1991 Topps #991 Kevin Brown

 Todays missing Topps card is #991 Kevin Brown. 

Kevin made his MLB debut in 1990 with the New York Mets. In September 1990, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in the Charlie O’Brien deal. Kevin finished the 1990 season with the Brewers and played with them in 1991. He got selected off waivers in April 1992 by the Seattle Mariners and played with them in 1992, his final MLB season. 

Kevin never appeared on any Topps cards during his career. He got into the 1990 and 1991 Bowman sets, the 1990 Topps TV Mets issue, the 1992 Topps Stadium Club set, and the 1991 Topps MLB debut set. A good number of Topps issued sets to not get one in the flagship set. According to his Wikipedia page, he is a high school varsity baseball coach. When I searched ‘Kevin D Brown baseball’ a page came up that had his picture from the wiki page and the title Reverend Kevin D Brown. When I searched that, it led me to a FB page of a church called Journey Ministries in Sacramento, CA. The pictures look similar, and a post mentioned a birthday celebration for Pastor Kevin Brown on March 5, which indeed is the same as the aforementioned pitcher. 

So I guess after baseball he became a pastor at some point as well. 

Kevin is missing 2 cards from the 1990 Topps Traded set (Mets and Brewers), one from the 1991 Topps set, one from the 1992 Topps Traded set, and one from the 1993 Topps set. 

Besides the 1992 Topps custom, I’ve made Kevin’s 1991 Topps card,

his 1992 Topps Traded card,

and his 1993 Topps card. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #990 Jose Gonzalez

 Todays missing Topps card is #990 Jose Gonzalez. 

Jose got his first Big League action in 1985 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played with them through 42 games in the 1991 season. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 3rd, and played 15 games with them before being claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Indians. He finished the 1991 season with them and then signed with the California Angels as a free agent. He played the 1992 season with the Angels, his last season in the Bigs. 

I was a fan of the 1988 LA Dodgers team as early as 1992 or so. I got Orel Hershiser’s book ‘Out of the Blue’, and got familiar with many of the names on the team. Jose Gonzalez was one of them, and I was surprised that I couldn’t find any cards of him. I finally got his 1990 Donruss card out of a pack around 1994, and probably got his 1991 Topps card a year or so later. I still don’t have too many Gonzalez cards, but I guess I can understand since he was more of a reserve outfielder. 

Jose only got 2 Topps cards, those coming in the 1990 and 1991 Topps sets. He is missing cards from the 1985 Topps Traded, 1986 Topps, 1987 Topps, 1988 Topps, 1989 Topps, 1991 Topps Traded (2 cards, 1 as a Pirate and 1 as an Indian), 1992 Topps Traded, and 1993 Topps sets. 

Besides the 1992 Topps custom, I have made Jose’s 1989 Topps card,

both 1991 Topps Traded cards,

and his 1992 Topps Traded card. 

Reader Paul B. also helped and made his 1993 Topps sunset card. 

Now Jose is just missing cards from the 1985 Topps Traded, 1986 Topps, 1987 Topps, and 1988 Topps sets and his career Topps run will be complete. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #989 Rosario Rodriguez

Today's missing Topps card is #989 Rosario Rodriguez

Rosario made it to the Majors in 1989 with the Cincinnati Reds. He played with them in 1990, winning the World Series that year, and then got traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates at the end of the season. He played with them in 1991, his final season in the Bigs. 

Rosario only pitched in 9 games in 1990, but still got a 1991 Topps card. I guess because he was part of the World Champions and he was a rookie they decided to give him a card. He also appeared in the 1990 Topps MLB Debut set, even though he didn't get a 1990 Topps Traded card. 

Rosario got his first and only Topps card in the 1991 Topps set. He is missing cards from the 1990 Topps Traded and 1991 Topps Traded sets to complete his career Topps run. Besides the 1992 Topps custom, I've done his 1991 Topps Traded custom, leaving only the 1990 Topps Traded card keeping his career Topps run from being finished. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #988 Matias Carrillo

 Today's missing Topps card is #988 Matias Carrillo.

Matias made his MLB debut in 1991 with the Milwaukee Brewers. He spent 1992 in the minors, and played with the Florida Marlins in the 1993 and 1994 seasons. The '94 season would be his last one in the Majors. 

This card was a little difficult for me, as I had trouble finding an image of Matias as a Brewer at the time. I ended up using the front of his 1992 Topps MLB Debut card for the photo. 

Matias didn't get into any Topps sets, so he needs cards from the 1991 Topps Traded, 1993 Topps Traded, 1994 Topps, and 1995 Topps to complete his career Topps run. Fortunately for me, those years were right when I was getting into baseball, so I have finished all of those sets, so you get a complete Matias Carrillo Topps run made entirely of customs.

1991 Topps Traded

1992 Topps

1993 Topps Traded

1994 Topps

and his 1995 Topps sunset card.

Not too bad. It makes me wonder what the record is for how many seasons a guy played without getting a Topps card. I think Matias is close to the top of the list.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

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