I’ve been an avid baseball collector for most of my life. However, there are some cards that I would like to own, but probably never will. For instance, I would like to own a 1957 Mickey Mantle, a 1953 Jackie Robinson, and a Nolan Ryan rookie card for my collection. But just acquiring these three cards would likely cost at least a couple thousand dollars.
My solution? Make my own replicas of these cards. Here are some examples of replica cards I made out of cardstock, an inkjet printer, and graphics software:
But why stop at making replica cards? Why not design new cards?
There are some cards I would like to own, but simply don’t exist. I’d like to own a 1954 Topps Stan Musial card. Neither Topps nor Bowman made a card for Stan Musial in 1954. By designing my own custom baseball cards, I can finally have a 1954 Topps Stan Musial card, albeit a fake one created by my own imagination.
I’ve also always dreamed of designing my own sets of baseball cards. Perhaps I can do so now.
Here’s my checklist of 176 cards I would like to create:
| Year | Player |
|---|---|
| 1885 | Deacon White |
| 1885 | Cap Anson |
| 1885 | Jim O’Rourke |
| 1885 | Paul Hines |
| 1887 | King Kelly |
| 1887 | John Montgomery Ward |
| 1888 | Pud Galvin |
| 1888 | Dan Brouthers |
| 1888 | Jack Glasscock |
| 1889 | Mickey Welch |
| 1889 | Tim Keefe |
| 1889 | Roger Connor |
| 1889 | Buck Ewing |
| 1889 | Harry Stovey |
| 1890 | Charles Radbourn |
| 1891 | Bid McPhee |
| 1892 | John Clarkson |
| 1893 | Tommy McCarthy |
| 1894 | Sam Thompson |
| 1897 | Billy Hamilton |
| 1897 | Ed Delahanty |
| 1897 | Hugh Duffy |
| 1897 | Jake Beckley |
| 1899 | Kid Nichols |
| 1899 | Jesse Burkett |
| 1899 | George Davis |
| 1899 | Cy Young |
| 1900 | Joe Kelley |
| 1900 | Hugh Jennings |
| 1900 | Bill Dahlen |
| 1901 | Amos Rusie |
| 1901 | Willie Keeler |
| 1903 | Fred Clarke |
| 1903 | Bobby Wallace |
| 1904 | Jimmy Collins |
| 1905 | Nap Lajoie |
| 1906 | Honus Wagner |
| 1907 | Rube Waddell |
| 1907 | Vic Willis |
| 1907 | Elmer Flick |
| 1907 | Frank Chance |
| 1908 | Roger Bresnahan |
| 1908 | Joe McGinnity |
| 1908 | Jack Chesbro |
| 1908 | Sam Crawford |
| 1908 | Pete Hill |
| 1909 | Christy Mathewson |
| 1910 | Eddie Plank |
| 1910 | Addie Joss |
| 1911 | Joe Tinker |
| 1911 | Johnny Evers |
| 1912 | Mordecai Brown |
| 1912 | Chief Bender |
| 1913 | Ed Walsh |
| 1913 | Sherry Magee |
| 1914 | Ty Cobb |
| 1915 | Eddie Collins |
| 1915 | Pop Lloyd |
| 1916 | Walter Johnson |
| 1916 | Tris Speaker |
| 1916 | Ed Konetchy |
| 1917 | Rube Marquard |
| 1917 | José Méndez |
| 1917 | Ben Taylor |
| 1917 | Joe Jackson |
| 1918 | Frank Baker |
| 1918 | Harry Hooper |
| 1918 | Louis Santop |
| 1918 | Zack Wheat |
| 1919 | Max Carey |
| 1919 | Joe Williams |
| 1920 | Grover Cleveland Alexander |
| 1921 | Ray Schalk |
| 1921 | Rabbit Maranville |
| 1921 | Herb Pennock |
| 1921 | Heinie Groh |
| 1922 | Eppa Rixey |
| 1922 | Cristóbal Torriente |
| 1922 | Edd Roush |
| 1923 | Harry Heilmann |
| 1923 | Red Faber |
| 1923 | Babe Ruth |
| 1924 | Stan Coveleski |
| 1924 | Dave Bancroft |
| 1924 | Sam Rice |
| 1924 | Rogers Hornsby |
| 1924 | Oscar Charleston |
| 1925 | George Kelly |
| 1925 | George Sisler |
| 1925 | Burleigh Grimes |
| 1926 | Ross Youngs |
| 1927 | Judy Johnson |
| 1927 | Waite Hoyt |
| 1928 | Bullet Rogan |
| 1928 | Jesse Haines |
| 1928 | Frankie Frisch |
| 1929 | Dazzy Vance |
| 1929 | Joe Sewell |
| 1929 | Pie Traynor |
| 1929 | Andy Cooper |
| 1929 | Turkey Stearnes |
| 1929 | Biz Mackey |
| 1930 | Goose Goslin |
| 1930 | Kiki Cuyler |
| 1931 | Mule Suttles |
| 1931 | Travis Jackson |
| 1931 | Jim Bottomley |
| 1931 | Cool Papa Bell |
| 1931 | Gabby Hartnett |
| 1931 | Jud Wilson |
| 1932 | Willie Wells |
| 1932 | Hack Wilson |
| 1932 | Bill Terry |
| 1932 | Bill Foster |
| 1932 | Lou Gehrig |
| 1932 | Heinie Manush |
| 1932 | Ted Lyons |
| 1933 | Freddie Lindstrom |
| 1933 | Earle Combs |
| 1933 | Chick Hafey |
| 1933 | Al Simmons |
| 1933 | Charlie Gehringer |
| 1933 | Red Ruffing |
| 1934 | Mickey Cochrane |
| 1934 | Lefty Grove |
| 1934 | Jimmie Foxx |
| 1935 | Martín Dihigo |
| 1935 | Tony Lazzeri |
| 1935 | Paul Waner |
| 1935 | Joe Cronin |
| 1935 | Mel Ott |
| 1936 | Lloyd Waner |
| 1936 | Satchel Paige |
| 1937 | Carl Hubbell |
| 1937 | Bill Dickey |
| 1937 | Chuck Klein |
| 1938 | Rick Ferrell |
| 1938 | Alex Radcliff |
| 1939 | Earl Averill |
| 1939 | Lefty Gomez |
| 1939 | Luke Appling |
| 1939 | Josh Gibson |
| 1939 | Tommy Bridges |
| 1940 | Dizzy Dean |
| 1940 | Billy Herman |
| 1940 | Ray Brown |
| 1940 | Ernie Lombardi |
| 1940 | Bucky Walters |
| 1941 | Hank Greenberg |
| 1941 | Arky Vaughan |
| 1941 | Joe Medwick |
| 1941 | Hilton Smith |
| 1941 | Stan Hack |
| 1942 | Buck Leonard |
| 1942 | Sam Bankhead |
| 1942 | Bob Johnson |
| 1943 | Bill Byrd |
| 1944 | Willard Brown |
| 1945 | Frank McCormick |
| 1946 | Leon Day |
| 1946 | Henry Kimbro |
| 1946 | Neil Robinson |
| 1947 | Bobby Doerr |
| 1947 | Joe Gordon |
| 1947 | Lou Boudreau |
| 1948 | Bob Feller |
| 1948 | Joe DiMaggio |
| 1948 | Johnny Mize |
| 1948 | Monte Irvin |
| 1948 | Hal Newhouser |
| 1948 | Ted Strong |
| 1949 | Ray Dandridge |
| 1950 | Enos Slaughter |
| 1950 | Early Wynn |
| 1951 | Ted Williams |
| 1951 | Stan Musial |
1952 was the year of the first full set of Topps baseball cards. Baseball cards were relatively abundant by 1952, so I likely wouldn’t need to create replica cards from 1952, unless the card is too expensive (e.g. early cards of Mickey Mantle or Jackie Robinson).
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