1981 Donruss – Carlton Fisk
Part of the fun of freeing myself from having to use my own pictures on certain cards is the fact that I can go back and make cards that should have been made. Carlton Fisk signed with the White Sox in March of 1981 so the card companies did not have the proper time to make a White Sox card of the catcher. All three companies featured him as a member of the Red Sox in their 1981 base sets. Topps gave Carlton a White Sox card with their traded set, but the other two companies were probably more worried about year two of their brand than updating cards at the time. I decided to see what a White Sox Donruss card of Carlton (more…)
1987 Donruss – John Smoltz
Today I heard that the new card set by Topps was out. Of course I don’t actually collect cards anymore. At least not real cards. I just make fake cards using my pictures. As a child the set that really has always stuck in my mind as one that was hard to get was the 1987 Donruss set. I had a factory set of Fleer early in the year, and you could by a pack of Topps anywhere it seems like. I bought a lot of them too. Donruss though seemed to be very hard to get. My father bought me many packs to try and complete the set. We had a lot of fun putting the set together which we eventually did. For that reason this set will always have a special place for me. (more…)
1990 Donruss – Justin Morneau
I have only made a couple of this card as I didn’t think that I had the template right at the time. I wanted to make one for my look at Donruss over the years. While I was making the card of Gordon Beckham I realized that on the same picture was a good shot of Justin Morneau. I just moved the picture over and changed type to get a new card from the same picture. (more…)
1985 Donruss – Casey Gaynor
A couple of years ago now I saw Casey pitch against Notre Dame. He was one of the Rutgers players that was part of the team that won the Little League World Series. At the time he was also trying to become the all time strikeout leader at Rutgers. I made this rated rookie card of him thinking that he might blow up in the minor leagues. The last time I checked he was out of baseball, but I like the card all the same. (more…)
1988 Donruss – Miguel Olivo
Here is yet another card of Miguel. Today’s theme is the Colorado Rockies on the blog, and I thought that this card was a good continuation of that theme. I love these cards because of course the Rockies were not in existence in 1988 so it is interesting to see what might have been. I took this picture in 2010 as Miguel was warming up the pitcher prior to a game against the Cubs. (more…)
1993 Donruss – Jeff Samardzija
Jeff is a player that I have followed for a while now. He played sports at nearby Valparaiso high school then starred in football and basketball at Notre Dame. From there he has risen to the Majors playing in nearby Peoria and Iowa before ending up with the Cubs. He has stayed near the area making his rise fun to watch. (more…)
1993 Donruss – Aramis Ramirez
I have had this card made for a while, but have not released it yet. Like most cards I make it came in a card making spurt, and if they don’t get posted right away I tend to forget about them. I want to post my new creations first. To me this card is cool because it represents the first year in many that I did not pick up any cards. I had so many other things going on that the hobby kind of fell away from me. I still don’t collect many actual cards, but getting to know the designs of the cards during the period that I did not collect (1993-2002) has actually been pretty fun. (more…)
1993 Donruss – Juan Pierre
I made a couple of cards with pictures of Juan with the Bob Feller tribute behind him, and had one more that I wanted to use. I had already used up a couple templates for Juan that I could have put this picture on so I used the ’93 Donruss template. I think that it worked out well. (more…)
1985 Donruss – Christian Colon Rated Rookie
Over the winter I had made a few cards up of players that I have seen that are either rated high by the scouts, or that I really liked. I used an old ’85 Donruss template to make up my own rated rookie set. This is one of those cards that I made. I may bring this set back, but I will have to update the ’85 Donruss template first. I have one more card that I could release, but the player has already fallen off the map. That shows you what I know about players that are on their way up. (more…)
1993 Donruss – Carlos Santana
Why am I making a retro card when there are so many cards to make for my various original sets? The answer is simple. I wanted to put my own card on the back of the Opening Day Carlos Santana card, and I had not yet seen him play to have a card to put on the card. Instead of using another card I just thought I would make my own card. I really like how this ’93 Donruss set looks so I thought that I would put the picture on this card. (more…)
1985 Donruss – Tyler Flowers
Minor League Monday concludes with this card of Tyler Flowers. I wasn’t going to post another card tonight, but I liked this one so much I had to get it out. I had two pictures that I was debating on for the 2011 preview card of Tyler that I posted earlier tonight, but this one was right there with them. I have spent some time at parks trying to get just this picture. Only a couple of times have I gotten it this good. I actually did it on the second try as well. It is harder than you think to get the ball hitting the mitt. I love cards of catchers so what would another one hurt. (more…)
1992 Donruss – Juan Uribe
I always enjoyed watching Juan while he was a member of the White Sox. He just did not look like he could be very quick. He was pudgy, and did not seem to be paying attention when the pitch was thrown. When the ball was hit to him though he was all over it. Who can forget the way he left his mark on the final two plays of the 2005 World Series? His great catch going into the stands for the second out, and the strong throw to first for the final out. (more…)
1988 Donruss – Jim Thome
Continuing the recent theme of former Sox players we have a card of Jim Thome. Being a lefty myself I really enjoyed watching Jim during his short run with the White Sox. He is back with the Twins for his second season this year trying to surpass 600 home runs for his career. I hope he gets it, but in a losing cause for the Twins. (more…)
1988 Donruss – Bobby Jenks
The most loved man in Chicago is the final card of the night. Bobby has brought some hatred onto himself during this off season by going after the team that gave him his chance. This feud is supposedly over, but somehow I get the feeling we haven’t heard the last of this. (more…)
1985 Donruss – A.J. Pollock
A.J. was a star at Notre Dame. You might not have heard of him as much as you should of though because they school was still getting over the Jeff Samardzija days. He was a solid hitter that could really cover some ground in center. I enjoyed watching him at Notre Dame, and was thrilled to hear the Diamondbacks drafted him 17th because that meant I had a shot to watch him again with the Silverhawks. I saw him get a hit on the MLB Network with the big club yesterday, and it reminded me how high the ceiling really is for this kid. (more…)
1985 Donruss – Chris Owings
Midwest League Monday continues with Chris Owings. Chris was the 41st overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft. He played a very solid shortstop last year in South Bend. He is one of the up and coming prospects in baseball. He is listed on a couple of the top 100 lists that come out each year. (more…)
1985 Donruss – Giovanni Soto
Just like last season I thought that this year I would do a Midwest League Monday posting. That means that every card that I post today has to have a Midwest League player on it. I thought that I would start things off with an Indians prospect. Giovanni Soto came to the Indians system in the Johnny Peralta trade last season. I saw him play when the Lake County Captains team he was pitching for came to Coveleski Stadium to play the Silverhawks. His name intrigued me for one, and I was curious to see how good this young kid was. (more…)
1993 Donruss – Alex Rios
This is the 14th card that I have posted today. I had to make some of them on the fly to make this day work. The first few were all made, but a few of them had to be made tonight. I found this card while looking for a good 1992 Donruss template. I never really collected it, but I loved how it looked. I figured that I could squeeze one more card into this day. It was a simple design that was easy to make. I just separated the name plate and team area, and then put the picture behind them. I really loved this design, and even though it is newer I thought that I might try a few more before it is all said and done. (more…)
1992 Donruss – Ramon Castro
Now we are quickly coming up on cards that I really didn’t collect. I was going to stop at the 1991 Donruss card, but I realized that I did get a few packs of these Donruss cards. I liked the look of the card, and wanted the challenge of the team name. I wanted to stay sort of true to the set by keeping the 1992 on the top of the card. I tried many ways of putting my name on the card, and none of them looked very well. I stuck with the current design at the top because it looked the best. The team and position line was easy so that did not take very long. The hardest part I thought was going to be the player name. How could I get an outline around the name? It turned out to be simple. I never use the text section on the side of my photoshop program. I found one that I thought worked very well. It is not perfect, but for me it is pretty good. (more…)
1991 Donruss – Carlos Quentin
This is probably the last year that I collected any Donruss cards. In fact when I looked at the ’93 Donruss card I didn’t really recognize it. There was a time when I could have told you any card by just looking at the front. Of course things have changed dramatically since then. This card was not too bad to create. I had a little help though. While searching for cards to alter I came across a high res image that Goose Joak cards had made into a card. A couple of clicks to get rid of the picture, and then just change the name and position. (more…)
1990 Donruss – Gordon Beckham
I debuted my version of this card a couple of days ago with a Brent Morel rated rookie. I had not tried the card before because of the script at the top, but it was not too bad. The cards don’t look too bad so I may try a few more. Today’s look at the early Donruss card is starting to wrap up. Now that we are in the 90’s it can’t be too far away. (more…)
1989 Donruss – Gavin Floyd
We reach the end of the 80’s with a 1989 Donruss card of Gavin Floyd. I was originally just going to go to here, but I thought I might just go to the end of my collecting days. Right around this time was probably the most I was into the hobby. Around 1989 to 1990 I was out buying my own cards, and trying to pull players like this young kid named Griffey. (more…)
1988 Donruss – Alexei Ramirez
It had to be hard to top the 1987 Topps card. They were very popular, and the competition was heating up even more in ’88. In addition to Topps and Fleer Donruss had to compete with a new company called Score. They had to come up with a design that would grab the collectors attention. This card certainly grabbed the attention of anyone holding them. This was never my favorite design, but it is growing on me over the years. I even posted way too many of these cards the other day onto the site. (more…)
1987 Donruss Diamond King – Paul Konerko
How can you talk about Donruss all day without mentioning the Diamond Kings? Diamond Kings were one of the coolest parts of the set as a kid. Who would be crowned king this year? Who would the Sox king be? I made this card early on in the custom card days so it is a little rough, but I put a lot of work into it so why not post it? (more…)
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