Thursday, January 26, 2017

1992 Topps #893 Jeff McKnight


Today's card is of the late Jeff McKnight. Jeff came up to the Bigs with the Mets in 1989, played for the Orioles for 1990 and 1991, and he came back to the Mets for 1992-1994.

Jeff appeared only in the 1991 and 1994 Topps sets. He was missing from the 1990, 1992, 1993, and 1995 sets. He got a 1990 Topps debut set as well. This Topps custom would've been Jeff's last Orioles card.

A few days ago, I finished the official checklist for the 2016 Topps set, just in time for the 2017 set to be released. I plan on getting a few packs whenever I can and I'll probably post about them on my other blog. I hope everyone does well with their first 2017 packs.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

Saturday, January 21, 2017

1992 Topps #892 Steve Rosenberg


We are officially 100 cards into my custom 1992 Topps set!!  Steve Rosenberg played 4 seasons in the Majors. He came up to the Majors in 1988 with the White Sox, and played with them in 1989 and 1990. He spent his final season in the Bigs with the Padres in 1991.

Steve got cards in the 1989 and 1990 Topps sets, and was left off of the 1991 and 1992 sets. Now with this 1992 Topps customs, Steve just needs a 1991 Topps custom to complete his career Topps run.

Tonight, I finished the the last National League team in the 2016 Topps checklist. Now all that are left are 11 teams in the American League, and the checklist to the 2016 Topps set will be complete. I just want to say that Topps really screwed us over in 1998 (1993, if you want to get technical). In 1993, Topps decided to put cards of the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies in Series 2, even though the teams hadn't finished playing the 1993 season yet. It was a good idea, and I enjoyed it as a 10-year old, because it was cool to get cards of these new teams that hadn't played yet. This kind of opened the door for what they would do in 1998. This was the first year that Topps put pictures of players on their set in new uniforms that they would be wearing in the upcoming season. This would've been fine, but since Topps puts the previous years stats in their sets, it complicates things when looking through a roster and trying to figure out who was left off. Before '98, I can usually look through a roster and figure out who is missing from each team. In the '98 set and beyond, it can get tricky, because no matter what team I start with, I usually end up putting a player on the chcklist who already appeared in the set, usually because Topps had the player pictured on one team on the front, while the back has stats from another. While making the 2016 Topps checklist, I discovered many players who I put on the checklist who had cards in the set, but were pictured with a team that was different than the one they played for in 2015. I've just decided to be ok with it, because while looking through Topps checklists from the 2016 regular and Traded sets, I've discovered that the complany has made a card for player A in both the regular set and the Traded set many times. I don't get it. Why does someone need 2 base cards of a player. Most, if not all of them, aren't star players either. This keeps many deserving players out of the set. Currently with 11 teams left, the 2016 Topps regular set (not including Traded/Update) is at 1400 cards. My 1992 Topps set (which included 26 team combo cards, Award Winners, extra All-Stars, extra Draft Picks, extra Prospect cards, and extra Checklists, the set was only 1367 cards deep. 2016 has already passed it, and we still have 11 teams to add. Just another reason why us collectors need to band together and boycott Topps in favor of a custom set with better pictures, everyone in the league on a card (including coaches and managers), a better design, and no SPs. The only thing missing would be high-end cards, SPs, autographed cards, and relic cards, but isn't that the kind of cards that Topps is all about making?  Sorry to go off on a rant, but making this 2016 Topps checklist has shown me some things about Topps that makes me even more dissatisfied with the company.
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

Saturday, January 7, 2017

1992 Topps #891 Gene Harris


It's been awhile since I've posted, but I haven't forgot about my 1992 Topps set. Today's card is an O-Pee-Chee card that I made into a Topps issue. Topps chose to leave Gene Harris out of the 1992 set, but replaced card #390 with Gene in the 1992 O-Pee-Chee set. 

Gene got called up to the Majors in 1989 with the Expos. He was traded to the Mariners in the middle of the season in the Randy Johnson/Mark Langston deal. He stayed with the Mariners until May 11th of 1992 when he was traded to the Padres. Exactly 2 years later, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers in 1994. His final season was in 1995 when he played for the Phillies and Orioles.

Gene got his first Topps card in the 1989 Traded set, which pictures him with the Mariners (although it is airbrushed). The only Topps issue featuring him as an Expo is the his 1990 Topps debut card. Harris got a regular Topps issue in 1990, but is pictured with his new team, the Mariners. He recieved a 1991 Topps card, was left off of the 1992 set, and got a 1993 Topps Traded card. Gene's final Topps card was a 1994 card. He is just missing a 1995 and 1996 Topps card after adding my '92 Topps custom to his career Topps run.

I have finally finished the templates to every set from 1989-2001 on my other blog. Lately, I have been making customs, and also working a little bit on checklists, adding 2 teams to the 2016 set, and adding every coach and manager to the 1997 set. Making the checklist for the 2016 set is difficult, but with the ability to use the custom card maker on the Topps website for the 2016 set and having the cards look like pack-pulled 2016 cards, I think it will be worth the pain of cranking out the 2016 set.  Hopefully it will go faster than I anticipate. Thanks for checking out the latest card in my set.
-Jeremy