2011 Quarry Cards: The Experimental Phase

One of my collecting goals for 2011 was to collect one card of every member of the Rockies in a Rockies uniform.  As of this moment I have collected 228/440 players that have played a regular season game for Colorado (plus several players that never played for the Rox).  There are another 58 players in which I know for a fact HAVE a Rockies card that I have not yet obtained.  Which left 154 other players that, to my knowledge, never had a Rockies card made.

This gave me an idea.  Why not create sort of a yearbook type set for the 2011 Rockies?  This was an especially good year to do this because, with all the injuries and trades, 55! players appeared in at least one game for Colorado this season.  For 28 of those players, it was the first game ever as a Rockie.  Since Topps has decided that Colorado is pretty much only 8-10 players, most of these guys will never see mainstream cardboard in the color purple.

I have never attempted custom cards before and I experimented with several designs of players that never had a card.  So do not expect better cards than Phungo or PRP, because I am not in their class yet.

DISCLAIMER: I would like to point out that the photos taken were not taken by me.  These cards are not for sale.  They are just made for my (and hopefully your) enjoyment.

Let's take a peek at my experimental cards using mostly old Topps designs.  Some are better than others.

This obviously uses the 2009 design.  It is my favorite design of the 2000s.  Pictured is Alfredo Amezaga who had a second tour of duty with Colorado in 2011.  He is the only card I made of a player that DOES have a mainstream card.  I just thought the photo was great and really exemplified Amezaga's time in Denver.

Ah the classic 1987 set.  It was the first major set I ever completed by hand and was the first set I completed in my return to the hobby.  Sure there are approximately 87 trillion of these cards around still in packs, but the design is great.  Just remember there are as many 1988 Topps around as well, so it could be worse.  Juan Rincon is the perfect example of the type of player that will never get a Topps card; the non-rookie, non-closing relief pitcher.

The 1982 Topps "hockey stick" set is not really one of my favorites, but I thought it worked well with this particular photo.  Alan Johnson is basically a career minor leaguer that got one spot start ( a win ) in spring for the Rockies and then was sent back down.  He is not a prospect by any stretch of the imagination and might never play in the big leagues again.  But, he deserves a card because he did something I (and most people) can only dream of...he made the majors.

The 1981 cap set.  I like this one.  The only "problem" with the photo of reliever Matt Lindstrom is he is too clean cut for this design.  1981 is one of the best sets for facial hair and general scruffiness ever.  Since there were no Rockies cards in the 81 set (well d'uh), I had to improvise the name on the cap.  It is a little lopsided, but I am still happy with it.  Lindstrom is in 2011 Topps Update, so I guess I will get a real card of his soon.

This card is somewhat based on the 1976 Topps set, but without the extra team name bar at the bottom (and of course the landscape design as well).  I tried it with a second bar with the team name, but I thought it looked better with just the small logo in the corner.  I had to take a similar cue from the actual 1976 set and use the batter icon for a relief pitcher which occurred quite a bit in real thing.  Betancourt took over as closer at the end of the year and SHOULD get his first ever Rockies card in 2012.  Pretty bad considering he has been in Denver since 2009.

This 1974 design is my favorite of these customs, but mainly because of the photo.  I know of at least one other blogger that will also love the choice of photo.  It is the perfect depiction of the back up catcher on a big league team.  I wonder why no one else decided to sit anywhere near him that day.  Jose Morales does have a card in 2011 Topps Update (that I do not have yet), but he didn't have one when I made the card.

The 1959 design was fairly difficult to get right.  Especially the player's name.  I could not get that one right, so I just went with a generic font and left the orientation straight instead of slightly diagonal like the real thing.  Manny Delcarmen is yet another reliever that will probably never be pictured on Rockies cardboard, mainly because he wasn't on the team in 2011.  But for now here he is.

Of this group, which do you think is the best in terms of photo and design?  Did I do a decent job or should I just give up and leave this card making thing to the professionals?  Do you like gladiator movies?  Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?  The answer to these questions and many more will be answered on the next episode of Quarry Cards.