1992 Topps card #951 Jeff Shaw

Jeff Shaw pitched in the Majors from 1990 to 2001. He pitched his first 3 years with the Cleveland Indians. He spent 1993 and 1994 with the Montreal Expos. He split 1995 with the Expos and Chicago White Sox, before leaving for the Cincinnati Reds. He spent 1996 and 1997 with them, before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 1998 season. He spent the rest of his career with them before retiring after the 2001 season. His baseball life doesn't end there, as his son Travis now plays for the Blue Jays.

Jeff got his first Topps card in the 1994 Topps set. He appeared in the 1998 through 2002 Topps sets, and that was it for him. Jeff is missing cards from the 1990 Topps Traded, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1993 Topps Traded, 1995, 1995 Topps Traded, 1996, 1996 Topps Traded, 1997, 1997 Topps Traded, and 1998 Topps Traded sets. Besides the 1992 Topps custom, I have also made Jeff's 1993 Topps card.

That about does it for today. Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #915 Luis Medina

Luis Medina played for the Cleveland Indians in 1988, 1989, and 1991. He hit 28 Home Runs in the Minors in 1988, and hit 6 in 16 games with the Tribe that year. He was supposed to be a slugging first baseman for them, but didn't really get much more of a shot, playing 30 games with them in 1989, spending 1990 in the minors (hitting 18 Home Runs), and got 5 final games with the Indians in '91.

He got in the 1989 Topps set, and that was his only Topps card. Luis is missing cards from only the '90 Topps set, now that I made his 1992 card.

It's been really busy at my household. My son had his first birthday a few days ago and we had his party on Saturday, work is crazy because of the holidays, and I'm going with my wife to her doctors appointment tomorrow. I've have been going a little slower on the custom cards, but I have finished the 2000 Topps checklist, the 1988 Topps checklist, and finished the first team in the 1997 Topps set, which would be the final set that needs a checklist. Hoping with a little luck I can finish it before the end of the year.

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

1992 Topps Tommy Kramer

Tommy Kramer pitched for the Indians from 1991-1993. He got a '92 Topps Debut card, and appeared in the 1994 regular set, but other than those issues, that was about it for Kramer on Topps cards. He is missing a '92 and '93 card, but now it will be down to just the 1993 card with the '92 Topps custom I've made.

Kramer actually was pretty decent in 1993, pitching a one-hitter against the White Soc, and I was surprised he didn't play beyond '93, but the Indians had some great pitchers in 1994 (Denny Martinez, Charles Nagy, Jack McDowell) and would get some solid pitching from Orel Hershiser, Albie Lopez, and Chad Ogea in addition in 1995, so I guess the Indians staff didn't have much room for Kramer.

I only have 2 more backs to do until I hit the coach cards. Might get to them today if I have time after work, but if not, I have half a day free on Thursday and the whole day off on Friday, so I will work on backs then. Saturday I will have the chance to meet one of my musical heroes, Joel Hanson at a concert in Jacksonville. He was the lead singer/guitarist for '90's Christian-rock band PfR. He's playing in the house band for a few artists and I got tickets for me and my wife. I love his smooth tenor voice and loved listening to his guitar riffs and solos when he was with PfR. I would love to have had it just been him at the concert, but I'm hoping he will at least sing backup and have some guitar solos during the show. I'm hoping to get a guitar pick and maybe talk with him about music theory a bit, but well see how it goes. Next few weekends will be busy with concerts, doctor appointments, and a cruise in a few weeks, but I'll try to make a few posts and give updates on where the set stands.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps Efrain Valdez

Efrain Valdez pitched 3 seasons in the Majors; 1990, 1991, and 1998. The only Topps set he appeared in was the 1991 set. Topps did give him a Bowman, Stadium Club, and Topps Debut card in '91, as well as a '92 Stadium Club card. He is missing from the '92 set, as well as the '99 set which would've pictured him as an Arizona Diamondback. I'm figuring that since he wasn't a rookie anymore and he only appeared in 7 games for one of the worst teams in the Majors that Topps decided to leave him off of the '92 set.

This custom was pretty easy to make. I'm not quite sure, but it looks like the photo was taken at Chain of Lakes Stadium in Winter Haven, Florida, the former Spring Training home of the Indians. I've been to the stadium about 5 times, but don't know exactly how the stadium looks from memory.

I only have 4 more team combo cards to finish backs of, so I have those almost all done as well as finishing up with card #1048. In less than 100 cards, I will be basically done with most player cards and up for a run of around 200 coaches. At that point I am going to go over all of the 1991 rosters player by player and coach by coach and just make totally sure that I didn't leave anyone out or mistakenly put an extra coach in (which I may have). Once that is done, I should have a final number of cards in the set, and I will finish the final checklist and get to making the coach backs (which will have complete team checklists on them. Thanks for checking out my latest card.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps Jose Escobar

Card number 834 in my custom 1992 Topps set belongs to Indians infielder Jose Escobar. Jose started playing professional ball in 1979 and finally made it to the Majors for the first time in 1991. It would be his last pro season. I couldn't find much about his career, but from the looks of it, I'm assuming he was a no hit, good fielding middle infielder.

Jose had only 2 cards in major brands during his career, a '91 Bowman and a card in the '92 Topps Debut set. He does have a variety of Minor League cards. This card would've been his first and only Topps card as he only spent 1991 in the Bigs. 

I got a few packs (3 regular and 1 jumbo) of 2016 Topps yesterday and did ok. Got a few First Pitch inserts and pulled a jersey card of Corey Kluber (who went to college at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida just a few blocks away from my apartment). I did a post on my other blog with pictures if you want to see it. Thanks for checking out the latest card.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Luis Lopez

Luis Lopez played in the Majors from 1990-1991. He never appeared on a regular Topps issue, but did have cards in the '91 Topps Debut set and the '92 Stadium Club set. I had never heard of him until starting my '92 Topps project, but apparently he has been in baseball for a while, getting drafted in 1983 and playing in Japan up until 2004. He was a very versatile player, having played C, 1B, 3B, LF, and RF. He also had decent power numbers, hitting over 30 Home Runs in a season twice in Japan. This would've been Luis's final Topps card.

On a side note, I have taken the images of every card I have created in this set and pasted them onto a photo of a 9-pocket sheet so you can see what the set would look like in a binder. I may post them, may not, haven't decided, but I'm hoping it will be a good reference tool as I create the backs to all of the cards. If I did the calculations right, I can finish the backs to the entire set by the end of this year as long as I can make 2 per day. It might be a lofty goal, but it would be cool if I could get there. 

Thanks for checking out the latest card in my set.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Bruce Egloff

Bruce Egloff was one of many Cleveland Indian rookies in 1991. He got into 6 games that year, and appeared in the 1992 Topps Debut set, but not in the regular Topps set.

1992 Topps Jeff Mutis

Jeff Mutis made his debut in 1991 for the Cleveland Indians after being a first round draft pick of theirs a few years earlier. He didn't appear in the 1992 Topps set, but did appear in the 1992 Topps Debut set (card # 131).