Missing Topps Cards Part 5: Vladimir Guerrero (1995 and 2012)

Vladimir Guerrero played in the Majors from 1996-2011. He spent 1996-2003 with the Montreal Expos, 2004-2009 with the Anaheim Angels, 2010 with the Texas Rangers, and 2011 with the Baltimore Orioles. He finished his career with 449 Home Runs, and I think has a good case for the Hall of Fame. He could hit any pitch, had great power, a cannon arm, and I believe that he could've played for someone in the 2012 season, perhaps more, and that the owners colluded to keep players such as Jermaine Dye and Guerrero out of MLB for some reason. They were productive hitters, and I think they could've hit 15-20 Home Runs with a team, but never got a solid opportunity. 

Vlad got his first Topps card on a 4-player prospect card with Andruw Jones in the 1996 Topps set. He appeared in every Topps set through the 2011 set. He is in the 2012 Topps set, but it is a highlight card, and not a true sunset card. I chose to give Vlad the sunset card, as well as a 1995 Topps prospect card with Orlando Palmeiro, Alex Ochoa, and Mike Darr, Jr. to finish his career Topps run.

Work has been zapping my energy as well as life, so I haven't made a ton of customs lately, but I still am working on the 1994 set, and am finished through card 1004 now. I'm hoping to get a chance to work on more customs for a good while on Thursday night. Maybe I'll sleep too. Thanks for checking out my latest customs.

-Jeremy

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

1999 Topps Dennis Martinez

Until I made this card, I never realized that El Presidente played for so long. I assumed he came up in either 1980 or 1979, but he debuted in 1976, and played until 1998. I remember him pitching with the Cleveland Indians, and it was either 1995 or 1996 he went like 8-0 to start the season and looked like he wouldn't lose a game that year.

I had a chance to meet him when he was coaching for the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League. It was 2009 or so, and I was trying to get every card in the 1992 Topps set autographed. I brought Denny's 2 cards with me, and he signed them after the game. I have since stopped collecting autographs, but I will always remember when I got to meet El Presidente.

Denny's last Topps card came in the 1997 set, and he missed out on getting cards in the 1998 and 1999 sets. Here is his sunset card.

1993 Topps Outfield Prospects

This was a difficult card to make. I was hoping GIMP would have a wider variety of fonts, but it didn't, so it was difficult to use fonts on the back that were true to the original set. I don't know what I'm going to do for the 1994 Topps fronts...Topps left Manny Ramirez and Shannon Stewart off their 1993 set. Manny had a card in 1992 when he was drafted, and in 1994. Stewart was a high Draft Pick that year, but Topps chose to give Todd Steverson a card instead. Now they, along with Rondell White and Kevin Roberson (the best guy in AAA that I could find that didn't debut in 1992) have a card.