A Very Mouschi Contest

[EMAIL CHIME] Hello Tanner, I ran across this Jose Canseco card, and was wondering if you would be interested.... [EMAIL CHIME] Hey, Tanner!  A friend of mine just pulled this Canseco!  You can email him at... [EMAIL CHIME] So, you are the crazy moustache guy that makes customs and loves Canseco, right?  If so, I saw this Canseco get opened in a break.... ---------------- I get messages like these every day.  The only way it could possibly be any better is if more of you did it!  I want to SINCERELY thank everyone who has ever even tried to put

Solution to “Ugly” Printing Plates

Someone posted the question "Why do so many people dislike printing plates so much?" My response was that as this hobby continues to have more and more high end pieces, we collectors see our cards more like art, thus making the aesthetics factor very important to us. Because of this, plates are not at the same level, because they are...well...ugly. I personally love them. I love having a piece that is used to create the entire run of a certain card. I got to thinking though, what if the companies started to instead, chop up printing plates and embed them

The Multi-Player Rookie Card Problem

In July, a 1963 Topps Ken McMullen rookie card sold on eBay for over $150,000. It was a beautiful specimen graded by 9 by PSA. For those of you who don't know who Ken McMullen is, he signed with the LA Dodgers right out of high school and debuted in 1962 as a 20 year old. McMullen wrapped up his career with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1977. His career statline boasted a .248 average with 156 home runs. So why is his rookie card so expensive?  Because he shared it with 3 other guys. Recognize any of the names? Throughout

And the winner is …

It was a hard, close back and forth battle between the Mick & the Pick. Both got some good shots in, and in my opinion, this could have easily gone either way, depending upon which forum this was placed on. FCB is truly a different beast when compared to other forums, which is why I love it here and frequent it so much. Armed with the knowledge of what people like over others, I myself would have probably entered completely different customs myself. It is truly great seeing such amazing talent on display by other custom card creators! As they

Custom Card Tournament!

A few months back, I stumbled upon a thread on FCB (www.FreedomCardboard.com) that talked about how someone was setting up a mega 16 slot custom card tournament.  I LOVED this idea, and immediately wrote forum member MisterT asking if I could join in.  I sent over 4 possibilities for entries, and they ended up setting up a mini bracket to pit my cards against each other. I was particularly interested in this, because I know there are several talented custom card makers out there who have been doing customs for many more years than I have, and I was curious

Customs, Patch Peek-a-boo and How to House Annoying Sized Cards

"They look too much like the last several years." "These seem to be a bit boring." "Maybe it is time for them to retire this line." I've heard a lot of criticism of the 2016 Allen & Ginter line, and I was actually not too terribly excited about them myself. They just seemed to uninspired to me. And then they hit eBay. As a Canseco collector, the pictures the card companies use are important to me, and Topps hit the nail on the head. The 2016 base rendition is my absolute favorite base A&G of any of them. Allen &

Two Years in the Making

It must have been five years ago when I was in my office with my son opening some SP Authentic.  He pulled a beauty of a card. While it wasn't (most likely) this exact card, this is how I remember it.  I thought it was absolutely amazing.  Brilliant even!  They took a game used jersey worn by Griffey to cut up and have him sign a letter ... then put it on a card! Then I found out they just manufactured the letter to be signed.  I thought something was up when they started making sets of these cards that

My ENTIRE Jose Canseco Collection – In Pictures!

This last weekend was not only Father's Day; it was also the weekend of the card show! As always, I set out to hunt for some Canseco cards for my collection. As I got there, I could immediately tell that this was a hopping place. Something was much, much more different though. There must have been something in the air, because the show-goers seemed to dress a bit odd. The selection seemed a bit slim... But TONS of people flocked to the quarter bins... Hey, at least there were some decent signers... I knew something was off when I asked this

A Custom of a Different Kind

Know what I love?  Making customs of cards that don't exist or were never made.  It adds a certain layer of depth to my collection.  I suspect many of you who have customs in your collections feel the same way.  A '69 Topps Garvey, '66 Topps Ryan, 81 Fleer Ripken, etc. In the past few weeks, I have focused on creating a few cards that never existed and modifying others. I found this autographed 2011 Goodwin Champions on an advertisement sales sheet for the set.  It didn't look familiar, so I checked my collection.  Not there.  I also checked Becket. 

Does the internet burn down if this card is made?

We know that the card companies keep a keen eye on the forums and hobby trends.  I wondered to myself what if this card was made? Each side features one superstar of today, one superstar of yesterday, one legend and one high roller. Griffey Trout Harper Vizquel Galarraga Jeter Babe Ruth & Ty Cobb.  For those of you who don't know, Vizquel and Galarraga may just be the two that carry this card to the promised land (if it were real, that is.) I'd TOTALLY grab some popcorn and watch that at auction. ******IMPORTANT TO NOTE******* It has come to