1992 Topps #897 Darnell Coles

Darnell Coles played in the Majors from 1983-1997. He played for the Mariners from 1983-1985, the Tigers in 1986 and part of 1987, the Pirates for the rest of 1987 and part of 1988, and then came back to Seattle for the remainder of 1988. He played 1989 with the Mariners and split 1990 with the Mariners and Tigers. He played 11 games with the Giants in 1991, and played for the Reds in 1992. He spent 1993 and 1994 with the Blie Jays, winning a World Series title in 1993. He played 1995 with the Cardinals, spent 1996 and part of 1997 in Japan playing ball, and finished out his playing career with the Colorado Rockies in 1997. He became a coach after he retired, and coached with the Detroit Tigers in 2014 and the Brewers from 2015 through the present.

Darnell appeared on a few sets during his playing career, with his first Topps card coming in the 1985 set. He got into the 1986 regular and Traded set, and then appeared in the 1987-1991 Topps sets, with the '91 version being his final one. Coles is missing cards from the 1984, 1993-1996, 1998, and 2015-2018  Topps sets to finish his career Topps run. This 1992 Topps custom was a little tricky to make since I was unable to find a photo of Coles in a Giants uniform. I took the photo from his 1991 Score card picturing him with the Tigers, and was able to take the Detroit logo off and paste a Giants one in its place. I think it came out pretty good, and certainly one of the better ones in my custom '92 set.

I finalized my COMC order yesterday night, so now I'm patiently waiting for it to be shipped, and I hope to post about it soon on my other blog. I also hope to add the final 1995 Topps checklist that Paul helped me finish. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #896 Dave Hansen

Dave Hansen played in the Majors from 1990-2005. He made it back to the Bigs as a coach in 2011, and he is still coaching as of 2017. Dave played for the Dodgers from 1990-1996, played for the Cubs in 1997, spent 1998 in Japan, came back to the Dodgers from 1999-2002. He played for the Padres from 2003 through mid-season of 2004, and spent the rest of 2004 and all of 2005 with the Seattle Mariners, retiring after the season. He set a Major League record with 7 pinch-hit Home Runs in 2000. In 2011, Dave started his coaching career with the Dodgers. He stayed with them through the end of the 2012 season. He spent 2013 with the Seattle Mariners, and has been with the Angels from 2014 through the present.

Dave only appeared in 4 Topps sets, 1993, 1994, 1995, and 2001. He is missing cards from the 1991, 1996-2000, and 2002-2006 Topps sets. This 1992 Topps custom covers his 2nd Topps card. For his coaching career, Dave is missing cards from the 2012-2017 Topps sets.

I have the longer version on my other blog, so here is the short version of what I've been up to. Ordered a bunch of cards online, will post about them when I get them all. My boss has been giving me a bunch of junk wax cards. The 1995 Topps custom checklist is almost done. Things are busy at home, but blogging, customs, and real cards keep me sane sometimes. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #895 Lance Blankenship

Card #895 in the 1992 Topps set is Lance Blankenship. Lance appeared in the 1992 O-Pee-Chee set, and replaced the Will Clark All-Star card in the '92 Topps set. I don't see O-Pee-Chee didn't just copy the All-Star cards just like with the regular ones in the set. It's nice that they gave new players cards in the OPC set, but if they wanted new players in the OPC set, why not do it in the Topps set by expanding the set. That was 25 years ago, and now it's even worse.

Lance played his entire career (1988-1993) with the Oakland Athletics. He was part of the 1989 World Championship team. He was on the disabled list for the 1994 season, so without doing too much research, I would assume that the injury was the reason his career ended.

Lance appeared on his first Topps card in 1990. He was in the 1991 set, missed 1992, and got 1993-1995 Topps cards. It's interesting that he got the '95 card after being on the DL the whole year. The '95 Topps set was only 660 cards, so it's surprising that a player who didn't play in 1994 got into the set. Lance is missing just a 1989 Topps rookie to complete his career Topps run, and is in my 1989 Topps checklist of cards that need to be made (card #1002). The 1989 Topps A's template is up on the page if anyone feels like making it.

Thanks for checking out the latest card in my set.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #894 Jim Austin

Jim Austin played 3 seasons in the Majors, all for the Milwaukee Brewers. He played from 1991-1993, posting a 6-4 record with a 3.06 ERA and 48 Strikeouts.

Jim only has 1 regular Topps card, in the 1993 set. This 1992 Topps rookie leaves Jim only needing a 1994 Topps card to complete his career Topps run.While researching Jim's cards, I found his 1994 Team Stadium Club card which lists him as a New York Yankee, and actually pictures him in a Yankee uni on the front (he is pictured as a Brewer on the back).  Never would've known that.

I worked on a partial 2017 Topps checklist on my other blog. Not too many cards, but coaches and managers need to be done. Once the Series 2 and Update checklist are done, I will start on listing actual player cards.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

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

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

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