1994 Topps Nolan Ryan/Robin Ventura Highlight

In 1993, Nolan Ryan was playing in his 27th and final season. His Rangers were playing the White Sox on August 4th, and Ryan, who had a few grudges against Ventura and the White Sox, hit Ventura with a pitch. Ventura started walking to first, and then turned and charged the mound. Ryan managed to get Ventura into a headlock, and started wailing on his head before teammates came along and the fight got broken up. I remember hearing about it on the news for the next few days.

I decided to do a highlight card of the famous fight. I used a 1994 Topps pre-production card of Ryan for the front. The area above the color bar underneath the name is brown on this card, unlike the regular cards in the set, which are green. I think I might stick with that design if I end up making more 1994 Topps highlight cards.

Thanks for checking out my custom cards.
-Jeremy

What I have been doing besides customs lately

I thought I would use this post to let you readers know what I have been mostly doing during my off days besides making custom cards.

Around age 6 or 7, my Dad got a Commodore 64 computer. My Uncle Tom was a big computer geek, and I think he encouraged my dad to get it. Whenever we would see my uncle, he would give us floppy disks with games on them. One of these games was Hardball, which came out in the mid '80's, and is one of the all-time best baseball games in my opinion. I played Hardball for hours on end as a kid. Somewhere between middle school and college, the Commodore disappeared (I think my Mom threw it out). Around 2002, I downloaded a C64 emulator, and I was back to playing Hardball again.

I have always played with the Champs (Blue team), and have always wanted to know what kind of stats the team would put up in a 162 game season. I had incorporated the Champs into many baseball simulation programs, but never had got stats from playing 162 games and keeping them. In 2011, I came across a post on a C64 forum where the author, Doomtints, actually played 162 games with the Champs and kept stats. He played the game with the DH rule in effect. If you know anything about Hardball, you know that the hitter's skills depend not on who they are, but on where they are in the batting order. I always played without a DH (contrary to my beliefs about MLB), so I wanted to get the stats without it. So, sometime this year, I started playing the games and keeping stats. I just finished game #142, and with 20 games left, Doomtint's stats are pretty spot-on. I am a tad better Win-Loss wise, but that could change at any time. My pitchers have better W/L records, and better ERAs, but I have been walking many of the All-Star hitters, so my Walks are WAAAAAAY worse, and my Strikeouts are below his. The hitters are probably going to be a little weaker stat-wise that his, but I think many of them will end up posting similar stats. I am hoping to get game 162 played by the end of the year, and if not by December 31, then maybe have all the stats sorted out and posted on the C64 forum (my screenname is Jeremya1um).

So that is basically what I have been up to outside of making customs. How about any of you? Have you ever played Hardball? Do you even know what a Commodore 64 is?

1994 Topps Joe Carter World Series Highlights

This is another World Series Highlight card that Topps missed between 1982 and 1997. Most people know the story, but if not, I'll refresh everyone's memory. The Toronto Blue Jays were up 3 games to 2 on the Philadelpha Phillies in the 1993 World Series. They were down, however, by the score of 6-5 with runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out when Joe Carter stepped to the plate. He belted a Mitch Williams pitch into the seats for a World Series-winning Home Run. The Jays won the championship, and that has been their last appearance in the playoffs.

I decided to use the Blue Jays design from the 1994 Topps set for the front, and use a horizontal back without a picture cutout. As I have said before, I think 1994 Topps is one of the hardest designs to work with as a custom card maker. I will be using it again soon, as the next card is a 1994 Topps highlight card of the Nolan Ryan/Robin Ventura fight.

1995 Topps Kenny Rogers Highlights

Topps didn't make Season Highlight cards from 1985 up through 1996. This is my take on what a 1995 Topps Season Highlight card would look like.
Kenny Rogers pitched a Perfect Game on July 28, 1994 against the Angels. I remember being 11 and hearing all about it on the news the day after. A few years later, in 1998, I went to a Tampa Bay Devil Rays game and got to meet Kenny. He was playing with the Oakland A's, and they were playing the Rays, and after the game, Kenny went to the third base side and started signing autographs. I had his 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection card, and had it ready to be signed, when this lady got my attention. It turned out to be Kenny's mom, and she had never seen the card I had, and offered to trade it for one of the cards of Kenny that she kept in her purse. So I traded his '94 Pinnacle Museum Collection for his '90 Upper Deck card, and got him to sign that one instead. It was kind of neat. I'm sure not many people have traded cards with a ballplayers Mom, and I was happy to give her a card that she hadn't seen before.

Like this one, a few of the last cards in Series 2 will be Season Highlight cards. The next 2 are from 1994, and I'm not sure how to change the fronts, but I think I have some ideas. Stay tuned for them in the next few days. Thanks for reading my blog.

-Jeremy

2008 Topps Buster Posey Draft Pick

Well, the Royals didn't win, so that means card #43 will be this 2008 Topps Buster Posey Draft Pick card. I was really pulling for the Royals, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I will make a George Brett Pine tar card soon, though. Congratulations to the Giants.

1987 Topps Traded Edgar Martinez

Edgar Martinez's first appearance on a Topps card came in 1990. He could've got a card in the 1988 or 1989 set, and if not in the regular set, then maybe in the Traded set. Omar Vizquel appeared in the 1989 Traded set, and he made it to the Majors only a year after Edgar. I decided to give Edgar a card in the 1987 Topps Traded set. He put up some good numbers in the fall of 1987 with the Mariners, and it's concievable that Topps could've put him in the '87 Traded set.

On another note, the Royals won Game 6, so that means I will know tonight who will appear on the next card. I'm thinking that if the Royals win, instead of doing a 1973 Brett/Schmidt/Cey card, I might to a highlight card of the Pine Tar game. That might be fun. Hopefully the Royals can pull it off tonight.

1989 Topps Charles Nagy Draft Pick

Got back from my trip yesterday, and had time to make this card today before I go to work. Charles Nagy was one of the most solid pitchers for the Cleveland Indians in the 1990's. He won 16 in '95, 17 in '96, and helped them make it to the World Series that year. I met him a few times over the years at Indian Spring Training games in Winter Haven, Florida, and he was always nice, signing autographs and being pretty fan-friendly. He was one of 3 players the Indians picked up in the first round in 1988. Mark Lewis was the first, and he was given a 1989 Topps card. Next came Nagy, who wasn't given a card, and last came Jeff Mutis, who wasn't given a 1989 Topps card (but who I did make a http://completingthe1992toppsset.blogspot.com/2014/07/1992-topps-jeff-mutis.html of).

So now Charles Nagy has his 1989 Topps Draft Pick card. Card #42 is a 1987 Topps Traded Edgar Martinez, and depending on if the Kansas City Royals or the San Francisco Giants win the World Series, card #43 will either be a 1973 Topps George Brett/Mike Schmidt/Ron Cey card, or a 2008 Topps Buster Posey Draft Pick card. I personally hope the Royals win, just because most of the players on the Giants already have 2 rings, and most of the Royals haven't won any. I do sympathize with Tim Hudson, but I'm rooting for the Royals.

I do think the 2008 Posey Draft Pick card would be fun to make, and making that card unlocks an even bigger can of worms: Since Topps can't make a card of a player until they are on the MLB roster, they wouldn't have been able to make this card in 2008. But, if Topps gave every #1 draft choice a Bowman, and then once they made the Bigs, issued their "true" Topps Draft Pick card in a Topps Archives set, and gave it all the bells and whistles that previous Topps Draft Pick cards had before 2006 (autographs, Chrome/Refractors, maybe serial numbering), would those cards carry their weight as if they were issued during the player's draft year? I would personally get them to complete my Topps run of the player. Would MLB frown upon the practice? Would the cards just be considered another regular card of the player? I don't know, but I intend to make a few just to see what people think. Thanks for checking out my blog.
-Jeremy