“Borrowing” From Topps – 2015 Heritage Cuts – Graig Nettles

I had to do it.  Actually to be honest most of my designs borrow from Topps’s designs.  This one though is completely torn from this year’s set.  I don’t like the way they did the cut autographs, but I do like the design.  Of course I did do some alterations.  Anywhere there was Topps, I replaced it with Bad Wax.  Before you tattle on me to Topps, just realize that I don’t sell these cards.  They are for my personal collection.  I am first and foremost a cut autograph collector and with the scarcity in these sets, the cost per card is astronomical.  So . . . I make my own damn cards.

As for the player, I won this card off eBay, it does come with JSA certification (for whatever that’s worth), and I purchased it for $9.59 including shipping.  A bit steep but Nettles is a fan favorite and for a signed index card of him, it’s actually not a bad price.  I’ve seen the average run about $14-17 shipped.  As many of you know I am a Yankee fan.  When growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, I had a few favorites.  Thurman Munson, Ron Guidry and Graig Nettles.  Those three were my childhood heroes.  They also command a lot of $$$ for autographs.  I have a Gator autograph already, Munson is beyond my means and the Nettles has eluded me for years.

Nettles is borderline Hall of Fame worthy.  His resume includes six All Star games, two World Series rings, an ALCS MVP award, two time Gold Glove winner, one time AL homerun champ, and most importantly he was captain of the Yanks from 1982-1984.  Things holding him back was his 0.248 batting average and 390 home runs.  If either were higher, he would be in.  Make no bones about it though, he was a 3-5 in the lineup hitter for the majority of his 22 year career.

EloRater Rank: #79, before Billy Williams, A-Rod, and Joe Cronin, but after Ken Boyer, Kenny Lofton and Gary Carter.

Baseball Reference Page: Graig Nettles

Wikipedia Page: Graig Nettles

Cards Number: BWHC-GN

Cards in set: 1

Certified autograph:

Rookie card:

Through the Mail Success – Jim Bunning

Got this one back mid last week. What an amazing through the mail success.  I love players like Jim Bunning who is widely considered one of the top 50 pitchers of all time, take the time to sign and send back ttm autograph requests.  His career was legendary, two no hitters, including a perfect game. At the time of his retirement he had the second most strikeouts, currently he sits 17th. He appeared in 9 All Star games, he won 17 or more games in eight of his 17 seasons, a three time strikeout champion, and a World Series champion.

If that’s not enough he then led a life of a politician for his home state of Kentucky for the next 30+ years.  Including being a member of the US House of Representatives from 1987 – 1999, and a US Senator from 1999-2011. What an amazing life he has led.   I had decided to make the card of him as a Tiger for a few reasons. First, it’s where he won his most games and second he won a World Series there.  However it should be noted that most people remember him as a Phillie.  I apologize Phillie fans, for taking him away from you, but I had to make the card of him as a Tiger.

Turnaround time: 14 days

Player’s Baseball Reference Page: Jim Bunning

Player’s Wikipedia page: Jim Bunning

Current Number of Cards in the set: 5

Card Number: VC-JB

New Through The Mail Design – 1987 Topps Future Stars Mini

 

 

During my snow days the past week, I had some time to create a new through the mail mini heritage card.  Since I am a child of the 80s, and I have unwrapped many, many 1987 wax, one of my all time favorite designs was the 1987 Topps Baseball Future Stars.  I needed to do a TTM card for that set and as you can see (or might have seen on Twitter), I knocked it out of the park!

The hardest part was finding the right wood grain nfor the front of the card.  As good a match as I had, I still don’t think I did a great job with matching colors, but it’s good enough that you won’t give it a second glance.  The Future Stars logo was lifted from a 1987 Topps Tiffany BJ Surhoff card.  The back was traced from the same card (although shrunk to fit a 2 inch tall card).

I wanted a card that I could send to minor league guys.  I’ve always enjoyed collecting cards of guys in the minors. In the above case I made one of local (for me) Duke player Michael Matuella.  He is probably the best pitching prospect in college right now.  Most publications pick him as the top college player.  Overall the front and back came out great.  I wanted to put a team logo on there somehow, and while not on the front of the card, the back of the card is good enough.  Although the color of the Duke logo and the color of the back blue is the same in real life, my goal is to use that color for other logos placed on the back as well.  I plan on making a few of these to send out to college and minor league players.  Usually I try to stick with the team USA aspect, however I am open to try and collect any player.

Let me know what you think of this one….

Through the Mail Success – Ron Gant

I actually got this one back a few days ago.  I’ve been trying to pace myself with posting though so I don’t burn either you or me out.

This is another one of my 2015 Bad Wax Mini Heritage cards.  I originally sent out four a few weeks ago just to see how they would come back looked.  Gant is one of those guys that had a very solid career.  Not Hall of Fame, but enough to get nominated (even if he didn’t receive a vote).  He was a two time All Star and also a Silver Slugger award winner.  He had a 16 year career with over 300 career home runs, over 1000 RBIs and over 200 stolen bases.  That’s a solid career no matter how you look at it.  Add to the fact that he was always considered fan friendly and you got a guy who is still fondly remembered by fans.  This may not be the best autograph I own, but it will go up there as one of my favorites!

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So how did this TTM break down?

Address sent to:

Ron Gant
C/o FOX 5 Atlanta
1551 Briarcliff Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30306

Turnaround time: 18 days

Set for: 2015 Bad Wax Heritage Mini Cut Autographs

Running Number of signed cards in set: 3

Remaining cards from the set still out for signature: 2

THROUGH THE MAIL SUCCESS: ROY SIEVERS

I got this back yesterday afternoon in the mail.  It’s the second of the new through
the mail mini cards I recently sent out.  This is one that is business card size.  I really wanted Roy Siever’s autograph because he’s a former Rookie of the Year (1949) and got robbed in MVP voting in 1957.  He fits under my Hall of Fame or All Star Collection.  He had a 17 year career the spanned 1949 – 1965.  He was a four time All Star in 1956, 1957, 1959 and 1961.  The most controversial year of his career was when he led the league in homers, RBIs, total bases and extra base hits, but came 3rd in MVP voting behind Mantle and Williams.  His batting average was much lower than those two but he led in most of the other important statistical categories.  His career and statistics are very close to the likes of Jack Clark, Ron Gant, Greg Luzinski, and WIllie Horton.  Not quite a Hall of Fame level player, but probably just below that level. The final piece of trivia I have is that he was one of nine players that suited up for both the Original Washington Senators and the expansion Senators.

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So how did this TTM break down?

Address sent to:

Roy Sievers
11505 Bellefontaine Rd
St Louis, MO 63138

Turnaround time: 11 days

Set for: 2015 Bad Wax Heritage Mini Cut Autographs

Running Number of signed cards in set: 2

Remaining cards from the set still out for signature: 2