1992 Topps #987 Jeff Schaefer

 Today's missing Topps card is #987 Jeff Schaefer.

If this Topps card looks familiar, that’s because it was part of the 1992 O-Pee-Chee set. It was card #391 in the OPC set, and replaced card #391, the Ron Gant All-Star card in the 1992 Topps set, since for some reason, OPC didn’t replicate the All-Star or record breaker cards in their set. 

Jeff made his Major League debut in 1989 with the Chicago White Sox. He played the 1990-1992 seasons with the Seattle Mariners, and spent the 1994 season with the Oakland Athletics, his last one in the Majors. 

Schaefer is one of my ‘white whales’ for the 1994 Topps Traded and 1995 Topps sets. He only played 6 games for the A’s in 1994, and I was unable to find a photo of him in an Athletics uniform. I was able to reach out to him in hopes that he knew of a photo that was taken of him as an Athletic, and he said he knew that a newspaper had a photo of him as an Athletic, and that was it and that he doesn’t own a copy.  With no photo, I had to conjure one up, and for the record, the Pirates and Athletics are the hardest team to do that for, just because of black, yellow, and green being difficult colors to blend and either having to somehow cut and paste a different hat and uniform on a player or have to somehow create a realistic looking cap from one painted green or black. It’s a tough job as you can see later. 

Jeff got his first and only major Topps issue in the 1991 Topps set. He is missing cards from the 1989 Topps Traded set, the 1990 Topps set, the 1990 Topps Traded set, the 1993 Topps set, the 1994 Topps Traded set, and the 1995 Topps set. Besides the 1992 Topps custom I’ve made, I have also created his 1993 Topps, 

1994 Topps Traded, 

and 1995 Topps customs. 

Jeff is just missing cards from the 1988 Topps Traded, 1990 Topps, and 1990 Topps Traded cards to complete his career Topps run. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #986 Frank Wills

 Today's missing Topps card is #986 Frank Wills

Frank made his MLB debut for the Kansas City Royals in 1983. He spent 1984 with them, and 1985 with the Seattle Mariners. He played for the Cleveland Indians in 1986 and 1987. His final Major League stop was for the Toronto Blue Jays, with whom he spent the 1989, 1990, and 1991 seasons. 

I didn't find too much info about Frank, other than the fact that he played baseball and football at Tulane. He was a punter in football, and was an All-American in baseball in the 1980 season. In high school, he led his team to the state championship game, and was selected as MVP of the game after winning it. After retiring from baseball, he worked for a limousine company, and passed away in 2012. 

Frank's first Topps card came in the 1986 Topps set. He got a card in the 1987 Topps set, the 1990 Topps Traded set, and the 1991 Topps set. Frank is missing cards from the 1983 Topps Traded set, the 1984 Topps set, the 1985 Topps set, the 1986 Topps Traded set, and the 1989 Topps Traded set. Besides the 1992 Topps custom, I have covered the 1983 Topps Traded and 1984 Topps cards. 

Frank is just missing cards from the 1985 Topps set, the 1986 Topps Traded set, and the 1989 Topps Traded set, and then his career Topps cun will be complete.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #985 Todd Burns

 Today's missing Topps card is #985 Todd Burns

Todd made his MLB debut in 1988 with the Oakland Athletics. He played for the A’s until the end of the 1991 season, and was part of the 1989 World Championship team. He signed with the Texas Rangers as a free agent after the ‘91 season, and played with them in 1992. He split the 1993 season with the Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals, and that was it for his MLB career.

Todd came up as a starter, but switched to relief in 1989. Not sure why his career ended, but I’m assuming it was injuries. He only got into 3 games in 1991, probably the reason he didn’t get a 1991 Topps card, but rebounded to pitch in 35 games, earning him a 1993 Topps appearance. After retiring, he opened the Todd Burns Baseball School. 

Todd got his first Topps card in the 1989 Topps set. He got into the 1990 and 1991 Topps set, missed the ‘92 set, and appeared in the 1993 Topps set as stated before. The 1993 card was his final Topps appearance. 

Todd is missing cards from the 1988 Topps Traded set, the 1992 Topps Traded set, the 1993 Topps Traded set, and the 1994 Topps set. Besides his 1992 Topps custom, I have done his 1992 Topps Traded card, 

his 1993 Topps Traded card, 

and his 1994 Topps card. 

Todd is just missing his 1988 Topps Traded card to complete his career Topps run. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #984 Phil Stephenson

 Todays missing Topps card is #984 Phil Stephenson. 

Phil got his first taste of the Majors in 1989 with the Chicago Cubs. He was part of a rare September trade that year, when he and others were dealt to the San Diego Padres along with a guy I wrote about a dozen or so cards ago, Calvin Schiraldi, in exchange for Luis Salazar and Marvelle Wynne. He finished the ‘89 season with the Pads, and played with them in 1990, 1991, and 1992, his final season in the Majors. He trolled the minors for a few seasons, and also was a replacement player during 1995 Spring Training for the Chicago Cubs. 

Phil played college baseball at Wichita State, and his coach was his older brother Gene Stephenson. His brother (and coach) was elected to the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014. Phil had a 47 game hitting streak in 1981, the record before Robin Ventura topped it. After his career, Phil spent a few seasons coaching, and according to his Wikipedia page, he now hosts an AM radio show for KGSO, a sports radio station in Wichita. 

Phil’s first Topps card came in the 1990 Topps set. He appeared in the 1991 and 1993 Topps sets as well as his rookie issue. He is missing 2 cards from the 1989 Topps Traded set (Cubs and Padres), and a 1995 Topps card for his time as a replacement to complete his career Topps run. I haven’t covered any of his cards except for the 1992 Topps custom. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #983 Rob Maurer

 Today's missing Topps card is #983 Rob Maurer

Rob made his MLB debut in 1991 for the Texas Rangers and played with them from 1991–1992. 

Rob put up some good numbers in the minors and played 2 years in the Majors. Not sure what happened after his last game in 1992 because there is no record of him playing in the minors in 1993, then he played 61 games in 1994, hitting .258, before retiring after the season. You never know for sure in the days before transaction records from the minors weren’t readily available on the internet, but I’m guessing maybe an injury in 1993 Spring Training or the end of the ‘92 season that sidelined him for that ‘93 season. 

Rob got just a 1993 Topps card, so all he needs is a 1991 Topps Traded card to complete his career Topps run. I created it along with the ‘92 Topps custom, so his career Topps run is finished. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #982 Mark Knudson

 Todays missing Topps card is #982 Mark Knudson. 

Mark made his MLB debut in 1985 for the Houston Astros. He pitched with them until August 1986 when he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for Danny Darwin. He stayed with the Brew Crew through the end of the 1991 season. After spending 1992 in the San Diego system, he spent the 1993 season with the Colorado Rockies, which was also his final MLB season. 

A few days after retiring, his wife had triplets. He beat 3 members of the 4,000 K club, and now works in sports media, and writes a newspaper column. Those are just a few interesting things I learned from his Wikipedia page. He also has an active Twitter account if you are into that sort of thing. 

Mark’s first Topps card came in the 1988 Topps set. He got into the 1990 Topps set and the 1991 Topps set and that was it as far as his Topps cards. He is missing cards from the 1985 Topps Traded, 1986 Topps, 1986 Topps Traded, 1987 Topps, 1989 Topps, 1993 Topps Traded, and 1994 Topps sets. The Condition Sensitive blog has covered the 1993 Topps Traded card. 

I have covered his 1994 sunset card as well as the 1992 custom. 

Mark just needs cards from the 1985 Topps Traded set, the 1986 Topps set, the 1986 Topps Traded set, the 1987 Topps set, and the 1989 Topps sets to complete his career Topps run. 

1992 Topps #981 Wilson Alvarez Season Highlights

 Today's missing 1992 Topps card is #981 Wilson Alvarez Season Highlights. 

This card was a highlights card that Topps missed out on making. Wilson Alvarez got called up to make and emergency start, just his 2nd time pitching in the Majors. He came through and pitched a no-hitter against the Orioles. I’m pretty happy with how this one came out, the back basically looks similar to the Record Breaker subset, which is what I was going for. The only thing I would maybe change is the font for ‘season highlights’ on the front, and if I could get an actual photo from the game, that would be the other change I would make. Other than that, I think it’s great. 

Alvarez’s no-hitter was one of the many no no’s in 1991 that Topps failed to put in their 1992 Topps set. Along with a 19 K game by David Cone, a few more no-hitters, and the earlier 6 SB game by Otis Nixon that I made, there are some nice highlight cards I’ve added to the 1992 Topps set. It’s back to regular cards for a while, but stay tuned for more later in my set. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy