Customs count!

Do any of you player collectors count custom cards in your "official" total of a player? I sure as heck do.

I've received a few customs over the years, and I always make sure to include them in my number of unique cards for a player. It's part of the reason why my numbers will ever match on TCDB, but I don't care about that. The custom cards mean a whole lot to me. Whereas Topps puts no thought into many of their cards, the same can't be said for guys like Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown, who makes awesome customs.

On Monday, I got a sopping wet envelope from him, but luckily the cards were perfect. Gavin told me I sent him some cards like a year ago and wanted to hit me back. I suppose that's true? I can't remember what I sent.

There were a few Tinos and such, but what really stood out - and this should come as no surprise - are the awesome customs Gavin made.

I loved them all, but I think my favorite is the Ty Hensley from his current team, the Utica Unicorns. Ty is battling his way back to affiliate ball (and deserves a shot...former first rounder with upper/mid 90s heat...someone take a shot!), and he's clearly working hard to get there. To my knowledge, the Unicorns did not issue any team sets while Ty was there.

The card looks phenomenal, and as he always does, Gavin spends time on the card backs. While I wish I was better about enjoying card backs in general, I always make sure to check out the ones Gavin does. Sometimes I forget Ty's name is "Michael."

Also, as I told Gavin, when I shared this card on Twitter, Ty himself liked the Tweet.

I LOVED this custom in the look of 1987 Donruss. Tino in his Team USA gear, reminiscent of Panini Stars and Stripes. Tino led Team USA to a gold in the '88 games. Look at the metal Easton bat! That's the best part of the photo to me.

As as expected, a perfect replica of the back!

Lastly, such a cool card. Mattingly in the look of a 1973 Kellogg's. I wouldn't put it past Gavin to one day figure out how to use the same 3D effect on his cards. I love this old shot of Mattingly. Is he wearing a shirsey?!

Gavin made sure to do a very detailed back. I didn't know Donnie Baseball was ambidextrous. Go figure. I think he made the right call being a lefty.

Truly special work, Gavin. Thank you!

Oops, sorry Gavin

I knew it was going to happen.

A few weeks ago, I posted that I was officially calling itquits on my Michael Pineda collection. The problem with publicly doing something like that is that we have all these amazing people in our collecting community who are always picking up cards for each other to hold to for future trades.

In this instance, Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown proves the point. He commented the following on my post:

I've been sitting on a Pineda 1/1 (just a "blank back" gimmick), waiting for an excuse to send it to you. I guess I was waiting for him to turn things around first, but looks like I waited too long. Lol

Shut up, Lost Collector. I definitely felt a bit guilty. I’m sure Gavin was pumped to snag this card to send my way at some point, and then I ended up raining on the parade a bit.

But of course I still wanted to the card! It’s a 1/1 of Yankee, and I will never get tired of such things. Even the gimmicky ones! And I will never turn down a Pineda card in a Yankees uniform. I have an excellent collection of his that ranges from autographs to printing plates to other 1 of 1s. I’m just going to turn away my focus, that’s all. But I will never say no. 

As luck would have it, just a few days later I pulled a Rhys Hoskins manu-relic from 2018 Topps, a card that piqued Gavin’s interest, and a very fair trade was made for the Pineda. That made me feel good and a bit redeemed.

And as he has been known to do, Gavin sent a few of his dominant custom cards. He really creates some of the best out there that I’ve seen, so much so that I’ve actually flipped past them in trade packages only to later realize they were customs.

Respect for taking the time on the card backs too. In the few times I've made cards on the Rookies app (which is total cheating compared to Gavin's originals), I was too lazy to do card backs and just used the generic logo one they have.

Gavin also sent a Tino insert. I love this card! I think it looks great, and commemorates Tino's 3-HR day in 1997, which I actually remember very well. That set the stage for his 44-HR season.

Lastly, a surfer dude! And one named AJ!

Thanks, Gavin!

It was Orange all along!

A few weeks ago, Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown was showing off a few cards he snagged on eBay. Gavin is one of those smart shoppers who explores a seller's other items to use combined shipping. I wish I did this more, but I either never think to do it, or I'm too lazy.

Scrolling down through the post, I saw this card:

Gavin mentioned I probably had it, and he snagged it just in case Ty makes it to the Big Leagues one day.

The thing is, I didn't have it!

I have the 2012 Bowman Chrome Refactor, Blue Refractor, and Gold Refractor. But not orange!

Curious as to how I might have missed it on eBay, I went back into the completed listings for Hensley cards, and noticed the scan was a little dark. In my saved search, I'm guessing I scrolled past it, thinking it was the Gold one I already had.

Luckily, Gavin bailed me out. And luckily the card was #d 25/25 as opposed to 12/25. Otherwise, it might have been much tougher to convince Gavin to part with it. Fortunately for me, he's a great dude and willingly sent it my way.

He also sent a bunch of others, with creative packaging as usual:

I actually didn't have this Phil Rizzuto card, although the filter makes Rizzuto's face look pretty scary.

There were a few other Rizzutos, as well as a Tino and Big Mike. There was some great, great Tino inserts in 1998, and I consider this Studio Hit Parade one of them. It was super rare too, numbered to a mere 5,000 copies. Oh, 1998.

Gavin, a return package will be headed your way. Thank you again for parting with the Hensley - my 95th unique one!

Sketchy

Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown recently did a cool Aaron Judge sketch card, and it inspired me to do one as well!

So I grabbed some paper and sat down and quickly sketched this out during a Yankees game.

Ehhh, not my best work. But in fairness to me, I haven't drawn in a few years. I miss doing art, so maybe this will get my butt into gear to start sketching and painting again. I actually have a painting project I want to do for someone else, so once I get back from vacation, hopefully I can find the motivation to actually do it.

Baseball Card Ripdown

Yeah, see what I did there? I replaced the word "Break" with "Rip." Do you know why? Because the most creative card blogger out there, Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown, sent me a custom rip card. Who the hell makes custom rip cards? Gavin.

I was nervous about ripping it. Ok, I cut it. I didn't officially rip it. But I was still nervous about damaging what was inside. I figured it was a Ginter mini or something. I should have known better. Behold!

How awesome is this? A custom Tino mini magnet? So freaking cool.

That's not all. As he did with Zippy Zappy, P-Town Tom commissioned a card based on Ty Hensley's selection in the Rule 5 Draft. I now have a Hensley in another pro uniform. Wow. Weird. As usual, Gavin's work was was flawless, and I thank Tom for his generosity and helping me take the next step in my Hensley collection.

Gavin also included a custom that is so good I had no idea it was a custom. Eventually I flipped the card over and saw that it was a Baseball Card Breakdown card, but the first few times I looked at it, I had no clue. I just figured it was a reprint from some Upper Deck product at some point.

I didn't have any of these Topps Retired cards. They are cool!

As is this shiny Godzilla.

Lastly, Gavin included a card for my son's HOF collection, as well as a few Sportflics, which he was very excited about because one of the players was Joey Hamilton, and his name is Joey, so it basically made my four-year-old's life.

 

Gavin, thank you so much!

Beauty in the Breakdown

Before the holidays, or maybe right after, I don’t know…Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown sent an awesome package. He had asked for my address “just in case” he got the urge to send me something. And shockingly enough, he got that urge.

I must say that Gavin is easily one of the most creative card bloggers/collectors out there. He’s always doing new things, whether it’s sketch cards or cutting up signatures to make cooler cut autos, or seeing what he can make glow-in-the-dark (hint: everything). Personally, I think it’s a tragedy that this dude is not employed by a card company. I’m sure there are some creative designers at Topps (“Umm, I dunno. Let’s just make it in the 1987 design. And we can make it mini. Yeah, that’s it.”), but Gavin is constantly doing things that would be a welcome addition to the current card offerings out there. Hopefully that dream materializes one day, but for now, we’re all the lucky recipients of his creativeness.

I wasn’t sure which was to go with as the first card I show off, but I have to go with the custom, card #9 in the Cardsphere Heroes set (Gavin, is there a checklist that I missed?). I was honored to be included in the set. The card features a shot of Tino Martinez tipping his cap the crowd at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. I can’t tell if it was from Tino’s last year in 2005, or if it was a spring training guest appearance. The back is equally cool, with a nice write-up, notably a mention of my Tino collection! Awesome! I also love the star hologram cut into the card, as well as the 1/1 marketing in red pen. Am I adding this to my Tino collection as a unique Tino? You bet I am.

The next fabulous item is sort of a card, but sort of not. It’s from the Topps Vault and is a 2000 Topps MVP Pro Set Photo. Essentially, I believe it’s the proof the designers used before sending this card to print. What a cool item! There is even some markings on the back of the Tino card photo in pen around his birthday and draft info. Fact-checking, maybe?

It also came with a COA. I tip my cap to Topps for keeping these around and selling them later as a unique collectible. I had a ton of mechanicals and proofs from old jobs that eventually got tossed in the trash. This could have easily been the fate of this one (and probably was for years before that).

I also didn’t have this 1990 ProCards Tino sponsored by KFC. I thought I did when I saw it, but not this particular one.

In fact, Gavin sent the whole team set. There weren’t too many recognizable names other than Dave Burba, but I did notice this guy:

Yep, that’s Casey Close, the MLB super agent. He was formerly with IMG, CAA, and now runs Excel. He represented Derek Jeter for his entire career, and he still represents Tanaka, Kershaw, and Greinke. Pretty cool.

Here’s a Rizzuto I didn’t have as well, numbered to just 75.

Gavin, awesome, awesome package, my man. Thank you!

My Wallet Card

The Baseball Card Breakdown Wallet Card has been a lot of fun so far.

I was torn over what to choose as my wallet card. Ty Hensley is my main PC guy right now (for current players). I could have easily chucked a Bowman Draft card of him in my wallet. I thought about a Mattingly from the 1980s to see how that cardboard would wear over the course of the year.

But in the end, I appropriately went with the following card:

Tino Martinez 1997 Collector's Choice #181.

Why? A few reasons:

1. Collector's Choice was my favorite brand growing up. As a kid, it meant a lot to me,. Affordable packs, inserts, and You Crash The Game. That was the best.
2. 1997 was Tino's career year, hitting 44 HRs and driving in 141 RBIs.
3. I have to keep a Tino card on me in case I ever bump into him again on my way to work.

I thought about a mini card since I only cary a front pocket wallet/money clip (hey, I work in NYC...wallets go in the front pocket. Rule #1). Although I gotta say, it holds just what I need and I don't sit on it or wear out the back pocket of my jeans. No sir, I don't miss the Costanza. I went front pocket in 2009 and will never go back...pocket.

Tangent aside, here is the card going into the wallet. It didn't fit in the two pockets on the reverse side of the clip, so it's behind the massive amounts of cash you can see in this photo. I anticipate it staying there for the most part, as it fits pretty nicely back behind the clip. And yes, as you can see by that thick wad of cash, I'm very rich. I actually only carry that much when I'm headed to the strip club after work. So that's where I am while you read this post. (kidding, kidding...maybe)

I did already prick my finger on a sharp corner of the card. I don't anticipate that happening after a few weeks of wear and tear.

Anyways, let's take a photo of this guy our and about on my morning commute. I'm not sure how often I'll photograph it or how frequently I'll use NYC as a backdrop, but let's start it off right here and we'll see where this adventure takes us. This is the Trump International Hotel and Tower. I don't work there, but it's the first thing I see when I emerge from the subway before walking a few more blocks north to work. Sorry for the blurriness of the Tino. The wind was insane today. Almost blew the Tino out of my hand.

 

Gavin, thanks for the fun idea. Let's do it.