Imagination Reclamation

We take our custom cards seriously around here. At one point we had a whole separate page of this blog dedicated to custom cards from around the Web. And while that page went the way of much on the Internet, our love of customs remains. Here are a few of our favorites we've created over the years, and don't forget to check out our new page presenting the 1978 Topps "Traded" set all in one place...

Choose Your Own Adventure... Fleer

Every Halloween for the last few years, the blog Thorzul Will Rule has hosted a custom baseball card contest. The Nightmares on Cardboard contest has seen some amazing submissions. Each year I am surprised at the creativity that goes into his readers' creations.

I'll admit I have entered a few times. I don't like to brag*, but I've won in the past. I was happy to find out that I won this year's contest too. I wanted to share my entry with the faithful readers of The Baseball Card Blog.

In the past, it would have been easy to share: One post, a few scans of custom cards. This year is a little more difficult... I made quite a few cards. If you read the contest results, you'll see that this year's victory was not much of challenge. There were only two entries. No offense to the runner-up (I loved - LOVED - his entry), but the PunkRockPaint team spent a lot of time and effort on our contest entry.

Each year, Thorzul picks a theme for the contest. The theme for this year's contest was "Fleer." I could think of nothing more horrific than 1991 Fleer. The boring design and the too-bright, yellow color made me hate this set the second it came out. I decided to share the horror with the world. I wanted to do something with cards that I had never seen before. After brainstorming ideas for a couple days, a lightning bolt of inspiration struck...

I decided to make a set of Choose Your Own Adventure cards. Making custom cards is what I do. Writing is not my strong point. Luckily, PunkRockPaint's Vice President of Deep Thoughts, Michael Sherrillo, was willing to devote a few days of his life to help write the story. Since the contest is run by a Brewers fan, and we wanted the story rooted in history, I picked an actual 1990 game around which to base the story. July 23rd, 1990, a Brewers 13-0 victory over the Red Sox, was the game I chose. For the contest, each card was resealed into a separate wax pack of 1991 Fleer cards, stacked back in their original box.





It is a pretty entertaining journey (if I do say so myself.) Fans of the Milwaukee Brewers will find a couple of inside jokes (provided by PunkRockPaint intern and life-long Brewers fan, Matthew Schuster).



If you would like to check the set out, please go to the first card.


*Braggin

What Ben's Thinking About

It's no secret: my interest in collecting sports cards waxes and wanes like the cycles of the moon. But there are certain things about the hobby that pique my interest. Here they are for the week of June 15, 2013.

1. I'm still marveling at the profile page our own Travis Peterson got in June's Beckett Sports Cards Monthly. Hey Topps, how long before you wake up and give this guy some sketch cards in a new product? 

2. My excitement for Topps Heritage 2014 is palpable. Not too long ago I finally put the finishing touches on my 1965 set, and since its one of the more popular Topps years, I wonder if the company is also counting down the days till its release. I'm convinced that it will be a surefire hit, especially if they include a full 72-card Embossed all-stars insert set. The Heritage line has seemed like it's been phoning it in the past few years...

3. I bought some Topps Tiffany cards a few weeks ago. No wonder I lusted after these cards as unattainable in my youth—they still look great; glossy and bright as the day they were born. Too bad the last owner was definitely a smoker. I never it would matter much if a previous owner smoked, but you can tell just from one sniff. It's kind of gross.

4. One of the biggest steals of the last few years has to be sealed Topps buybacks on eBay. Head over to our Facebook page and watch my pack break if you don't believe me. I paid $2 for that sealed pack on eBay.

5. I'm debating which vintage set to collect next. The choices are 1953, 1954, or 1955 Topps, or 1988 or 1989 Topps. I know what you're thinking: Why would anyone willingly spend money on junk wax? Well, I must've put together at least three full sets from both years back in 1988 and 1989, but I didn't save any of them. And it turns out that as I put together the mega master sets for 1986 and 1987, I'm reminded how much I like the designs from 1988 and 1989. And it would be super-cheap to accomplish, even without plunking down the $7 for a factory set.

6. I'm not sure how others feel about 2013 Topps Archives, but I don't really like the idea of mixing sports designs. Topps Basketball had some great designs in the 1970s, but that doesn't mean I'll take a shine to seeing Ted Williams on a 1972–73 card. Is it that they feel they've tapped the well of baseball designs too many times?

7. I just re-read Ken Kaiser's autobiography Planet of the Umps. Definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, lively read. Makes me sad that umpires never got into a major baseball card set after 1955 Bowman. Maybe that will be our next great custom set...

8. Can I consider my 1976–79 mega master Topps sets complete without custom cards from Bob Lemke?

9. Since Topps has included mini cards as an insert set the past few years now, what will be the throwback design for 2014? My money's either on 1965, as a tie-in to the Heritage set, or a set from the 1990s, like 1992 Bowman. Or they'll pull an Upper Deck and steal a classic design from a one-time competitor. Who wouldn't love mini 1984 Donruss?

Old Hoss 100..

Once again, I need to apologize for being away so long. This time I have a better excuse. Well, maybe not better, but at least it is baseball card related. I have spent the last couple months finishing my first baseball card set. The amount of work was a little overwhelming. I only made 84 sets, but designing, printing, cutting, boxing, and shipping took most of my free time over the course of two months. After printing and shipping costs, I made a tidy profit. I calculated my hourly wage at 55 cents an hour. While that is less than most prisoners earn making liscense plates, I earned mine doing something I love.



I really enjoy making fake baseball cards, so I took the (not so big) leap to making "real" cards. The inspiration for the set was the amazing writings of America's foremost, undead, Base Ball Hall-of-Famer, Chas. "Old Hoss" Radbourn. If there are any of you that are not familiar with the twitter legend @oldhossradbourn, you really are missing the boat. Consistently hilarious and insightful, Old Hoss tweets like he lived (lives?). He is able to squeeze social commentary, profanity, and insights about the modern version of America's pastime into 140 characters. Simply amazing.

A couple of months ago, ESPN released a list of their top 100 baseball players. Never one to miss an opportunity to tell it like it is (was?), Old Hoss provided his unique perspective for each choice. Over the course of 48 hours, he had burned through the "top 100" like Sherman's march to the sea.

A few of my favorite tweets:

#88: "Pop" Anson. __________________ The space above that line is white, just like the game that filthy racist insisted we play.

#83: M. McGwire. Would be ranked higher but angered all the scribes when the fellatio they gave him in 1998 gave them oral cancer in 2005.

#68: J. Bagwell. It is nigh time to acknowledge the unspoken truth: while batting he looked like a defecating monkey.

#32: B. Gibson. A man of epic stature, endurance, and mean-ness who failed to fire one right through T. McCarver's face.

#31: C. Ripken. Shockingly rude of him not to catch Cal Ripken's Disease and pass away before breaking L. Gehrig's streak.

#11: H. Gehrig. True story: pummeled W. Pipp half to death with a shovel then stoically submitted his application for the open job at 1B.

Reading the backs of baseball cards has always been one of my favorite things. Turning these priceless gems into baseball cards had to be done. I decided to let the quotes speak for themselves. The only "stats" on the backs of the cards are his tweets.



I wanted to give my customers a little something extra, so I made some special short printed cards. Several people have asked for a complete checklist, so I figured there is no better place to post it than here at the World (Wide Web) Famous Baseball Card Blog.

There are twenty five "Not Quite" Top 100 player cards (each hand-numbered to 10 copies), but those are listed on the checklists included with the set. The unlisted short printed cards are as follows:

Old Hoss Quotables - (Hand-numbered to 5)
1. The Scribes
2. J. Morris
3. M. Miller
4. M. Trout
5. M. Cabrera
6. MVP
7. E. Tate
8. Balls
9. Champagne
10. Hitters
11. A. Chapman
12. L.W. Jones
13. J. Kruk
14. Trades
15. The Enemy
16. The Law
17. J. Profar
18. Fan Fest
19. M. Kelly
20. The DL
21. Injury
22. C. Arthur



Short Print Checklist - Alternate photos or card backs (Hand-numbered to 5)
2. W. Mays
35. Secretariat
41. P. Martinez
55. R. Jackson
60B. O. Smith
60C. O. Smith
60D. O. Smith
65. E. Murray
72. B. Blyleven
73. R. Alomar
74. B. Larkin

 

 

The only really tedious aspect of the sets was the boxing process. Sorting and boxing up the cards wasn't much fun. (That might explain the disarray of my own collection of cards.) I designed, cut, and assembled my own boxes. Here are a couple of pictures of my "assembly line."

 

The cards facing up were miscut at the printer. I had to have quite a few reprinted.

 

I had a blast making these cards. I wish I would have saved one for myself.

 

If you missed out on getting a set of these, I'll make sure to post about the next set HERE first. It worked so well last time, I am proud to say that I'll be working with @oldhossradbourn again. We have started working on the set, and plan to formally announce the set around opening day of the Base Ball season. I promise it will be spectacular.



EXCLUSIVE Pack Break...

It has been so long since I last posted, I feel the need to ease back into it. What is easier than buying a pack of cards, scanning, copying any interesting facts on the backs, dumping it into a blog post. I'm hoping this mindless exercise will get me back in the flow of regular posting.

Everyone does pack breaks of the latest-and-greatest cards. I'm a little too broke to bust any vintage packs. I need to really wow the readers, so Ben and Mike don't fire me. Since baseball season has come and gone since my last post, I'm thinking I should avoid baseball cards.

Hmmm... This is still The Baseball Card Blog.

I think I have the perfect pack. 2011 Topps Heritage Video Game & Arcade Heroes. My local card shop had a whole mess of these in the bargain bin. At only $.50 a pack, it wasn't much of a risk. I suppose these didn't sell very well when they first came out. The shop owner seemed genuinely surprised when I bought a pack. I haven't seen a single one of these cards on the internet before - even on the blogs that post all kinds of crazy non-sports cards.

I think we have an exclusive here!

Here's what the pack looks like:

From what was in the bin, it looks like there are four different pack designs: Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man, and some guy from a fighting game (Mortal Kombat?) Of course, I went with Mario. I have to admit, I did a little "pack searching". I'm not one of those jerks that bring a scale and weighs packs, or even worse, bends them hoping to "discover" a relic card. However, I'm not opposed to choosing the fattest pack out of a dusty bargain bin.

Okay. Let's check out these bad-boys...

First card out:

 

Card #134 - Left Wall

I dig the 1978-style of the card. WALL? Video Game Hero? Ooooookay... Here's what the back says:

"Left Wall - Historical accounts shows the middle two walls the most favored for hiding beneath, the far left walls proximity to the edge of the field provided an important choke-point in later levels for the spaceship to inflict massive vertical column damage early on in the game."

Maybe the Wall was a hero. Maybe not.

On to the next card:

#73 - Rock

Rock? Are you kidding me? I couldn't get Mr. Dug himself! Those damn rocks killed me more than the stupid, fire-breathing lizards. Nothing but stats on the back. I'm assuming the column with the big numbers (DK) stands for Dugs Killed.

I get the design concept. The card design mimics the baseball cards from the year the game came out. 1978 = Space Invaders. 1982 = Dig Dug.

Moving on:





#100 - Mario!!!

Mis-cut with dinged corners... There goes the value.

 

#215 - Fan Twenty-Two

Lame. From the back:

"Fan #22 -Front row and 5 faces from the right, though not well known, it was this die-hard’s unyielding enthusiasm that helped inspire the shocking victory by Little Mac over King Hippo."

Granted, he's not more than a few dozen pixels, but it sure looks like he is wearing sunglasses. Front row, Tyson fight in '87... definitely a major celebrity. Looks a little like David Hasselhoff.

Next...

#239 - Dot No. Thirteen

 



 

I thought the Rock was lame... The back:

 

"Dot #13 in Pac Man - While most experts give the majority of credit to the power pellets, in level 5, - a white-knuckled moment... as all four ghosts surround Pac Man - this small dot allowed the defeat of the marginally fast ghosts. The last dot allowed Pac Man to advance to a level with marginally faster ghosts."

 

Truly... a hero. Shall we see if we can handle more disappointment:

 

#VGV-12 - Singe

Insert Alert!!! Video Game Villains mini card! Dragon's Lair was a cool game I remember as maddeningly difficult. According to the back of the pack, these odds of pulling one of these inserts were 1:24 packs. The checklist for the insert set is on the back of the card. I only recognize the names of five of the 25 subjects. I need to brush up on video game history.

 

#67 - Square No. 21

 



 

This is getting ridiculous. I'm fairy certain that's a cube. 1982 was a good year for infuriating video games.

 

 

Last card in the pack (finally):

 

 

#139 - Square

Well, at least it is an actual square. I've always thought of the square as a bit of an unsung hero. Let's see what the back has to say:

"Square Block - Tetris: After the long blocks erasure of the field, this square gave a double point score with an assist of two full lines. Though the game was ultimately lost, it was a memorable moment that will live in video game history."

I for one, am shocked that these cards didn't fly off the shelves. If nothing else, they got me back to posting.

Let me know if you have any specific requests for cards from this set. I'll see if I can "find" them for you.

(Thanks to my good buddy, Michael Sherrillo, for help with the card back quotes. If you want to buy these cards, I'm sorry. I made them up. That's quite a compliment. Thank you. You have very good eyesight to be able to read this.)

 



 





 



More PBS Cards From The National...

While he was still at the National Sports Collectors Convention, Ben sent me some more cards from my wantlist. These two had been on my list for over a dozen years.

1999 Topps Stadium Club Triumvirate - Luminescent

#T7A -Tom Magliozzi

1999 Topps Stadium Club Triumvirate - Luminescent

#T7B -Ray Magliozzi

Yup. That's right! Click and Clack... The Tappet Brothers from Car Talk on public radio. I don't even change the oil in my own car, but I love this show. It is consistently hilarious.

These cards were hard to come by back in 1999. The basic versions were merely Luminous. These more rare versions were Luminescent. Word around the campfire is that there were ultra-rare versions called Illuminators, but I've never seen one. (Good thing. I heard they were so refractive they would immediately blind you if you stared directly at them.)

As happy as I was that Ben sent me two of my favorite radio stars, there was something that made it even better...

It completed my Triumvirate!

Yeah. Back in '99 I pulled a Mo Vaughn. He had been lonely for so long...

Thanks again, Ben!







PBS from the NSCC...

Unfortunately, I was not able to travel with our fearless leader, Ben Henry, to the National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore. I'm getting married in less than a month. A prenuptial, cross-country journey to support my hobby was strongly discouraged. It's not that I didn't try to persuade her:

"Baby, it isn't just about baseball cards. It would also be important for the blog... Expand coverage, bring in new readers, get some great new ideas for posts..." I implored.

"When was the last time you posted on either of your blogs?" She asked.

Sooooooo... Needless to say, I am still in San Diego.

I really wanted to stay in touch with what was going on at the convention. Following the action on twitter was fine, but it was more voyeuristic than participatory. I felt the need to be a part of the action, so I asked Ben if he could find me some cool cards to inspire some new posts.

Ben has a pretty good grasp on what I collect, so I left it up to him to do the shopping. Here are the first two cards he found for me:

1968 Topps AS - Mr. Rogers

Ben certainly knows what I like! It isn't the famous '68 rookie card that he shares with Daniel Striped Tiger, but nonetheless awesome! Despite the all-encompassing amazingness that this card represents it isn't my favorite one that he bought for me...

1998 Topps Gallery of Heroes - Richard Lederer

This bad boy takes the cake! If you aren't familiar with Richard "Verbivore" Lederer, you really should be. Mr. Lederer hosted "A Way with Words" on PBS radio. I rarely made time to listen to a radio show, but from 1998 through 2006 I hardly missed an episode. The show was (and still is) wonderfully informative and entertaining. While Richard co-hosted the show it was amazingly pun-tacular. I love puns, and Mr. Lederer is the undisputed king of wordplay.

The Gallery of Heroes inserts from the 1998 Topps Gallery set were a pretty tough pull at 1:24 packs. I didn't buy more than three or four packs that year, and beat the odds by pulling TWO of them! Of course, both were Jeff Bagwell. Nothing against him, but I am pretty sure every insert card I got in the 90's was a Bagwell.

But I digress... Did you now that Richard Lederer is the father of poker superstars Howard Lederer and Annie Duke. Annie got a card in this year's Allen & Ginter set. Now I have a card of her dad too!

Thanks Ben!

I'll continue posting some of the best cards that Ben found for me at the National...

Maybe.

While I Have Been Away...

I really should apologize for leaving you without my silly custom cards for so long... But I won't. I'll just show you one of the projects that I have been working on lately.

Completing my submission for the annual Halloween custom card making contest over at Thorzul Will Rule, took up a fair amount of time. It is now past Veterans Day, and he still hasn't announced a winner. I didn't receive an honorable mention, nor did I place third or second... So I'm thinking if he ever gets around to posting the winner, I stand a reasonable chance of finishing in the top spot. (He's a new dad, so I imagine he is just a little bit busy. Congrats on creating a new Brewers fan, from all of us at TBCB!)

It has been a while since I sent in my submission, and I really like seeing my work displayed for the public, so here is a little preview:

Front

Back



It was a minor news story back in '85. You might have missed it. Zombies took over the art department at Fleer on Halloween evening. Apparently, the zombies made some interesting changes to the baseball cards for 1986 that the living designers had been diligently preparing for the following spring. (Note: the "living" designers were only living until, of course, their brains were eaten.) 

Word around the hobby campfire was that some of the Zombified cards made their way into wax packs in '86. I had not heard about them until shortly after the contest was announced. I was searching through a bargain bin at my local card shop looking for ideas, and I stumbled across the card shown above.

I decided at that moment I needed to find these so-called Zombified 1986 Fleer baseball cards to submit to the contest as my own work. It took several days of scavenging the internet, but I was able to purchase a complete pack of the Zombified cards on eBay for just under $90 (with FREE shipping from Romania!)

I'm not sure what the cards look like inside the sealed wax pack, but when they are revealed on Thorzul Will Rule, I will add a link here. WooHoo! I Won!

Happy Anniversary, Brady Bunch!

This morning, while watching the History Channel, I noticed an interesting tidbit scroll across the bottom of the screen. On this day in 1969, The Brady Bunch debuted. I watched a lot of Brady Bunch growing up. Actually, I watched a lot of EVERYTHING on TV growing up. But, I can't think of a television family that I have spent more time with than the Bradys. In honor of their 42nd anniversary, I decided to give the Bradys a gift. Coincidentally, the proper, traditional gift for the 42nd anniversary is cardboard*:

1969 Topps - #665 Rookie Stars Brady Adults

*Since I couldn't find a list showing the traditional gift for the 42nd anniversary, I had to assume it was cardboard... That's what I'd want. Oh, and apologies for Mr. Brady's position. I couldn't resist.



Monday Night Muppets...

I realize that this is a "baseball" card blog, but it IS the first Monday night of the football season. As a Chargers fan I am hoping that the Raiders lose. Unfortunately, the Raiders are playing the Broncos tonight. Since they can't both lose, I guess I don't care that much about the outcome.

On to the Muppets card of the week...

1962 - Tackle Me Elmo

I don't generally consider all puppets on Sesame Street to be Muppets, but this one was hard to resist. Stay tuned next week for the next episode of Monday Night Muppets*...

*If I remember to do one.

Blackout Lifted...

For those of you here in Southern California, welcome back from the darkness. Yesterday afternoon we experienced a massive power outage that stretched from Yuma, AZ to the coast; and up and down the coast from Orange County to Ensenada, Mexico. I was just getting ready to post on this blog when the power went out. Really. I swear.

To be completely honest, for me, the lack of power was amazing! First of all, I don't have air-conditioning. The 100+ degree weather was brutal, but the knowledge that nobody else had AC felt like a cool breeze. Secondly, my house does not have an elevator. No chance of getting stuck on my stairs! Thirdly, I was able to convince the kids out in the cul-de-sac to stop their noisy squirt gun battle and return to their homes immediately. I'm sure their parents appreciated my instructions to open their freezers every five minutes to make sure they weren't defrosting.

It wasn't all a bed of roses. Warnings were posted on twitter by San Diego Gas & Electric (thankfully my iPhone had a full charge) that the power would not be restored for at least 24 hours, and customers should immediately enact their Family Emergency Plans. Our emergency plan consisted of cooking hot dogs on the BBQ and quickly drinking all the beer in the fridge before it got warm. That was the extent of our plan, so I was looking for something to keep me entertained.

I tried to think of what people did before electricity. Aside from painting on cave walls and succumbing to the bubonic plague, I couldn't think of anything. It was starting to get dark, so I lit some candles and pulled out a box of baseball cards that needed sorting. I imagined a young man back in the middle ages doing the exact same thing. (Well, not exactly! He would be sorting soccer cards.) 

I got about half way through the box of junk wax treasures when I hit some real gems! Apparently, I had stashed some of my vintage Star Wars cards along with the baseball stuff. I rushed downstairs to scan the cards, but was disappointed to find that my scanner doesn't work without power. I had to wait until now to show you these amazing finds:

1962 Boba Fett Special

1970 Grand Moff Tarkin Booklet

1971 Greedo/Han Solo Tattoos (Graded 6!!!)

Power was restored early this morning, less than 12 hours after it went out... I wish I wouldn't have finished all those beers.

Punk Portraits in Penultimacy...

I was pretty excited when the Topps Allen & Ginter set came out this year. I do not collect too many "new" cards (with the exception of cards from my beloved San Diego Padres.) A&G has been one of my favorite releases for the past few years. The abundance of bizarre insert sets is one of my favorite things about Allen & Ginter.

This year's release has a truly great one. The Portraits in Penultimacy insert set cards come about one in every 12 packs. They aren't terribly rare, and are fairly cheap on the secondary market. I was giving some serious thought towards collecting the 10-card set... Until I saw the checklist...

I copied this from the awesome Baseballcardpedia:

Portraits in Penultimacy

PP1 Antonio Meucci
PP2 Mike Gellner
PP3 Dr. Watson
PP4 Igor
PP5 The Hare
PP6 Tonto
PP7 Antonio Salieri
PP8 Sancho Panza
PP9 Thomas E. Dewey
PP10 Toto

Topps sure missed the boat on this one. While I absolutely LOVE the addition of Mike Gellner, I can't believe they left out a classic baseball card tie-in:

PunkRockPaint's PP11 - Johnny Oates



Topps SNL Archives: the Barry Gibb talk show

So yesterday in Boston it was a soupy 95º F. I didn't do much, but I did make it down to my local shop on my All-Star Air Conditioned tour of the city (also on the tour: an early scope out of the ensuing Borders liquidation sale). I got some nice Red Sox commons I was missing (hello Russ Nixon) and this Jimmy Fallon (already in the 25-cent bin!).

Fact: Jimmy Fallon had a very hard time keeping a straight face in almost any sketch he was in on SNL. (Double Fact: Especially if he was in one with Horatio Sanz.) Even here, on the Weekend Update set, he looks ready to start guffawing it up. Fact: I always thought that by laughing or mugging for his friends totally got in the way of the essence of selling the jokes and nine times out of ten ruined the sketch. But that tenth time? That tenth time was when it was on The Barry Gibb Talk Show. No matter how many times he or Justin Timberlake cracked up, it could never ruin the joke. 

OK, on to the pack break.

SNL Archives #10 - Dana Carvey

SNL Archives #51 - George Carlin

SNL Archives #58 - Jay Mohr

SNL Archives #71 - Elton John

SNL Archives #95B - Jimmy Fallon/Barry Gibb VARIATION

SNL Archives #132 - Adrien Brody

This is easily the best pack I've opened so far. On the back of Brody's card it says he was banned after hosting because he did an improvised intro for the musical guest. Whatever happened to Adrien Brody, anyway? I think he was last seen acting smug in a beer commercial, if I remember correctly. Actually, "acting smug" pretty much sums up his career. 

Also, awesome that I got Dana Carvey and George Carlin in the same pack. And finally, the Barry Gibb variation. Totally great that Topps added variations (like the Farley Now With "ANGELS"). I can't wait to get my September Beckett. I wonder if they'll include this set (I mean, they included Donruss Americana for however many years it was made; let's just say I'd be surprised if SNL Archives didn't make it in, considering Topps' clout).