Customs with a Game Used Home Run Bat & Ball

[mouschi]

This week has been stuffed to the gills with making customs for people who won my customs contest & customs just for fun for my own collection. While it has taken a long time and kept me busy, it sure has been fun.

I was kind of bummed about Topps not making a NOW card as a throwback of Canseco so I made my own.



After I did that, I thought HEY! What not do one of Tim Tebow on the Mets?



and what about Ginny Baker from the new show Pitch?



As if that weren't exciting enough, why not turn my boring life into a set of baseball cards? Here is the start:



The next day was the presidential debate. While I'm not going to publicly critique how each candidate did, I will say that I think we were all thinking the same thing last night:


After the debate and everyone went to bed, I got to work on a project for Phillies_Joe. He was nominated - and was a winner - of my custom contest. I did some custom cards of his family, which I wrapped up last night. Joe also sent along some money as well as this:



Know who that is? Don't feel bad, because I wouldn't have either just by looking at it. It is none other than Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola! The back has an MLB authentication hologram as well.

I went to work ...



The end result was this booklet. I think it turned out great! I love that 2 portions of the ball were used and that it is a book.



Since I have the destroyed baseball as well, why not pose it with the finished product, right?



It is because this came out so well, that it made me want to do something similar for my own personal collection. (I've actually wanted to do a card like this for several months now, so this gave me a good excuse to dive in!)

Several months ago, I picked up a game used baseball used in a game Canseco played in and was signed by Jose. I didn't care much for the signature, as it was purchased with the intent of destroying it.



More recently, I made a HUGE pickup. A 1997 game used home run bat. It is quite a rare bat! It appears almost black, but in the light, it has a gorgeous green appearance to it. It is beautiful. Canseco used several bats throughout his career, but I've only seen him use this type once.







As you can see, it is inscribed gamer and mentions that it was used to hit home run #12 in the 1997 season.

I know what you are thinking ... ZOIKS!



Don't worry ... I didn't do that with this one. nor do I intend to! I have always wanted a full game used / autographed home run bat, so it is going to stay in my collection as-is

So, while the bat itself didn't make it into my latest custom, a picture of it did!



This is the ONLY picture I could find of him using this type of bat. I was fortunate to have seen it, and it looks like mine is the one in the picture! How can you not use this as the pic of the card, right?

Here is the end result:



And ... just like the Nola pic, I wanted to pose it with the baseball that was used:



That's all for now - thanks for reading! (Apologies if this is the wrong place to post - I heard through the grapevine that all the cool kids hang out here.)

[Rookiemonster]

Great stuff ! The Nola looks better then most real inserts

[vintagetoppsguy]

Great work! I always enjoy reading your threads. Nice to see it on the main page for all to enjoy instead of buried in the Watercooler section. Keep up the good work!

[mouschi]

Thanks guys! I guess I was just net54ing wrong

[bcookie]

Originally Posted by mouschi

Thanks guys! I guess I was just net54ing wrong

No.. you were doing it right all along....

This is the pre war section.. and I'm not talking about any Cuban wars either.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by bcookie

No.. you were doing it right all along....

This is the pre war section.. and I'm not talking about any Cuban wars either.

As I type this response, 7 of the top 10 threads have nothing to do with prewar. So why single out this one?

In fact, just before your response to this thread, you didn't mind participating in another OT thread - the "What do you do for a living" thread. Just curious why you singled out this OT thread, but participated in the other?

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

As I type this response, 7 of the top 10 threads have nothing to do with prewar...

Thanks for posting @vintagetoppsguy ! This is actually a big reason why I decided to post here. I'll make this sub-forum my home, unless a moderator tells me otherwise. I'm glad there is so much participation here after all! The last sub forum didn't get much movement.

[bcookie]

I was just giving you a hard time TanMan..

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by bcookie

I was just giving you a hard time TanMan..

bcookie, I appreciate your response, particularly saying something about a cuban war. I'm going to be thinking on this for a while, as I *KNOW* there has to be some sort of joke in there somewhere! Something along the lines about being a pre-war card collector, and being heavily invested in 1988 Donruss or something...hmmmmmm

[Cozumeleno]

I'm always impressed by your stuff and have read the Canseco-Mouschi's minor league card article a few times.

The work you do with these is amazing. I don't collect modern cards but find your custom stuff to be a lot of fun.

[Leon]

I had some movement this morning but let's talk about cards.

This front page should primarily be about pre-war baseball cards. However' given their somewhat narrow focus, and the interactions we all have within the hobby, it makes sense to have some other topics here. All should tangentially have something to do with pre-war baseball cards. The further we get from those things the less will be permitted on the front page or they will be off topics (not permitted as much). In a perfect world every thread on the front page would only be about a T231 Fans Cigarette cards, Western Playground cards, N370 Lone Jacks, Zeenuts, R319 Goudeys etc...
Carry on.....

Originally Posted by mouschi

Thanks for posting @vintagetoppsguy ! This is actually a big reason why I decided to post here. I'll make this sub-forum my home, unless a moderator tells me otherwise. I'm glad there is so much participation here after all! The last sub forum didn't get much movement.

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by Leon

I had some movement this morning but let's talk about cards.

LOL This had me rolling on on the laughing floor. (Dwight Schrute reference!) Anyway, I may be making some "pre-war" (not of the cuban variety) customs at some point, so hopefully this'll be right at home here as well!

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by Cozumeleno

I'm always impressed by your stuff and have read the Canseco-Mouschi's minor league card article a few times.

The work you do with these is amazing. I don't collect modern cards but find your custom stuff to be a lot of fun.

Thanks Cozumeleno! I love hearing that people can enjoy what I do even though they may not be into collecting them. As I mentioned in a previous post, I may be doing some vintage-style cards in the future.

In fact, as a child, I was hooked on vintage when no one else around me was. Everyone was buying 1991 Fleer packs, and I LOVED getting cards from the 60's and 70's ... even though they were just commons for the most part. I really love tobacco cards though. I had a nice little collection, but sold them off to pay for a Christmas gift for my then-fiance-now-wife about 16 years ago. While I do miss them, I'd say I made a pretty wise investment!

[Leon]

It's all good, my man. Having fun with baseball cards is always approved of in my book...Love me some crazy poses too!!

Originally Posted by mouschi

LOL This had me rolling on on the laughing floor. (Dwight Schrute reference!) Anyway, I may be making some "pre-war" (not of the cuban variety) customs at some point, so hopefully this'll be right at home here as well!

[tab]

Nice work. I think it would be cool to make custom game used cards for little league kids. I remember having my photo that looked like a magazine cover and the cheap looking baseball cards when I was a kid.

[pokerplyr80]

I'm a fan of your threads but I'm sure I've missed a few in the water cooler section. It's nice to see one on the main page.

[mouschi]

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

I'm a fan of your threads but I'm sure I've missed a few in the water cooler section. It's nice to see one on the main page.

I appreciate it As I post on several forums, I didn't keep watch and saw that there were a number of my threads on the front page of the water cooler page, as it doesn't move as quickly as this one. I'm glad I found this section.