A Bobby Doerr Topps Tribute patch!
It is always nice getting in game used patch cards of players that played several decades ago.
Could it be a fake?
Could someone have actually torn this card apart ... a REAL Bobby Doerr Topps card and swap out a plain old relic for a patch? And if so, how?
Well, let me show you.
Simply take this card:
Saw it in half:
and put it back together with a patch. Voila! A $5 card becomes an $85 card.
Topps doesn't have anything on the back of the card saying it is a jersey, bat, patch, etc. It just says the "relic" is not from any specific game, event or season. Welp, I guess in that case, it isn't really a FAKE patch then, is it?
Just to be safe, I thought I'd add a bit to the Topps disclaimer...
I didn't spend too terribly much time on this card, but it goes to show you how scary it can be with a little time and elbow grease. I initially bought this card for the bat piece, as I have a few Doerr sticker autographs so I could make myself a nice bat/auto custom of Doerr.
I had always wondered how easy and how good the card would look if I tried something like swapping out a jersey piece. Now I know, and so do you.
I had debated about whether or not to share the pics above with you, because now the internet will run away with this, and no more plain jersey swatch cards will exist!
So, what is the takeaway from this? Two things: Be mindful that it is definitely doable for someone with time and energy to do this, and also, if you are concerned about a patch, CHECK THE EDGES. I am not here to tell you all patch cards have smooth one piece looking edges. I just don't know if that is true. I also don't know how closely lined up a "card hacker" can make the edges, but I do know that in my humble little attempt here, you can see a seam. I believe if I had spent more time, I could make it less noticeable though.
How did I get that patch piece? It was an un-usable leftover piece from a project I was working on for a family - someone from the boards wanted a booklet card made of their family commemorating their time at Fenway when Jeter played his final game there.
The dad sent me jersey pieces they worse, as well as the ticket to create a few booklets. Here are two of them!
First, the patch one that spells their last name:
and now a button one!
This is what the front/back looks like:
I'm really happy with how they turned out, and don't think the pictures do them much justice.
Moving on, I had also done a Gypsy Queen style card as a gift for someone. I'm sure you've already seen my Ron Swanson card before. I'm sure you have also seen this one I did for a friend of mine:
The backs of cards are fun for me. Remember last week when I took my caricature and made him look like Bazooka Joe?
Well, instead of a Gypsy Queen back, how about a monopoly mouschi man on the back?
That is one of my favorite card backs I've made. It was my wife's idea to put the top hat and monocle.
Now, as for my PC, I won't bore you by showing a thousand pictures of this week's additions, but I will show a few quick updates, as well as an interesting story. Here is the majority of the loot:
There is a ton more coming in as well, but shown above are several autographs, an A&G box loader, a Canseco mask, porcelain cards, uncut 1991 Topps promo sheet, and tons of various other little things like pocket schedules, and more. My idea of keeping my collection to pieces of cardboard 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" or less went completely out the window when I saw the mask.
I used to have that mask in my Canseco 1.0 collection, and had to have it back. Then, I have been really wanting to get the Topps folders of Canseco again. One is incoming. Perhaps the most interesting things from the haul above to me, were the mini posters. They are about 4x6 and were used as display promotional pieces for the big sized Canseco posters when they were selling them in the 90's. I had some of the posters on my walls as a kid, and have very fond memories of them.
They suit me quite well in their miniature size, as I don't want to have my walls plastered with posters of Jose.
Speaking of big pieces, I did get one other thing this week ...
I didn't know quite what it was. It was so confusing. What was in this box?
Another box?
BAM!
This thing is HUGE. I think it is like 11x17 or similar. I knew it was incoming, and met the mail lady out at the box 3 days in a row to make sure she wouldn't try to cram it into the mailbox - LOL - little did I know that would be a physical impossibility anyway.
Here is a comparison of it with an 8x10 and a regular sized card:
Perhaps my absolute favorite thing that came in this week was a this next thing.
I found someone selling a Canseco batting practice jersey worn by Jose when he was with the Rangers. After having a conversation with the seller, I felt very comfortable with him and the jersey. The seller was selling several jerseys he had acquired through the years. Some were marked game used, and others were marked not game used.
The Canseco jersey was used during batting practice, and that is pure gold for me. Worn by my PC guy who was practicing what made him famous? It doesn't get any better! The thing that really got me salivating was what he found in the pocket. I love the 125th anniversary patch as well!
After I purchased it, he mentioned that there was medication of some sort in the pocket, and that is how he got it.
COULD THIS BE STEROIDS??!?!?! Could I be the owner of Canseco's steroids?
I want you, as the reader, to fully appreciate how much I was freaking out at this point. Was a steroid 1/1 card in the works? Heh, YOU BET! That is, if that is in fact what it was.
So, the jersey came, and I quickly checked the pockets. Along with an old hand written note that mentioned where the jersey came from, there were 3 horse sized looking pills.
AHHHHH!!!!!
They said "1 2 3" on them. I quickly scurried to the computer to do a search .
And just like that, my dream had vanished. It turned out they are 800mg ibuprofen.
My next though: Could steroid guys have taken steroids and crafted them into ibuprofen looking pills to get away with them easily?
Okay, Tanner - give it a rest. It is ibuprofen.
That is okay though. After researching, athletes have been known to take these to be able to have shorter down-time between work-outs. Canseco Ibuprofen may not be as cool as Canseco Steroids, but I'll take it, and am very happy to have them in my collection ... at some point, in card form!
After all that had calmed down, I was able to focus more on the jersey itself. I had looked for who knows how long for a similar style of Rangers jersey that Canseco had worn.
Google was useless.
I started to get a bit worried, because nothing was showing up. I was resigned to the fact that a picture of Jose wearing this style of jersey simply didn't exist.
Then, I stumbled across something truly awesome.
A Canseco collector who runs a website has TONS of pictures that he apparently took himself when following Canseco around in the 90's. When I found that link, I quickly clicked.
One of the pictures said something similar to: "Jose taking batting practice 6-22-94". Whoa, dude. How was there a picture online somewhere that had a picture of Jose taking batting practice less than a month and a half before this jersey reached the hands of the person I bought it from?
I clicked, and here is what I found:
This was extremely exciting for me - after checking over everything I could on my jersey, everything looked outstanding and matches perfectly. This picture simply could not have been found, had I not tried randomly by going to the Canseco fan's website.
Needless to say, I'm happy as a clam right now! It was a good week.
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