1992 Topps #992 Brian Williams

 Today’s missing Topps card is #992 Brian Willams. 

Brian made his MLB debut in 1991 with the Houston Astros. He played with them in 1992, 1993, and 1994 before being swapped to the San Diego Padres. He spent the ‘95 season with the Pads, and signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers. He played for them in 1996, and the Baltimore Orioles signed him as a free agent for the 1997 season. He played in Japan in 1998, and came back to the States and played with the Astros again in 1999. His last year in the Majors was 2000, and he spent it with the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians. 

The Williams card was a little bit of a challenge for me. He didn’t get a Topps card in the 1992 set, but he was used as a checklist replacement in the 1992 ToppsGold set. Rather than making a ToppsGold checklist, Topps chose 6 players not in the ‘92 Topps set to get a ToppsGold card in place of the 6 checklists in the set. I took the Gold card and overlaid the gold nameplate with a regular one, and with a little bit of manipulation, it turned out fine. The back was the same except for the number needing to be changed. 

Brian also presented me with a tricky situation for the 1991 Topps set as he was a 1990 #1 draft pick, and needed a card in that subset of the ‘91 Topps set. He also made the Majors shortly after in 1991, so he needed to get a card in the ‘91 Traded set as well. I figured since the Draft Pick card came first and was different from the regular card, so I made both. 

Brian got his first regular issue Topps card in the 1993 Topps set. His only other Topps card was in the 1994 set. He needs cards from the 1991 Topps set, the 1991 Topps Traded set, the 1995 Topps set, the 1995 Topps Traded set, 2 cards from the 1996 Topps set (Tigers and Orioles), the 1997 Topps set, the 1998 Topps set, the 1999 Topps Traded set, the 2000 Topps set, 2 cards from the 2000 Topps Traded set (Cubs and Indians), and the 2001 Topps set. 

Besides the 1992 Topps custom, I have made Brian’s 1991 Topps,

1991 Topps Traded, 

1995 Topps,

and 1998 Topps cards. 

I believe I might also have a 1996 Topps card of Brian on my laptop somewhere. 

Brian is missing cards from the 1995 Topps Traded, 2 cards from the 1996 Topps set, the 1997 Topps set, the 1999 Topps Traded set, the 2000 Topps set, 2 cards from the 2000 Topps Traded set, and the 2001 Topps set, and when those are made it will complete his career Topps run. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy