My Custom Sports Card Creations

[unkilldoo]

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

Are you sure you're not from the southeast? With your favorite teams being the Panthers in football, and the Braves in baseball, it would make a good argument. :happy:

 

[unkilldoo]

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

As usual these cards look great also. But I really love the updated 1967 Topps Special Edition design. Oh yeah, that Namath is looking pretty sweet also! :angelic:

 

[CamaroDMD]

Are you sure you're not from the southeast? With your favorite teams being the Panthers in football, and the Braves in baseball, it would make a good argument. :happy:

LOL, no lived my whole life in Oregon...but I understand how you might think that. I follow both of those teams for different reasons.

For the Braves, they were always on TV when I was a kid. I would put TBS on and watch them play everyday after school. I'd have it on in the background when doing my homework. So, even though they played across the country...I watched them play almost everyday thanks to Ted Turner. They have been my team ever since.

The Panthers are bit more complicated. As a kid, I was a huge Joe Montana fan (like many on the west coast). When SF traded him to KC...I swore off the 49ers and followed him to KC and became a Chiefs fan. When he retired after 1994, I didn't really have a team to follow. So, I started to look around for one. The Carolina Panthers (and the Jacksonville Jaguars) were expansions teams starting play in 1995...and they played each other in the 1995 HOF Game. I watched that game and really liked the Panthers. They had several players I had watched play in college (Chad Cota, Kerry Collins, ect.) and the thought of following a team from their first game seemed appealing. So, I decided to start following the Panthers. They have been by favorite team ever since.

As usual these cards look great also. But I really love the updated 1967 Topps Special Edition design. Oh yeah, that Namath is looking pretty sweet also! :angelic:

Thanks. I spent a lot of time with the Special Edition cards and I can't wait to print one up and see how it actually looks in hand. I'll be doing some printing next week probably and I'll make sure there is an extra '76 Namath in there.

OK, here is the next one. This is my first basketball card. I did this card to commemorate the amazing season my Oregon Ducks men's team had. Here it is:

#53 1990-91 NBA Hoops 2016-17 Oregon Ducks

 

[CamaroDMD]

So, I decided to do another Final Four card. Since my wife and I went to the Final Four this year to watch our respective undergrad schools play...I decided I should make a card for her school too. So, here is the Gonzaga card:


#54 1990-91 NBA Hoops 2016-17 Gonzaga Bulldogs

 

[CamaroDMD]

So, I was recently challenged by Taliasen to create a series of custom cards for "Major League" pitcher Eddie Harris that would have resembled real cards he would have had when the movie came out. So, my plan is to make 1989 Donruss, Fleer, Score and Topps Eddie Harris cards.

These have been kind of fun because he doesn't have a ton of backstory in the movie...other than being a veteran pitcher. So, I got to be a little creative with the backstory.

Here are the first two:

#55 1989 Donruss Eddie Harris

#56 1989 Fleer Eddie Harris

 

[CamaroDMD]

OK, here are the other two Eddie Harris cards:

#57 1989 Score Eddie Harris

#58 1989 Topps Eddie Harris

 

[Taliasen]

:woot::woot::woot:

 

[unkilldoo]

OK, here are the other two Eddie Harris cards:

#57 1989 Score Eddie Harris

#58 1989 Topps Eddie Harris

I love the 1989 Topps. Great picture choice!

 

[CamaroDMD]

I love the 1989 Topps. Great picture choice!

Thanks. I was hoping I would be able find a good ice photo for one of them. I think it worked well.

OK, so here are a couple more. These conclude my effort to create the "missing" Joe Namath base cards from the 1974-1978 Topps sets. So, here are the final two:

#59 1977 Topps Joe Namath

#60 1977 Topps Mexican Joe Namath

OK, so that's it for now.

You might notice a slight decrease in the volume of my customs for the next few weeks. I have a huge backlog on the production side for the customs and several other projects I need to get caught up on. I will still continue to work on new one's, but not at the same rate so I can get a few other things done.

 

[unkilldoo]

They look fantastic. I especially love the Topps Mexican version. A very tough set that I'm still working on.

 

[CamaroDMD]

Here's a recent TTM success for one of my early customs. This one was sent more than 6 months ago and came back last week!

 

[CamaroDMD]

They look fantastic. I especially love the Topps Mexican version. A very tough set that I'm still working on.

Thanks!

I would love to do a 1977 Topps Mexican set at some point...super challenging though. If I remember right, there are 12 cards (the "dirty dozen" I think they are called) that are SSPs...and a bunch of other SPs. I only have 2 in my collection. I have a nice PSA6 Ken Anderson and a raw Craig Morton with a big gum stain on the front.

 

[CamaroDMD]

OK, here are a couple of new ones. Working at a little slower pace these days with a lot of other things on my plate.

Today I have the continuation of the Oregon football season cards. Now that the season and bowl cards are both caught up to the same year, I will be doing them back to back from time to time.

This is for the 1998 season...which was the first year of the BCS and the final year of my beloved classic yellow helmet green jersey Ducks.

#61 1989 Topps '98 Oregon Ducks

#62 1985 Topps 1998 Aloha Bowl

 

[CamaroDMD]

Here are a couple new ones.

First, this is my continuation of the 1967 Topps Special cards I have been doing to show each QB performance from Oregon's major bowl games (BCS/CFP level) during my lifetime. Here's the card for the 2002 Fiesta Bowl featuring Joey Harrington

#63 1967 Topps Special Joey Harrington

Next, I decided to do a card commemorating Carolina's newly drafted running back Christian McCaffrey.

#64 1984 Topps Christian McCaffrey

 

[unkilldoo]

I really like the design on the 1967 Topps Special cards. The added touch (kind of like a brushed design) that you did, brings the card to a whole new level.

Also, nice idea doing the Draft card, I like the way that turned out.