Fun Cards Submission: 1987 Topps Nick Senzel and Aristides Aquino

Here is part 2 of Jere Chandler’s “fun cards” that he shared with me yesterday.

Nick Senzel is the one who got all the love earlier this year, but Aristides Aquino has put up the numbers. Will either one actually receive a little trophy on his card next year? I haven’t followed the rookies league-wide much this year except for the Blue Jays dudes, so I can’t say for sure. Who do you think should be All-Star Rookies?

No offense to Jere, but I’m tired of 1987 Topps baseball. It’s an all-time classic design, no doubt, but Topps has shoved it in our faces so much over the past few years I’m just ready to never see it again (or at least until 2036 when it is used for Heritage, assuming I did my math correctly, which is a dangerous assumption).

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Fun Cards Submissions: 1975 Topps Aquino, VanMeter, Castillo, and Garrett

I received an email earlier today from a blog reader. Jere Chandler wrote, “I recently stumbled across your custom Reds cards and really enjoyed looking through them. I’m a huge Reds fan. I saw my first game at Riverfront back in ’75, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Your ‘fun cards’ even inspired me to make a few of my own.”

I asked if I could share his creations here, and he consented. I will break it into three posts over the next few days, starting with some 1975 Topps customs of a couple of rookies (Aristides Aquino and Josh VanMeter) and a couple of pitchers (Luis Castillo and Amir Garrett) today.

I love the look that Jere used here with the red and gray border. Of course, that’s not faithful to the original set, and Night Owl would probably have a conniption fit if Topps released anything like this. But I think they look nice and clean and I would happily slide these into nine-pocket pages if they were real. Thanks for sharing Jere!

Fun Cards: 2019 Reds, 1987 Topps football style: Anthony DeSclafani

I fell behind on these pretty quickly this year. I had huge expectations for my Reds this year, but when they started the season so poorly I focused on other things. Call me a bandwagon fan, but I’m not going to stand by and root for a terrible team. I’m happy when they win, and love seeing guys like Aristides Aquino excel, but as a whole the Reds have been an enormous disappointment in 2019.

Anthony DeSclafani, while not the ace of the staff, has been a solid back-of-the-rotation starter. His 8-7 record and 4.40 ERA are about what I would expect for a 4th or 5th starter, and his 1.6 WAR isn’t terrible. He’ll never be mistaken for an All-Star, but as long as he can avoid injury I expect “Disco” to have a nice long career on the mound.

Fun Cards: 2020 Topps Ken Griffey Sr.

Before The Kid, there was The Dad. Ken Griffey actually doesn’t have a nickname, but “The Dad” would fit, right? Since I already had the template made, I figured I would go ahead and travel back in time to the original George Kenneth Griffey.

The more I look at the 2020 Topps design, the less I hate it. But still, it’s not a flagship design. Plus, releasing it before Update is even out is just preposterous. Come on Topps, make us wait until at least Thanksgiving to see this stuff.

Fun Cards: 2020 Topps Ken Griffey Jr.

Looking into my crystal ball, and what do I see? A brand new Topps card of Ken Griffey, Jr.!

I really hope he gets another Reds card at some time, even though everyone loves him as a Mariner. Maybe, perhaps we might even see a special card showing him at the presser announcing the trade…

I can’t wait to see what the Reds cards actually look like, even though I’m not crazy about the 2020 Topps design. I suspect the secondary color will be black rather than blue, but I don’t think the blue looks terrible.

That wraps up the Griffeypalooza. Check out the original post for the list of every Topps design featuring The Kid!

Fun Cards: 2015 Topps Ken Griffey Jr.

Here it is…the last missing Ken Griffey Jr.! 2015 Topps is not the easiest design to manipulate, and the fonts are not an exact match, but it’s close enough for me to be satisfied.

I’m also in a Facebook group called “Custom Baseball Cards,” and I put out a call last week for help finishing up the list. Beny Levy accepted the challenge and made a Mariners card for Griffey on the 2015 design…and it looks a lot better than mine! If you’re a Facebooker, join the fun!

But wait…there’s more! That’s right, tomorrow I have one more Griffey “fun card” post. Don’t miss it!

Fun Cards Submission: 1969 Topps Ken Griffey Jr. by Steve Gierman!

Steve Gierman of the awesome White Sox Cards blog does a great job with “Birth Year Cards.” I didn’t even think to check to see if he had a Ken Griffey Jr. BYC, but he sent this to me last week. The card originally appeared on his blog in 2010. It looks great! Junior has appeared on the 1969 design before; Baseball Cards Magazine made a card for him in 1990, and Topps included him in the 4-in-1 Stickers insert in 2013 Archives. Steve’s is the first 1969 card showing him with the Southsiders.

Fun Cards Submission: 1962 Topps Ken Griffey Jr. by Lanny Ribes!

Topps loves the 1987 design so much they used it in 1962! The woodgrain borders are a little darker on the precursor to one of the most overproduced sets in history, and I actually prefer the 1962 version a little better. Lanny Ribes used a fantastic photo of Ken Griffey Jr. in this recreation. Griffey previously appeared on a “Babe Ruth Special” style a few years ago in Topps TBT, but I have never seen a base card version of The Kid on this design.

We are getting very close to seeing Griffey on every Topps design! Thank you Lanny for all the contributions so far!

Fun Cards Submission: 2016 Topps Ken Griffey Jr. by Lanny Ribes!

Am I alone in my continued dislike of borderless cards? I didn’t like these the first time I saw them. I didn’t like 2017 or 2018 either. I do like the look of 2019, but the early previews of 2020 are barf-tastic. The 2016 set may have been a little better if Ken Griffey Jr. had a card in the set, and our good friend Lanny Ribes (@DOCBZ17) does his best to set things right with Griffey sporting White Sox duds.

Tomorrow will be our last Lanny Ribes submission this round. I will continue to search the depths of the internet looking for more historical Topps designs with Griffey, but in the meantime feel free to fire up Paint and fill in the blanks!

Fun Cards: 1984 Fleer Yasiel Puig

Earlier this year, while he was still employed by the Cincinnati Reds, Yasiel Puig visited the Cincinnati Zoo and spent some time with the reptiles. Snakes and baseball…where have we seen that before? Let’s go back 35 years…

Glenn Hubbard‘s 1984 Fleer card showed him holding a ginormous snake while the Phillie Phanatic loomed in the background (I’ve actually never noticed the Phanatic there before now). And wait…isn’t that Barney Rubble on the left-hand side of the card? Wild!

I’m getting off-track. Back to the snake.

It wasn’t difficult to connect the dots. Puig needed a 1984 “fun card” holding the Cincinnati Zoo snake, too.

Unfortunately, the idea didn’t come to me when I first saw the photo several months ago. By the time I got around to creating this card, Puig had been traded to the mistake-by-the-lake Indians for Trevor Bauer. No problem. 1984 Fleer is pretty easy to manipulate…

Something has to be done with that Cleveland logo. It’s so boring. I really wish they would use the angular C from the 1970s. Or change the team name to the Spiders and come up with something new.

Now back to Barney Rubble. How wild is that???