1992 Topps #907 Julio Valera

Julio Valera pitched for 5 years in the Majors. He played for the New York Mets in 1990 and 1991, the California Angels in 1992 and 1993, and the Kansas City Royals in 1996.
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Julio appeared in a few Topps sets during his time in the Bigs. He got his first Topps card in the 1991 set, he was in the 1992 Topps Traded set (pictured as an Angel), and got his final Topps card in the 1993 set. He is missing cards from the 1994 and 1997 Topps sets to complete his career Topps run. I decided to give Julio a regular 1992 Topps card since he didn't get a card picturing him with his 1991 team in the 1992 Topps/Traded sets.

I got a bunch of 1994 Topps cards done today, mainly consisting of highlight/random subset cards. I also found a Wrigley Field giveaway version of a 2001 Topps Hee Seop Choi card that was intriguing to me. He was featured in the regular 2001 Topps set on a 3-player prospects card, but for the Wrigley version, it has the basic prospects design on it, but only features Choi on the card. It looks really sweet, so I made a template of it, and added it to the 2001 Topps page, as well as adding some more names to the checklist to use the prospects template with. I'll try to work on the 1999 checklist a little later tonight as well. I should have some time tomorrow night to work on customs, so hopefully I'll knock out some more cards and checklists.  Thanks for taking the time to check out my latest '92 custom.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #906 Matt Sinatro

Matt Sinatro played in the Majors from 1981-1992. He spent the 1981-1984 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, was with the Oakland Athletics in 1987 and 1988, the Detroit Tigers in 1989, before playing his final 3 seasons with the Seattle Mariners in 1990-1992. After his playing career, Matt started coaching, and made it back to the Bigs in 1995 with the Mariners. He stayed with them through the 2002 season, then followed manager Lou Piniella to the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays from 2003-2005. In 2007, he followed Piniella again, this time to the Chicago Cubs, where he stayed through the 2010 season. 

Matt missed out on getting a bunch of Topps cards throughout the years. His first Topps card came in the 1990 Traded set, and his only other one came the next year in the 1991 set. Matt is missing cards from the 1982-1985 sets, the 1989-1990 regular sets, and the 1993 sets as a player, and the 1996-2006, and 2008-2011 sets. I actually have done another custom besides this 1992 Topps one of Matt, his 1990 Topps card picturing him as a Detroit Tiger. 

I haven't had any time to do anything lately it seems like. I was hoping to mow the grass one last time before our fence gets installed on Thursday, but the mower would just shut off a few seconds after I would start it, so an hour or two messing with that/weeing some flower beds was already shot today after I got off work, and between feeding baby and taking care of dogs and doing normal everyday housework, I barely had a chance to throw this post together. Tomorrow I probably have band practice, so that kills that night, but I'm hoping I can work on some customs on Thursday night, and I am off Friday, so I hope to do a little around the house, and then a whole lot of nothing. Work has just been getting to me lately, and I don't know if I'm getting older, having a kid is tiring me, if my diabetes is just tiring me or what, but I've just felt tired the last month or so. I'm seriously thinking about changing professions. While baking has a few perks, I just don't know if I can go through another holiday of getting worked like a pack mule, and my wife has suggested that coding might be something good to look at that I could possibly be intrigued by and good at. Might give me more time at home and who knows, maybe I can somehow use it to help with customs. Now I'm just ranting, but it's nice to rant on here since nobody is home and I'm sure some of you can relate to just having a period in your life where you are worn out. It kind of makes the baseball cards ok to have since you can just organize them, look at them, or whatever you do with them that just helps you detox and relax. Thanks for checking out my latest custom.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #905 Rick Mahler

Rick Mahler played for 13 years in the Majors, recording a Major League record 3 shutouts on Opening Day. He came up to the Big Leagues in 1979 with the Atlanta Braves, and stayed with them through 1988. He spent 1989 and 1990 with the Cincinnati Reds, winning the World Series in 1990 with them. His final Big League season was spent with the Montreal Expos and Atlanta Braves in 1991. His brother Mickey Mahler also pitched in the Majors from 1977-1986.  After his pitching career, Rick became a coach, and I actually got to meet him in 2004 when he was a coach with the St. Lucie Mets. They came to Lakeland, Florida to play the Lakeland Tigers, and after the game, I went by the bus and Rick signed a stack of cards for me, and was really nice. Sadly, in 2005, Rick passed away in 2005 from a heart attack.

Rick didn't get his first Topps card until the 1982 set. He also appeared on a Braves Team Leaders subset card that year. He got into the 1983 set, but was left out of the 1984 set. He appeared in the 1985-1991 sets, and didn't get his sunset card in the 1992 set. He also got a Topps Traded card in 1989. Rick is missing cards from the 1980, 1981, and 1984 sets.

I've been doing a lot of work on customs for the 1994 set. Right now, I'm working in numerical order, and am in a big clump of coaches. I also did a little work on the 1999 set, adding some card that I found on a website of what looks like some kind of online baseball game. The teams in the game are different years, but the cards are the same year as the year of the team (example: if someone had the 2004 Red Sox team roster, they are pictured on a 2004 Topps card). I chose to make my customs the same way the Topps sets are, where the stats are from the year before the cards are issued, so some of the cards won't get in the main set, but will help out with Traded sets. There are a few other teams on that site ('99 Astros), and I believe there are multiple seasons, so I think once I have the '97-'00 checklists done that I will research every page I can find and add cards to my lists. Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #904 Nick Capra

Nick Capra played in the Majors for 5 seasons. He played for the Texas Rangers in 1982, 1983, and 1985. He was with the Kansas City Royals in 1988, and finished his career with the Rangers in 1991. He came back to the Majors as a coach in 2017 with the Chicago White Sox.

Nick only got 1 card in a major set, which was his 1989 Fleer card. He needs Topps cards in the 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1989 Topps sets to complete his career Topps run as a playher, and needs, a 2017 Topps card to get him up to date as a coach.

I've been working on finishing checklists on my other blog. The 1989-1994 sets are done, as well as the 1996 set. I'll finish 1995 and 2001 next (they just need draft picks, team cards, and stadiums), then I have the big ones of 1999, 1998, 1997, and 2000 to do that need all of the players done. Looking forward to finally finishing some checklists and getting to making customs.  Thanks for checking out the latest card in my set.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #903 Shawn Hare

Shawn Hare played for 4 seasons in the Majors. He debuted in 1991 with the Detroit Tigers, and played with them in 1992. He spent 1993 in the minors, and played 1994 with the Mets. His sunset season came in 1995 with the Rangers.

Shawn got his first and only Topps card in 1993. He appeared in the 1992 Stadium Club set, and got a 1992 Topps Debut card as well. Shawn is missing cards from the 1995 and 1996 Topps sets.

I did a lot of work on the checklists to a few sets, and think I have finally got every card into the 1989-1993 Topps sets. I did a bunch of research trying to find team photos for those sets, and added cards for the stadiums in those sets. I will probably add those cards to the '94-'01 sets as well. It will take a while, but hopefully in the next year or 2, every Topps set from '89-'01 will have a list of cards needed to complete it, and I will continue to update them when anyone makes a card from the set. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy