In the Nick of time

Just last week I was bemoaning the fact that I hadn't added anything to my PCs in quite some time. Then came a completely unexpected and very neat surprise.

These custom cards came to me from Nick Vossbrink who is both a Twitter friend and blogger of many interests, particularly baseball and photography.

These are great, yes? I really like the team-oriented colors and terrific photos Nick used on these. That 'ump view' shot of BP throwing a Spring Training pitch is amazing. It just came up someplace recently, Twitter maybe? I'm sure Nick has the story. It's got a 'Life Magazine: Baseball Is Back!' vibe to it.

And here is Brooks...

That's a classic photo from the 1970 Series.

Nick gave these the full career stat-back treatment which I appreciate even if I have come to need a magnifying glass on my desk in my old age.

And then there was this:

1981-style Oddjob! Toshiyuki 'Harold' Sakata was the Hawaiian-born actor who played one of the most memorable roles in any Bond movie as Goldfinger's henchman/manservant. Sakata packed a lot of living into his 62 years. He was an Olympic weight-lifter (Silver medal winner for the USA in 1948), pro wrestler and actor.

Pretty darn clever of Nick to use the '81 card design that features hats as Oddjob's bowler was his 'calling card' as it were. This makes a really fun addition to my actor/actress binder. If you aren't a Bond aficionado check out this clip which sums up Oddjob's role pretty well.

Many thanks to Nick for these fun customs.

My Joey Rickard custom

My insistence (obsession) on having a card of every player on my fantasy teams as soon as possible has led to me overspending on minor league cards, Korean cards and other people's customs. I've bought complete sets in the past just to get one card. Yes, I'm an idiot.

So when I picked up rookie Joey Rickard I went looking for cards on the net. I found his minor league cards in sets but nobody had singles. Since I know he'll likely be included in a mainstream set sooner or later I decided to just save myself the cash and make a card for him. I've done that before but usually only for long retired NFL guys who never made a set of any kind.

I have Photoshop Elements but a) no PS skills and 2) no time to fiddle around with it so I stuck to trimming pics in IrfanView (freeware), compiled it with  MS Publisher, and tweaked it in MS Paint. I had to put his name where you see it to cover the photo's watermark (naughty me!). And I'd change every font and be more creative with the reverse if I was doing to do it again but it'll do for now.

Designing and putting it together is the easy part. The hard part is cutting, trimming and then sticking the back (printed on sticker sheets) to the front. Trust me, practice DOES NOT make perfect. But whatever. I have a Rickard card that'll do until something better comes along. And it only cost me a sheet of glossy photo paper, a sticker sheet and some printer ink. I feel like I just took the first step in a 12-step program.

Satchel Paige '52 "Topps style"

I figured I wouldn't go out and buy a vintage Paige card anytime soon. But Bob Lemke did a nice job on this one so it'll fill a hole for me for the time being. And fill it nicely indeed.

Thanks again, Bob.

Koufax Cards by Bob Lemke



If you don't make it a habit of reading Bob Lemke's blog, you should. He has a background in this hobby surpassed by very few. He is the former editor and publisher of the sportscards and memorabilia periodicals and books at Krause Publications and former editor of the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards. I've been reading his output for so long I feel I know him.

Being a sucker for custom cards, cards 'that never were',and the like, I get enthused when Bob adds one of his to the blog. There are several folks out there who do a great job with that sort of thing and Bob Lemke certainly is among that group. He recently offered some of his surplus cards for sale and I jumped on the opportunity to add a few to my Koufax collection. Here are a couple of the cards he sent. You'll have to agree I think, whether or not custom cards are your thing, he really does them well. It's obvious Bob puts time into the backs as well as the fronts.

Custom cards are certainly not all he blogs about, he has access to lots of vintage printed material and ads, etc. Some of those will make you wish you had a time machine. Check his work out sometime.