1994 Topps Traded Update Series #TU8 Chris Brown

Chris Brown played in the Majors from 1984-1989. He played with the San Francisco Giants from 1984 through mid-season 1987, and then was traded to the San Diego Padres in the Kevin Mitchell trade. He played with the Padres until the end of the '88 season, and finished his career with the Detroit Tigers in 1989. After his retirement, he signed as a replacement player for the Tigers during 1995 Spring Training while the '94-'95 strike was going on. He worked in Iraq after his baseball career, and passed away from injuries due to a house fire in 2006.

Chris's first Topps card came in the '85 Traded set. He got into the '86-'89 Topps sets, and missed out on a 1990 Topps card, as well as a card in my fantasy 1994 Topps Traded Update set to highlight his time as a replacement player. For those of you who don't know, the '94 Traded Update Series has the '94 Topps design, and is made as if it came out in 1995 and featured replacement players in anticipation of MLB playing the '95 season with them. I finished Brown's 1990 Topps card, so along with the '94 Traded Update card, Chris's career Topps run is finished. Here is the 1990 Topps Brown card.

I have been working on checklists and templates a bunch lately. I have all of the NL cards (besides highlight ones) done in the 1983 Topps set, and they are all posted on the FB Custom Card Page. I have done a few team checklists in the '98 Topps checklist, I have done a few templates/team checklists (with the help of Paul B.) on the '88 Topps set (I will post the page link soon), and I saved the best for last. I know everyone and their mom it seems loves the 1987 Topps set. Everyone remembers collecting it and it is famous for the wood grained borders. I worked on creating templates for the whole set, and posted the checklists for all of the coaches of the NL teams. Here is the link to the templates/checklist page. The templates are in .png form. The only thing I ask is if you are wanting to make cards off of the checklist for the set is that you use the templates I made and NOT the ones you can make from the Topps website. I made the templates from the actual '87 Topps cards, so the logos are exactly like the ones in the set, and the colors are the same as well. If you need the templates in .jpg forms or anything that can be created by using MS Paint and GIMP, I can e-mail them to you. I just hate how the custom Topps '87 cards made from their website look for some of the teams. I have coach templates made for them, and also have a file with a 'Future Stars' logo that can be cut and pasted onto templates as needed. I will keep adding cards to the checklist, so check back soon. 

Thanks for checking out my latest customs.

-Jeremy

Favorite Player Collection Part 15: 1990 Bowman 529 Steve Sharts

The latest card I've made for my Favorite Player Collection is a 1990 Bowman Steve Sharts. Steve played organized baseball from 1985-1990, never making it to the Majors. I wish Topps would've made more cards of minor leaguers back in the '80's and '90's, because I would've loved to have a few more cards of Steve. I would love to get this one autographed, but it appears he hasn't had any ttm requests, and I don't have an address to send it to. There are, however, many websites that have wrote about him. Between Sharts and Dick Pole, I think the potty humor section in my collection is coverd. I have also made a 1994 Topps Traded Update card of Sharts, as he was a replacement player for the Blue Jays in 1995 Spring Training.

Thanks for checking out my latest customs.

-Jeremy

Favorite Player Collection Part 14: 1994 Topps Draft Pick Darren Dreifort

So now that Mr. Oddball is at it, I have to be careful with which customs I post. I would hate to start posting customs with watermarks on them, so we shall see. After my last post, I haven't seen any of mine on his page after viewing 20 or so pages, so I think were safe, but I don't trust the guy further than I could throw someone. With that being said, here is one of my favorite players, Darren Dreifort. 

Darren was one of the top picks in the '93 MLB Draft, and I thought he would be a great closer for the Dodgers, but he ended up being a starter for them, and had a few good years until he had arm troubles. He was left out of the 1994 set, even though he got '91 and '92 Topps Traded Team USA cards, and a 1994 Topps Golden Spikes Award card. Darren appeared in most Topps sets throughout his career, and I have most of them. I have him in my Favorite Player Collection just because I thought he would've dominated as a closer and I just thought he was larger than life when he was first drafted. I have his '92 Topps Traded Gold card, a Pacific Private Stock Game-Used Bat card, and a Upper Deck SP Chirography Autographed card as highlights in my collection. 

I've finished the 1983 Topps checklist, and it is up on the page, and just have a few more NL teams, and then most of the AL teams to make cards for. I'll be finishing that in the next few weeks/months, and then plan to work on the '98, '96, and '00 Topps checklists, before doing the '88, 87, and '86 Topps sets. Thanks for checking out my latest custom.

-Jeremy

Missing Topps Cards Part 5: Scott Pose AND A WARNING TO MR. ODDBALL

I have followed Scott Pose since 1992 when he was drafted by the Marlins in the Expansion Draft. In 1993, I got a card of Pose out of a pack of '93 Stadium Club and noticed that he stole a ton of bases. I figured he would steal 50 bases a year in the Majors if he ever got a shot. I don't know where I got it, but I ended up with a 1993 Upper Deck card of Pose with a gold Marlins 1st year logo on it. Pose didn't get much playing time with the Marlins, but he did end up hooking up with the Yankees in 1997. Unfortunately, he didn't end up on any of the Yankee championship clubs, but it did get his name out there, and he played with the Royals in 1999 and 2000 before finally retiring. 

Pose only got a 1993 Topps Traded card, so I made his '94, '98, '00, and '01 Topps cards to finish his career Topps run. I printed out the '98, '00, and '01 cards (somehow forgot the 1994 card) and mailed them to Scott in hopes that he would sign them and offered to send more if he wanted them. We'll see how that goes. I also mailed out some customs to Scott Sullivan, Dan Boone, and Juan Gonzalez and hope to hear back from them as well. Here are the Pose customs.

As most of you probably know, the previews of the 2018 Topps set came out, and to be honest, I think it looks like 2017 Bowman and a waterslide had a kid. Maybe they will look better once more come out, but I'm really starting to think that we are in for a crap fest this next decade unless something drastic happens. With that being said, I made a 2018 Topps custom of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and also sent it to him in hopes of getting the first 2018 Topps card signed. 

One final note, I know I'm not the only one this has happened to, but this douchebag known as Mr. Oddball on eBay has been taking my customs and selling them. I have seen my '84 Topps Orel Hershiser,  '86 Topps Mark McGwire, Barry Larkin, '88 Topps Ken Griffey, Jr., Craig Biggio, '90 Topps Mo Vaughn, '91 Topps Jeff Bagwell, Jim Thome, '93 Topps Stadium Club 1st Day Issue Derek Jeter, and '00 Topps Albert Pujols for sale on eBay, and that was just about 2 weeks ago when I checked, I'm sure there's more. This guy has taken customs from the late Bob Lemke, John from Cards that Never Were, When Topps had Balls, among other sites and basically claimed that they are his work, and made thousands of dollars with them. I am pissed. Not that I have room to talk since the photos I used aren't mine, but I'm pissed that this douche claimed that he made the cards, didn't get permission from me to use them, and that I took many hours to make them and he is making money off of my labor. To make things worse, he is taking customs from a deceased person. To be clear, THESE CUSTOMS THAT I MADE ARE NOT TO BE COPIED AND SOLD!!!!  MR. ODDBALL DID NOT CREATE ANY OF THE CUSTOMS SEEN ON THIS BLOG AND HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO SELL ANY OF THEM AND HE HAS NEVER ASKED ME TO USE THEM!
If you want to use the images for your personal collection, please e-mail me and ask. I will probably be more than happy to grant permission as long as they aren't used for profit or sold. If this keeps on happening, I may start putting watermarks right on the faces and names of customs that I think have the potential to be stolen. If you try to steal my customs, I'm gonna make them look like shit. Don't mess with me Mr. Oddball! You will be sorry and I will send your sorry ass to jail. I will sue you until you bleed and make your family feel it. You have been warned!

To all my readers who just visit to see the newest cards, I sincerely thank you!  All of the nice comments and encouragements (not only here, but on other sites as well) motivate me to keep doing these customs, and I wouldn't keep making these if not for the joy that others get from seeing them. I truly appreciate anyone who has just stopped by this site to do nothing but look at new cards. I feel honored each time I check my stats and just see that people have come by and looked at my stuff. Thanks for everything.
-Jeremy

The 1994 Topps set is complete!!

After a lot of work, I finally finished the missing players from the 1994 Topps set. It was actually finished a week and a half ago, but our internet at the house went out, and we've had a heck of a time getting it back. It is back and and now I am able to do some long-awaited custom work. 

The guys on the Custom Cards FB page have been doing tons of customs, and one of the members of the group, Marc, asked me to help him finish the 1983 Topps set that he is using for his sim baseball league. I took him up on the offer, and you will notice the 1983 Topps reference page, as well as a 1986 Topps reference page. I'll have a lot of work to do on checklists for a while, still needing to finish the 1997, 1998, and 2000 Topps checklists, the '83 and '86 sets, and probably the '87 and '88 Topps checklists just for the heck of it. My main focus right now will be working on the '83 set. 

Here is the 1994 Topps set. Thanks to Richard, Paul, Michael, and all of the guys on the Custom Card FB page who helped out on it. *EDIT* I have also completed the 1994 Topps Traded set. It is posted below the main set.

-Jeremy

1994 TOPPS TRADED SET