1994 Topps #879 Mile High Vets

 Today's card is a rarely seen 1990's Topps combo card. Adam from Infield Fly Rule suggested that I make a card pairing Dale Murphy and Bryn Smith, both guys who spent their brief last season with the Colorado Rockies in 1993. Both Smith and Murphy didn't get Topps cards in 1994. Here is the card I made of Smith

 and Murphy,

along with the posts on each card: '94 Topps Bryn Smith, 1994 Topps Dale Murphy.

I kind of wish Topps would've made more cards like this in their sets back in the '90's, but I guess we would've probably got sick of them, kind of like the mediocre ones they give us now. Still, I think some cards like these

 (not mine, but still a nice combo card)

would have been a great addition to some of Topps' sets in the '90's. There will probably be a few more combo cards that I will make in upcoming sets, so stay tuned.

I'm hoping to work on checklists and customs this week. I haven't got to make many last week, but I did get a few teams on the 1999 Topps checklist done, and I am going to work on some cards for the Netherlands team in the WBC set that is being made by the guys on the Facebook Custom Cards Group. I wish they could've won the game against Puerto Rico, but I'm glad that the US won in the Finals. Makes me kind of wish I still had my autographed Adam Jones rookie right now.  I bet the Mariners are pissed that they traded him to get Eric Bedard back in '08 or so. Thanks for checking out my latest card.

-Jeremy

1994 Topps # 832 Bryn Smith

It's been a little bit since I've posted a single card, so here is a 1994 Topps Bryn Smith. Bryn came up in 1981 for the Montreal Expos. He played with them through 1989, then went on to the St. Louis Cardinals from 1990-1992. His final season came in 1993 for the Colorado Rockies.

Bryn first appeared on a Topps card in 1982. It was a rookies subset card that he shared with Terry Francona and Brad Mills. He got his own Topps card in the 1983 set, and appeared in every set through the 1992 set. He also was in the 1990 Topps Traded set. He is now only missing a card from the 1993 Topps set to complete his career Topps run after I made his 1994 Topps sunset card.

I also wanted to show off my progress on a Brody Koerner rainbow of his 2016 Panini Elite Extra Edition card. If my research is correct, I have his base card #d/999, his Purple Aspirations card #d/200, his Red Status die-cut card #d/99, his Blue Aspirations card #d/75, and his Emerald Status die-cut card #d/49. I also got his Tie Dye Status die-cut autographed card #d/5 just because of the low serial number. I am trying to get all of his base parallel cards, but don't really care about the autographed ones. There is a Aspirations Tie Dye card I have my eye on, so if I get it, I will only be missing the Aspirations Gold 1/1 card, and his Status Black die-cut #d/99, Status Tie Dye die-cut #d/10, and his Status Gold die-cut 1/1 card. It might be tough to complete since 3 of the 4 cards that I don't have are either 1/1s or have only 10 cards produced, but I think if I search enough and get my want list out on enough sites that I can come close. I mentioned before that I am distantly related to Brody, and that I hope to see him later this year. If you have any tips on where I should be searching for my missing cards or if you know anyone who has opened '16 EEE and may have some one of the cards, please let me know.

I finished the 1996 Topps checklist and have worked on a few cards on the checklist in the last few days. Tonight I will hopefully be watching the Netherlands beat Puerto Rico in the WBC and be working on finishing all of the 1991 Topps Detroit Tigers so I can print them out and put them in my Tigers binder. 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

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