How far is too far when it comes to relics in baseball cards?  I’ve seen and done pretty much everything under the sun over the past few years of creating custom cards, but the following message I’m about to share with you just about blew everything else out of the water …

“Hey Tanner, Jose just allowed me to buy his teeth that he had pulled.  What do you think about making some cards with them?” 

Welp, I didn’t have that on my bingo card for the year!  

The proposition was for me to take three of Jose’s teeth, and create cards out of them for Edward (my friend who bought the teeth), our friend Mark, and myself.  I was overcome with the thought of how wacky, unhinged (in a good way) and incredibly unique this opportunity was.  

It probably didn’t come off as insane to me as it does to you, my dear reader, as I have already created cards with teeth, hair, and nails for others.  Sure, the teeth cards I had done in the past were fake gag teeth, and the nails were from my customer’s pets, but it wasn’t much of a leap for me.  Plus, something fun – exactly 11 years ago TODAY, I created a fake card company called “Four One” for April Fools Day.  The high-end set was to feature all kinds of weird things … band-aids, casts, contracts, steroids, etc.  Over the years, I’ve updated some once or twice.  Here is a tooth one I created of Aaron Judge.  How crazy is it that this has come full circle?  

This project oozed with the potential of going viral, and we even got a taste of it early when Edward posted the now famous “bag of teeth”.  

If I were to take the thousands of responses Edward received and melt them all down into a single meme, it would be this …

To say there was a visceral reaction by the masses would be a vast understatement.  With the click of a button, Edward singlehandedly triggered the entire hobby.  The photo of the bag of teeth was NOT pretty, I get it.  Heck, even saying “the photo of the bag of teeth…” just seems wrong, but I’ll admit, I joined Edward on the couch with a bag of popcorn (metaphorically speaking) to watch how bad the comments got.  Some people made videos of it, and even tagged the FBI page.  Heck, some even ridiculed me and Mark for merely being mentioned in the post!  That’s one way to go viral, and it definitely adds a new dimension to this story. 

I have had a number of people reach out asking if this was a real thing – if my friend actually bought Jose’s teeth.  When I confirmed it was true, the discussion went like this with pretty much everyone: 

Them: Eww gross! 
Me: If you could get a tooth of your favorite player, would you? 
Them: Well…yes, lol.

If you collected Frank Thomas hardcore, would you turn down owning one of his teeth?  Or would you think it is creepy and gross? What if the tooth was embedded in a card?  Maybe that is a bit more palatable for folks.  I know it is for me.  The truth of the matter is, you can hold both beliefs at once.  

Years ago, Andrew McCutchen auctioned off his dreadlocks, and a customer sent it to me to create a card.  He then had Cutch sign it – he thought it was a great!

Even then, my customer and I both got hated on for the creation of this card, though to a much lesser degree.  Still, it gave me a taste of what may come with this reveal.  

Prior to incorporation into the cards, I took the teeth to be examined and X-rayed by a friend of mine, Dr. Kevin Nail, DDS. Examination confirmed the original teeth and roots beneath the crowns, and each tooth was identified by position.  Kevin is such a nice guy, as are his staff, and his facility looks great.  Thank you so much, Kevin!   (The least I could do is give him my book!) 

After this, it was time to start really digging into the artwork.  My brain went a thousand ways…

Tooth Fairy Card? nah…

Die-cut the card like a tooth … no …

Gum NOT included in this card…something about gum…gums…teeth…

The Tooth Hurts … Tooth or dare…

As you can see, I get super punny when my brain starts going.  

From the outset, I understood this project would be unlike any other. A genuine body part (ack…that sounds horrific) I mean … biological relic from a former American League MVP is, even on its own, one of the most unusual and compelling conversation pieces a collector could own – perhaps surpassing significant game-used memorabilia and even the most highly sought after cards in terms of sheer uniqueness.

I can tell someone I own a bat knob card, a barrel card, a Superfractor, a game-used jersey, even a home run bat – and those are all remarkable items. But the moment I tell someone I own his tooth, the conversation all of a sudden gets super interesting.

With a relic of this significance, the responsibility was clear: the presentation had to match the importance of the artifact itself. This card was designed not simply to house the relic, but to present it in a way that reflects its truly one-of-a-kind nature.

It is a tall order to take something perceived as creepy/stalkerish, and turn it into something classy, while mixing in the right amount of humor.  Here is what I came up with – I’ll first show Edward’s copy with Jose’s Upper Left Molar wrapped in a custom designed and produced card.  

Even the back took hours – I love that it says it includes a piece of Jose, similar to how other cards would say they include a piece of Jose’s bat, jersey, etc.  Finally, the warning at the bottom cites actual cloning laws on the books for Texas, California, and Florida – where myself, Edward, and Mark reside.  

Oh yeah, and Edward’s card is the thickest of them all…

 

Here is mine: an upper central incisor (one of his top two front teeth)…

Here is the entire set together from left to right:

Edward – Upper Left Molar (3/3)
Tanner – Upper Central Incisor (1/3)
Mark – Lower Lateral Incisor  (2/3)

If you tilt it and look inside the relic cavities (no pun intended) you can see the roots, but I’ll spare you those pics 🙂   

So needless to say, this has shot up to my most interesting conversation piece in my collection – one that I might refrain telling others about unless I have ample time to explain how I came into possession of it … otherwise people might be calling the authorities on me.  

In an effort to integrate the newly created card into my collection, I decided to show it next to a couple of fun official relic cards in my collection.  In spite of its content, I think it fits in quite nicely!

So, after months of researching, planning, testing, designing, and producing, the tooth chapter finally comes to an end.  And yes, I know it is April Fool’s Day, but I assure you this is NOT a joke.  It is real, and is published live today because it is the anniversary of the aforementioned “Four One” gag release I published eleven years ago today.  I never would have thought creating a joke card release would come full circle and into fruition more than a decade later.  What a fantastic bookend!  

A HUGE thank you to Edward Jones for being crazy enough to have the guts to ask Jose for his teeth.  

At the end of the day, we all want something unique in our collection … something that has a compelling story attached to it.  Whether it is a tooth card that whips the internet up into a frenzy, a Superfractor, or even the very first card you pulled with your dad – whatever brings you joy is what you should collect – free from worry of what others may think – and that is what collecting is all about. After all, we should collect for ourselves, not for others.  Even if one of those items would be more fitting in Ripley’s Believe it or Not.