Buck Showalter's (almost) complete career Topps run

I have kind of gotten away from posting posts dedicated to individual players or managers on here, so I decided to post some custom cards I made of the first Arizona Diamondbacks manager, Buck Showalter. Buck was named the clubs manager in 1996, and could've got a card in the '96 set, but Topps didn't make manager cards again until the 2001 set. I’ve filled in the gaps, and have been able to give him a run of customs from 1994, when Topps ousted the Manager cards through the 2000 set, which was the last one Topps didn’t include managers in for a while. Throw in a 1992 Topps coach card, and I realize that I have a good number of Showalter customs.
Topps quit making manager cards in 2010 I believe, so Buck is missing a few cards since then, but I think these customs cover a good portion of Buck’s career. I will include his regular Topps cards, and label them in order to give you a full picture of his career, as well as label the customs I’ve made and point out missing cards.

1990 TOPPS TRADED Coach custom

(missing)

1991 TOPPS Coach custom

1992 TOPPS Manager

1992 TOPPS Coach custom

1993 TOPPS Manager

1994 TOPPS Manager custom

1995 TOPPS Manager custom

1996 TOPPS Manager custom (Yankees)

1996 TOPPS Manager Custom (Diamondbacks)

1997 TOPPS Manager custom

1998 TOPPS Manager custom

1999 TOPPS Manager custom

2000 TOPPS Manager custom

2001 TOPPS Manager


2003 TOPPS TRADED Manager


2004 TOPPS Manager


2005 TOPPS Manager


2006 TOPPS Manager


2007 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2010 TOPPS TRADED Manager custom
(missing)

2011 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2012 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2013 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2014 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2015 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

2016 TOPPS Manager custom

2017 TOPPS Manager custom

2018 TOPPS Manager custom

2019 TOPPS Manager custom
(missing)

There you have it, all of the Topps cards that currently exist, either in real or custom format, of Buck Showalter. He is just missing 1990 Topps Traded, 2007, 2010 Topps Traded, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Topps cards to complete his career Topps run. 8 cards is not bad for a guy who has been coaching or managing in the Major Leagues for just about every year from 1990-2018. Hopefully Buck gets back in the saddle sometime. He really deserves a good deal of the credit for the Yankee$ championship in 1996 and the Diamondbacks one in 2001. He got Baltimore into playoff contention, and is really a good manager. If $teinbrenner would've kept Buck one more year, we could be talking about Showalter going into the Hall of Fame, and Joe Torre would remind us more of Davey Lopes, a guy who had a decent career, but couldn't cut it as a manager. 

I have finished the 1968 Topps missing player checklist, and have made all of the templates for the set, so that officially leaves me with 5 more checklists before meeting my goal of having every missing player checklist from 1964-2001, along with 1951 and 1952. After those are done, I think I will get back to working on the 1993 Topps customs, and try to make templates for as many teams as I can for the sets I have missing player checklists finished on. Maybe sometime in the future, if it feels right, I may fill in the '53-'63 sets, but they will be on the back burner for now. If you feel like taking a stab at any of the '68 Topps set, give it a shot. All of the templates are there, and I have a link to a post on the sidebar on the basics on how to make a custom in MS Paint. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

1998 Topps Buck Showalter

Card #32 in my set has had a lot of changes made to it. Originally, I had planned to do a 1986 Topps Traded Greg Maddux. The 1986 is kind of blah and easy to do, so I decided to put off doing that card, and substitute it for a card that was towards the end of my set that I really looked forward to making.

Growing up in Lakeland, Florida, I remember in 1993 when the San Francisco Giants appeared to be heading to Tampa Bay, Florida. But Bill White decided that other potential owners from California could bid on the team even after the Florida group signed the contract, and the Giants ended up staying in San Francisco. I longed for a Major League team in Florida that was near me, and finally, in 1996, it was announced that Tampa Bay was awarded a franchise. I looked forward to it, and was excited to pull cards of the new Devil Rays players out of packs of (mostly) 1998 Topps. If I were a little older then and Check out my Cards were around, I would've spent a lot of money chasing those early Rays cards.

The idea popped into my head to give 1998 Topps cards for every player the Rays drafted in the 1997 Expansion Draft, as well as some of the Free Agents that didn't get '98 Topps cards. In one of the later series (12), I planned on starting to make those cards. I started off the series with a card of Larry Rothschild, the first manager of the Rays. After deciding to pull the 1986 Traded Maddux, I thought the '98 Topps Rothschild would be a great card to substitute. Then, last night, I toyed with the idea of doing a 1998 Topps Buck Showalter instead. He is more well-known, and I decided if his Baltimore Orioles beat my Detroit Tigers, that I would do the '98 Showalter. Well, Nelson Bleeping Cruz killed Detroit again, hitting another crushing Homer. I would like to think that when he had his 3-HR game in the 2011 ALCS that he didn't use steroids. I would like to think that he isn't on them now. It would be a shame that the 1 hitter who almost single-handedly crushed my favorite team's post-season hopes TWICE was juiced up when he did it. I do hope that Buck Showalter can get a ring finally. I think he really deserves his due. Plus, I would love to see my former high-school classmate Steve Pearce get one too. I think the Orioles can beat the Royals (although it would be sweet to see the Royals make it all the way), and they have a shot against some of the NL teams. I would hate to see the Giants or Cardinals win another title, don't really care for LA, but would love to see Washington win a title. We will all know who wins in a few weeks. For now, here is a 1998 Topps Buck Showalter card as promised. Congratulations on beating my team!