps set from 1983-1994. He also was in the 1992 Topps Traded set. The only cards Frank is missing are from the 1995-1997 Topps sets. This 1997 Topps custom gives Frank a sunset card, and leaves him 2 cards away from getting a career Topps run.

I finished the 1989 Topps templates, and am basically done with the checklist, with big thanks to reader Paul B. for helping me with them. Still haven't figured out whether I will make the checklists front and back. I'm leaning towards front and back and possibly printing them and putting them in my binders. Once I figure out how many checklists will be in the set, all I need to do is make a few All-Star cards for the managers and coaches of the '88 game, make some postseason highlight cards, and I will have the final total number of cards for the '89 Topps set. It's amazing that I'm a little over 2 years that I have completed 1 set (1992), and almost finished the checklists to 2 others (1989 and 2001), and completed templates for 2 others (1996 and 2000). This project is coming along faster than I had hoped, and I am grateful to all of the people who have helped out so far.
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

2000 Topps Albert Pujols/Josh Beckett Draft Picks

Today's card is one of those fantasy cards that Topps could've theoretically made had they had a crystal ball. It features Albert Pujols and Josh Beckett, 2 players who were drafted in the 1999 MLB Draft. This card could've been worth alot during Beckett's prime, and would still command a ton of value due to Pujols being on it. Pujols has been in every Topps set since 2001, so this would've been his first Topps card, and Beckett appeared on his first Topps card in 2002, and got one for every season he played. Josh's final Topps card, in the 2015 set is actually just a highlight card with a checklist on the back, so I may do a regular version of his 2015 card. Other than that, both of these players have their career Topps run finished with this card, although I may put Josh on a 2001 Topps prospects card if I find a few other players to pair with him.  This is actually the 2nd 2000 Topps card I've done of Pujols, as I've done a 2000 Topps Traded version of him during the early days of my blog. Here is the Traded card.

I have made a bunch of templates this week, and am only 5 away from finishing the 1989 Topps set. That will give me the 1989, 1996, 2000, and 2001 Topps sets, and I have a feeling that the '90 set as well as the 1997 sets shouldn't give me too much trouble either. I should get a chance to work on more on Monday night. Also, Richard, who has made some customs for me before, sent me some yesterday and is working on a few more batches, so once I get the rest of them, I will post them for you. Some of them aren't technically Topps cards, but they are cool and if I were ever to make a custom set to print out and put in binders, I would definitely include them, so stay tuned for them in a coming post.
It's been a while since my team had a softball game, but we did have one on Monday, and I should've just stayed home. I went 0-2 with a fielders choice, and a lineout to 2nd with the bases loaded. We lost 25-3, and during the 6th, I think the other team batted around twice, and they scored at least a dozen runs. I let a bouncing ball get through my legs that inning, but I was ok with just 1 error, as our shortstop made at least 3 that frame. Things have to get better next game. Thanks for checking out my latest custom.
-Jeremy