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Remember when Canseco shot himself in the finger? I created some customs using the bullets!

“You know, it's funny,” Canseco said. “I didn't realize I had shot my own finger off. ... Canseco then attempted to minimize the blood loss by lifting the hand over his head and squeezing on his wrist. He went to find his fiancée and told her, “Listen, I'm sorry, but I just shot my finger off.” In 2014, news broke that Jose Canseco accidentally shot himself in the finger.  This all happened in the middle of my negotiations with his manager to do a private signing with him.  Jose played on a team in an independent league, and as a promotional item,

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Best Pickups of 2021

2021 has been wild for our hobby. If you are like me, you've experienced some huuuge highs and lows. Since I consider myself a collector of two types of cards (pre-war vintage and Canseco cards) I thought I'd share my favorite pickups of 2021, and want to hear what yours are! For vintage, the clear winner for me is this: 1887 Gypsy Queen Large Mike King Kelly. It is even more appropriate since today is his birthday (Happy 164th bday, 'Kel!) - It isn't just the fact that this is the highest graded example of one of the rarest cards

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When Wade Boggs Gets Involved, Things Get Exciting!

A while back, I was doing some spring cleaning, and ran across these gems - they are believed to be my first ever custom cards!  How'd I do?  Apparently 12 year old Tanner left 41 year old Tanner an Easter egg that I didn't notice until now.  Check the copyright on the Sosa LOL As the years progressed, I got a bit better, and found myself creating cards like crazy for my own collection.  Eventually, people started commissioning me to do special pieces for their collections, and as gifts for others.  I wanted to share a few here that I've

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My BIGGEST Custom Baseball Card So Far!

I'm super amped about this one - very happy with how it turned out!  It is 6x9 and features multiple jumbo patches of softball superstar Kayla Kindler!  Her dad commissioned me to create this.  Here are some pics, with a video at the bottom!  If you want something cool created for yourself or a loved one, hit me up!      

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Meeting an Online Friend in Person for the First Time

Baseball wasn't all that interesting to me in the mid to late 90s.  Sure, I'd check in on the 1998 home run race between McGwire and Sosa, and while I was at it, I'd keep tabs on Canseco, but that was it for the most part.  By the way, I'd check these things through the newspaper.  The internet was just beginning to pick up steam.  Around this time, I thought it was a super intriguing idea to create my own website, though I wasn't sure why.  To have a place in cyberspace where people could visit and get to know

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MTV Cribs Style Show Off of My Office!

Over the past couple of years, I found that I enjoy displaying pieces of my collection in my office nearly as much as the pieces themselves!  For the first time, I thought I'd show you my office in 360.  This was inspired by the 11/07/21 podcast episode I just did last night at www.tanmanbaseballfan.com/podcast  If you love baseball cards, transformers, comics, and voltron, I think you'll click with me ... otherwise, you will probably think I'm weird :)   This wall shows my game used / autographed bat of Canseco who hit home run #12 in 1997 with it.  On top

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O Bash Brother, Where Art Thou?

Have you ever been in this situation before?  You go on a collecting "purge" to move things you aren't in love with, only to find out you wished you never sold one or two of the pieces in the first place. That's what happened to me when I gave up what I now consider to be the ULTIMATE Bash Brothers baseball card. A little background ... As you probably know, Canseco & McGwire made waves during the 80s and early 90s as the premiere slugging teammates.  Depending upon what your favorite team was, they were either superheroes or supervillains, and

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An 1874 Woodcut of America’s longest continuously running sports franchise!

When you watch the game tonight and see the 150 patch on the Braves jerseys, this is why!     Pictured here is an original 1874 woodcut of America's longest continually operating sports franchise, ever. Shown are the champions from Boston, the Boston Red Stockings - who, after a number of name changes and moves, finally became known as the Atlanta Braves.     This original woodcut is from June 27th, 1874 - 3 years after the team was formed - nearly a century and a half ago! It features big names of baseball pioneers such as Harry Wright -

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Bird is the Word

Here is a custom I created of Mark The Bird Fidrych! The left shows the real card I made, the middle is the back, and the right is a photoshopped big bird patch I put in for fun :)      The story of Fidrych is a fascinating one. He was a national sensation, who was as attractively eccentric to crowds as he was skilled as a pitcher.   In 1976, when The Bird wasn't pitching, Detroit would have about 14k on hand. When he was pitching, the game attendance would swell on average to nearly 34k.   Fans would

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The Legend of Jim Creighton – 159 Years Ago TODAY

159 years ago TODAY, Jim Creighton, whom many consider baseball's first superstar reportedly had something strange happen to him. As the story goes, he hit a home run, and internally ruptured something, passing away four days later. The events of this fateful day will be argued until the end of time, but nevertheless, it is a great legend.   Creighton is credited as "weaponizing the ball" as a pitcher, that is, he developed a delivery that made it difficult for batters to hit, in a time when pitchers were supposed to pitch so balls could be hit. Creighton drew crowds

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