Missing Managers Part 3: 1995 Topps Felipe Alou

Felipe Alou led the Montreal Expos to the best record in MLB in 1994 at 74-40. Unfortunately for everyone, the strike stopped the season and we never got to see if the Expos could win it all. We also didn't get to see Felipe's '95 Topps card as Topps stopped making manager cards after 1993. 

I took a regular '95 Topps card and added the picture, name, and changed the position to get this card. Not too much different than the regular card, but with the '95 design, there isn't much you can do without changing the design completely. I think it looks good and with a vertical back I could definitely distinguish this card from a normal player card in the '95 set. 

I've been working on making backs of cards on my '92 Topps blog, but don't worry, I won't leave this blog behind as I have about 20 cards already made and I am still working on new ones. Thanks for checking out my latest work. 

-Jeremy

Missing Managers Part 2: 1996 Topps Mike Hargrove

In 1994, Topps didn't produce any manager cards, the first time in forever that they didn't at least include a picture of the manager on a team card. I've made a few manager cards from the missing '94-'00 sets, and I really like how the '96 design turned out. I knew I needed something to distinguish the card as a manager one, and I decided to experiment with a bar ontop of the name, and I think it turned out well.
Mike Hargrove led the Cleveland Indians to the '95 World Series, which they ultimately lost the the Atlanta Braves in 6 games. Hargrove's Indians made it back in '97, losing again to the Florida Marlins in 7 games, with Game 7 going 11 innings long. Nobody knows what would've happened in 1994 had the season not gotten interrupted by the strike. I know of at least 3 simulated seasons with 3 different outcomes. Topps famously did their simulation and put the results on the back of their Cyberstats/Spectra Light parallel set. In their simulation, the Indians beat the Braves in the World Series. Dateline NBC did a sim, and theirs had the New York Bankee$ beating the Cincinnati Reds in the Series. I did one using Strategic Baseball Simulator, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Reds in the World Series.  One thing is for sure, Hargrove was a great manager, and he should've had a ring. Florida wasn't the best team in '97, and you could argue that in '94 the Indians were the best team going. I will probably make some more manager cards of Hargrove, maybe finish out his Topps run of cards by making his '94, '95, and '97-'00 cards.
I hope you enjoyed this missing manager card. Thanks for checking out my blog.

-Jeremy

Missing Managers: 1994 Topps Rene Lachemann

In the first segment of Missing Managers, I chose to make a 1994 Topps Rene Lachemann card. Rene got a card in the 1993 Topps set, but didn't get any cards after that since Topps didn't make manager cards from 1994-2000. This card was pretty simple to make because along with my laptop, I got the newest version of MS Paint. I didn't know Paint had updated versions, so once I got used to everything, it was a nice surprise. I have tons of more fonts to choose from (making some tough sets like 1994 that have difficult to replicate fonts a lot easier to deal with), and now the only things I really need GIMP for are rotating text and blurring colors.

I also made a card of Rene for my other blog , Completing the 1992 Topps set, where I am making a 1992 Topps card for every person who put on a uniform in 1991. Since Rene was a coach for the Oakland A's, he got a card in the set. I recently found out that I somehow missed 2 players in the (O-Pee-Chee) set, John Dopson and Nick Esasky. Dopson got in to 1 game in '91, and Esasky spent the year on the DL. I will be making those cards soon and hopefully it will finally complete the set.

Things have been crazy here, with me and my wife fighting stomach bugs and us traveling to Tallahassee, moving, and doing some dog sitting on top of that. If I never have to dog sit and live out of a suitcase and try to find stuff in somebody elses house, it will be too soon. I can't tell you how many times I've looked for a baking sheet, couldn't find it, settled on a really small one, pre-heated the oven, only to open the friggin oven door to find a clean full sized baking sheet just sitting there in the oven. Little things like that make me never want to leave my home again no matter how much someone pays me. And enough with my rant. I should be making some more cards later this week, including a '15 Topps Update Pride and Perserverance card of Bud Selig (spoiler alert: I don't care for the guy), and hopefully I'll post them this week. Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy