General All Purpose Baseball Card Thread

[seawolf17]

Zvon wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: seawolf17 wrote: Custom baseball cards are why I wish I knew how to use Photoshop. Me too. I've been wanting to DIY baseball cards for years, but I have no idea how to use Photoshop. I don't even own a version. I've been making "cut outs" of baseball card borders to do this stuff. Basically different year Topps cards without a picture or player name. All are for Mets cards. I'll be glad to make these available if you want to experiment in a photo or art program. IIRC even MS paint can be used for cut and pastes and even applying fonts. The time consuming part is preparing the borders for use. Once I do all that I have what could be called a baseball card kit where you just swap parts in and out. I'll share this base stuff with anyone who wants to have some fun with card making. And it is fun.

Definitely interested.

One of my custom card goals has always been to make custom Kevin McReynolds cards from his Padres years, from a 1983 Traded through 1987 regular issue. He didn't sign his Topps contract until 1987.

[G-Fafif]

Spurred by bml's dutiful posting of Royal Jerry Grote, I sought out the site that created it and encountered an eye-opening exploration of Jerry Grote lurking, or his being the catcher on opponents' cards.

Lurking: Is that an actual baseball card term or is it something Garvey Cey Russell Lopes made up? Either way, it helps explain why my conception of what a catcher is comes mainly from Jerry Grote squatting.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

That's great. Obviously an easy explanation but still fun to see.

[Zvon]

dgwphotography wrote: Zvon wrote: [ ohhhhhhh nice.... This does look cool with that border...

It looks freakin excellent! Now I'll need permission to deface your work because the C for Capt will have to go.

[Zvon]

So on this card Grote was on deck and it must have been two outs cause hes half geared up. I've seen this card many times and never noticed that. Amazin'.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Zvon wrote: So on this card Grote was on deck and it must have been two outs cause hes half geared up. I've seen this card many times and never noticed that. Amazin'.

Didier's not wearing the Braves' new 1972 duds.

[Zvon]

seawolf17 wrote: Definitely interested. One of my custom card goals has always been to make custom Kevin McReynolds cards from his Padres years, from a 1983 Traded through 1987 regular issue. He didn't sign his Topps contract until 1987.

I have a thing like that for Tommie Agee. As a kid I idolized him and I do get a kick out of making custom cards for him, more so than any other player.

I only have 60's and 1984-85 Topps & Fleer borders prepared now but I will have to do that for other years for certain players and I will post the templates here asap. I'll get the 80s one up tonight during the game.

[dgwphotography]

Zvon wrote: Zvon wrote: [ ohhhhhhh nice.... This does look cool with that border... It looks freakin excellent! Now I'll need permission to deface your work because the C for Capt will have to go.

Are you kidding? That C defaced the uniform.. I'm curious to see the finished result ;-)

[Zvon]

This is a test. I'd like to share these as "cut outs", in this case transparent .png's.
Now to me this border is clear or white in the center area. But when I load it to my pic library the center becomes black. Both white and black center can be used but cut outs are so much faster and easier to work with. I know I can get it transparent going with a .gif file but we'd lose too much quality. I'll eventually figure out the best way to do this.


.png______________________________.gif

Ha. When I post them here they appear to be transparent. Kool beans.

[seawolf17]

Z! That's fantastic! Already playing with the PNG.

[Zvon]

The C was lost in the wash and I have to credit DGW somehow (without detracting from the composition), so his initials can be seen on the side of first base if you look really, really hard.

[Zvon]

1983 Topps (aged), 1983 Topps (new), 1984 Topps.


So wolf, for McReynolds you now need 86 and 87?

OE: also, do you want any to be Padre borders?

[Zvon]

Okay, the Agee 70 WS card. I may as well call this the Tommie Agee project. I like what I've done but I don't think its good enough for Tommie.

This is what the actual 70 Topps card looks like.

This is a detailed copy of the image used by Topps. I could colorize this and use it.



This is the one I posted earlier and as you can see, its very close, but its not the same photo. And the colorized image I used is a close up crop of a bigger image, to make it look more like the actual card. My plan was to use the full image that I colorized back in '02. And it looks good.


But still not good enough. All these photos capture the moment after the catch and really do not show how magnificent a catch it really was.

Now this is a nice photo because it's already in color and it's not as widely circulated as the other ones. And I got to see what color the guys beyond the fence are wearing, which would have been nice for the 2002 colorization. But it's also a photo that depicts Agee a moment after the catch. If you want an image that really shows him about to catch the ball you either have to go to a video still or with this black and white photo, which I only ran into recently. It captures the catch like no other.

So if I'm going to do Agee up right I think I have to colorize this last one and go with it. Still, I am open to suggestion. I know I'm a bit anal with graphics but when it comes to stuff like this I don't fight the perfectionist in me. It makes my stuff as good as it can be.

So which photo do you guys think would best represent Tommie Agees first amazin' catch in game three, and why?

[Guest themetfairy]

I like the top shot against the 396.

[Zvon]

themetfairy wrote: I like the top shot against the 396.

So did Topps. I should colorize that photo whether I use it or not. You can see in those shots how the ball went almost completely thru Agees webbing in the pocket of his glove. According to Tommie it got stuck there.
So it almost went through his glove.
Amazin'.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Is the 'fake' card something they do all over the internet or
something that just has been here?

[Zvon]

Kong76 wrote: Is the 'fake' card something they do all over the internet or something that just has been here?

I'm seeing it all over the net lately. Mostly from individual blogs.

[batmagadanleadoff]

If you have the time to dedicate to this project, you should break some new ground. You're now the set designer, so apply your fantasies (or at least mine) in deciding what the set ought to have looked like. I'd use multiple shots and create multiple cards of that catch. Agee caught that ball 20 or 30 feet from the wall and had to run hard to catch it. The multiple cards would properly depict Agee's effort. The snow-cone effect would demonstrate that Agee had to run at full speed and extend his glove arm fully to have any chance of making the play. You could label the cards Part I, Part II etc.

Here's an article I found on Agee and his Topps '73 card. The author mistakenly identifies the infielder in the card, Bud Harrelson as Ken Boswell.

Card Corner: 1973 Topps: Tommie Agee
by Bruce Markusen
April 05, 2013

When Topps airbrushed photos for its cards in the 1970s, the company usually applied the artwork to portraits or posed shots. It�s relatively easy to airbrush the uniform colors and caps of a single player who is featured on a card. But the situation became more complicated when Topps decided to airbrush action shots, particularly those who featured other players within the frame of the picture. There is no better example of that than Tommie Agee�s 1973 Topps card. When this photo was taken during the 1972 season, Agee was still playing for the New York Mets. He�s the one on the far left. The other players pursuing the pop fly are the right fielder, Rusty Staub, and the retreating second baseman, Ken Boswell. None of these players played with the Astros in 1972, but when the Mets traded Agree after the 1972 season, Topps had to spring into action. With no photos showing Agree wearing the red and white colors of Houston, Topps decided to airbrush this action shot, which meant including the other players in the process. While Agee is the focus of the card, it�s interesting to note that Staub did not belong to the Astros in 1972 or �73, but he did play for the franchise from 1963 to 1968. Similarly, Boswell did not play for Houston in 1972 or �73, but he would eventually become a member of the Astros, in 1975. So perhaps we should call this card �The ghosts of Astros past, present and future.� There is one other oddity about this card. It is the only card in the 1973 set that shows Staub. He did not have a regular issue card with Topps that year, or in 1972 for that matter. The reason? At the time, Topps negotiated contracts individually with each of the players projected to be part of its new set. Staub chose not to sign a contract with the card company for two full years. He would not reappear on a regular issue Topps card until the 1974 season. Staub and Boswell give us plenty of side material to work with, but Agee is the player I find the most intriguing. We tend to remember Agee for his days with the Mets, but he began his career in the Indians� organization. Signing with the Tribe as an amateur free agent in 1961 and receiving a tidy bonus of $60,000, he made his major league debut the following season. Called up in September at the age of 20, he accrued 14 at bats, hitting .214. The late season recall marked the start of four consecutive cups of coffee for Agee. From 1963 to 1965, he made brief appearances, playing in no more than 13 games and hitting no better than .167. That last cup of coffee actually took place with another organization; after the 1964 season, the Indians traded Agee and Tommy John to the White Sox as part of a complicated three-team deal that also involved the Kansas City Athletics and returned Rocky Colavito to Cleveland. It would not take long for the Indians to regret the trade. After a 1965 campaign that was delayed by a broken hand and then split between Chicago and Triple-A, the White Sox made him one of their starting outfielders in 1966. The Sox thought so much of Agee that they put him in center field, moving the already defensively excellent Ken Berry to left. Though Agee was built like a fireplug at five feet, 11 inches and 195 pounds, he covered the outfield from gap to gap. Now more mature at 23, Agee took full advantage of his new opportunity. On Opening Day, Agee clubbed a memorable home run against tough right-hander Dean Chance. For the season, he hit 23 home runs and stole 44 bases, thereby becoming the first player in White Sox history to reach 20 homers and 20 steals in the same season. He also played such splendid defense in center field that he took home Gold Glove honors. He also won the Rookie of the Year, beating out a class of first-year players that included Dave Johnson and the �Boomer,� George Scott. The award voting proved to be no contest, as Agee swept all 16 first-place votes. He also received strong support in the American League MVP race, placing eighth in the annual sweepstakes. If there was a flaw to Agee�s game, it was his ability to make contact. He struck out 127 times, becoming especially vulnerable to right-handed pitchers with good breaking balls. Pitchers took advantage of the holes in Agee�s swing in his second full season. Despite coming to bat nearly 100 fewer times, he piled up 129 strikeouts in 1966. His batting average fell from his rookie high of .273 to .234. He reached base only 30 per cent of the time while compiling a meager slugging percentage of .371. Even in a pitcher�s era, those marks were clearly unacceptable for a power-hitting outfielder. Agee�s appearance in the All-Star Game was just about the only bright spot in a season that epitomized the sophomore jinx. He hit very poorly after the All-Star break, with just four home runs after the Midsummer Classic. The White Sox were so disappointed in Agee�s performance that they decided to cut bait with their slick-fielding center fielder; after the 1966 season, the Sox sent Agee and spare infielder Al Weis to the Mets for a four-player package headlined by two-time batting champion Tommy Davis and veteran pitcher Fat Jack Fisher. Yet, it was a trade that almost didn�t happen. It�s not particularly well known, but the White Sox nearly dealt Agee somewhere else, in a trade that would have pre-empted the Mets� acquisition of the young, athletic outfielder. At one point, Agee was supposed to have been sent to the Red Sox in a blockbuster deal�a one-for-one swap involving Hall of Fame outfielder Carl Yastrzemski. The White Sox and Red Sox came close to completing the headline-making trade, but Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey balked at the last minute, unwilling to give up Yaz, one of his favorite players. Yawkey�s veto prevented the Red Sox from making what would have been one of the worst trades in their franchise�s history. The trade to the Mets set up a reunion for Agee, who was now teammates with Cleon Jones. The two had grown up as close friends in Mobile, Alabama; in fact, they were born only five days apart. The reunion with Jones would represent just about the lone positive development of Agee�s first season in New York. In the Mets� very first spring training game, Agee was hit in the head with an errant Bob Gibson fastball, never a fun proposition. The beanball affected him all summer long. Though installed as the Mets� starting center fielder, Agee hit miserably. He endured a 0-for-34 slump in April, matching the 1962 futility record set by Don Zimmer and putting himself in a cavernous early season hole. He would hit only five home runs in nearly 400 plate appearances. He walked only 15 times while striking out 103 times, a ghastly ratio for an everyday outfielder who was expected to help offensively. With an on-base percentage of only .255, Agee put up an OPS of .562. It was the Year of the Pitcher, but clearly not the year of Agee. To their everlasting credit, the Mets did not give up on Agee. Gil Hodges kept Agee as his starting center fielder and leadoff man. The manager�s confidence paid off. In early April, Agee became the first and only player to hit a home run into Shea Stadium�s upper deck, as he victimized Montreal�s Larry Jaster with a mammoth 480-foot home run. (The Mets later marked the appropriate spot at Shea Stadium by putting Agee�s No. 20 on the railing where the home run landed.) It was one of the 26 home runs he hit that season. He also roamed center field at Shea Stadium with speed and precision, providing the Mets with a lynchpin to both their offense and their defense. Clearly, he was their best all-around position player. Agee�s performance took a further step up during the World Series. With the Series tied at a game apiece, the Mets and Orioles prepared for a critical Game Three. In the fourth inning, with runners at first and second, Baltimore�s Elrod Hendricks laced a ball deep toward left-center field. Shading Hendricks toward right field, Agee ran an estimated 40 yards, made a backhanded stab of the ball, and snared it in the edge of the webbing of his glove. Catching the ball near the 396-foot sign in left-center field, Agee saved two runs from scoring. Agee wasn�t done. In the top of the seventh, the Orioles loaded the bases with two outs, bringing Paul Blair to the plate. Blair slashed a line drive toward right-center field, the ball seemingly ticketed for a two-base hit. Agee tracked the ball with a full-out sprint before diving headlong. As he belly flopped onto the edge of the outfield grass, Agee grabbed the ball before it landed on the warning track. This time he saved three runs from being scored, which would have brought the Orioles within a run and put the tying run in scoring position. After the game, Agee assessed the two miraculous catches. �The first one was harder,� Agee told Lowell Reidenbaugh of The Sporting News. �Because I had to reach across my body and catch it backhanded. I thought I had the second one all the way, but the wind caught it and it dipped suddenly, so I had to dive for it.� For his part, Gil Hodges thought the second catch was the more difficult of the two, going so far as to call it the greatest play he had ever seen in the World Series. At the plate, Agee did additional damage. Leading off the bottom of the first, he had blasted a bomb of a home run to center field, victimizing one of the game�s toughest right-handers, Jim Palmer. Spearheaded by Agee�s all-around performance, which Sports Illustrated called the greatest single effort by a center fielder in World Series history, the Mets took Game Three on their way to a five-game Series win over the favored O�s. In 1970, Agee proved that his world championship efforts were no fluke. In fact, he hit even better, compiling a career best .286 average and an OPS of .812. His season included a 26-game hitting streak and a game in which he hit for the cycle. He also stole 31 bases, giving Hodges� Mets a much needed dose of speed. And he won his second Gold Glove Award. At 28 years old, Agee appeared to be in his prime. Then came an injury-plagued 1971 season. Limited to 113 games, largely because of an injured knee, he still hit .285 and stole 28 bases, but his power numbers fell off badly. The following summer, Agee�s overall game tailed off badly. Affected by an injured muscle in his rib cage, he hit .227 and saw his slugging percentage fall below .400. Even his defensive play suffered. Agee�s contributions to the world championship in 1969 and his popularity with New York fans could not make him a Met for life. After that disappointing �72 season, the Mets shopped the injury-prone Agee. There were also rumors, unsubstantiated but still existent, that the Mets felt Agee and Cleon Jones spent too much time together, to the point that they had created a clique within the Mets� clubhouse. Whatever the exact reason, general manager Bob Scheffing proposed a blockbuster seven-player deal that would have sent Agee, pitchers Gary Gentry and Danny Frisella, and another player to the Cubs for outfielder Rick Monday, veteran right-hander Bill Hands, and a third player. Scheffing was ready to make the trade, but Cubs manager Whitey Lockman reportedly called the deal off at the last minute. Scheffing instead made a trade with Houston, sending Agee to the Astros for outfielder Rich Chiles and tall pitching prospect Buddy Harris. Although the Mets might have been justified in trading a declining Agee, it remains baffling that they received so little in return for the talented center fielder. While the Mets claimed that they considered Chiles a legitimate candidate for their vacant center field position, the words of an unnamed Astros official provided less optimism. �He might help as a pinch-hitter,� the Houston official told The Sporting News, �but don�t expect him to play every day.� Chiles did little for the Mets, but Agee also struggled in Houston, where he found the Astrodome an even more difficult hitting environment than Shea Stadium. He also had to adjust to playing in left field, since the Astros already had the supremely talented Cesar Cedeno in center. Over the first half of the season, Agee showed some power, but all other aspects of his game fell off. On August 18, the Astros gave up on Agee, sending him to the Cardinals for the meager return of utility infielder Dave Campbell. Agee did little for the Cards over the final six weeks of the season. He hit only three home runs, batted .177, and found himself on the bench. At the winter meetings, the Cardinals dealt him to the Dodgers for veteran reliever Pete Richert. Although Topps printed a 1974 traded card that showed Agee wearing Dodger Blue, he failed to make his way to Los Angeles for Opening Day. On March 26, in the midst of spring training, the Dodgers released Agee. Even though he was only 31, no one put in a claim. He was forced to retire, at an age when many players still found themselves near their peak. Agee chose to leave the game completely, but he remained popular with Mets fans who recalled the era of the late 1960s and early 70s. He kept in touch with his fans by making regular charitable appearances and conducting numerous baseball clinics for children. He also made a memorable appearance as himself on an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. Yet, there was more than baseball to Agee�s life. A smart businessman, he opened up a bar near Shea Stadium and became a successful insurance executive in his post-playing days. Unfortunately, he also struggled with his weight and developed a heart condition. On January 22, 2001, Mets fans had to endure one of the saddest days in the history of the Mets. They learned that Agee had suffered a massive heart attack while leaving his New York City office. Shortly thereafter, he died at Bellevue Hospital. It was the same cause of death that had taken his manager, Gil Hodges, who had passed away during the spring of 1972. Agee was only 58, which made the news all the more unbearable to Mets fans. Although Agee played only a handful of his 12 seasons with the Mets and didn�t start or finish his career with the franchise, he had become a lasting symbol of the team�s unexpected success in 1969. Other quality center fielders have followed him in Mets pinstripes, including Lee Mazzilli, Mookie Wilson, and Lenny Dykstra. All became popular with New York fans, but none more so than their first standout in center, Tommie Agee. Bruce Markusen is the author of seven books on baseball, including the award-winning A Baseball Dynasty: Charlie Finley�s Swingin� A�s, the recipient of the Seymour Medal from the Society for American Baseball Research. He has also written The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates, Tales From The Mets Dugout, and The Orlando Cepeda Story.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/card-corner-1973-topps-tommie-agee/

[Zvon]

Wow, thank you big time for sharing that article. I'll have to finish reading it after the game.

I don't want to get too crazy with the card additions because I've already decided that there are certain things that should get an additional card, like Agee's second catch, Swoboda's most amazin catch of the series, the shoe polish incedent culminating with Clendenons HR. Weis's homer! Al deserves a shout out! (I did the same thing with the 2002 cards)
That's not to say I won't do it. It's a great idea. I could also possibly pull off one of these type cards for Agee's play:




OOO, Ike ends the game! Great catch. I can read it now

[batmagadanleadoff]

I see that you had to lay some new sod and dirt on the portion of the field right before the incoming Staub and to the umpire's right.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I just assumed that was Bud Harrelson in the middle and wouldn't have considered Boswell was the guy.

[Zvon]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I see that you had to lay some new sod and dirt on the portion of the field right before the incoming Staub and to the umpire's right.

Yes, luckily an easy patch job because I could just copy and paste a small section from the visable part on the other side of the ump.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I just assumed that was Bud Harrelson in the middle and wouldn't have considered Boswell was the guy.

I've always thought that was Boswell. I'm sure I posted here to that effect way back when. I still do. He's moving like Bud would, or did, but his hair (and I think I can see those side burns) says Boswell

That article above about Agee is one of the best Ive ever read. Thanx again batmags. One thing I have noticed about Tommie. In the last years of his life I never saw a picture of him smiling. He seemed so sad.

[seawolf17]

Zvon wrote: So wolf, for McReynolds you now need 86 and 87? OE: also, do you want any to be Padre borders?

HOLY MOLEY those are awesome, thanks. Would love the 86 and 87 too. (And if it's easy for you to make the Padres changes for those years, especially the "rookie card" years of 83 and 84, that'd be cool.)

[batmagadanleadoff]

I have a thing like that for Tommie Agee. As a kid I idolized him....

Same here. He was my first favorite Met. After Agee had left the Mets, and in fact professional baseball, me and my friends formed a neighborhood softball team one Summer. We even sprung for uniforms (jerseys). This was around Junior High School. I chose # 20 for my jersey. I was still Jonesing for Agee.


Here's a terrific Sports Illustrated piece on collecting the autographs of every 1969 Met. It's a long read, but worth the time. Agee becomes the focus of the piece.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1065221/index.htm

[Edgy MD]

Interesting note that the futility record of 0-34 had previously been the lone property of Don Zimmer, also notable for getting hit in the head.

[Zvon]

I have a thing like that for Tommie Agee. As a kid I idolized him.... Same here. He was my first favorite Met. After Agee had left the Mets, and in fact professional baseball, me and my friends formed a neighborhood softball team one Summer. We even sprung for uniforms (jerseys). This was around Junior High School. I chose # 20 for my jersey. I was still Jonesing for Agee. Here's a terrific Sports Illustrated piece on collecting the autographs of every 1969 Met. It's a long read, but worth the time. Agee becomes the focus of the piece. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1065221/index.htm

That is such a beautiful article. The writer made me feel very "at home". Again, thnx for sharing.
I found these quotes to be most notable:

?June 13 [1969]. Al Jackson, the last original Met, is sold to the Reds. A shame, for he has creditable penmanship.

Exchanging line up cards with Ron Santo before a game in 1969:

"You remind me of Tug McGraw," Hodges tells Santo. "When he was young and immature and nervous, he used to jump up and down. But he doesn't do it anymore."

September 24. The demipennant is clinched 6-0 over the Cards at Shea. Gary Gentry throws the shutout, and the next morning's New York Daily News carries this headline: THE MOON: ASTRONAUTS TOOK 9 YEARS, METS 8.

On the Mets then president forcing Cleon to read a public apology in regards to his recent advantures:

It was so wrong for Cleon Jones, a man who had lived his life behind a scar, to be humiliated by M. Donald Grant, a man who had lived his behind an initial.

[Zvon]

This came out nice. It was a super bitch colorizing the photo, I guess because of all the white in the grain. It looked like shit until I shrunk it down in size. I also had to color over the outfield wall.


Started a three panel version of the catch but I don't have three photos good enough to use to show a progression. I do have two and I'll see how that looks. So far it looks pretty damn kool.

So just in the testing phase I am making a bunch of additional cards. Ha.

[Guest themetfairy]

Superlative job Z!

[Zvon]

Thank you TMF

I have to admit I drooled a little bit when I saw how this came out.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Thank you TMF I have to admit I drooled a little bit when I saw how this came out.

Amazin', Zvon!


________________

Name that game:



... and a card that never was ... the '66 Yogi ... pleasant to see but unrealistic because Yogi announced his retirement early in the '65 campaign