I’m not quite sure where 2024 went, but here we are, at the cusp of a brand new year. For me and my family, this year has had many ups, downs, super scary times, and everything in between. 2024 was definitely not boring, that’s for sure!
Many people have continued to send me scraps of paper they have had signed at some point (many certified) because they are like me: eye appeal is everything when it comes to pieces of our collection. I’m grateful to have turned these scraps into what many have called true centerpieces of their collections. I’d like to share with you 50 of my favorites I’ve created from 2024!
I’d love to hear of what some of your favorites are!
This Babe Ruth was actually created at the end of last year, but only recently had I seen that it was slabbed by PSA.
Someone gathered autographs of the Four Horsemen, along with the sportswriter that coined the title for them, and sent to me to create two jumbo pieces. Here they are – they display much better now!
This was a super fun jumbo to put together! Not only does this feature a ticket for the 1974 World Series, but also autographs of Rollie Fingers and Catfish Hunter. I loved designing this one.
Ever since Infinity War, I’ve been a Marvel nut (not so much in the past couple years) but my interest got me into putting together a little collection of comic books! Someone sent me a Stan Lee autograph, so I decided to use the artwork of AF15 (Amazing Fantasy #15) – the first appearance of Spider-Man. I designed it to look like the criminal Spidey is apprehending is a guy who is trying to steal Stan’s autograph 🙂
I am a big fan of MMA, and this is of a fighter many of you young ones may not know about. Dan Hendo Henderson. I was commissioned to create a fun card of him with teeth as relics!
This was probably the largest card I created this year. It is a jumbo five panel booklet consisting of 29 autographs (manager on the front) featuring the world champion 2023 Texas Rangers. Each panel is the equivalent size of a vertical booklet, so to give you an idea of how large this thing is, think of five booklets in the opened configuration, laid out side by side!
Teddy Ballgame! A Ted Williams cut signature from a check was sent to me (it was later slabbed by PSA). I really enjoyed designing this one!
I *LOVE* pre war cards, so when Justin at T206 Cards commissioned me to create this, I wanted to create something extra special. It is a play on the 1911 T3 Turkey Red cabinet cards, and has both his T206 and autograph embedded. The back shows the back of the T206 as well!
A PSA (or JSA? I don’t recall off hand) baseball with several signatures had seen better days, so I was sent several pieces of the ball to embed in cards I created. Here is a Joe DiMaggio. The ball piece itself wasn’t much to look at, but now that it is a card, I think it looks great. Especially with the holofoil inlays.
This is one of the more wild ones – Maz Adams sent me a pair of jeans worn by CC Sabathia to create a booklet. The binding is the zipper, and embedded are the tags, button and zipper head. CC later signed it and loved it!
It’s not everyday you get to see a piece of paper signed by all of the Beatles. I knew I had to make it look special!
Speaking of music royalty, check out this Elvis Presley I created!
Here is a 2Pac!
Another Ted Williams …
I’m super proud of this one. At the top is Branch Rickey, and at the bottom is Jackie Robinson. Note how it goes from black & white to color in honor of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier.
Here’s a cut auto of the M&M boys! Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris signed the same piece of paper.
I’m a 90s insert/parallel fiend, (at least when it comes to Canseco cards, LOL) but I wanted to do a special one of Kobe Bryant that was similar to 1997 Essential Credentials. I love how it turned out!
Here are a couple Texas Rangers booklets I created!
And a Michael Jordan booklet! (The patch is not game-worn.)
Years ago, I did a George Washington. This past year, I had the pleasure of creating one utilizing the signature of Abraham Lincoln!
This Michael Jordan features a certified autograph of his that he signed on a pennant. Look at the shine! 🙂
This Mickey Mantle autograph was captured on a large damaged photo. I think it turned out very nice!
Another MJ! This time a red ink autograph.
Speaking of MJ, this isn’t an autograph, but rather a re-imagining of his iconic ’86-87 Fleer rookie. It is a shadowbox 3d style card with lots of holographic foil.
Dubya on one side, and Senior on the other. This is a dual cut auto of George Bush and George W Bush!
No Sleep Till Brooklyn! I created this three panel jumbo booklet of the Beastie Boys.
Lebron James Fighting Irish cut auto / game-used floor card!
Panini hasn’t made a Kaboom card of Canseco (yet) so I decided to take matters in my own hands. Here it is!
Guns & Roses Axl cut auto!
I had the pleasure of doing a couple Pistol Pete Maravich cards this year. I love how they turned out – here is one of them!
My buddy Mark loves Canseco and Dynasty as well. Part of a trade we did was for me to create him a Dynasty of Canseco (he didn’t have one made in Dynasty of this particular year) – it features a “player-worn” patch (Jose wore the jersey this patch was from when I was at his house.) Mark later had Jose sign!
Andre the Giant cut auto! The back tells of the story of how it was obtained.
I was sent an autograph of Evangelist Billy Graham, and created this card! Fun fact: He is a relative of mine! I just found that out a couple of years ago.
I was commissioned to create a ton of Chevy Chase cards to be signed. They were then used as chase cards for the 35th anniversary boxes they sold on his site. They sold out quickly! Some of the cards included embedded pieces of player-worn or movie-used pieces.
This Dolly Parton custom is something I created recently. I love how it came out!
It was an honor to create this Albert Einstein custom. It was later sent to BGS to be slabbed.
This Lou Gehrig card has a twist to it. The owner found out that the paper was signed by his wife (IIRC, she would sign while he was going downhill). Rather than scrap the signature altogether, I suggested we do a fun card featuring both Lou and his wife.
As a Star Wars NUT, my son Atticus loves when I get Star Wars pieces in. This one was no exception!
I LOVE how this Mays turned out! Not long after I created it, he passed away. It has been a rough year for baseball fans.
Custom Mel Blanc in a custom slab I created!
How about this heavy hitting historical figure? This was later sent to BGS to be slabbed.
How can I go a year without creating a card of Shohei Ohtani? The baseball I used is just a regular baseball. Nothing special, but boy did it turn out purty!
Have I told you how much I love creating Babe Ruth cards? This one is certainly no exception!
Speaking of Ruth, I created this booklet of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth – along with game used pieces harvested from cards of theirs.
Love her or hate her, Taylor Swift is probably the most famous current singer today. Someone cut themselves and bled on a signed cover. He sent me the cover, and I created this beauty with it. Signature saved!
If there is a more polarizing figure today than Donald Trump, I don’t know who it would be. Whenever I post one of his pieces, my number of followers fluctuate (in a bad way) but so does my engagement (in a very good way.) I’ve done several this year, and here is one of them! The PSA label was embedded in the back.
Custom Taylor Swift in a custom slab – this time with a concert-used pick. A pick that was accidentally delivered elsewhere. Thanks to some sleuthing a buddy did, I was able to track down where, drove to the house it was delivered at, and picked it up!
This Mike Tyson probably garnered more attention than any other card I created this year. I was commissioned to create several of this commemorating the fight he had with Jake Paul. It includes a piece of the canvas, and Iron Mike’s signature!
How about a Tom Brady custom featuring sand from where he gave his retirement speech?
A handful of customs I created outfitted in custom slabs. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Keanu Reeves, Dave Grohl, and Robert Downey Jr. I should probably show them more up close, but good heavens, do I love how they came out!
Another Babe Ruth! This time with a signed baseball.
I have intentionally saved Rickey Henderson for last, since we just lost him. Goodness, he was such an incredible player – definitely a hero of mine growing up. I created a *massive* Rickey Henderson three panel 9x jumbo logo patch booklet. Each panel is either 5×7 or 6×8 … yeah, it’s huge.
That wraps up my custom card post for the year! As always, feel free to reach out to me if you want something special created for your collection. I’ve been having a blast doing these, and boy was it fun going through some of the highlights from this year.
Which ones are your favorites?
Oh, and one more thing if I can sneak it in here – with the help of AI, I created a baseball card song. Check it out!
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