I really like how this one came out. 1985 Topps is actually one of the simplest designs that I have attempted to replicate. I think what makes this card for me is the picture. I like pictures that don’t look like every other picture you see of a guy. This one is of Soria, probably during spring training judging by his hat, sitting in the dugout. I even like the players in both the foreground and the background, it make the picture interesting.
I know CSD did a 1985 Joakim Soria card so I hope my doing so doesn’t steal any of his momentum.
I will give a quick update on my “History of Joakim Soria” project. It seems to be the project that has held my interest best out of anything that I have done. Even my original design “Just Fair ’11” has lost momentum to me. I will keep visiting it but likely won’t ever keep daily updates on it.
My estimations have Topps having 61 years of cards out right now, (I’m counting 1951 for now) Right now I have 41 of the designs done and Soria cards made. I think this is the 9th I have posted so I am pretty far ahead of the curb. A quick breakdown by decade: the 1970’s and 1980’s are completed. 1990’s I have 7 of 10 years done and 5 from each the 2000’s and 1960’s and just 3 from the 1950’s. If there is any years you would like to see posted, post a comment and I will try to move them to the top of the list.
Jim over at the The Phillies Room made a good observation and point on 1997 Topps card on my site the other day. I have quoted it below.
“Very cool. Topps used red for American League teams and green for National League teams in 1997. I always thought this could have been a great design had Topps gone with team colors for each card (Joakim would have had a blue card), and if they had included the team name at the top in the same style as the players’ name.”
One of the great things about having a template ready on these cards is I can visually see what something like this would look like. All the work was already done so this was whipped up in about five minutes. I don’t know if this is exactly what Jim had in mind but I have modified my 1997 Topps Joakim Soria to match his description. I really like the blue. I’m thinking maybe I should have made “Kansas City” solid and “Royals” in outline to balance the card. Oh well, We will just classify this as a card that never was.
By the way, Jim is doing some cool things with the 1983 Topps design over at The Phillies Room, you should go check it out.
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 really like how this one came out. 1985 Topps is actually one of the simplest designs that I have attempted to replicate. I think what makes this card for me is the picture. I like pictures that don’t look like every other picture you see of a guy. This one is of Soria, probably during spring training judging by his hat, sitting in the dugout. I even like the players in both the foreground and the background, it make the picture interesting.
A Hair Off Square 