1986 Topps – Jason Varitek
With all the talk about Jason Varitek retiring tomorrow I thought that I would post a card that I made of him last season. This card was made with the intention of releasing it on the 25th anniversary of the Red Sox game six. Of course that never happened so I had it available to release today. (more…)
Bronzed Heroes – Dale Earnhardt
Since they are running the Daytona 500 today because of the rain delay I thought that I would post this card of Dale Earnhardt that I had made a while back. Part of the draw of going to Daytona USA was seeing this statue of Dale. I took a couple of shots from a couple of angles with my phone, but then found this one that I really liked. (more…)
1986 Topps – Carlton Fisk Tribute (1980-1982)
Here is yet another card in the mock Carlton Fisk tribute that I made up. This card might not have been made yet if not for the Gary Carter tribute set that I made upon learning of his death. It was with that set that I made the decision to leave out the All Star and other special cards in order to keep things running a little better. I did include the ’81 Topps traded card of Carlton though. He did play for the White Sox in ’81 so it had to be there. Where things would have started getting tricky was in 1982 with the In Action and All Star cards that Topps put out. I think that for now those were best left off of the card. (more…)
1984 Fleer – Kurt Suzuki
Kurt is a player that I have followed for a while now. I watched him on television when his Cal State Fullerton team made its run in 2004. I was in Omaha watching the day that they won the College World Series against Texas. For some reason this catcher made me take notice. If you have read this blog you know that the catcher is by far my favorite position. Kurt is one of the current crop of catchers that I enjoy watching. I took this picture early last season as he was warming up before facing the White Sox. (more…)
1984 Topps – A.J. Pierzynski
I had made this card a long time ago with some other Sox players. This was the first card type that I owned. It has probably been said many times on here, but I picked up my first baseball card ever in a trade for a french fry. It was a battered ’84 Topps Vance Law. I still have that card somewhere, and for that reason I always will enjoy this set. (more…)
1985 Fleer – Jonathon Papelbon
Today just feels like an ’85 Fleer kind of day. I don’t know if that is true, but I did want to post this card of Jonathon Papelbon that was sitting in my custom folder. I took the picture last August as the former Red Sox closer was finishing off a game against the White Sox. It will be weird to see him pitching for the Phillies this season. (more…)
1989 Upper Deck – J.J. Hardy
Here is another of my ’89 Upper Deck cards that have just been sitting around. Early in 2010 I attended a White Sox game against the Twins. A group of players were warming up and I just snapped a shot of them. I think that that picture has been made into a couple of cards so far. (more…)
1986 Topps – Lance Breedlove
I made this card for Lance last season after seeing him pitch for the Boilers. It was meant to be placed on the back of my 2011 custom card, but that card was never made. Now this card sits as a standalone card. I thought that I would post this card today because Lance has been getting some recognition following his 11 strikeout performance this past weekend in the Big East/Big Ten Challenge in Florida. He was named Big Ten pitcher of the week, and today started seeing some National pitcher of the week awards come his way. This could be a great season for the Boilers. (more…)
Bronzed Heroes: Lyndon Johnson
Continuing the President’s Day theme here is a card featuring Lyndon Johnson. On the same trip that allowed me to see the George H.W. Bush Presidential Museum I was able to go to the Johnson Museum that is located in Austin. This bust greets visitors as they wait to enter the museum. What I loved the most about the establishment is that it was free. I am not a cheapskate, but I love that he wanted it kept free so that anyone could visit it. (more…)
Bronzed Heroes: George H.W. Bush 2
Since today is President’s Day I thought that I would release a couple of of my bronzed heroes cards that I have made for Presidents. A couple of years ago I was in Houston to see Purdue in the NCAA Tournament. While there we visited the Bush Museum on the campus of Texas A&M. I liked this statue enough to get a picture of it. (more…)
2007 Topps – Kyle Gaedele
I thought that I really need some newer templates to work off of. I have been putting players who are currently in college onto cards that were made ten years before they were born. I saw this 2007 Topps template and thought that it would be an easy first newer card to try. The card looks a little off, but I have time to tweak it a bit. The colors on the template were actually made for Purdue, but I thought that they worked well for Valpo as well. (more…)
1986 Topps – Gary Carter Tribute (1992-1993)
This is the final card of my Gary Carter tribute set. As with the others it is modeled after the ’86 Topps cards that showcased the career of Pete Rose. When I heard of Gary’s death today I knew that I had to do something. This small set was what came of that thought. (more…)
1986 Topps – Gary Carter Tribute (1990-1991)
Things have started to get a little shaky in my idea now. I have six cards left and two cards to put them on. I decided to split the cards up into sets of three, and put Gary’s plaque in the fourth slot. I think that it made things look a little better rather than having two years on the final card. (more…)
1986 Topps – Gary Carter Tribute (1986 – 1989)
Now we are to card number four in this tribute set to Gary Carter. As with the other cards this one was modeled off the 1986 Topps design that featured Pete Rose after he broke Ty Cobb’s hit record. Unlike the set in 1986 this one actually includes Gary’s 1986 Topps card.
I went back to the drawing board for this card. After just trying to match the other cards up over and over I think that I was slightly off. I brought back the original Pete Rose card back up for placement on this card. I think that it looks a little better.
1986 Topps – Gary Carter Tribute (1983-1985)
Here is the third installment of the Gary Carter Tribute that is modeled after the 1986 Topps tribute set to Pete Rose. The tribute set starts to get into cards here that I collected heavily as a kid. It also gets into Gary’s Mets career with the ’85 Topps traded card of Gary. I decided to leave the All Star and Record Breaker cards out for now. They may come back later in the set, but for now they really would have messed everything up. (more…)
1986 Topps – Gary Carter Tribute (1979-1982)
This is the second card that I have made for Gary today. I loved the way that Topps showcased their cards for Pete Rose in 1986. The design was simple, but really showed off their work. I made a couple of these for Carlton Fisk, but with the death of Gary Carter I felt that I had to make a few cards for him. (more…)
1986 Topps – Gary Carter Tribute (1975-1978)
This morning I woke up to hear the news that Gary Carter had passed. As a kid that grew up in the 80’s and followed catchers Gary was a fun player to watch. Sometimes I didn’t give him the credit he deserved because that would have taken some away from my favorite player Carlton Fisk. I practiced all of the catcher drills that Gary showed me on a Mickey Mantle instructional video as a kid. The only problem was that I was left handed and would never play catcher. I was sad to hear of his passing so I thought that I could start a tribute set for Gary much like the one that I created for Carlton a few months ago. (more…)
1986 Topps – Marco Scutaro
I have been a fan of Marco’s ever since I saw the documentary A Player to be Named Later that showed life in the minors. I really watched the movie because it followed the Indianapolis Indians for a season. I loved it, and Marco was one of the few players in it who made it to the bigs. This was my first chance to photograph him last August so of course I made a couple cards using his pictures. I was going to release them as part of a series of posts in October celebrating the 25th anniversary of the ’86 World Series, but that never panned out. It finally makes it on here today. (more…)
1986 Topps – Carlton Fisk Tribute (1976-1979)
Just before I quite making cards I had this great idea to make a set much like the one that Topps did for Pete Rose in 1986. They took all of his cards and put the in sets of four to have a career spanning set. This is the second card of that set spanning the years 1976-1979. From here I have some decisions to make concerning the cards. If I don’t put any of the special cards or all star cards on the cards it will work out very nice. In my opinion though those cards are very important. I want to place them on the cards as well. I also toyed with the idea of adding Fleer and Donruss into the mix initially, and then Upper Deck and the others later. Of course things would get very confusing late when all the companies jumped into the mix. For now I think that I will keep things to just Topps. Later I might add some cards with just Donruss or just Fleer. I will at least make the next card in this set before deciding how to proceed. (more…)
1985 Topps – Marcos Mateos
This is yet another card that was made for the sole purpose of being on the back of my 2011 custom card. I never made the regular card so this card for the back never was released. Marcos has a very cool delivery so I am sad that the card was never made. (more…)
1964 Topps – Pedro Alvarez
Pedro was one of the top prospects in the Pirates organization a couple of years ago. I was trying to get to see him while he was in Indianapolis, but he moved to the big club too quick for me to see him there. That is why I was happy last summer when he played a few games in Indy on a rehab assignment. The crowd was happy to see him as well. (more…)
1987 Topps – Brad Mumma
Tonight I thought that I would finish up this small spree of local players with Brad Mumma. Brad made it the farthest of any former Slicer that I have seen in person. He spent time with the Double A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. I took this picture a couple of years ago as Brad was pitching for the Joliet Jackhammers. (more…)
1984 Topps – Kris Staats
I guess that today I will have a theme of former Slicers on the blog. I thought that since I created a new tab for former Slicers that I should add some cards to the list. I watched Kris as part of a record setting LaPorte Slicer offense in 2005. He then made his mark at Purdue as the holder on field goals. It was nice to see a local kid playing for my Boilers. (more…)
1987 Topps – Dustin DeMuth
Dustin was a fun player to photograph last spring. I had watched him play football for my hometown team, but had not seen him play baseball yet. I am a Purdue fan, but I did root for Dustin (who plays for the hated Hoosiers) when he came to bat. I was lucky enough to see a couple games that weekend so Dustin has had a few cards made from them. (more…)
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