Latest 1971 Topps addition

Digital Tomfoolery

Every so often I like to break out my card creative skills. No, I'm no Punk Rock Paint or SlangKo, but I dabble. Last week, to honor Randy Johnson's election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, I threw this relic card together.

I'm reading a book about J.R.R. Tolkien. There's a section about tobacco use, both of Tolkien and in his books.  It made me start wondering why I hadn't seen any tobacco type cards featuring the Lord of the Rings characters.  So I made a mock up.

I based it on the T206 card of Moose Grimshaw.

There are some elements of the pipeweed card that I'm not keen on, but mostly it was an exercise to see if I remembered how to play with layers.

A-Rod's Suspended Season - a fictitious card set

Game one of one hundred sixty two.

I've found these cards in a dark corner of my mind.  I don't think that there will be a complete run, but they'll show up during the season.

Stars of the Future - Mercury Mets

Cervin' Up Cards posted earlier this month about a train wreck of a uniform debacle. One of the photos was of Orel Hershiser pitching for the future Mercury Mets.

I'd never seen that image and I knew that a fictitious card had to be created.  I grabbed some elements and went to work.  No, this doesn't hold a candle to the other card creators out there.  But I wanted to get something done before I got distracted by other shiny little things.

Stars of the Future
Orel Hershiser - Mercury Mets

I'm not crazy about the square Mercury Mets logo.  I don't like the kerning of the HI in his last name.
Oh, I can live with them.  And I just might.

1908 Tower Manufacturing Postcards

I was looking through Google books for something or other. I really don't remember. Then I got rabbit trailed, chasing what I wasn't looking for.

It led to this nice discovery. An announcement in The American Stationer about a new post card line for 1908 from the Tower Manufacturing and Novelty Company of New York.

I looked in my copy of the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards and found several other post card issues from 1908, but no mention of this set.

Based on the description, I tossed together a very quick mock up of what the cards might have looked like.

As I look at the mock up I see that I forgot the period after the L in the name box.  And I forgot the bases on the path.  Hey, it is a mock up.  A very quick mock up.  Go purchase a Big Noise megaphone and yell at me.

A bit more post creation research shows that the Rose Company also issued these postcards in 1908 and 1909.  Go to VintageBall.com for their main story or the minor league story on the Rose Company Postcards.

My mock up doesn't do them justice.

Vin for the Roses

Vin Scully is the Grand Marshall of the 125th Rose Parade.  I slapped together a quick tribute to the legendary broadcaster in the style of a Topps 1964 baseball card.

1964 Topps style
Vin Scully

Happy New Year.

1894 Mayo JFK Tribute card

In honor of Shark Week

John B. Shark played indoor baseball for St. Jerome's in Chicago in 1911.  Be careful.

TommySom

This is for the Collective Troll, Marck, who is missing in action. Maybe this will lure him out of real life and back to the blogosphere.

Happy May 5th.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Emil Meusel

Judge Cooper custom card

Jon asked who was going to make a Judge Cooper custom card. I did.  Who's Judge Cooper?  See the Baseball Cards in Court post from earlier this week.

1969 Topps Deckle
Hon. Irving Ben Cooper

Yeah, it was a slap job. I'm not happy with the shade of blue on the signature and this was my second design. I tried a generic card with a modified Topps Rookie trophy cup thingy, but that just didn't ring true. I might tinker with it some more, but I doubt it.

Dick Butkus custom card

1971 Topps Football Game
Dick Butkus (fictitious card # 1)

That's all I've got.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee custom card

1992 Impel Olympics
Jackie Joyner-Kersee (fictitious card #HP7) )

I'm still on a mini vacation.  Deal with it.

Reggie Jackson Custom Card

1981 Donruss
Reggie Jackson (fictitious card # 228)

Yeah, another quick card creation.  Look, I'm headed out of town for the weekend.  I'll post anything.

Larry Bird Custom Card

1991-92 Upper Deck
Larry Bird (fictitious card # 344)

I like to think that I'm not tethered to my television.  I will have it on in the background at times and my wife and I enjoy watching a few shows together.  Duck Dynasty.  Castle.  The Middle.  Modern Family.  We tried The Neighbors and found it delightfully quirky.  I didn't give it more than four episodes before some studio executive yanked it.  It might have found some viewership because it is still on.

Aliens come to earth.  To fit in, they took names of sports stars.  The leader of the aliens is named Larry Bird.  His wife?  Jackie Joyner-Kersee.  Their sons?  Reggie Jackson and Dick Butkus.

So, I hadn't done a fictitious card in a while.  Stunning?  No, not really, but I feel good about it.  I'm working on some others.

You're outa here

Story from MLB.

Law Professor Trading Cards?

Stumbling around the internet lead me to this article: Law Professor Trading Cards - Has Anyone Got a Monaghan for a Tribe.

I found an extra Monaghan.  I'm looking for someone that has an extra Tribe.

Non Racing Card Fictitious Baseball Card Post

I'm taking a respite from racing cards to bring a special post. I like to watch TV. To balance that out, I like to read. And spend time with my wife and my kids. But back to the TV. I don't watch that many current shows. Big Bang Theory. The Middle. Modern Family. Castle. White Collar. Yes, these are all mindless drivel. But I like them. Call them my guilty pleasures.

Last night's episode of White Collar centered around the theft of Babe Ruth's first official home run ball from the Yankee Stadium museum.

I'm not going to describe the whole show, episode or the characters, but we learn that the main FBI agent, Peter Burke, pitched for the Twins and had a baseball card. They show the criminal turned good give the agent a copy of his rookie card. It was only on screen for a few seconds. It appeared to be a 2008 Topps. You want a synopsis of the episode?  Here you go.

I set out to make a fictitious card. I haven't done one in a while, so why not?

I lifted all the elements. The picture is of Carl Pavano. The name font is Ironmonger Black.  I typed in the name for a sample and then snapped that.  The signature font is Denistina.  Is the card good?  No, not really.  But it works.  And it isn't a racing card.  They'll return soon enough.

Phil Garner - Bearden High Grad

Because I haven't created a card in a while, I present to you Phil Garner from 44 years ago.

It was brought to my attention that Phil attended Bearden High School in Knoxville. Phil had a decent career in the majors, playing for 16 years and then managing for another 15 seasons.

I found his annual from 1967 on ancestry.com. Football and basketball were the only sports featured. I quickly slapped this together using some fonts from dafont.com.

Go Bulldogs!

Boo!

In the past I've entered a holiday card creation contest or two. This year I didn't. But I did find a nice photo of David 'Boo' Ferris in an issue of LIFE magazine.  I cranked it through the old paint dot net machine and this popped out.

For other Halloween fun, take a peek at my friend Ken Begg's review of the animated classic: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown…Worship It Before It Destroys You.

Boo!