1992 Topps Chris Cron

Chris Cron played 2 years in the Majors, 1991 and 1992. He appeared in the 1992 Donruss, Fleer, and Score sets, as well as the 1992 Topps debut set. He was left off of the '92 Topps set, but that's understandable since he only played in 6 games. He put up some good numbers with the Angels organization in the Minors, and that got him the cup of coffee in 1991. He got into 6 more games in 1992 with the White Sox, and the only 1993 card he got was in the 1993 Fleer set. 

I actually got to meet Chris when he was coaching in the Tigers system a few years ago in Spring Training. He signed my '92 Donruss card, and I mentioned that I was collecting autographs from the 1992 Topps set at the time and that I wished he was in the set. He said that he doesn't have many cards out. I wished I had thought of this project before then and been able to show him this card. 

I worked on back to a ton of cards in the last 2 days, and finished with card # 1076 today. I'm a few cards away from getting done with the 2nd checklist, and in about 70 cards, it will be on to a string of a ton of coach cards. The checklist is complete as of yesterday as well, since I took out the extra coach cards, put other cards in their place, and added the 3 players I had left out of the set. The 1992 Topps set will be complete with card #1364 as well as the 132 cards in the Traded set. I am 288 backs away from finishing the set, but that number is a little high since I have done backs to checklists, all of the team combo cards, and a few random cards here and there. I think I am still on pace to finish up the set by the end of the year. Thanks for checking out the latest card in my set. 

-Jeremy

Where my 1992 Topps set stands now

I was able to go through the 1991 MLB rosters yesterday and make sure I had every coach in my set. It created a few problems, but I think I may have solved them. When I first started making the set, I used a search query of "1991 Atlanta Braves coaches" or something similar to that and did it for each team, changing the team name. It would mostly bring me to the Wikipedia page for that team in 1991. Many times, it brought me to the roster (with the coaches listed) on the team page, other times it didn't, leading me to believe the page didn't have a roster listed. If that happened, I would go to the MLB page and they had a list of coaches for teams for their entirety. While I thought this would solve the problem, it led me to add some cards of coaches who didn't coach in 1991. I even created 2 cards for Tom Spencer (Astros and Mets) somehow. So now I have a list of coaches who I need to take out of the set, so I need to replace those cards with new ones (probably just take cards already at the end of the set, and give them numbers of cards they replaced).  I'll also need to change the checklists to reflect this. With all that being said, I'm pretty sure all the cards I've made so far are correct.

The other problem I found is that some teams have coaches who started the season as a coach and were promoted to manager later in the year. I believe I will list those cards with a coach/manager designation in front and back and possibly try to include at least their 1991 managerial record on it, since I want to reflect every stat from the 1991 season. Hal McRae presents a unique situation, as he started the year as a coach for the Expos, and ended the year as the Royals manager.  I think I will just leave him out of the set since Topps gave him a manager card in the regular set. Also I will probably do the same for Buck Rodgers, who started the year as Expos manager and ended as the Angels manager (since Topps included his stats for both teams on his card).

So aside from those hiccups, I think I have everything ready to go. I want to list every coach type (pitching, hitting, bench, bullpen, etc.), and a few teams Wiki page didn't have them, but I believe I should be able to do research on the individual coaches and fill that in possibly by the rule of elimination. I might do that on my next day off as well as go through every MLB 1991 roster and make sure one last time that I've included every player. Thank for checking out the latest update on my set.


Edit- I went through the rosters today and I have 7 players which I'm not sure were included in the set. Once I have a chance, I will check my sheet with the team rosters from my set and double check. Those players I have listed as needing a card are Carl Nichols-Astros, Butch Davis-Dodgers, Julio Valera-Mets, Sergio Valdez-Indians, Mike York-Mets, and Torey Lovullo-Yankees. I'm positive I don't have Davis or Nichols in the set. The others, I just can't picture their card if I had made it. Once I look through my list, I will make those cards I need, get the numbers straight 1 last time, and finalize the final checklist. 

1992 Topps Efrain Valdez

Efrain Valdez pitched 3 seasons in the Majors; 1990, 1991, and 1998. The only Topps set he appeared in was the 1991 set. Topps did give him a Bowman, Stadium Club, and Topps Debut card in '91, as well as a '92 Stadium Club card. He is missing from the '92 set, as well as the '99 set which would've pictured him as an Arizona Diamondback. I'm figuring that since he wasn't a rookie anymore and he only appeared in 7 games for one of the worst teams in the Majors that Topps decided to leave him off of the '92 set.

This custom was pretty easy to make. I'm not quite sure, but it looks like the photo was taken at Chain of Lakes Stadium in Winter Haven, Florida, the former Spring Training home of the Indians. I've been to the stadium about 5 times, but don't know exactly how the stadium looks from memory.

I only have 4 more team combo cards to finish backs of, so I have those almost all done as well as finishing up with card #1048. In less than 100 cards, I will be basically done with most player cards and up for a run of around 200 coaches. At that point I am going to go over all of the 1991 rosters player by player and coach by coach and just make totally sure that I didn't leave anyone out or mistakenly put an extra coach in (which I may have). Once that is done, I should have a final number of cards in the set, and I will finish the final checklist and get to making the coach backs (which will have complete team checklists on them. Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps Rod Brewer

Rod Brewer played in MLB from 1990-1993 with the Cardinals. The only regular edition Topps card he received was in the 1993 set. He did appear in the 1991 Topps Debut set and a few Stadium Club issues. This would've been his 2nd Topps card had Topps included him in the '91 set as a rookie.

I never knew that he lived in Florida. I've heard a few co-workers mentioning Eustis like it's near where I live, and turns out it is about an hour away. I vaguely remember going to a Spring Training game in 1993 in Lakeland. The Tigers were taking on the Cardinals, and a fellow autograph seeker left their binder open on the ground, and I remember seeing a '93 Topps Rod Brewer card. Can't remember if it was signed or not, but that is my first memory of Rod Brewer. If I were a little older, I would've probably had a card or two of Rod and maybe got it signed, but I was 10 and didn't realize that you have to show up around 10 AM for a 1 PM game in order to get autographs of the visiting team, 6 AM for the home team. My parents would've never gone for that unless I could drive myself.

I did about 15 backs yesterday and am up to card #1044. Not sure when I'll get to work on some more. We are house sitting (boo!!!) for the next few days and the only day off this week is on Tuesday and I'll probably be at a doctors appointment for most of the day. So is life when you are an adult...

Thanks for checking out my latest custom 1992 Topps card.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps Matt Young

Today's card is the first card that I "borrowed" from the 1992 O-Pee-Chee set. In 1992, the OPC set mirrored the 1992 Topps set except for the fact that the All-Star cards and a few select subsets were replaced with a Gary Carter tribute subset as well as a few cards of players who were left out of the '92 Topps set. Matt Young was one of those players. I chose to include the OPC cards because unlike players who got a card in the '92 Topps Traded set, the OPC guys didn't have a card with a Topps logo on it. I also did it with the 6 ToppsGold checklist replacement cards as well.

Matt Young had appeared in a few Topps sets over the years but was left off of the '92 set even though he appeared in 19 games. He would be left off of the 1993 set as well, even though he pitched a no hitter (allowing 2 runs and losing) in 1992. He accomplished just about all of the things you would hope to accomplish as an individual, appearing in the All-Star game, pitching the no-hitter, striking out 4 batters in an inning, and playing for a World Championship team. I was happy to add his autograph to my collection back when I was doing ttm signatures.

I basically just added the Topps logo to the front. On the back I made the background by the stats transparent enough that I could put the Topps logo behind it, added text where it was needed, put the Topps logo under the number and changed the number. Otherwise, it looks like the original OPC card. I think it looks like it belongs in the '92 Topps set though and wish Topps would've at least gave the OPC guys and ToppsGold checklist replacements a regular card. Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps Gary Wayne

Gary Wayne pitched in the Bigs from 1989-1994. He only got Topps cards in the '90, '91, and '93 Traded sets. He was part of the 1991 Minnesota Twins World Championship team, but only appeared in 8 games, which is probably why he didn't get a '92 card. He was a decent reliever and got some good Save and ERA totals in the Minors. He is a good ttm signer, so if you feel up to it, try to print this card and see if he likes it and let me know. I would love to know what some players think of my customs.

I did a few backs today, and am up to card #1022. I had a strange one today. I did the back for Warren Cromartie, who played for the Royals in 1991. He had played in the Majors in 1974, 1976-1983, and in 1991. In between 1983 and 1991, he spent 7 seasons in Japan, so there were 7 columns of stats that just read "Played in Japan". Haven't seen anything like that in any Topps set before.  Hope you are enjoying my slow completion of the 1992 Topps set and find some of the facts I am giving to be insightful. Thanks for checking out the latest card.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps John Briscoe

I decided to go back to the old way of writing posts. I thought changing it up would be a good idea, but discovered that some of the categories I made didn't include that much info, and that if I just wrote about the cards I made and added necessary info, that it should suffice.

 John Briscoe made his MLB debut in '91, but didn't appear in the 1992 Topps set, probably due to the fact that he only appeared in 11 games. He pitched with the A's from 1991-1996, and that was his only time in the Majors. He only appeared in 1 major Topps set (1995), but did appear in the '92 Stadium Club and '92 Major League Debut set. This would've probably been his rookie card, unless Topps had expanded the '91 Traded set to include him.

I finished the back to card #1012 today, getting me a little closer to finishing the set, and officially putting me on the back side of the 2nd checklist. I'm not gonna lie, it is a little tedious making backs to cards of players who were really either rookies or journeymen, but sometimes there is a draft pick card, or a card of a star, or a numerical goal that I try to reach that makes it worthwhile. Someday I will finish this set, and maybe I'll get really lucky and maybe a collecting publication or website or maybe even Topps themselves will take notice and maybe we can get them to make some of the types of cards that we want or actually produce some of the customs we've been making for so long. One can only hope. Thanks for checking out my latest card.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Dean Wilkins

PLAYER BIO: Dean Wilkins, Astros

YEARS IN MAJORS: 1989-1991

LAST TOPPS SET HE APPEARED IN: None

APPEARANCES IN FUTURE TOPPS SETS: None

REASON LEFT OFF OF THE 1992 TOPPS SET: Probably because he only pitched in 7 games and had an ERA over 10.

NOTES: Dean never got a card in a Topps base set, even though he got cards in '90 Bowman, '90 Topps Debut, and the '90 Topps TV set. He had good numbers as far as Saves in the minors, so you would've figured he would've saw more time in the Bigs. This card was pretty difficult to make as the only photo I could find of Wilkins in an Astro uniform was in black and white. I used a program called Recolored (I believe) to match the colors where they should go and colorize the photo. Not the best, but it was the only thing I had to work with. One final note, I finished the back of card #993, which means I have finished 201 cards in the set. I hope to knock off #1000 tonight, leaving only 368 more backs to do. Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy