What If? Nolan Ryans Bloody Jersey

This What It? card has been sitting in a folder for a long time, I figure it is time for the card to see the light of day.

It was September 8, 1990. The Rangers and Royals were playing an unimportant late season game when in the 2nd inning, Bo Jackson knocked a one-hopper towards Nolan Ryan who tried to field it but the ball went off of his glove and caught him in the face. The Rangers won 2-1 and Nolan Ryan ended with 6 stitches in his lip.

What If? Rollie Fingers Stache

I need to work on some more of my What If? cards, I am down to just one card waiting all lonely in my What If? folder after today's post. But, what if Rollie Fingers was willing to let go of his iconic handlebar mustache? Besides being painful to Rollie, one fan would have the most unique one-of-one player worn relic card.

The Raiders Are Heading To Vegas

On Saturday the Raiders confirmed that they intend on filing relocation papers to move to Las Vegas though an official announcement has not been made but is expected before too long.

 

I know that a uniform change/rebrand probably won’t happen, and I seriously hope they don’t change their logo or colors, because of the history that the Raiders hold but I decided to mess around with some mockups of what might become of the Raiders helmets. I really hope that they keep the silver and black color scheme but this is a What If? situation so of course I have to play the devil’s advocate.

When you look at the Las Vegas area you will notice the use of certain colors, between the casinos and Las Vegas’ various teams from their past and present.

University of Las Vegas: Scarlett and gray

Las Vegas Locomotives (UFL): Red, black and silver

Las Vegas Wranglers (ECHL) Red, black and silver

Las Vegas 51s (Triple-A Mets team): Blue and gray

 

You get the idea, so I worked with red and gray/silver plus there are various gradients so I tossed that in on one of the helmets.

 

With the Las Vegas Golden Knights NHL expansion team finalizing their name and logo I played off of their colors so the professional teams match. They have them listed as steel gray, gold, red and black. I pulled this logo from their official Golden Knights web site.

Now! Well, Maybe Not Right Now

Sometimes you have to go with what is given to you, I think Topps missed an opportunity here. The Chase Utley rule may be controversial to baseball purists but I am betting that had Topps made this card it would sell well in the Tampa area.

What If? A World Series #1/1

What better time to post one of What If? cards than following the Mets demise?

Today my What If? card is based off of the last time the Mets were in the World Series in 2000 when they lost to the Yankees. Early in Game 2 controversy struck when Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens picked up the broken bat of the Mets Mike Piazza and threw it at Piazza. Clemens later claimed it was unintentional and that he didn’t see Piazza along the base line and that he only threw the bat because he was full of nervous energy.

So what if Topps got a hold of the bat and made a couple of 1/1 cards?

What If? A Cubs Interference

In February when pitchers and catchers reported to camp I posted a Yankees Triple Threads What If? At the time I hinted to a Cubs What If? Triple Threads card saying I would post it later. Now that the Cubs are playing the Pirates tonight in the Wild Card game it is time for me to release my Cubs What If? interference call card.

Dom Grady Where Are You?

With today’s announcement that the New England Patriots Tom Brady has been cleared of the accusations connected to “Deflategate” and his four game suspension has been removed the Patriots waived free agent rookie QB Dom Grady who was expected to start in Tom Brady’s absence.  

The undrafted Dom Grady came out of nowhere with his pinpoint accuracy that normally only comes from years as a Hall of Fame level Quarterback was truly a freak of nature but with his talents no longer needed in New England he seems to have just disappeared. Apparently calls to his cell phone from the Jets, Eagles and Redskins have gone unanswered leaving one perplexed GM to say “It is as if this man was the figment of someone’s imagination, like he never existed and he has disappeared as quickly as he appeared”

What If? George Brett's Bat

It is known that sometimes one of the card manufacturers does something unexpected with an unusual one-of-a-kind relic. There is the 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot asterisk autograph and there is the 2000 Pacific Invincible Manny Ramirez Corked Bat relic but what seems to be missing is George Brett’s pine tar bat.

On July 24, 1983 the Yankees and Royals were playing a tight game in New York. George Brett knocked a 2-run homer in the top of the 9^th with two out giving the Royals a 5-4 lead but Yankees manager Billy Martin complained that Brett’s bat had too much pine tar, the umpire (Tim McClelland) agreed and ruled Brett out thus ending the game. A protest was filed by the Royals, which was upheld and the game was replayed on August 18^th from the point of Brett’s homerun. The Royals won 5-4 after some interesting protest, counter-protest and knuckleheaded moves by Billy Martin.

The bat is currently on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame but I had to wonder What If? Upper Deck got a hold of the bat and without fan fair inserted a 1/1 Bat Barrel from the infamous bat in to their 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot release?

What If? Ken Griffey Jr. Played During The 19th Century

In 1888 base ball was still in its infancy and in an attempt to draw sales tobacco companies began inserting cards with ball players on them in to their products. Lucky for Old Judge an outfielder named Ken Griffey Jr. from the Cincinnati Red Stockings has been tearing up the league and is the perfect player to include on the checklist for their 1888 N173 Old Judge Cabinet Cards. There has even been rumor that the hard hitting Griffey may someday over take Ned Williamson’s seemingly unbreakable 27 home runs in a single season.

What If? A Yankees Interference

Today is the day that Seattle Mariners pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training in Peoria, Arizona. It is also the day that the Yankees pitchers and catchers report so today is an ideal day for a What If? card based on a significant play involving recently retired Yankee great Derek Jeter.

It is Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS, the Orioles are up 4-3 over the Yankees in the 8^th inning and Yankee Captain Derek Jeter is up to bat. Orioles reliever Armando Benitez winds up and the pitch… Jeter smacks the ball deep to right field. Right Fielder Tony Tarasco backs up to wall and lines up beneath it to make the easy catch but a 12-year old boy, Jeffrey Maier, reaches over the wall and grabs the ball mere inches above Tarasco’s glove.

Right Field umpire Rich Garcia rules the play a homerun instead of the correct ruling of fan interference. This tied up the game and in the 11th inning Bernie Williams knocks a walk-off homer to win the game, the Yankees go on to win the series 4-1 games. Garcia later admitted that he made the wrong call but it didn’t matter.

To Orioles fans this is a deep open wound to their heart so what better way than to add to the pain with a What If? triple relic card. The pieces are Jeter’s bat, Tarasco’s glove and the ball caught by Maier.

Don't worry Cubs fans, I didn't forget your missed interference call but you will have to wait until another day for that What If? card.

What If? Marshawn Lynch Interview Inscription Card

After Marshawn Lynch's interview yesterday during the Super Bowl Media Day an inscription card like this just seems appropriate.

Box Break Junk Wax Edition: 1990 Pacific Total Recall

This was one of those late night purchases that was purely fueled by nostalgia. These old movie sets were mass produced to coincide with a major blockbuster release and because they were often last minute addition money grabs the cards were usually just a fuzzy screen grab tossed on to poorly designed junk wax era cardboard with a corny (or basic) description with the back including a short write up about the character or scene.

 

When Total Recall came out in June 1990 I was stoked, it was freaken Arnold Schwarzenegger going to Mars. The movie came out a week after I graduated high school and I took my girlfriend to see it a couple of times while it was in theaters and bought a copy when it came out on VHS later. Easily one of my favorite movies of the era.

While I love the movie I never had any interest in the card set until I came across an Amazon ad which peeked my interest. It isn’t the cards that grabbed me but the swag that came with it. Each box contained a card set plus some movie related “collectibles” but you will have to wait until the end of the break to see what made me drop $7.50 on a junk wax era movie set.

 

When I got the box yesterday it is still wrapped in 1990 wrap that actually has become so brittle that it stuck to the box and tore off in pieces, the sign of a quality product.

 

 

What is that on the right side? You will have to wait… or just scroll down, either way works.

 

 

The set is exactly what you would expect from the time, weak cardboard showing it’s age with fuzzy pictures on a generic star-like background and the movie logo. You get an entire 110-card  set in each box and the set goes in chronological order with card #1 being the title card and each card after being a continuation of the storyline. The back of the cards include the scene description along with some quotes.  Here is a selection of the cards from the set.

 

#12 Rekall Rekall Rekall

Arnie at work talking to his buddy Harry about possibly going to Rekall

#15 First Class Memories

Arnie getting ready to have his Rekall implant, which leads to everything going wrong

 

#41 The Fat Lady

This is the scene where Arnie, who is wanted and traveled to Mars dressed as a fat lady to avoid being captured, is asked how long she plans to stay on Mars and he/she responds with “Two weeks…” before he gets recognized. He pulls the head off and it explodes like a bomb

#67 …At The Last Resort

Arnie and his posse escape Richter by going in to the Last Resort Bar/Brothel. The bad guys get in and a shootout occurs.

 

#84 Hauser Volunteered?

Uh oh… we find out Arnie is a double agent with a wiped out memory, he is a bad guy. Don’t worry, he does the right thing in the end.

#104 Pyramid Mountain Blows Up

The beginning of the end here when Arnie does good and turns on a machine built by ancient Martians to produce oxygen to be released in to the atmosphere.

Card Back

Here is the back of the final card of the storyline, as you can see it is continued from a previous card and the final words from the movie. Cards #109 and 110 contain scenes from commercials/ads for the movie.

Now on to the Total Recall swag that made me drop the cost of a movie ticket on the whole shebang

Rekall Receipt

1199 credits for a virtual trip to Mars? Wow, that seems like a lot but at least I have the receipt to show I did it (if I am still alive in April 2084). I wonder if I can get a refund on this?

 

$376 Martian Dollars

There are 14 bills total with two of each denomination; $1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 & 100

Sadly each bill looks exactly the same with only the numbers/denomination and serial number being different. They all include Cohaagen on the front and Mount Pyramid on the back.

 

First Class Ticket To Mars

That’s right, I have my First Class ticket to Mars already booked, again if I live to 2084, which includes a private cabin at the Mars Hilton when I get there. Odd how this also cost 1199 credits, the same as the Rekall virtual trip. Maybe I can use it to take my wife to Mars for our 85th Wedding Anniversary.

 

The icing on top
 Mars Rock from Cramer’s Variety Store in Venusville, Mars.

Not really a Martian rock, it appears to be a lava rock really, but still cool. There are meteors that have been found, the most recent in the Sahara in 2011, that is made up of Martian stone but I am betting Pacific found it cheaper to use lava rock instead of a real piece from a meteorite.

 

If you are like me you are probably wondering if every memorable scene was included in the card set? Sadly, No. Pacific went the P.C. route and did not insert a card depicting our favorite three-boobed prostitute Mary, played by actress Lycia Naff. I felt it was my duty to rectify the situation so here you go, what would be considered card #50b on the checklist. Here is my What If? version of Mary's card.

#50b Wish You Had 3 Hands

I recently read a 2012 interview with Lycia Naff, where she said she was embarrassed about the part and has felt shame ever since. She didn't realize that the part required her to open her shirt (she apparently was only told during the first take), she thought the three-boobed prosthetic was just going under her blouse and she was actually crying on set before the camera began rolling. Naff is very thankful that Kaitlyn Leeb, who played the three breasted Mary in the 2012 remake, has embraced the role taking the limelight off of Naff.

 

What If Curt Schilling?

It was October 24, 2004, Game 2 of the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Red Sox were dealing with 86 years of the Curse of the Bambino but after winning Game 1 things were starting to look up and with Curt Schilling on the mound hopes were high for Boston, the only problem was worrying about Schilling’s injured right ankle.

 

As he pitched through the evening his sock showed a noticeable patch of blood. The Red Sox won the game plus the next two to sweep the Cardinals and put an end to the curse. The sock was eventually loaned to the Baseball Hall of Fame but after Schilling made some bad investments he sold the sock in early 2013 for a little over $92k to a private buyer but it gone me wondering what if Schilling had decided to sell it following the game and Donruss were to have purchased it with intent on including it in a 2005 release?  

 

So for my next installment of custom What If? Cards

  2005 Donruss Prime Patches Portraits Curt Schilling Bloody Sock jumbo relic

No, I Am Pretty Sure It Is Dirt

Michael Pineda obviously did not learn after being accused of using pine tar while pitching back on April 10th. He needs to watch Major League and learn proper placement of foreign substances from Eddie Harris (Chelcie Ross). This seemed like an appropriate time for me to create a new pine tar What If? card.

Hopefully this is a learning experience for Pineda because he really is a solid pitcher with a decent career ahead of him. I watched this kid come up through the Mariners system and was very disappointed when he was traded to the Yankees for Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi, a horrible trade.

Montero was a solid prospect, before hitting a streak of bad luck, had only played 29 games last year (with a .208 avg) before getting hurt in June and then to add insult to injury he was suspended 50 games for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal. He showed up this year at Spring Training 40 pounds overweight, is currently playing for the Mariners Triple-A team in Tacoma.

Noesi was a complete failure, he pitched in 36 games for the Mariners between 2012-2014 going 2-14. His lowest ERA in Seattle was 5.82 in 2012. He was traded to the Texas Rangers 11 days ago (I am pretty sure it was for a used washing machine) and yesterday they designated him for assignment (the second time in two weeks).

What If Randy Johnson?

During a Spring Training game in March 2001 Randy Johnson threw a fastball that never made it across the plate. In a case of extremely bad timing (for the bird), a dove swooped down in the ball's path and was destroyed by the pitch, it literally exploded.

In my next installment of custom What If? cards
 2001 SPx Winning Materials Randy Johnson/Dove combo relic card

What If? Billy Ripken

Awhile back I came across an old thread at FCB where people were tossing up some suggestions of Triple Threads cards that don’t exist but should Over the past few months I have gone through the list and created a couple of custom “What if?” cards. I will toss up some cards from time to time for fun.

The first card is Billy Ripken’s “Fuck face” bat knob booklet.

 

What If Derek Jeter Headed North?

A number of years ago Mike (Chemgod) from Bad Wax wanted to set up a blog as an outlet for artists of all types to get together and present their custom cards.  On August 15, 2009 the Custom Card Blog went live, Mike’s intent was to run the blog by committee in a similar fashion to the A Pack A Day or A Pack To Be Named Later blogs where the members would submit their own posts frequently so that readers would be able to get a multifaceted view of the custom card world. Sadly within 6 months the posts became less frequently and by May 2010 the last post was made and the site has gone dormant.

 

I was a member of the blog and one of my favorite type of cards to make are the “What If?” cards where I changed cards to represent what would have happened if a specific event went a different way. I still enjoy designing cards but I have not done many “What If?” cards lately so the other day when I was reading a story about the worst draft picks ever I came across a pick that surprised me, Derek Jeter in the 1992 MLB Draft. Now Jeter is not a blown draft pick by anybody’s definition, the failure was the teams that passed on him before he was taken #6 by the Yankees.

 

The Montreal Expos had the #3 pick, according to many reports they were actually leaning towards Jeffrey Hammonds (Taken #4 by Baltimore) they also had eyes on Jeter but they ended up passing on both because they feared that both players would demand to much of a signing bonus. They went the penny-pincher route and selected B.J. Wallace. Jeter signed with the Yankees and built a legendary Hall of Fame career while Wallace never made it to the pros and is now in prison for manufacturing meth.

 

So I decided to make a card representing Jeter's Expo rookie card last night.

 

1993 Upper Deck SP Derek Jeter

 

What if the Expos had drafted Derek Jeter instead of B.J. Wallace? Would there still be a team in Montreal? Would the Expos have 5 World Series trophies? Would the 1996 AL ROY be their long time captain anchoring an all-star team?

 

 

 

Here are some of the “What If?” cards that I had posted on the Custom Card Blog. In order of card year:

 

 

 

1969-70 Topps Lew Alcindor

What if the Suns won the coin flip?

In 1969 the NBA held a coin flip between the two worst teams, Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks, which the Bucks won and they drafted Alcindor out of UCLA. With Lew Alcindor on their roster the Bucks won 4 Division Titles, 2 Conference Titles and an NBA Championship while the Suns won only 236 games over 6 seasons with a miserable .480 winning percentage.

 

 

1984 Topps John Elway

What is Elway sacked up, quit his whining and stuck with Baltimore?

In 1983 Elway was drafted by the Baltimore Colts, a team he insisted that he would never play for, starting off a media he said/she said tiff with the team. He threatened to play for the Yankees if he wasn’t traded. There are reports that the 49ers were interested in a Montana-Elway trade, the Chargers were interested in a Fouts-Elway trade and that the Patriots wanted him too. In the end he went to Denver, going to 5 Super Bowls and winning two along with a collection of hardware and records. The Colts ended up moving to Indianapolis the next year, the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore, becoming the Baltimore Ravens, 12 years later.

 

 

1984 Fleer Michael Jordan

What if Portland decided to bring in a young kid at guard to back up Jim Paxson?

In 1984 the Portland Trailblazers selected Center Sam Bowie because they already had an All-Star Guard with Jim Paxson as well as another young Guard, Clyde Drexler who they drafted the year before.

 

The Bulls, who lost out on Magic Johnson on a coin flip prior to the 1979 NBA Draft, jumped on the opportunity to draft His Airness. The Trailblazers went on to have some success, even making it to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992, but nothing like what happened in Chicago. The Bulls went on to win 6 NBA Championships, set a ton of records and add a nice collection of hardware to Jordan’s shelves.

 

 

1997 Topps Chrome Tim Duncan

What if Boston won the NBA Draft Lottery with their 36% chance?

During the 1996-97 NBA season the Celtics ended up with the second to worst record behind the Vancouver Grizzlies, but because they had two Lottery picks they actually had the best percentage chance of winning the #1 position. Instead the Spurs picked #1 taking Duncan while the Celtics selected Chauncey Billups (#3) and Ron Mercer (#6), both were traded within two years.

 

The Spurs have won 5 Conference Titles and 4 NBA Championships since that draft while the Celtics have had success, winning two Conference Titles and 1 NBA Championship it was with a whole new group of players including Garnett, Allen, Pierce and Rondo. With Duncan I would think there would be a couple more banners hanging from the rafters in Boston.

 

 

2000 Upper Deck SP Authentic Tim Duncan

What if Duncan took the big free agency money and signed with the Orlando Magic?

Following the 1999-2000 NBA season the Orlando Magic were working to build a team around a super star, that man was Tim Duncan. The Magic brought in Duncan, Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady to talk. They opened the checkbook to make the signing happen including enlisting Tiger Woods and Dr. J to make a sales pitch. They used Epcot Center and laser light shows to make it sparkle in the Magic Kingdom all for Duncan and Hill. Hill signed, McGrady too but after spending time with David Robinson, Tim Duncan decided to remain a Spur. The Spurs won 3 more titles since retaining Duncan while the Magic had some success, even making it to the NBA Finals in 2009, but the whole Dwight Howard fiasco over shadowed much of their success.

The New Orleans Pelicans?

Rumor out of New Orleans is that Tom Benson intends to make the Hornets more of a Louisiana team, leaving their Charlotte history behind, and changing the name to New Orleans Pelicans. The colors will also change from teal and purple to red, gold and navy blue.

 

Louisiana is the Pelican State plus a minor league baseball team in New Orleans had the name Pelicans from 1887-1959 so Benson is looking to connect more with the city, something George Shinn would have never done. What is interesting is that last month Michael Jordan had made a comment during an interview that he had an interest of bringing the Hornets name back to Charlotte so it makes you wonder if this name change has already been given the green light by the NBA.

 

I am not sure how I feel about the name “Pelicans”; I do not dislike it I guess it will just take some time to get a feel for it. It is definitely better than “Thunder”, but Clay Bennett is an ass so I guess we got the best out of him with that name.

 

I put together a “What If?” uniform for Anthony Davis using the new color pattern and added a Pelican logo on the leg of the shorts. I didn’t alternate the pin striping like the current uniform (which alternates purple and teal) instead going with a continuous red to match the leg center stripe. The gold trim remained the same as the current uniform.

How Cool Would This Be?

I think we all can agree that Fleer Retro Football would do much better with an NFL license. This is my vision of what could have been. I spent about 5 days building the templates and another day or so working with the player images to find the right shot and cleaning them up to fit in the templates. Finding the right font with some of the cards was a pain in the ass, I have hundreds of fonts that I went through to find the perfect match but a couple were off slightly but I don't think it really hurt the aesthetics.

 

I began with the RG3 Precious Metal Gems just to see if I could replicate the card surface. I did the Jambalaya next, which was probably the most difficult to make because I had to build it almost entirely from scratch. The Hardware cards are pretty boring really but I made this to add some variety. The 1960 Peterson and base card Richardson were both pretty easy to make. The base card is my second favorite, behind the Jambalaya, followed by the 1960 card as my third favorite. I like the simplicity of the designs.

 

Some of the shots were difficult to find because I had certain things I was looking for (besides size) like the 1960 Peterson where he was in a Vikings uniform with his helmet off. If you look at the original Fleer 1960 football cards the players are all without their helmets and most are in posed shots. With the Jambalaya, my favorite, I wanted to use a shot of Fitzgerald jumping because the basketball versions all have players in a jump/shooting motion. With the Hardware card, because the card theme is players with trophies/rings, I wanted to use a Brady shot from a winning Super Bowl so I used this one from Super Bowl XXXIX where the Patriots beat the Eagles.

 

I was working on a Noyz Boyz card but was not happy with how it was coming out so I dropped it all together and I wanted to add one of the Autographics cards but I decided to hold up and just post what I have completed so far.

 

I am an Upper Deck fan going back to their first releases and I know that Richard McWilliam has made some horrible decisions regarding the company and the athletes UD has worked with but I still hope that someday either he will pass the company on to someone else or shows he can make the right choices and earn back the lost licenses.