1992 Topps #934 Doug Strange

Doug Strange played in the Majors from 1989-1998. He came up with the Detroit Tigers in 1989, spent 1990 in the minors, and got back into the Bigs with the Chicago Cubs in 1991. He played with them in 1992, and spent 1993 and 1994 with the Texas Rangers. For 1995 and 1996, he played with the Seattle Mariners, then he spent 1997 with the Montreal Expos before finishing his career in 1998 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Doug's first Topps card came in the 1989 Topps set. He is missing a card in the 1992 set, which I fixed. He got in the 1994 set, and then is missing cards for the rest of his career. I made him a 1998 Topps card as an Expo, and Mark from Battlin' Bucs gave him a 1998 Topps Traded card as a Pirate.

On my other blog, I have been working on finishing the 1984 Topps and 1984 Topps Traded sets.  I have finished the Traded set, and am done with the NL in the regular set, as well as the Orioles and Red Sox. That leaves about 10 teams to go (the checklists says a little less than 200 cards, but a number have been done, so I think it's closer to 150 or less). I hope to finish that in a few months. I finished the 1982 Topps checklist, and am working on the 1981 checklist, bringing me steps closer to having missing player checklists from every set from 1978 to 2001. Eventually, I will work my way down through the '70's and '60's and down to 1951. Patience. Patience.
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #921 Doug Glanville Draft Pick

Doug Glanville spent a good deal of time in the Majors, and gained notoriety for his intelligence, and currently writes for the New York Times and ESPN. He made it to the Majors in 1996 with the Chicago Cubs, and played for them until the end of the 1997 season. He played for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1998 to 2002. He split 2003 with the Texas Rangers and Cubs, and finished his career in 2004 with Phillies. 

Doug got his first Topps card in the 1995 set, on an On Deck card that he shared with Darron Cox. He was left off of the 1997 set, but then got into the 1998 through 2005 Topps sets to finish his career Topps run. Doug is just missing a card in the 1997 Topps set to finish his career Topps run. I will probably make it and post it on my other blog to finish his career Topps run. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #879 Erik Pappas

Erik Pappas played in the Majors for 3 years. He got his first taste of Big League action in 1991 with the Cubs. He got into 7 games that year, and spent 1992 in the minors. He got back to the Majors in 1993 with the Cardinals, and played his final season with them in 1994. 

Erik has 2 Topps issues, coming in the 1993 Topps Traded and 1994 Topps sets.  It's kind of strange that Topps got him into the '93 Traded set even though he didn't appear in the Majors in 1992.  He needs a 1992 Topps card, and a 1995 Topps card to complete his career Topps run. Erik actually appears on a number of Topps brand cards, including a '91 Bowman, '92 Stadium Club, '92 Topps Debut, '94 Topps Finest, and '94 Stadium Club issue. This custom gives Erik his '92 Topps card, and only leaves him with a '95 Topps card needing to complete his career Topps run.

I actually remember when I was 9 pulling a '92 Stadium Club Pappas from a pack. My family was in Michigan for my Aunt Mary Jo's wedding, and we stopped at Meijers, the local grocery store to get something. I convinced my parents to get me 2 packs of '92 Stadium Club, and the Pappas was one of the cards I pulled. I liked looking at the backs of the cards and seeing the rookie cards. I thought the Topps debut cards were so cool, but I was never able to get any of them because I was so young and didn't know that a hobby store would probably have them. Eventually, I got some Topps debut cards from a few repacks, as well as COMC, and I still have the '92 Stadium Club Pappas in my Cubs binder.

We should officially close on the house tomorrow, and hopefully everything will get squared away in the next few weeks. My posts might slow down a little, especially the ones from my laptop, but I can always post from my phone while on lunch at work. In other news, my softball team got blown out 15-5, and I went 1-2, with a single in the 3rd, and a strikeout looking in the 6th. I fouled off 2 pitches, and the next one looked close to me, and I thought it might be a little inside and high, but it came down, and I watched it cross the corner of the plate as it was too late. The ump took a while to call the pitch, and a few teammates thought it was a bad call, but I guess I'm ok with it and am a little disappointed that I didn't swing. I'm no longer batting 1.000, but hey, .667 isn't bad. I got to play the first inning of the game in right field, and a ball was hit to me, and I started drifting back, and the ball kept going back, and if I had ran back instead of backpedaling, I might have had a chance, but I think in the end that the ball ended up going a few feet behind my glove. I did make it into the stat book later in the inning, by registering a clean Chance as a ball got by the first baseman and I cleanly fielded it and got it back to the cutoff man.  We have a doubleheader next week, so hopefully I can get a few hits, score my first run of the season, and get my first RBI. Thanks for checking out my latest custom.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Yorkis Perez

Yorkis Perez started playing ball in the minors in 1983. By the time 1991 came around, he was a prospect in the Atlanta Braves organization. He was part of a trade that sent Mike Bielecki and Damon Berryhill over to the Braves late in that year. He got into 3 games for the Cubs and went on to a decent career, playing until 2002.

He only appeared on 1 Topps set, in 1995, but did appear in the '92 Topps debut set. I wish Topps would show more love to relievers. A lot of team collectors don't mind cards of lesser known players and autographed set collectors don't mind them either because many lesser known guys don't mind signing. I think this card would've fit in nicely in the '92 set.

I'll probably work on more backs tonight. I'm slowly making progress, finishing card 870 2 days ago. That means I'm 496 card backs away from finishing the entire set if my count is right. I'm hoping the coach, highlight, and combo cards are pretty easy so I can knock out a bunch at a time. Thanks for checking out the newest card in my set.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Chicago Cubs team set

The 1992 Topps Chicago Cubs team set is the first set I had to make a Manager card for. For some reason, Topps didn't make a card for Jim Essian in 1992, or for Jim Lefebvre (the Cubs skipper in 1992). They made a card for Milwaukee Brewers 1992 Manager Phil Garner, even though Tom Trebelhorn skippered the Brew Crew in '91, so if they didn't want to make Essian a card, they could've at least made Lefebvre's in the 1992 set. There are a few other Manager cards I will make in the set, like the previously mentioned Tom Trebelhorn, as well as a Jeff Torborg card for the Chicago White Sox (he appeared as a New York Met since he became their manager in 1992, and the White Sox didn't have a manager card in the '92 Topps set), a Stump Merrill card (the New York Yankees 1992 manager Buck Showalter was featured in the '92 set), and a Boston Red Sox Joe Morgan card (no manager was in the set).

I've worked all the way through the Milwaukee Brewers team set, and am starting on the Montreal Expos, so to give you a rough estimate, I'm about 1/4 or 1/3 of the way done with the set. With that being said, I already have the subset cards done, as well as every card up to card #940 or so done, so I'm only having to do between 5-15 cards per team set, so technically its probably between 1/2 and 2/3rds of the way done. Hopefully it will go by quick and I can post pictures of the fronts of the whole set and then start finishing up the backs. Thanks for checking out the newest team set.
-Jeremy