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

1992 Topps #890 Tony Bernazard

Tony Bernazard played in the Major Leagues from 1979-1991. He came up in 1979 with the Expos, and played with them in 1980. He was with the White Sox from 1981 through the middle of 1983, when he was acquired by the Mariners. He spent 1984 through the middle of 1987 with the Indians, and then was acquired by the A's. He played in Japan from 1988-1990, then came back in 1991 for 6 games with the Tigers.

Tony first appeared in a Topps set in 1980, when he appeared on a 3-player rookie card with Randy Miller and John Tamargo. He got into both the 1981 regular and Traded sets. He got a regular 1982 card, and a regular and Traded 1983 card. He was in both the regular and Traded sets again in 1984, and then got into the regular Topps set in 1985 and 1986. For 1987, Tony got a regular issue, and an All-Star cad, as he put up his best numbers in 1986. He get his last Topps card in 1988. This 1992 Topps custom finished Tony's career Topps run, although he could probably be given a card in the 1991 Traded set.

I am currently working on templates for the 1994 Topps set, and if all goes well, I may have those, as well as the 1998 templates done by late tomorrow. I have a feeling that I will have pages up for the 1989-2001 sets up any day now on my other blog. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #889 Pat Rice

Pat Rice played 1 season in the Majors, in 1991 with the Mariners. He went 1-1, with a solid 3.00 ERA. After his playing career, he was a coach for a few different organizations.

Pat only got 3 major issue cards during his career, which were a 1992 Fleer, Score, and Topps Debut issue. This 1992 Topps custom completes his career Topps run, and would've been Pat's only Topps card.

If you haven't seen it, Greg from Night Owl Cards did a post on the '92 Topps customs I sent him. I'm hoping to print out the rest of the '92 set, and as soon as I finish these crazy templates, complete some more Topps sets. Only parts of the 1994, 1998 sets, the whole 1995 set, and some touch ups on the 1997 set are left, and the 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 2001 checklists are done. Some cool things will be coming up soon. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #888 Terry Mathews

Terry Mathews pitched in the Bigs from 1991-1999. He pitched for the Texas Rangers from 1991-1992, then signed with the Florida Marlins. He played with them until the middle of '96, when he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles. He pitched for them in 1997 and -998, and played his final season in 1999 with the Kansas City Royals. 

Terry only got into 1 base Topps set, the 1995 set. He got a 1992 Topps Debut card, and that was it for his Topps cards. He technically got into the 1992 Topps set, but as a checklist replacement in the ToppsGold set. John Ramos, Rod Beck, Brian Williams, Tony Perezchica, Terry McDaniel, and Mathews were chosen as replacements for checklist spots in the '92 ToppsGold set. For those cards, I used the Gold cards and tried to give the cards regular nameplates on the front and regular backs. Now Terry is just missing cards from the 1993, 1994, and 1996-2000 Topps sets. 

Work has finally slowed down, and things are finally getting somewhat back to normal at home. Baby Kyler got here on the 6th, so that kind of put things to a crawl on this blog, but I have been making templates and finalizing checklists for a good amount of the Topps sets from 1989-2001. 1989, 1990 and most of 2001 have the checklists done. 1991 is almost done. The 1989-1993 sets, 1996-1997 (basically) sets, and the 1999-2001 sets all have templates done for every team. I'm working on 1994, 1995, and 1998, and I will do templates for each team in the 1997 set, but there is a basic template that you can steal team logos from the 1996 set and add to. Slowly some of these Topps sets will get completed and I might just have to make more blogs like this one. Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #887 Jim Hunter

Jim Hunter got into a total of 8 games in the Majors, all in 1991 with the Brewers.

He only has 2 baseball cards from major sets, a 1992 Score card, and a 1992 Topps Debut card. Jim never got a card in the 1992 Topps main set, which would've been his first and final Topps card. This custom finishes his short career Topps run.

I've been working on 1990 templates for my other blog, and I think I've found a breakthrough that will let me be able to make multiple templates for each team a lot easier. I'm hoping to test it out later tonight. I have the 1990 Topps checklist ready to finalize, so once I finish the AL templates, that set will be good to go. The 1991 set may take a while, so I might focus my efforts on finishing the 2001 checklist or perhaps making templates of the Detroit Tigers from 1991-2007 or so (they are my favorite team). I'll also work on making some pages on the sidebar with the main pages for each set I have complete checklists and templates for (1989, soon to be 1990 and 2001). The 1996 and 2000 Topps sets have the templates done, but I still need complete checklists for them. As I am finalizing the checklists, I am also working on making the checklist cards (front and back), and I am actually printing those out and putting them in my checklist binder, and they look pretty sweet and finalize the set.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy