Even More 1973 Alt-Topps

All Stars, Leaders, World Series and Team Cards

It's unfortunate that I had to break from this series of posts.  I paused to pay tribute (in my own unusual way) to two superstar players who coincidentally, were in their prime in 1973, Tom Seaver and Lou Brock. 

Getting back to my Alt-Topps 1973 set, once again, I decided to take another unused Topps prototype for a subset. I chose the Hammer and Rod Carew to represent the 1973 Alt-Topps All Star set.

I saw this oddball mash-up among the group of Topps rejects. It's Pete Ward in the same pose as his 1964 Topps Stand-Up card.  But the team is the Orioles and the name on the card is Vida Blue.  There would be no way I could possibly make this card design into an entire set.  But it was simply way too cool not to use, so instead I used it as my 1973 All Star insert card design.

For my leader cards I went traditional(ish) in the design, but I took some liberties by including leaders in slugging percentage. I like the idea of non-traditional stats being used for leader cards.  That might be an upcoming post....

For the World Series I used traditional Red-White-Blue color scheme. This shot of the Series MVP Gene Tenace scoring the winning run in front of a dejected Johnny Bench is a classic.

The team cards are about a 50/50 ratio design to team photo.  Other than that they are fairly traditional team cards.

I chose the Royals and Expos just because I hadn't made any cards of them yet.  I don't want anyone to feel left out.

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Just as I've done in previous Alt-Topps posts, I'll make as many request as I can. Hopefully, I'll post them in a few weeks. Just post your requests (or even ideas for other subsets, etc) in the comment section.  Thanks.

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Part 7

Reds v Nationals

Braves v Marlins

Dodgers v Padres

Seems to be a theme in the first round to pit teams with long histories with newer teams. This is no exception. The Nationals were born as the Montreal Expos in the 1969 expansion. That same expansion brought the Padres (who almost moved to Washington in 1974).  The Marlins were part of the 1993 expansion along with the Rockies.

In the Reds - Nationals game we have Jim Maloney, Ted Kluszewski, Pete Rose and Joey Votto going for the Reds. The Expos/Nationals have Stephen Strasburg, Gary Carter, Tim Raines and Bryce Harper. If you want to see the results of this series click here for the story and video.

In the Braves - Marlins match up, Warren Spahn is pitching with Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron and Dale Murphy in the field. The Marlins have Dontrelle Willis, Gary Sheffield, Derek Lee and Giancarlo Stanton.  If you want to see the results of this series click here for the story.

The Dodgers -Padres series has Don Newcombe, Cody Bellinger, Jackie Robinson and Steve Garvey for the Dodgers, all of them are former NL MVPs. The Padres have reliever Trevor Hoffman, Nate Colbert, Dave Winfield and Tony Gwynn.  If you want to see the results of this series click here for the story.

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These cards are base on the MLB Dream Bracket.  Not sure who picked the "all-time players". It is a product of Twitch, Out of the Park and Draft Kings.  I take no responsibility for their choices, good or bad.  The cards themselves are based on a rejected Topps design from the late sixties.

To check the status of the bracket click here.

More 1971 Alt-Topps

Managers, Team Cards and Traded

The manager cards are a bit of a preview of what Topps did in 1973 and 1974.  I also chose a couple of Hall of Famers to fill these cards. Walt Alston was the Dodgers manager from 1954-1976. He won 7 Pennants and 4 World Series titles. He was inducted as a manager in 1983.

Bob Lemon was inducted into the Hall as a player in 1976. 1971 was his first full season as manager. He took the reigns in KC from Charlie Metro midway through the 1970 campaign. He would eventually get a World Series title as manager with the Yankees in 1978.

On the team cards, I tried to incorporate elements of the base cards. I shrunk the home plate to hold the team logo instead of the photo.  

The Padres and Brewers were both part of the 1969 expansion. The Brewers, of course, began in Seattle in 1969. Back then, the Brewers were an American League team.  Both these teams had very similar logos.

The giants traded Ron Hunt to the Expos for a 28-year-old rookie utility man, Dave McDonald. Before the start of the 1971 season the Expos bought McDonald back from the Giants.  Ron Hunt was a player who would take one for the team.  A ball magnet, he led the league in hit-by-pitches from 1968 to 1974. In 1971 he was beaned a career high 50 times. 

1971 marked Flood's return to baseball after sitting out the 1970 season. In 1969 the Cardinals dealt him to the Phillies as part of a multi-player trade. Flood famously sued the MLB and eventually led to free agency. But in 1971 the suit was still ongoing. The Phillies traded him to Washington. Unfortunately, he only played 13 games for Ted William's Senators. He hit a meager .200 and retired by the end of April 1971.

More 1979 Alt-Topps

Team Cards, Rookies and Traded

For the team cards, I mirrored the 1979 set format of incorporating the managers into the team cards. I chose the Mets and he White Sox because of their use of player/managers.  

Don Kessinger began the 1979 season as the White Sox player/manager. Torre was named player/manager of the Mets in May of 1977. But he felt he couldn't play and perform his managerial duties and retired from playing 18 days later.

The 1979 Awards had ties in for NL MVP and for AL Rookies of the Year. John Castino was the Twins third baseman. I added Dave Edwards to his Rookie Stars card.

Tying Castino for ROY honors was Alfredo Griffin. In the 1979 Topps set he is depicted on an Indians Prospects card. This despite being dealt to the Blue Jays in early December 1978. Here I paired him with two-sport star, Danny Ainge.

On the senior circuit the sole Rookie of the Year was Dodgers pitcher Rick Sutcliffe. He shares his Rookie Stars card with future All-Star Pedro Guerrero.

There were a couple big-name transactions in the 1978-1979 off season. First the Red Sox sent the Spaceman, Bill Lee to the Expos. He had a well publicized rift with manager Don Zimmer. In exchange they got utility infielder Stan Papi who could barely hit his own weight, and I believe a case of pine tar. Papi was dealt the following year as "the player to be named later".

Another big-name transaction was the free agent signing of Pete Rose. The Phillies signed him to a four year $3.2 contract making him the highest player in the game, at that time.

DO NOT BUY MY CARDS

I have been taking an extended break from fake card making, but felt the need to make this post. There is yet another person on eBay selling my cards. Not just mine but cards from Dick Allen Hall of Fame, When Topps had Balls, Mets Fantasy Cards, Bob Lemke's Blog, and Johngy's Beat. 

I know there are plenty more that I recognize that were not designed by this person. And yet he his selling them along with "reprints" of actual cards.

I have never claimed ownership of the cards I made for this blog. I also have never tried to sell them. I did this for my own amusement. The fact that there are a handful of like-minded people who follow the blog and also enjoy these silly cards is awesome.

I just want anybody who has seen one of my cards and wants one for their own personal collection, please go ahead and print one for yourself. I have seen the finished product this guy is selling and it is awful. I can and have made better prints on my cheapo HP printer. If you want slightly better quality paper, go to the dollar store, buy a sheet of posterboard and cut it into 8.5x11 sheets. 

DO NOT PAY ONE SINGLE CENT FOR THESE CARDS

And it should go without saying, don't sell them either. The designs of these cards are based on those owned by the major card companies. The photos were found either on the internet or in old books and magazines. My only claim is that I took the time to cobble them together into a card I wanted to see. 

This latest scammer has over 100 cards from this blog alone for sale. (I stopped counting at 125). He has literally hundreds others for sale too. None of them are his. His name on eBay is mr.0ddball420 .  Leave him a note telling him what you think of him, but don't buy anything from him. 

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Ok, thank you for allowing me to rant. Your reward? 

This card I made a few years back but decided it was too stupid to publish. My, how my standards have diminished. Anyway, a week or so late but here is a Valentines Card for you. With Bobby and a handful of lesser known baseball Valentines.  

2016 NLDS: Dodgers vs. Nationals

For the 2016 postseason I am making Cards That Never Were of Hall of Famers from each team but with a couple of twists. The first twist is that they will appear on cards that coincide with the year they were inducted into Cooperstown. The second twist is that these are not the teams they are best known for playing.

1996 Topps Jim Bunning

Primarily known for pitching in the Tigers and Phillies uniforms, Jim Bunning also played for the Pirates in 1968 and the first part of 1969. He was dealt to the Dodgers in August of 1969 and pitched 9 games for them and was released at the end of the season. The Phillies thought there still might be something left in the tank and picked him up. He spent the 1970 and 1971 seasons in Philadelphia before retiring at the age of 39. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1996. 

2000 Topps Tony Perez

After 13 years and 7 All Star seasons with the Reds, Tony Perez was sent North of the border to the Montreal Expos. He would spend 1977-1979 with the Expos. In all, Perez played 23 seasons 16 with Cincinnati, 3 in Montreal, 3 in Boston and one in Philadelphia. Perez was inducted with just over 77% of the vote in 2000, his 9th year on the ballot. The Nationals seem to ignore their franchise's history by not recognizing the numbers retired by the Expos,  Even so, I created this 2000 Topps card with Perez in an Expos uniform but I went with the Nationals' logo.   

1981 Topps Gary Carter All Star MVP

Going Horizontal

With the 2016 All Star game behind us, I thought I would return to an old theme, making horizontal cards for the Topps years without them. As usual I am using the All Star MVP as my subject.  In 1981, it was Gary Carter of the Montreal Expos. 1981 was the only season in which the Expos saw post-season play.

Just to get ahead of the usual comments that the 1981 All Star MVP would appear on a 1982 card: yes, I know. I also don't care. My blog, my fake cards, my rules.

The actual 1981 Gary Carter card was a beauty so this is not  meant to be an improvement on his card from that year. I took a few liberties with the original design besides turning it on its side. I narrowed the lower border and shrunk the size of the cap. I also replaced the position and team name inside the cap with the team logo, an idea blatantly stolen from the Dick Allen Hall of Fame blog. Click here to see the source of my plagiarism.

The 1981 All Star game was postponed to August and marked the return to baseball after the 1981 strike. The 1981 was split into two halves with the division winners from each half season playing each other in the first ever best-of-five Divisional Championship Series.

The All Star Game itself  had the NL come from behind to win their 10th straight 5-4. Gary Carter hit two solo homers. His first cam in the 5th inning off Angel pitcher Ken Forsch to tie the game at 1-1. His next came in the 7th with the AL leading 4-2. He took Yankees reliever Ron Davis over the center field fence to bring the NL within one run. Mike Schmidt had the game winning RBI with a two run shot in the 8th off Rollie Fingers.