1992 Topps #935 Keith Comstock

Keith Comstock played in the Major Leagues from 1986-1991. He appeared first in 1986 with the Minnesota Twins, spent 1987 with the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres, 1988 with the Padres, before finishing up his career in 1990 and 1991 with the Seattle Mariners. 

He is only appeared on 2 Topps cards, his first being in the 1988 Topps set, and his last being in 1991. He is missing cards from the 1985, 1989, 1990, and 1992 Topps sets, with this card crossing off his sunset 1992 one. 

Keith is kind of a baseball card legend, as he is featured on 2 error cards (in his only 2 Topps cards ever made), and 1 goofy photo in a minor league issue.

His first error card was in the 1988 Topps set. It features the Padres name at the top of the card in white instead of blue. Here is the error card and the corrected one.

His 1991 Topps card comes with a correct Mariners version, and an error listing him with the Chicago Cubs. Here is the error and corrected version.

This is the minor league card I was talking about.

Ouch. 

In spite of all of these crazy cards, I always thought his 1991 Donruss card was weird. When I would go to my endocrynologist as a kid, every time they had to draw my blood in the lab, I wouldn't really care, because they would give me a 3-card '91 Donruss pack afterwards. I pulled the Comstock card out of one of the packs, and I just thought it was crazy how it looked like there were bumps on Comstock's glove just like a basketball instead of being smooth like all of the other gloves I had seen on cards. Take a look for yourself.

If all of those crazy facts weren't enough, while researching for the back of the customs '92 TOpps I made, I discovered that Keith played an inning in Right Field for the Giants in 1987. Add that to the many interesting things I have discovered while researching things for the 1992 Topps set.

I have finished the 1984 Topps set, am a team or two away from finishing the checklist for the 1981 Topps set, and am making progress on making cards in the '93 Topps set. With all that being done, I am thinking about adding another thing to my plate by creating a Twitter account, mainly for all of the Topps cards that never were, not just the 1992 set. I just don't want to mess up if I do create the account and do everything professionally and not appear like a noob. So, a few questions...
First, what should I post? A random card? Groups of cards? A card of the day? What would attract people to follow my account?
Second, I notice there are a number of baseball players who I have made customs of that own Twitter accounts. Should I try to add them as followers first, and them post customs of them and tag them? Should I just post, and see if I can get the players as followers if these customs spread by word of mouth?
Third, should I add all of the MLB team accounts? Would Topps kill me if I added them and they saw that I was making customs using their designs?
I'm probably forgetting a few other questions, but these were the main ones. I don't even know if anyone would want to follow a Topps Cards that Never Were Twitter page, but if there is enough interest, I could create one. #ToppsCardsthatNeverWere.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #914 Chris Howard

Chris Howard played 3 seasons in the Majors, in 1991, 1993, and 1994, all for the Seattle Mariners. Not to be confused with Chris Howard the pitcher, this Chris Howard came up around the same time as the pitcher, but I would say probably was remembered more, since he was on a 1994 Topps Prospects card, one that he shared with red-hot Carlos Delgado. The only Topps card the pitcher got was a 1994 Topps Traded card, and a 1995 Topps regular version. Back to the catcher and the guy in this post, Chris the catcher is missing a 1992 and 1995 Topps card to complete his career Topps run. He is only missing his '95 card with his /92 card finished.

Alot has been going on at my other blog. I finished the 1983 Topps regular and Traded set. The 1998 Topps checklist is finished, and the 2000 checklist is only 8 teams away from being finished, and I added checklist pages for all of the ones I have worked on (1983, 1986-2017). Some aren't finished, but I hope it can be a good reference for custom card makers to use that will give them a good idea of who needs cards in sets, as well as give them the templates needed to make most of them.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #906 Matt Sinatro

Matt Sinatro played in the Majors from 1981-1992. He spent the 1981-1984 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, was with the Oakland Athletics in 1987 and 1988, the Detroit Tigers in 1989, before playing his final 3 seasons with the Seattle Mariners in 1990-1992. After his playing career, Matt started coaching, and made it back to the Bigs in 1995 with the Mariners. He stayed with them through the 2002 season, then followed manager Lou Piniella to the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays from 2003-2005. In 2007, he followed Piniella again, this time to the Chicago Cubs, where he stayed through the 2010 season. 

Matt missed out on getting a bunch of Topps cards throughout the years. His first Topps card came in the 1990 Traded set, and his only other one came the next year in the 1991 set. Matt is missing cards from the 1982-1985 sets, the 1989-1990 regular sets, and the 1993 sets as a player, and the 1996-2006, and 2008-2011 sets. I actually have done another custom besides this 1992 Topps one of Matt, his 1990 Topps card picturing him as a Detroit Tiger. 

I haven't had any time to do anything lately it seems like. I was hoping to mow the grass one last time before our fence gets installed on Thursday, but the mower would just shut off a few seconds after I would start it, so an hour or two messing with that/weeing some flower beds was already shot today after I got off work, and between feeding baby and taking care of dogs and doing normal everyday housework, I barely had a chance to throw this post together. Tomorrow I probably have band practice, so that kills that night, but I'm hoping I can work on some customs on Thursday night, and I am off Friday, so I hope to do a little around the house, and then a whole lot of nothing. Work has just been getting to me lately, and I don't know if I'm getting older, having a kid is tiring me, if my diabetes is just tiring me or what, but I've just felt tired the last month or so. I'm seriously thinking about changing professions. While baking has a few perks, I just don't know if I can go through another holiday of getting worked like a pack mule, and my wife has suggested that coding might be something good to look at that I could possibly be intrigued by and good at. Might give me more time at home and who knows, maybe I can somehow use it to help with customs. Now I'm just ranting, but it's nice to rant on here since nobody is home and I'm sure some of you can relate to just having a period in your life where you are worn out. It kind of makes the baseball cards ok to have since you can just organize them, look at them, or whatever you do with them that just helps you detox and relax. Thanks for checking out my latest custom.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #901 Calvin Jones

Calvin Jones only pitched 2 years in the Majors, 1991 and 1992, both for the Mariners. He was the Mariners first round pick in the 1984 MLB Draft, and he picked up 5 Wins during his career.

Calvin only got 1 Topps card, a 1993 Topps card picturing him with the Colorado Rockies. He was selected by them in the 1992 Expansion Draft, but never got called up to Colorado. He is missing only a 1993 Topps card picturing him with the Mariners to complete his career Topps run now that this 1992 Topps custom rookie is complete.

I worked on a few WBC customs today, covering every game that the Netherlands team has played so far. I would love to see a Netherlands/USA final, and would probably actually pull slightly for the Netherlands since both sets of grandparents were born there.  There are a few of us on the Facebook Custom Card Group who are making WBC customs, so feel free to check them out.  I'll probably work a little more on the 1996 Topps set later tonight (customs and checklist), and perhaps some more WBC cards.  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 #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 #883 Mike Blowers

Mike Blowers played 11 seasons in the Majors. He spent his first 3 seasons with the Yankees from 1989-1991. From there, he spent 1992-1995 with the Mariners. He played 1996 with the Dodgers, and was back with the Mariners in 1997. He played with the Athletics in 1998, and finished out his career in 1999, spending it in Japan, and then coming back to the Mariners.

Mike got his first Topps card in the 1990 Traded set. He appeared in the 1991 regular set, then was left off of the 1992 and 1993 sets. He got into the 1994-1997 sets, was left out of the 1998 set, and got his final Topps card in the '99 set. He is missing cards from the 1992-1993, 1998, and 2000 Topps sets. This 1992 Topps custom leave Mike with 3 cards needed to complete his career Topps run.

This card actually gave me a difficult situation. Mike was traded to the Mariners on May 17, 1991, which would've been plenty of time to get a picture of Mike in a M's uniform. The only problem is that Mike never played with the Mariners in 1991, but with their AAA club in Calgary. I decided to leave Mike's photo as a Yankee photo, but to designate that he was traded (ala O-Pee-Chee). Here is a version I made without the traded designation.

While researching Wikipedia for info about Blowers' career, I found what looked like a fans' website devoted to Blowers listed as an external link. When I clicked the link, it sent me to some Japanese? website. When I translated it, it turned out to be a website about hair loss or something. I seem to be finding crazier and crazier things online while researching players in my project. 

I didn't get to work on as many customs as I wanted to yesterday night, but I am so close to finishing the 2000 Topps templates. Maybe by next week. I think I'll also try to finally finish that 1992 Topps Scott Brosius card to finally finish the '92 set. I think sub-consciously I have been putting the card off because Brosuis was one of those pesky Yankees in the '90's, which were the years when my Yankee-hating came to be.  Might as well finish the set though.  Thanks for checking out my latest custom.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Rich Amaral

Rich Amaral made his MLB Debut in 1991, but Topps decided to leave him out of their flagship set. He appeared in the 1992 Topps Debut set (card # 3) and the 1992 Topps Stadium Club set (card # 689). I actually used the photo from the Stadium Club card to make this one.