Archive for April 2011
This is one of the first ’90’s cards I tried to tackle and it wasn’t very easy. So many times I glance at a card and think; simple, no problem. I am often wrong. This design is a little boring overall. This is one of the years I bought a lot of cards, I believe I was only a couple short of completing a whole Series One set from packs alone. I tend to go in waves, some years I buy a lot, others I don’t buy many. For instance I bought tons of 2010 Topps packs but to date I still have only bought one pack of 2011.
I think it is actually really smart to not buy packs now. I can spend a lot of money on packs hoping to pull a Royals card or I can hop on eBay and buy the whole Royals set for the price of about 2 packs total, and that is after shipping. I love buying packs of cards for the unknown factor but it just isn’t practical.
Back to the card; A couple interesting things about the card; It has no position, the vast majority of card list the players position. They normally even list the team even though the team logo is represented. The name is the really distinctive thing on the card. The first name in outlines and the last in a solid color. This is a cool way to be able to butt the first and last names together but overall makes it hard to read.
The border in 1997 Topps varied colors. The Royals apparently randomly got red. The border also has drop shadows and fades making it very difficult to re-create. I don’t think I nailed it but I go pretty damn close.
Joakim Soria 2006 Topps custom card; the 5th picture if you search for "Joakim Soria Card" on google images.
Custom cards are getting some respect by Google images. I search for Joakim Soria a lot on the internet looking for pictures for my “History of Joakim Soria” project. I happened to search for “Joakim Soria card” on Google images and was surprised to see several of my own cards there. Not only that but a couple of my colleges are high in the search results as well.
For an example I will give the results of the first 57 results. They are staggering to me. Goose Joak holds down the number 1 and 2 search results. Goose has a total of 11 cards in the top 57 including 4 in the top 10. I place 2 in the top 10 (numbers 5 and 8 ) and 5 overall cards. Another custom designer (CSD) also has 5 results in the top 57.
Overall of the top 57 results there are 22 Joakim Soria custom cards. Of those same 57 results only 18 are actual Joakim Soria cards. Impressive in my opinion for the custom card designers out there.
Now visit these sites:
Goose Joak Custom Cards
CSD Custom Cards
Holy crap this one is hard, Halladay is the definition of an ace and Lincecum can be absolutely unhittable. Lincecum is younger but Halladay has more experience. Both now have playoff success, Lincecum has won it all Halladay threw a no-hitter. Both are right handed and strike fear into opponents. I’m going to pick purely on who I’d like to watch pitch more. Winner: TIM LINCECUM – Giants 2 Phillies 3
Well it is official, believe the hype, the Phillies have the best rotation in the majors.
Interesting facts:
The Giants drafted 4 of the 5 starters in their rotation, the Phillies drafted 1 of 5.
The Oakland Athletics drafted more players in these two rotations than the Phillies did (Zito, Blanton by A’s, Hamels by Phillies)
Phillies rotation salary 67 million! Giants rotation salary 45 million, big difference there.
Once I would have said if Cliff Lee didn’t face the Royals six times a year he would suffer, that day has passed; Winner: CLIFF LEE – Giants 1 Phillies 3
This is closer than most people might think but I got to go with experience here; Winner: ROY OSWALT – Giants 1 Phillies 2
Zito was great, Hamels might have peaked as well, I like Barry Zito a lot but Hamels wins in a landslide; Winner: COLE HAMELS – Giants 1 Phillies 1
Here is the first of five in a quick comparison of the Philadelphia Phillies against the San Francisco Giants rotations. I start at the bottom of the rotations with the number 5 starters.
Blanton was a good pitcher, Bumgarner is a good pitcher; Winner: BUMGARNER – Giants 1 Phillies 0
1952 Topps, Mickey Mantle’s rookie card year. One of the most important cards of all time. This is Soria’s version of that year. I intentionally chose a picture that was a pose and manipulated it to look blurry and noisy. The pale yellow background on the Royals logo is intentionally ugly as well. I don’t really like the way the stars came out on the box around the name but it matches the original set so I left them as they were.
I am continuously amazed by how consistently underrated Brian Roberts seems to be from year to year.
Jim Thome is my favorite current baseball player. I like many of the Royals a lot but Jim Thome still comes out on top. He is today’s custom card of the day with the great set: 1984 Donruss.
I saw a graphic in The Sporting News the other day about the top 10 home run hitters since 1990. Of the 10 listed, 9 have been linked to steroid use. The one that hasn’t been linked to the juice; Big Jim.
Thome blasted his 591st long ball of his career the other day in Camden Yards. He should get to 600 very easily this year barring an injury. At one time that number would have been monstrous, only 3 people had done it when I started liking baseball, now some skinny little juiced-up punk playing third base in New York is already past that feat.
The achievement won’t be lost though, especially with Thome who hasn’t been linked to any illegal substances. All this taken into consideration, didn’t put Thome in Cooperstown, New York a couple years ago. He has been a DH for several years witch really hurts his chances but I believe he is now “in.”
When Thome joined Minnesota at the beginning of last season he was just a great player, not a hall of famer. With his simple 25 homer season as a part time player he solidified his spot in the baseball Hall of Fame. I think he may not make the first ballot, in fact, probably won’t, but I strongly believe he will make it.
I remember buying a pack of 1995 score when they were still on the shelves and pulling a Thome card and thinking; this is going to be one of my guys. From that point on I have followed his career closely, which has been a pleasure. At the time I started following him, the tall, skinny third baseman for the Indians had somewhere between 30 and 55 career home runs under his belt. It is safe to say I have cheered for him sending a lot of balls out of the yard.
I believe Thome will bow out after this baseball season, hopefully injury free. He will eclipse 600 home runs and call it a career. He will never win a World Series but he was there and didn’t exactly ride the pine at the time. He has numerous post-season heroics so not winning the big one will be a minor blemish on his record. I need to make it to a Twins game this year and hope he is playing. I would like to see him again before he retires. Take in what you are seeing with him, he is a rare breed.
This is one of the first ’90’s cards I tried to tackle and it wasn’t very easy. So many times I glance at a card and think; simple, no problem. I am often wrong. This design is a little boring overall. This is one of the years I bought a lot of cards, I believe I was only a couple short of completing a whole Series One set from packs alone. I tend to go in waves, some years I buy a lot, others I don’t buy many. For instance I bought tons of 2010 Topps packs but to date I still have only bought one pack of 2011.
A Hair Off Square 