RLC Custom Card Project: Andrew Brown

Andrew Brown was selected off waivers by the Rockies after playing one season with the Cardinals. In his lone season with Colorado he would play 46 games with 5 home runs & 11 RBI serving as a "depth" outfielder. He would go on the play two seasons with the Mets as well as a season in Korea.

2018 Panini Encased football does the classy high end design really well and something about it just struck my eye. 

Link to Project

 

RLC Custom Card Project: Gonzalez Germen

Gonzalez Germen was claimed off waivers by the Rockies from the Cubs in July of 2015 and ending up pitching in 29 games, including his only career start, with a respectable 3.86 ERA for Colorado, earning his second career save pitching a scoreless 16th inning in a 5-4 victory over the Dodgers. He would return to the Rockies in 2016 going 2-1 with a 5.31 ERA and his 3rd career save over a career high 40 games in what would be his final MLB season.

1991 Score football is among the junky-est of junk wax, but it does have a place in my heart as 1991 was the first year of me opening football packs (I'm also running out of ideas on sets to customize). I kind of liked the design and the team colors actually work pretty well.

Link to Project

 

RLC Custom Card Project: Wes Parsons

Wes Parsons was claimed off waivers by the Rockies in August of 2019 and finished the season with Colorado, his last in the majors. His 15 games run with the team was mostly forgetable with no desictions and a 6.98 ERA that was ballooned by two really bad outings. He spent all of 2020 with the Rockies "Alternate Training Site" (remember no minors in 2020), and has spent 2021-2022 with the NC Dinos of the Korean League.

I have always liked Metal Universe going back to the Giant Claws of 1997, but never got far with a custom. This time it actually started to look like something and eventually became something I am pretty happy with. This is heavy based on the 2021 Hockey design with a few tweaks, mostly in the player name area, and adding a very Rockies purple background.

Link to Project

RLC Custom Card Project: Mike McCoy

Mike McCoy made his MLB debut with the Rockies in September of 2009, played in 12 games, not starting any and went 0-5 at the plate. He did manage to score a run and steal 2 bases as a pinch runner.

McCoy would spend the next 3 years with the Blue Jays, playing every position other than First & Catcher, including pitching one inning. His versatility allowed him to stay in the majors for 170 games despite hitting for a .190 average.

When was the last time you though about Upper Deck Victory as a set? Back when it seemed like there as 50 sets a year, Victory was usually good for some weird players (see 2002 Mario Encarnacion). Not a horrible design, just something different to play with.

Link to Project

RLC Custom Card Project: Blaine Neal

Plagued by arm trouble and inconsistency, Blaine Neal managed to appear in 113 career MLB games from 2001-2005, with the 2002 season being his career highlight going 3-0 with a 2.73 ERA over 32 games with the Marlins. His final 11 games would come with the Rockies, finishing with a 1-2 record and a 6.14 ERA for Colorado. He would pitch professionally until the 2010, as well as with Team USA in the 2008 Olympics, but wouldn't return to the majors.

I thought I had posted a 1973 Custom before, but what better time than with Heritage coming out recently. I stayed pretty loyal, but used a different position icon, as I like this one better.

Link to Project

RLC Custom Card Project: Jacob Cruz

Did you know 12 different players patrolled left field for the Rockies in 2001. If you did, you probably knew one of them was Jacob Cruz. Cruz was traded to the Rockies in June of 2001 for Josh Bard & Jody Gerut, both of which would have solid MLB careers. He would go on the play 44 games for Colorado, hitting a pretty bad .211 and eventually loosing playing time when the Rockies traded for Alex Ochoa in July, then would be released in November.

Debuted in the MLB in 1996 with the Giants, but is probably best know for this last two MLB seasons in 2004 & 2005 playing in 206 games with the Reds over those two seasons.

1992 Pinnacle is one of my favorite all-time designs, the RLC logo looked weird where the Pinnacle logo was, so I moved it down, but now it looks weird with that spot empty, but I am newly commited to posting these things, so here it is.

Link to Project

RLC Custom Card Project: Chris Gissell

 The MLB career of Chris Gissell consisted of 5 games with the Rockies in late 2004, in which he gave up earned runs in all 5 games, and gave up a home run in 4 of the 5. At one point his ERA was 17.36 and it finish at 14.54. The one thing he can hang his hat on is his last game and only start in which he struck out 8 Cardinals in 4 innings, including Hall of Famer Larry Walker twice and Jim Edmonds 3 times.

Sometimes the photo limits to what design can be used, this one needed a full bleed horizontal and what better design than 2016 Stadium Club.

Link to Project

RLC Custom Card Project: Darnell Coles

Darnell Coles forged a pretty good major league career playing in 957 games over 14 seasons, including his final MLB season consisting of 21 games with the Rockies in 1997 after spending the 1996 season in Japan. In those 21 games Coles would only start once, hitting his only Rockies home run in that game. After two months with the team, he was purchased by the Hanshin Tigers and returned to Japan to finish his career.

We are getting far enough into this project that I am doubling up on some sets, but I am pretty proud of this template so here it is

Link to project

RLC Custom Card Project: Bruce Walton

 Bruce Walton only pitched in 27 career games over 4 seasons with a 8.21 ERA, but he did finish with a perfect 2-0 record. After spending 1991-92 with Oakland and 1993 with Montreal, he would play his final 4 MLB games with Colorado in 1994. The highlight of that season would be in his final MLB game, July 4th, 1994, blanking the Cubs in the 13th & 14th innings, earning the win in a 4-2 Rockies victory. 

1994 Score has been lost & buried in the heart of the junk wax era, but it actually has a decent design, (and some good photos, check Roberto Alomar, Jose Canseco & Wade Boggs) and the color scheme really fits with the Rockies. 

Link to project

RLC Custom Card Project: Matt McBride

Matt McBride had a pretty forgettable Rockies career, other than that he was the last remaining player from the Ubaldo Jimenez trade, not that was really that impressive unfortunately. In three seasons from 2012-2015 (he spent all of 2013 in the minors) he batted .199 with 4 home runs and 19 RBI. He also walked 3 times against 33 strikeouts. In 2015 his OPS+ was -8, that's right, negative 8. He did hit a Grand Slam once, so there is that. He hung around with the A's for a while in 2016, but that would be his last MLB stop.

The card: 2016 is one of my favorite Stadium Club designs, and I though this was a very Stadium Club image. One change I did make was tucking the text over to the corner, which for some reason Topps did on the horizontal cards, but not on the vertical ones.

Link to Project

Not-So Brief History of Modern Washington Kickers, Part II

Now that 2021 is in the books for the old Football Team and the new name is on the way, I present Part Two of the Not-So Brief History of Modern Washington Kickers. Part One is here.

Billy Cundiff: 2012, 5 Games
Replaced: Graham Gano 
Replaced by: Kai Forbath

 Billy Cundiff was signed to start the 2012 season, but only lasted 5 games going 7-12 including a 1-4 game in a 24-22 win over Tampa Bay. His Redskins stop was only a small part of his 136 game NFL career which included a Pro Bowl and 1st Team All Pro in 2010, 3  NFC Special Teams player of the Week awards, and a record tying 7 field goal night on Monday Night Football.

RLC Custom Card Project: Kit Pellow

The Rockies career of Kit Pellow was short, 70 games over two seasons, but he will forever be the answer to a couple trivia questions. Who was the Rockies opening day left fielder in 2004 (he went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts and was replaced in a double switch), and who broke up Tom Glavine's no-hitter with 2 outs in the 8th in May 2004. Kit did show some versatility at the bottom of the roster, playing 5 different positions, including catching, but his .240 average and a couple homers was not enough to keep him in the league as his 2004 season in Colorado was his last.

The card: A subtle tweak to 1993 Bowman, and the upcoming 2021 Bowman Heritage, not full bleed, but lots of room for the photo. The logo didn't really fit so we ended up with a very Donruss-y look instead.

Link to Project

Not-So Brief History of Modern Washington Kickers, Part I.

Kicking is weird. Kickers are weird. High stress, high leverage and low usage. Finding one that can consistently deal with everything involved is not easy, as a Redskins fan, this has been pretty evident since a guy named Chip was cut in 1995. If you don't believe me, try to follow along in my Not-So Brief History of Modern Redskins Kickers, Part I.

Brett Conway: 1998-2002, 41 Games
Replaced: Cary Blanchard, Eddie Murray

Replaced by: Michael Husted, James Tuthill

Brett Conway begins the fun and games, brought in for the last 6 games of 1998 as a kick-off specialist (that's right, we carried 2 kickers for 6 games) while Cary Blanchard did the rest of the kicking, earned the job as the sole kicker in 1999, but was then cut after 2 games in 2000 with an injury settlement. Conway would come back that season and kick for the Jets & Raiders, then would return to the Redskins for the entire 2001 season, but would get hurt again after 1 game in 2002

RLC Custom Card Project: Darren Bragg

Darren Bragg was more or less the typical journey-man outfielder, playing on 9 teams over 11 seasons from 1994-2004. The best years of his career came in Boston, setting career highs in pretty much everything between 1997 and 1998. He signed with the Rockies in February of 2000 and played in 71 games before being granted Free Agency in July of that year. From there he bounced to the Mets, Yankees, Braves, Padres and finally Reds.

The Card: Started with the Panini flagship design from 2019 Chronicles football, and morphed a little bit, the feathered edges almost give it a high-end product kind of feel.

Link to Project

RLC Custom Card Project: Randy Flores

The Player: Flores is best known for his 5 season with the Cardinals, going 9-2 with 3 saves over 237 games, including a career high 70 games in 2007 and a World Series ring in 2006, but is including here for his two stops with the Rockies, the first being 8 games in his debut season of 2002, along with 2009 and most of 2010. His 2010 season was actually really good, going 2-0 with a 2.96 ERA over 47 games before being DFA'ed and claimed by the Twins in August. All told, he would pitch in 350 MLB games from 2002-2010, then would get into broadcasting and has served as the Director of Scouting for the Cardinals since 2015.

The Card: Really weird this the first 1971 design in the RLC set seeing as it is probably the first custom I ever did, but here it is, in all it's black bordered glory.

The link thing

RLC Custom Card Project: Milt Thompson

The Player: Milt Thompson ended a fairly decent career with a very forgettable 5 weeks in Colorado, he was selected off waivers from the Dodgers in late June of 1996, played in 14 games, all but one as a pinch hitter, going 1-15 and then being released on August 2nd, ending his 13 year MLB career. He received MVP votes in 1987 and 1989, but is probably best known for his time on the 1993 Phillies team that lost the World Series to the Blue Jays.

The Card: Based off the 2019 Gypsy Queen Autograph card design, with a couple slight changes, shows how far behind I am on posting these as I have been sitting on this one for close to 2 years.

The Link Thing.

RLC Custom Card Project: Yonder Alonso

The Player: Alonso was signed a free agent by the Rockies in July of 2019 after being released by the White Sox a week before. Yonder would go on to hit .260 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI for the Rockies, mostly used as a pinch hitter, appearing in 54 games, but only starting 10 (and hanging around long enough to wear these gross "Player's Weekend" things). This would serve as his final MLB stop, as he failed to make the majors in 2020, and then retired after the season. Probably best know for being in the big Mat Latos Reds-Padres trade, or his lone All-Star appearance with Oakland in 2017.

The Card: 2018 Panini football flagship, very simple and classy design, say what you will about Panini, but they have put out some really nice sets over the years. One small change, replacing the Panini logo with a team logo and adding the RLC logo in the upper corner.

The Thing

RLC Custom Card Project: Harvey Pulliam

 The Player: Harvey Pulliam signed with the Rockies as a free agent in from the Padres, and having previously playing in the majors for the Royals in parts of the 1991-1993 seasons. He would debut with the Rockies in September of 1995, reach the majors again in 1996 and set a career high with 59 MLB games in 1997. Probably best remembered by Rockies fans for leading the PCL (AAA) in home runs with 25 and RBI with 91 helping the team win the league Championship. After the 1997 season he was traded to Arizona, but ending playing out his career with stops in the Japan, Korea and Mexico.

The Card: 1990 Upper Deck Hockey, what do you really need to say about Upper Deck from this era, you can pretty much start the "modern" era with when Upper Deck started making cards. A beauty of a design that still stands up 30 years later.

The Project: The Project: Rockies Legacy Collection custom project to make digital cards of Rockies players who never had one issued.

RLC Custom Card Project: Lenny Harris

The Player: Not a house-hold name, but a damn impressive career, 18 seasons in the majors, a World Series title with the Marlins in 2003 and more pinch hits, 212, and pinch hit at-bats, 804, in his career than anyone to ever play the game. Also the record holder for most pinch hit appearances in a season with 95 in 2001 as a Met. He only spent part of one season with Colorado as he was traded to the D-Backs at the end of August, but still managed 20 pinch hits, the third best single season total in team history.

The Card: 1986 is a sneaky classic design in my books, nothing special, but a nice clean design and the team color on black gives a sharp look.

RLC Custom Card Project: Tom Martin

The Player: Tom Martin is a prime example of middle reliever getting no cardboard love, Martin pitched in 376 career MLB games over 11 seasons, but only received solo cards in two sets, 1998 Topps & 2004 Topps Total. He spent his last two MLB seasons with the Rockies, pitching in 94 games with a 2-0 record, a 5.07 ERA and no saves.

The Card: 1953 is one of the most re-used Topps designs, from 2002 Heritage, 2016 Archives, Living Set, etc. with it;s second appearance in the RLC project, with a little personal touch using a purple triangle and the hat logo. Still a pretty classic design, and another old set that would look pretty good with in game, action photos.

The Project: The Project: Rockies Legacy Collection custom project to make digital cards of Rockies players who never had one issued.