1992 Topps Reggie Harris

Reggie Harris is the next card in my attempt to complete the 1992 Topps set. He made his MLB debut in 1990 and received a card in the '91 Topps set, but no cards the rest of his career, which spanned all the way to 1999. He pitched with Oakland in '91, didn't make it back up to the Majors until '96 with the Red Sox. He spent '97 with the Phillies, '98 with the Astros, and '99 with the Brewers, his last year in the Bigs. Another case of a reliever not getting cards in a Topps set, although the small number of games played in '91 may have had a factor in why he wasn't in the 1992 set.

Many cards in the '92 Topps set had parts of players overlap the actual nameplate sometimes. Card #1, Nolan Ryan comes to mind immediately, and I believe Frank Tanana was another. I tried to do the same on this card with the baseball overlapping a tiny bit. It's a strange nuance of the '92 set (kind of like players overlapping the borders in the '91 Topps set), and Topps took it a step further in the '92 set, with some players/equipment even overlapping parts of the Topps logo (Jim Leyland). I've tried to stay true to that while making my customs, so if you pay attention to detail, you can see things like that in many of the cards I will make in the set.

I'll probably not make as many backs as I have been doing just so I can relax and get other things done with my free time, so I may very well not finish the entire set by the end of 2016, which I was hoping to do, but maybe sometime in 2017 (the 25th anniversary of the 1992 set), and hopefully by then I will have figured out some way to print out the cards and put them in a nice binder with the rest of the set (regular and Traded), and officially complete the 1992 Topps set. I would love to see what Topps would think of this project (as long as they are ok with me using their designs/etc.). I would love to see Topps go all out and produce a complete 2016 set with every person that put on a uniform in 2015 in the set. If they sold it online, they could really just copy and paste photos into a design and give a deadline for orders, then really just print the exact number of sets ordered and save all kinds of money and give some of the collectors who aren't in it for the money a small taste of what they want.

Only a few more days until 2016 Topps is live. Can't wait to check it out and I hope you pull your favorite teams/players/and some good inserts. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps Archi Corbin

Card #832 in my custom 1992 Topps set is Archi Corbin. Archi spent 3 years in the Majors, playing for the Royals in 1991, the Orioles in 1996, and the Marlins in 1999. The only Topps cards he ever appeared on were in 1992, on the Stadium Club and Major League Debut set. He missed out on the '92 Topps set, as well as the '97 and '00 Topps sets. Although he spent the majority of his career in the Royals' system, his photo on Baseball Reference shows him with the Orioles. If I could find a photo of him in a Marlins uni, I could finish out his career Topps cards. 

Archi put up some decent numbers in the Minors, posting ERAs under 3 twice before getting called up to Kansas City in '91. He bounced around between the Royals, Expos, and Pirates systems from '92-'95, before putting up a 4.74 ERA in '96 with Rochester and getting called up to the Orioles for 18 games in '96. He got his only 2 Major League Wins that year. He played for Rochester in '97, then it was on to the Padres organization for '98. He was traded to Florida midway through the season, and was called up to the Marlins in late '99, pitching in his last 17 Major League games. In 2000, he was back with the Royals farm system, going to the White Sox during the season. He stayed in the Minors with Chicago again for 2001, and then spent the 2002-2003 with Nashua in the Independant League. He stayed in the same league in his final season, playing for Atlantic City in 2004. 

I have Archi's 1992 Donruss card in my card collection, and if I ever get around to finishing all the backs to this set, I will try to print them and have his '92 Topps card to go along with it. 

While making some backs today, I found another card I am missing: Mike LaCoss. I have made his card, and he will hopefully finish the set at 1367 cards. I figured I would probably miss a few players, but I've seemed to have missed like 10 San Francisco Giants, as well as about 5 players who appeared on the '92 O-Pee-Chee set, and a random player or two I just overlooked. With all the research I'm doing, though, I think I should manage to catch anyone who tries to fall through the cracks. Speaking of backs, I finished the back to card #900, which means there are 468 cards left in the set that need backs. 

Thanks for checking out the latest project on my set. 

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Tim Sherrill

Tim Sherrill only pitched 2 years in the Majors, 1990 and 1991. He appeared in the '91 Topps set, and the '91 Topps Debut set, and the hard to find '90 Topps TV Cardinals set, but didn't get a '92 Topps card. He pitched in the minors in '93, before retiring. After his baseball career, he went on to a professional fishing career. Greatest 21 Days did a nice write-up on Sherrill's Minor League career and post-playing activities. From what I could find, Sherrill looked like he was a decent reliever in the minors, closing for a few teams, and getting the call to the Majors after 3 seasons. 

I finished the back to card #890 today, and I'll probably try to get to the 900's on Monday. Thanks for checking out the latest card in my custom 1992 Topps set.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Yorkis Perez

Yorkis Perez started playing ball in the minors in 1983. By the time 1991 came around, he was a prospect in the Atlanta Braves organization. He was part of a trade that sent Mike Bielecki and Damon Berryhill over to the Braves late in that year. He got into 3 games for the Cubs and went on to a decent career, playing until 2002.

He only appeared on 1 Topps set, in 1995, but did appear in the '92 Topps debut set. I wish Topps would show more love to relievers. A lot of team collectors don't mind cards of lesser known players and autographed set collectors don't mind them either because many lesser known guys don't mind signing. I think this card would've fit in nicely in the '92 set.

I'll probably work on more backs tonight. I'm slowly making progress, finishing card 870 2 days ago. That means I'm 496 card backs away from finishing the entire set if my count is right. I'm hoping the coach, highlight, and combo cards are pretty easy so I can knock out a bunch at a time. Thanks for checking out the newest card in my set.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Luis Lopez

Luis Lopez played in the Majors from 1990-1991. He never appeared on a regular Topps issue, but did have cards in the '91 Topps Debut set and the '92 Stadium Club set. I had never heard of him until starting my '92 Topps project, but apparently he has been in baseball for a while, getting drafted in 1983 and playing in Japan up until 2004. He was a very versatile player, having played C, 1B, 3B, LF, and RF. He also had decent power numbers, hitting over 30 Home Runs in a season twice in Japan. This would've been Luis's final Topps card.

On a side note, I have taken the images of every card I have created in this set and pasted them onto a photo of a 9-pocket sheet so you can see what the set would look like in a binder. I may post them, may not, haven't decided, but I'm hoping it will be a good reference tool as I create the backs to all of the cards. If I did the calculations right, I can finish the backs to the entire set by the end of this year as long as I can make 2 per day. It might be a lofty goal, but it would be cool if I could get there. 

Thanks for checking out the latest card in my set.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Adam Peterson

Adam Peterson pitched in the Majors from 1987-1991 with the Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres. He only got cards from Topps in the 1990 and 1991 sets, and was left off of '92 sets other than for Upper Deck, which gave him a sunset card. 

He did pretty well in the minors, leading AAA Vancouver with 14 wins in both '88 and '89, while winning the AAA World Series in '89. He got cups of coffee in the Majors from '87-'89, finally getting decent playing time in 1990, when he notched his first Major League win. 

His wikipedia page doesn't say too much more about his baseball career than I've already written, but does mention that he has 5 sisters and 1 brother. I came from a pretty large family (I have 3 younger sisters), but I couldn't imagine having 6 siblings. Crazy.

Thanks for checking out the latest card in my custom 1992 Topps set. I hope I can shed some light on players that you might not have heard of and maybe generate more interest in finishing other Topps sets like I am trying to do.  If you like anything I am doing or have any suggestions, feel free to let m know.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Jim Corsi

Jim Corsi played 10 seasons in MLB, mostly for the Oakland Athletics. He came up with them in 1988, and was on their World Series winning club in 1989. After not appearing in the Bigs in '90, he was a Houston Astro for '91, back with the A's in '92, then selected by the Florida Marlins in the Expansion Draft in November of that year. He pitched with Florida in '93, missed '94, and was back with the A's for the 3rd time for 1995 and 1996. He pitched with the Boston Red Sox from '97-'99 and finished out his career with the Baltimore Orioles in '99. 

Jim appeared on a Topps card in '89 and '90, missed the next 2 years, appeared as a Marlin in '93, and didn't get another Topps card for the rest of his career. If I can find some decent photos, he might be a subject for a Missing Topps Cards project on my other blog. 

Jim pitched for Saint Leo University in St. Leo, Florida before he made the bigs. I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in the 3rd grade. In '98 and '99, I went to a summer camp for teenagers with Type 1 diabetes. During the week we spent there, we went to various locations and participated in different sports. While there, we played basketball at St. Leo University, so it's kind of cool to find a Big Leaguer who played at a small Florida school that I shot hoops at once or twice. Maybe one day, I'll do a post about the whole week at camp if I can find some of the old photos I took.

Thanks for checking out the latest card in my '92 Topps project.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Ron Hassey

Ron Hassey missed out on getting his final Topps card when he was left off of the '92 set. The only other year he missed out on getting a Topps card was in 1979, which would've been his rookie year. Other than that, he appeard in every Topps set from 1980-1991. The only major brand that put Hassey in its 1992 set was Score. It seems a little funny that Ron was left off of most major '92 sets since he caught Denny Martinez's perfect game in 1991, making his the first catcher to catch 2 in their career. 

Ron would become a coach for the Colorado Rockies in their first season in 1993, and begin a long coaching career after that. I might try to find a Rockies photo of him and try to make his '94 Topps card. Once I get some other expansion team sets done ('98 and '99 Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks), I think I might try to do the '94 Rockies set. 

Thanks for checking out the latest card in my attempt to complete the 1992 Topps set.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Scott Lewis

Scott Lewis pitched for the California Angels from 1990-1994. He only appeared on 1 Topps card in his career (1993 Topps), but did get a card in the '91 Topps Debut set. His missing '92 Topps card would've been his 2nd Topps card, and if he would've appeared in a Topps set during his entire career, he would've had 5 total cards. This card was pretty easy to make, even though I had minor league stats to deal with. The next card in the set (Ron Hassey) should be pretty easy to make since he was well established in the Majors by then and because I believe it is his sunset card. 

Thanks for checking out the latest guy in the set. 

-Jeremy