When a Grail Card of Your Favorite Player Doesn’t Exist

There are grail cards in the hobby that I'm halfway happy Canseco wasn't in for fear of how much it would cost, and halfway wish that he was because they are so beautiful. The 97 Finest Gold Refractor is a prime example of this. I finally decided to create one of my own. Here it is, complete with deckle edge, and atomic refractive properties!

Canseco’s 1988 World Series Grand Slam Cards

10-15-88: Kirk Gibson did something big. I don't quite recall, but that's not important. Blah. Earlier in that game, the legend of Jose Canseco grew when he hit his first ever grand slam on the biggest stage in the world of baseball: Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. The Home Run wasn't run of the mill, either. It was a 400ft line drive missile to straight away center field, and actually dented the NBC camera it hit! (Here's a video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxLrDqpwYn8 ) In 2003, Topps commemorated this missile grand slam by creating a Canseco card for it.

I Created Four Custom Jumbo Patches for my Collection

Recently, I was shown an amazing collection of jumbo patch cards of various players.  I *LOVE* jumbo patch cards - the problem is that my favorite player doesn't have too terribly many of them, and far fewer logo jumbo patch cards.  I thought I'd "go back to my roots" and create some cards of my main dude inspired by designs of sets I wished he was in - as you can see, I amped them up quite a bit too :)  It has been a while - here they are! Obviously, these aren't game used patches, but they still mean

I Created a Custom Fingerprint Jose Canseco Baseball Card

I've been wanting to do this for YEARS! Several months ago, a buddy of mine picked up a couple baseballs from Carlos, one of Jose's closest friends (a friend of mine as well). Much to my excitement, they had a a fingerprint on them in green ink of the 40-40 man. I've had the baseballs for several months now, and finally got around to creating it. Here is what it looks like along with the ball I haven't done anything yet with!

Showing off Customs & Cards While our AC is Busted

Greetings from mission control - where the lights are off, and game 2 of the ALCS is blaring so I can hear it above the 2 fans pointed at me.  The ALDS nearly killed me.  When you spend the first 12 years of your life as an A's fan in California, but have 28 years of Houston life under your belt, it is confusing who to root for.  This totally describes me last week. I was sad the A's lost, but it was a REALLY entertaining series.  The sheer amount of bombs hit makes me wonder if the playoff balls

Custom Baseball Cards for Weddings, Anniversary Gifts, Births, etc.

Creating customs of monumental personal life events is my favorite.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE creating Canseco customs for my personal collection and such, but there is something about creating anniversary gifts, baby births, etc.  I wanted to share a few here!  If you are interested in having one done for you, contact me at tanmanbaseballfan@gmail.com :) Wedding Anniversary Gift This was actually done as part of a trade to get some Canseco cards in my collection :)  My buddy sent over a few photographs and some relics from his wedding.  I created this! There are six pieces shown,

BIGGEST Mailday/Week Ever! Pre-War Collection Reboot

If you are reading this anywhere near the time I have published this article, you may have a number of fears and concerns.  The Coronavirus has certainly changed the world we live in - at least temporarily.  As a baseball fan, one concern that afflicts you but maybe not anyone else around you is the delay of the season. As baseball fans, we endure the long, hard road from November until Spring Training.  When it gets here, it is like a breath of fresh air.  This is not something that has been afforded to us yet, so we wait with

Creating Custom Rainbow Albert Pujols Extensions

Today marks the 31st anniversary of when I started collecting baseball cards, so I decided to have some fun! Things have gotten a little crazy these days with rainbows, but I can completely understand the allure of them.  As collectors, we oftentimes want to collect until completion.  Whether that is an insert set, full set, team set or even whatever theme we want to go after.  Having a goal to complete something - and completing it - feels good.  It gives our hobby some sense of purpose. Here is a rainbow I'm working on currently - I still need the

Christmas, Customs & Nostalgia

Man, what a year!  Seriously.  2019 has been quite the ride from a hobby perspective.  This year, I have made appearances on various radio stations, was featured on television, published in Beckett Sports Monthly, designed my first official "real" baseball card set, and even became a pod caster! Book sales have been going well in my first year as an official author.  While I sell my book on Amazon, I've also had a number of folks reach out to purchase a signed a copy directly from me.  I thought it would be fun to do a graphic of the US

Check Out this Website I Built!

If you don't know this already, I've been a website developer for nearly 20 years.  I started off by going door to door handing out flyers on my lunch break when I was in a job I HATED.  Eventually, I made a go of it on my own, and haven't looked back. Somewhere along the way, I got excruciatingly bored with building websites.  Then, it clicked.  My passion wasn't to build websites (though I was really good at it.)  My passion was to help others (in both business and ministry) - I could use my skills as a web developer