when topps didn't, gio does

it's been a while since i made a custom card - a couple of years, i think - but i remember enough from my time churning them out that i can say the motivation for making them (customs of the non-art variety) stems from missed opportunities by those who made the real cards. someone was left off of a checklist? make a custom. didn't care for the photo the "real one" used? make a custom. significant event not covered by a highlight or record breaker card? make a custom. rookie not given a card? make a custom. player switched teams and the "wrong" team was represented in a set? make a custom. veteran fan favorite not given a proper send off? make a custom.

those were the reasons i and many others made and make custom cards, and there is none better in the game than gio from when topps had (base)balls. gio takes his creations a step further than most and produces physical, professionally printed sets that are fun to collect.

back in october of 2024, he dropped his "series 18" set that covered all six of the reasons for making customs that i gave above, with fantastic results. let's have a look.

1970 topps bert blyleven

bert made his big league debut in 1970, so could have been included in a later series. he was 19!

1971 topps larry doby and jon matlack

topps hadn't produced stand alone coach cards since the 1950's, but they've had at least one recently in the topps now universe. a doby expos card would have been sweet. as for matlack, he debuted in 1971 and, unlike blyleven, was included as part of a late series release. that card, however, was a three-player rookie card (with old friend ted martinez), so gio gave him his own solo rookie card.

1972 topps rusty staub traded

le grand orange was traded from the expos to the mets on april 5, 1972. that was later than the transactions involving steve carlton, joe morgan, and frank robinson, but still plenty of time for topps to include a traded card in the late series. they chose not to. 

1973 topps sadaharu oh

this is just a straight up "fantasy" card of the japanese legend. oh and the yomiuri giants won their 9th straight title in 1973.

1974 topps graig nettles

gio makes an improvement upon nettles' actual 1974 topps card

1975 topps steve blass and felipe alou

both blass and alou finished their major league careers in april of 1974 and so didn't make the 1975 topps checklist. gio gives them both a proper final tribute send off. i believe the blass is the second 1975 card he's made for blass. as for alou, his brother matty also played his last game in 1974 and was also denied a card. gio corrected that omission as well.

1976 topps red sox combo card

combo cards didn't really make it into the 1970's at topps. they were big in the 60's and have rebounded in the 2000's. having a card of the three red sox stud outfielders is great, similar to the card gio made for the dodgers' 30 home run quartet. i don't think he's tackled the legendary dodger infield yet though!

1977 topps frank robinson and gene tenace

both robinson and tenace were included in the 1977 topps set, but robinson was just a small part of the indians' team card and really deserved a final tribute to salute the end of his playing days in 1976. as for tenace, he received an airbrushed card from topps (and o-pee-chee) in 1977 following his signing with the padres in the offseason. one last look at tenace as an oakland athletic is welcomed!

1978 topps paul molitor and bob horner

a solo rookie card for molitor, who appeared in the set on a 4-in-1 card, and a "missing" rookie card for bob horner. in horner's case, there were no late series or traded or update sets issued in 1978, so it's more of a fantasy card. horner was drafted by the braves on june 6, 1978 and debuted in the big leagues less than two weeks later, going on to be named the national league's rookie of the year. 

gio was kind enough to include two copies of the molitor and horner cards for my 1978 topps master set.

1979 topps tom lasorda and billy martin

freddie patek wasn't the only all-star left without a banner in the 1979 topps set, as the managers of the 1978 midsummer classic were pretty much ignored. lasorda was present on the dodger team card, but martin was no longer the skipper of the yankees when the 1978 season ended so he wasn't in the set at all. i would welcome a return of solo manager cards to topps flagship, along with stadium cards.

here's the bonus card in the set - a 1973 kellogg's willie mays card

complete with stats on the back!

what a fantastic set!

then, last july, gio issued his 1980s career cappers set featuring retired greats who should have been better treated by topps at the end of their careers.

1980 topps jim hunter and lou brock

hunter was shut out in 1980, and brock only got half of a highlight card.

1981 topps willie horton and willie mccovey

horton's big league career ended in 1980, but he played in the pirates' organization for the next two seasons. in fact, his only real 1981 card is a tcma minor league card with the portland beavers, as for mccovey, he at least got a card from fleer in 1981 but nothing from topps or donruss.

1983 topps willie stargell

it's a willie parade! stargell was included in the donruss and fleer sets in '83, but not topps. topps didn't include wilver in their 2018 1983 anniversary insert sets, either.

1984 topps jim kaat, carl yastrzemski, gaylord perry, and johnny bench

three of these four were included on the iconic (yet disappointing) 1984 topps highlight card as retiring legends, but kitty kaat was nowhere to be found in '84 - not even in fleer or donruss. bench and yaz got 1984 all-star design cards from topps in 2019, but not regular cards that would have had their career stats on the back. kaat and perry were omitted altogether.

1985 topps amos otis and jim palmer

there were no cards of either otis or palmer in 1985. seeing otis in topps' 2020 1985 anniversary set would have been a miracle, but i was hoping to see palmer. no dice.

1987 topps george foster, cesar cedeno, and tony perez

the only 1987 card of any of these three stars was perez's 1987 fleer card. none of them were featured by topps in 2017 or 2022, either. it would be nice to see some foster and cedeno cards these days.

1988 topps phil niekro, reggie jackson, and steve garvey

all three of these players were given cards by score in 1988, and reggie also had a fleer card. niekro actually appeared in 1988 topps, but on a highlight card with his brother, joe, and as an indian. he finished his career as a brave, so gio's card is appreciated. 

like me, gio is a proponent of steve garvey as a hall of famer, and per my request, gio added an extra garvey card to my order for my collection. here's the back of garvey's 1988 topps career capper:

i've created a stat back for my version of garvey's card that should have been, with a front that was created by punk rock paint.

1989 topps don sutton, graig nettles, and steve carlton

once again, score to the rescue in 1989, at least by way of cards for sutton and nettles. there were no cards of carlton to be had aside from his baseball talk card (that shows him as a cardinal). sutton at least had a box bottom card, but that's not the same as a final tribute. of the three, a missing nettles card is the biggest head scratcher since he was on the expos roster the entire season. by the way, gio and i used the same photo of old man sutton for our 1989 cards. 

the bonus card in this set was a 1981 topps saduharo oh card

most recntly, gio announced the sale of his 1976 topps "power roll" dice game set. this is a masterpiece. the set includes 25 cards in the 1976 topps style, a pair of six sided dice, two mini pencils, a "wthballs" pinback button, and two pieces of bazooka gum. he went all out, for sure, and the cherry on top is that most of the cards feature verifiable 1976 season action shots, thanks to the presence of the various bicentennial patches on the players' sleeves.

my set took an adventure across the united states before arriving, but it's here and it is glorious. of course, gio added an extra steve garvey card

for my collection which is always appreciated. here's the back of garvey's card:

snake eyes for a garvey home run!

if you like custom cards or just miss the players of the 1970s, i strongly encourage you to check out gio's work. 

perfect sells

with the 1975 baseball season on our minds this year thanks to topps heritage, i thought it would be fun to revisit a meaningless yet meaningful game from september of that year. it involves pitcher dave sells, who i think only has this 1974 topps card

to mark his time as an active player in the big leagues, although he pitched in parts of four seasons. he also has a 1990 target dodgers card, as he was the player to be named later in the trade between the angels and dodgers that saw jim brewer head to anaheim. he wasn't anyone i was aware of growing up, as his career ended with the 1975 season, but i took note of him when i first saw his card from the 1974 set because his name, like rick waits or davey lopes, forms a complete sentence.

according to baseball reference, sells appeared in his penultimate big league appearance 49 years ago today. it was a day after his 29th birthday (he turned 78 yesterday - happy birthday!), and he was called in to relieve charlie hough at the start of the bottom of the 9th inning against the astros at the astrodome., replacing willie crawford in the batting order. the game was tied 4-4 as hough had surrendered a solo home run to cesar cedeno in the bottom of the 8th after lee lacy had scored on a wild pitch in the top of the inning to give the dodgers a lead. sells set down the side in order, and the game went into extra innings.

neither team scored in the 10th, with sells striking out dodger nemesis jose cruz en route to another perfect inning. in the 11th, the dodgers make two quick outs before lacy, batting ahead of what was now the pitcher's slot in the order, draws a walk. now, to this point, only doug rau, hough, and sells have pitched, so you would think there would be some arms in the bullpen and the dodgers would send up a pinch hitter, especially with the expanded rosters that they had in september back then. however, manager walter alston has already used a fair number of position players in the game, and with the reds running away with the division, the game didn't really matter too much. whatever the reason, sells is allowed to hit.

the next thing you know, lacy is on second after a wild pitch. the dodgers have steve garvey on deck, and there is no need for a force out with two outs, so the astros continue to pitch to sells. he is a pitcher, after all, and this is his first major league at bat. well, what do you know - sells goes and promptly bangs a hit to left, driving in lacy and the go ahead run. garvey grounds into a force out, and we go to the bottom of the 11th.

now, let me inject myself into this story for a moment and share an experience i had in little league. in the second game of my 12-year old season, i was the starting pitcher for our team and pitched the top of the first inning with no problem. in the bottom of the inning, i hit a home run to center. i was so amped on adrenaline that i couldn't get anybody out in the second inning and had to be replaced by my coach. i wasn't a professional like sells, but i would think that getting your first big league hit to drive in the goahead run in a game in which you are in line for your first win with your new team might have you pumped up a bit. 

whether it was adrenaline or not, sells gave up a home run to the first batter he faced in the 11th - cesar cedeno. after that, he retired the next five astros he faced on groundouts before he walked milt may and gave up back-to-back singles to wilbur howard and ken boswell in the bottom of the 12th resulting in a 5-4 astro victory. not the ending sells was hoping for, but still a pretty memorable game for him. i decided i would create a 2024 topps heritage baseball flashbacks card for him to mark the occasion:

in his next outing, sells did not get an at bat, so he ended his big league career 1 for 1 at the plate with an rbi to boot. the only other dodger i know of off the top of my head with a career 1.000 batting average is roy gleason. it's worth noting (at least for me) that one of sells' teammates who appeared in this game was tom paciorek, whose brother john also hit 1.000 for his career, although he was 3 for 3. baseball is a crazy game.

the marshall matters post

i got an email from gio, the proprietor of when topps had (base)balls, about a month and a half ago about one of his custom sets that was for sale. this particular set focused primarily on final tributes that should have been, as well as some single-player rookie cards that could have been. the kicker was that gio created stat backs for these cards, and as i am always looking for a good final tribute card that topps missed, i ordered a set.

there were a couple of key cards for me in the set, and as usual, gio hooked me up with a couple extras for a small amount. first, here's a 1958 topps roy campanella card that should have been

gio chose to go ahead and show campy as a los angeles dodger to fit all of the other dodger cards in the set, but we know that he sadly did not get to suit up for the club in california. here's the back:

solid!

gil hodges was the other player that i was looking to get a dupe of for my final tribute collection. here's his 1964 topps card that should have been

and the back

hodges was actually included in the 1964 topps set, but as a manager for the senators. that would have been ok if topps had done what they did for joe torre in the 1978 set and put his playing stats on the back, but instead, they went with a standard manager narrative writeup. happy to have a playing days hodges final tribute finally!

knowing that i am a dodger fan, gio also sent an extra 1961 topps style don newcombe card

that covers his final season which was spent with two ohio teams. here's the back

newk was only with the indians for a short time, appearing in 20 games in 1960. as such, the hatless photo comes in handy.

here are the other cards in the set, in threes:

the 1957 musial is just a lost card, but the 1959 lemon card would be a final tribute and the 1960 williams card a rookie card that could have been.

here's stan the man's back:

it's an uer thanks to the birth year which made me do a double take!

continuing with the next three cards

which are rookie, rookie, and final tribute. for some reason i thought that freehan had a rookie parade card in 1962 but i guess he didn't show up until the 1963 topps set.

next up are three more rookies that could have been

of the three, only raines had a multiplayer rookie card. lyle and gibson went straight to solo cards in 1969 and 1981, respectively

last up are these three

minnie minoso's 1981 card covers his two short stints with the white sox that made him a five decade player. here's the back:

a nice touch by gio to note his position as pinch hitter.

seeing the mike marshall 1982 topps card there reminded me that he was absent from topps sets after 1977. here's the back of what would have been his final tribute card:

seeing the card also reminded me that marshall was in the 1982 fleer set for real, and that i should add that card to my final tribute collection.

and so, here it is

with complete career stats on the back, just like gio's card

although fleer did not include the 10 saves that marshall earned in 1967 in their stats. saves weren't an official stat until 1969 so i assume that is why.

i will note that 11 year old gcrl may not have immediately connected the dots between this mike marshall returning to cardboard for the first time in five years back when 1982 fleer packs were being opened and the record setting, cy young award winning mike marshall who pitched for the dodgers. once i looked at the back and saw the stats it made sense, but i didn't understand why he was not in any other sets. besides, there was another dodger mike marshall who showed up in 1982 fleer and had more of my attention.

another final tribute card that i added to my binder is gil hodges' 1972 topps card

i mentioned this card when i posted about dusty baker's 2024 topps heritage card which serves as his managerial final tribute, and so i went and pulled a dupe of hodges for the collection as well. here's the back

hodges sadly passed away just before the 1972 season began, making this card his last.

gio's set included a couple of bonuses - this missing 1951 topps joe dimaggio card

(it's a blue back), a 1973 topps mike schmidt solo rookie card 

that was gio's original prototype for printing

and an official wthb@lls membership card featuring mark fidrych

here's the back:

i have another membership card that features reggie jackson on the 1978 topps design - both are great.

finally, gio included a stan musial sticker

if you aren't already, be sure to get on gio's email list to know when these sets are being offered. they are fantastic. thanks gio!

where there's a worrell, there's a way

it's been a while, but i am finally showing some cards that have come my way over the past few months. first up are some goodies from daniel of it's like having my own card shop. he posted a photo of some 1995 score platinum team set cards and offered some up to those who chose a team that was included in his stash. i spied todd worrell's leg in the photo and claimed some dodgers.  here's the worrell card

that also netted me a jim gott card

plus cards of henry rodriguez, delino deshields, dave hansen, and chris gwynn

plus the rookie subset cards of darren dreifort and garey ingram

these cards are really shiny and sparkly and were a redemption set.  thanks daniel!

next up, tom from angels, in order sent me some minor league cards from my want list. these are 1991 fleer excel cards, and i scanned a couple of triple-a cards - butch davis and carlos hernandez - plus a couple of double-a cards - braulio castillo and mike white

davis had already been in the majors for a couple of teams when his card was issued, but he only made one plate appearance as a dodger. i last saw him coaching for the twins a few years ago. hernandez was a backup catcher to mike piazza for a few years, and castillo wound up in the bigs with the phillies. as for white, he was another dodger first round pick who never did make the majors, peaking at triple-a with the mets in 1992.

and then there are cards from night owl, which i have previously referred to as hand-me-downs. it's a great thing when the preeminent presence in the blogosphere collects the same team as his doubles have to go somewhere...

one of my favorite cards he sent in these last two envelopes is this 1987 tcma 1955 brooklyn dodgers card of pee wee reese and jim gilliam

i also liked the two cards from the 1992 classic update travel blue and red set. greg sent ramon martinez

and dave hansen. i scanned the back of hansen's card

to show the marc okkonen uniform figure, which is the same as you will find online as part of the uniform database linked through baseball reference.

from 1996 upper deck, here's a die-cut mike piazza run producers insert

that i had not seen before.

kaz ishii was the darling of card companies back in 2002, and fleer provided this ticket to the majors card from their authentix release

nice to see maury wills making an appearance on the replica ticket stub embedded in the card. the dodgers did feature players on their stubs, but fleer didn't use actual tickets for this set like topps would in 2009.

here's a 2002 upper deck 40 man of dodger double dipper giovanni carrara

there aren't too many cards of carrara, and i could not track this one down for the post i linked to above. i did find his 2003 40 man card that came from his time away from the dodgers and i certainly overpaid to get it for the post.

greg and i both have a lot of clayton kershaw cards, but he was able to send a couple that were missing from my collection. first, a 2017 panini national convention vip prizm card

and then a 2022 topps royal blue parallel

i sure do hope kershaw returns in 2024.

there was some nonsense included in the way of this 2020 topps update mookie betts baseball collectible coin

that exists just to have something exclusive in blasters. i didn't buy any blasters of 2020 update (at least i don't recall finding any of these coins) so i am glad to have this one in my collection.

and last but not least, greg included one of gio's custom cards - a 1978 topps dodgers card featuring the 30 home run teammates:

as always, fun to go through envelopes sent my way. thank you!