My Custom Sports Card Creations

[CamaroDMD]

OK, here are a couple more customs I finished this week.

I mentioned before, my favorite childhood baseball player was Braves slugger David Justice. While that is true, my favorite player as an adult was Tom Glavine. There was something about him that I was a huge fan of. He was not an intimidating guy like Randy Johnson or a dominating pitcher like his teammate Greg Maddux...but he got guys out. So, I decided to do a custom of him. This is a totally new design for me...it's based on 1959 Topps baseball. I did add a little artistic flare to it though. On the original cards, the "Screaming Savage" Braves logo is all red and black and really flat. I was able to find a more colorized version of it and adapt it for the card which I think makes it look a lot sharper.

#36 1959 Topps Tom Glavine

Next up is another one of my Oregon Ducks season cards based on the 1989 Topps Team Leader cards. I'm slowly doing one of these for each season I have been a big Oregon fan...that began in 1994 so this is the fourth card.

Although this card might look like the same cards as before, it's not. This card represents a maturing of my card designing. Having been working on my Super Bowl set a lot lately, I have learned a lot more about how to make a design repeatable. How to make it uniform and how to set it up to be easily adapted to other cards. These efforts aren't visible in the final product (other than the cards being very uniform)...but they illustrate a growth in my skill set and planning for the cards. To me, that is important.

So, unlike the first 3 cards on this type...this card was completely redone from scratch. If you compare it to the other 94-96 cards, you will notice subtle differences in the lines and you will notice that this one is much cleaner and crisper. All future teams cards for Oregon (or any other team) of this design will share these elements as I have created my original .PSD file to allow me to do that. It may not seem like much visually, but for me it was an important card.

#37 1989 Topps '97 Oregon Ducks

 

[Dave Auwerda]

Great stuff here... love the Box Bottom Idea...

 

[CamaroDMD]

Great stuff here... love the Box Bottom Idea...

Thanks!!!

I thought that would be a fun variation.

 

[ranbethscards]

The Stafford vs Oregon game was a heck of a shoot out. We actually got to watch that game here in Michigan!

 

[CamaroDMD]

The Stafford vs Oregon game was a heck of a shoot out. We actually got to watch that game here in Michigan!

You know, I honestly don't remember that game but looking at the numbers...it must have been exciting. I should try and track down the game film. I don't have many films from the 1997 Oregon season.

OK...so here are my next two customs:

This first one is a concept I have been thinking about doing for a while...but I just didn't know how I wanted to do it. Ultimately, I decided taking the design from one of the 1988 Topps league leader cards and re-purposing it's basic design would be a good way to do it. To be honest, I really like the result.

This card is of the first two picks of the 1993 NFL draft. Although forgotten today (probably thanks to the much more dramatic 1998 Manning-Leaf draft results)...1993 was a pretty big story at the time because the first 2 picks were expected to be quarterbacks...both elite and both very different. With the Patriots and the Seahawks both holding the top 2 picks and it desperate need of a QB...it was expected they would go #1 and #2...but who it would be was anyone's guess.

As a young football fan in Oregon...this draft was really important to me. Drew Bledsoe was a local Pacific Northwest guy. He had starred at Washington State. There was also a lot of excitement that he might end up playing for the Seahawks. While I was neither a big fan of WSU or Seattle...I liked Bledsoe and as a young fan really getting into the sport, this was a cool time for me. On the other end of the spectrum, I grew up in a very Catholic family and went to Catholic school. Everybody I knew wanted to go to Notre Dame and rooted for Notre Dame. Being the QB of the Fighting Irish was the second most important job in the world to most of us (just below pope)...so I was a pretty big Rick Mirer fan.

As history would eventually show, Bledsoe would go on to star in the NFL (and some could argue has a shot at Canton) while Mirer would be a bust. Mirer did have a decent start, he won the 1993 AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year...but it was all down hill after that.

Of course, 5 years later the 1998 Draft would have a very similar plot...with a much more spectacular star and a far more epic bust and 1993 would be forgotten. But, I always thought 1993 was special.

So, here it is:

#38 1988 Topps Drew Bledsoe/Rick Mirer NFL Prospects

Up next was a fun quick one. Normally, I come up for an idea for a card and then start searching for pictures that match my mental vision as close as possible. However, sometimes during one of those searches...I come across a photo that inspires a card. This is one of those.

Who can forget the Pro Line Portraits cards of the early 1990s? They had zumba pants and a lot of man chest...many of us literally can't get those images out of our heads. It was an odd couple of years and an odd couple of sets...but they were memorable.

Recently, during a search I came across a photo of one of my all time favorite players that just screamed "early 90s" and "Pro Line Portraits" to me. So, I decided to do it. This player actually had a card in the 1991 Pro Line Portraits set, but he was a member of the Eagles during his journeyman years. So, I did this as a Bears card. On the backs of the cards, they had a quote from the player. I took the quote off his real card verbatim. I figured having a real quote makes it better.

I might use this card as a TTM...but if I do, I will do a version without the card number on the back as the real auto cards didn't have that. I might also ask him to sign it on the back.

So, here it is in all it's glory:

#39 1991 Pro Line Portraits Jim McMahon

 

[unkilldoo]

Nice cards!

Mo Lewis of the NY Jets, is the guy that laid the devastating hit on Bledsoe, taking him out of the game, and making room for Brady.

I really liked the Pro Set Portraits set, with the quotes, and the photos, that weren't your typical football photos. Of course, chasing the autographs just makes it that much cooler.

 

[CamaroDMD]

Nice cards!

Mo Lewis of the NY Jets, is the guy that laid the devastating hit on Bledsoe, taking him out of the game, and making room for Brady.

I really liked the Pro Set Portraits set, with the quotes, and the photos, that weren't your typical football photos. Of course, chasing the autographs just makes it that much cooler.

I remember the Mo Lewis play. Changed the sport.

I loved the Pro Line Portraits autos...some of my favorites. I have a whole bunch of them. The McMahon auto is a real hard SP...I'd love to have one someday.

 

[CamaroDMD]

OK, here are a few more customs:

This first one is another card to commemorate one of the bowl games my Ducks played in when I was a kid. This was back when it was just a huge deal to make a New Years Day bowl game...even if the result wasn't great.

#40 1985 Topps 1996 Cotton Bowl

Here is the next "missing" Joe Namath card. This is the 1975 Topps. I figured @unkilldoo would appreciate this one.

#41 1975 Topps Joe Namath

This is the card I am doing for the tutorial. This is a card that shows Joe Montana having transition to the KC Chiefs. I wanted to do a Topps Traded re-create and I figured this was a good topic for it. Typically Topps Traded had to do with rookies or players in new locations. So, the design of this card is 1989...but the theme of it dates to 1993.

#42 1989 Topps Traded Joe Montana

 

[unkilldoo]

They look great! Also, you are correct, unkilldoo very much appreciates how the Namath cards came out. It's nice to see cards that never were, but definitely should have been! Kudos to you "CamaroDMD"

 

[CamaroDMD]

OK, so here are my next couple. One of my all-time favorite historical athletes is Roger Maris. The first card Maris ever had was in the 1958 Topps set...the year after he made his debut with the Indians. I thought it would be fun to make him a pre-rookie card in the 1957 Topps design. So, here it is:

#43 1957 Topps Roger Maris

Up next is a card for one my all-time favorite football players. As crazy as it sounds, I have always had a special place in my heart for kickers. I believe a good kicker gives you an additional win (if not 2) per season. My favorite kicker of all-time was Morten Andersen. I as thrilled to see that he had been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 (only the second true kicker in the HOF). So, I wanted to create a card for that.

This card is based on the Hall of Fame issues in the 1990 Pro Set football set:

#44 1990 Pro Set Morten Andersen HOF

 

[CamaroDMD]

Here are a couple more.

As I have mentioned in the past, my favorite baseball team is the Braves. They have been since I was a little kid. Sometimes I like to make custom cards of former Braves players. Frequently it's players I watched as a kid...but today is something way different. I have used my 1963 Topps template for this card and I created a card of one of the greatest players in baseball history. Many people don't know he played one season (well, part of a season) for the Braves...and many people who do know would like to forget it. But, Babe Ruth rounded out his career back in Boston where it started...playing one final forgettable season with the Boston Braves in 1935.

#45 1963 Topps Babe Ruth

Up next is a card that I made some time ago but never released. I mentioned a while back that sometimes I create multiple versions of a card before I settle on the right one. With my 40,000 Yard Club set...I struggled to decided if I wanted to portray the player with the team that he broke that milestone with or the team he is most know with. For the first five cards, I created alternate versions where applicable (Unitas and Montana)...one with each option before I finally settled on a decision. Ultimately, I decided that the 40,000 yard threshold is a career achievement and portrayed the players in their most know uniforms. However, I kept the two alternate versions that I created. I released the alternate Montana a while back but here is the alternate Unitas.

#46 1989 Topps 40,000 Yard Club Johnny Unitas SD

 

[CamaroDMD]

OK, here are a few more.

The first one features a player I liked when he was in college. He was one of those guys who was undersized and not the best athlete...but he worked hard and made the most of his chances. He took over as the starter as a freshman due to an injury and was very successful. In the end, he would lose his starting job to a younger big named recruit (although he would replace him at the end of the season for a couple final dramatic games)...but he still had a great career. He's also the new head coach of the University of Houston football team.

#47 1968 Topps Major Applewhite

The next card is a continuation of the cards I am doing to commemorate the Oregon bowl games that have been played since I started following the Ducks as a kid. This card is for the 1997 Las Vegas Bowl...which was the first bowl game that I saw Oregon win (and going in we were huge underdogs). To be honest, I don't love how this card turned out. Photos from that game are very hard to find online and as a result, I was stuck with a really low resolution photo which makes the picture look grainy. If I find a better photo in the future, I will upgrade.

#48 1985 Topps '97 Las Vegas Bowl

Up next is the continuation of my project to create the "missing" Joe Namath cards from Topps sets. As I have mentioned before, Namath's career spanned 65-77 but Topps only made cards from 65-73. I have already done 1974, 1975, and 1978 Topps cards for Namath. This is my 1976.

#49 1976 Topps Joe Namath

Last one for today. As this is my 50th card in the custom set...I wanted to do something special to commemorate that. Obviously, with all the various sets I have done this isn't truly my 50th custom...but it's the 50th card in this set which features all my unique designs. To me, that was a milestone.

So, what I decided to do was go back to where I started. I decided to re-create that very first custom in a fun and flashy way. To use all the tools and skills I have learned creating customs to make a completely special version of that card...so that's what I did. I took my original 1967 Topps Danny O'Neil...the card that started this whole hobby for me...and re-made it.

And here is the result:

#50 1967 Topps Danny O'Neil Special Edition

 

[CamaroDMD]

So, I wasn't going to do anymore of these...but I loved how much the first one turned out I decided to do another.

I have always been a fan of the quarterback position...I think like most people. So, I thought that I would do a 1967 Topps Special Edition for each QB performance from the major bowl games (BCS/CFP type bowls) that Oregon has played in during my life. Since my favorite player is the next card...I decided to do it now.

At this time, there are 9 games that meet that criteria...and I will mix them in with my other customs as I move forward. But, I wanted to do the second one now. So, here it is:

#51 1967 Topps Tony Graziani Special Edition

 

[CamaroDMD]

OK, here is the next one. Although it was a bit before my time, I have always had a deep rooted fascination with the USFL. I think the history of the league is really interesting and wish I had been around to see it live.

I love the Topps USFL sets...I have a complete 1985 set and would like to get an 1984 set at some point. One of my long term dreams is a pair of signed sets.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to make a 1986 Topps USFL card. Such a set never existed...but I thought it would be a neat project. So, I took the 1986 Topps NFL set and used the front design of the record breaker subsets. Using that as a basic framework, I created a unique design for the front of the card. The back is also based on 1986 Topps...but using the standard player background. Here is the result:

#52 1986 Topps USFL Bobby Hebert

 

[Taliasen]

I need to get this card printed. I could just never get it to line up right.
The watermark off-set image on the front and back can come off.