A Custom Card Featuring Three Degenerates

I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that the 1980s marked a Golden Age of wrestling. 

Case in point? Tell me this list of names doesn't give you some of that "excited little kid about to watch Wrestlemania" energy:

Hulk Hogan

Andre the Giant

Macho Man

Rowdy Roddy Piper

King Kong Bundy

Superfly Snuka

Rick Rude

Jake the Snake

Hacksaw Jim Duggan

The Ultimate Warrior

 

And the list goes on. (Let's not forget about Ric Flair.)

It's not that I'm being critical of the wrestling eras that have followed. Truth be told, after the late-1980s, my wrestling knowledge is pretty much zero. It's just hard to top the cast of characters I grew up with.

 

Regardless, the sport still exists on the grand stage, and it certainly still seems to be theatrical and entertaining. In fact, it's entertaining enough that a client asked me to design a custom card featuring three wrestlers who were members of what he referred to as "D-Generation X".

 

Their names were Shawn Michaels, Triple-H, and Chyna. I'd heard of all three before the custom card request came in, but could I tell you anything significant about any of them? 

 

No. 

 

So for a while, I debated on whether I even wanted to design the card.

 

However, I started thinking that maybe this client was a good decade younger than I was, and that Shawn Michaels, Triple-H, and Chyna were to him what guys like Hogan, Macho Man, and Warrior were to me. So I took on the project, and asked him to provide more information about the trio, as well as what sort of design he was thinking about.

He replied with some good info, including a request to use the 1982 Topps "Future Stars" template. Soon I was getting to work. 

 

Here's the result.

I made the sky in the background a touch darker and more foreboding than usual. Feels fitting for these characters, who were three original members of D-Generation X. (The group formed in the late 1990s.)

 

As for the name, it seems like another wrestling legend, Bret Hart, once described Michaels and Triple H as "degenerates" because of their attitudes and actions. Combine that word with the fact that they were wrestlers of the Generation X era, and the term was coined. D-Generation X.

 

All three members are retired from active wrestling now. (And sadly, Chyna passed away in 2016.) But Michaels and Triple H have maintained their influence on the sport. At the time of this writing, Levesque is the Chief Content Officer and Head of Creative for WWE. Michaels is Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative at NXT, which is a division of WWE.

 

Pretty good for a couple of degenerates.

Now here's a look at the back of the card:

In my research, I discovered that two of the three wrestlers were trained by Killer Kowalski. That seemed like great content to add. I also found the finishing move for all three wrestlers, which I think is a fun addition. Here's a look at "The Pedigree", as performed by Chyna:

Ouch.

 

In any case, that's another custom card in the books. This was definitely a fun project, and I'm glad the client enjoyed the way the card turned out.

Now a question for you:

 

Who's your favorite wrestler, regardless of the era?

 

Thanks for reading, as always!

A Smorgasbord! 1989 Topps Nabisco Don Mattingly

From the 1970s through the 1990s, it seemed like you could find your favorite baseball stars on food product packaging everywhere you looked: supermarkets, corner stores, restaurants, and beyond. This past year, in an effort to capture a little more nostalgia, I set a goal to expand my own collection of these "food-issue" cards. In this series I'll show the specific examples I've acquired, and share a little bit of history about the food or beverage sponsor as well. 

Previous entries can be found here.

 

If you were a popular Major League Baseball player at any point during the 1980s, it's likely that you found your way into at least a few food-issue sets of the time. If you were a perennial all-star or the top player on your team, you were guaranteed to be in almost all of them.

 

But if you wanted a food-issue set all to yourself? 

1989 Nabisco Ritz Don Mattingly, card '88

Well in that case, you really had to be somebody.

 

And the guy you see on the card above was definitely somebody. So in 1989, Nabisco gave him his own 8-card set. (I'm trying not to add a bad pun here about how this set of cards is pretty ritzy. And I failed. I'm sorry.)

From his first full season in 1984 through the 1989 season, when these cards were released, Mr. Mattingly was hard to beat. Six all-star games, five gold gloves, three silver sluggers, and an MVP award. On top of that, he led the A.L. in hits twice, and the entire majors in doubles three times (consecutively). Across those six seasons he averaged 203 hits, 43 doubles, 27 home runs, 114 RBI, and a slash line of .327/.372/.530.

Monster.

I'm sure the guy was enjoying the finer things in life back then, including the occasional Ritz cracker or two.

 

Interestingly, the cards in this set were not available in specially marked boxes of Ritz crackers, nor were they printed on the back of the box. Instead, they were available through a mail-in offer that required collectors to cut out and send two proofs of purchase from Ritz cracker products.

Nabisco would then send you an uncut sheet in the mail that included the 8 different cards, plus one larger-size photo portrait of Mr. Mattingly smiling with baseball bats in hand. I don't have this sheet, but here's what it looks like, courtesy of the internet:

 

 

 

The cards were "numbered" by year—each card representing a season of Donnie Baseball's career to that point. (There was also an '81 card documenting his minor league life, and a '72 card documenting his Little League days.)

The card you see at the top of this post is the '88 version, and that's the one I've added to my collection. Here's the card back.

 

I like the grayish-blue borders and red trim. Solid three-paragraph write-up, too. And there's the classic Ritz logo at bottom right.

 

As for Nabisco (The NAtional BIScuit COmpany), they've been around since 1898. If you're a snacker of any kind, you might thank them for creating products such as Chips Ahoy!, Lorna Doone, Nutter Butters, Oreos, Ritz Crackers, Saltines, Shredded Wheat, Teddy Grahams, Triscuit, and Wheat Thins to name just a few.

 

Interestingly, the company's first foray into baseball was in 1969, when they released a set of cards printed on the back of specially marked boxes of Nabisco Team Flakes cereal. The checklist was 24 players deep, and included big stars of the day like Aaron, Brock, Clemente, Gibson, Kaline, Mays, and Rose.

 

Any of those guys were worthy of receiving their own 8-card set back then, that's for sure. (And Nabisco had enough products to do it!) But only Don Mattingly gets that honor this time.

 

Do you have a favorite Nabisco snack?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

Board Advertisements on Cards, Episode 7: Cadillac

Way back in 1978, the NHL allowed teams to start selling advertising space along the boards of their rinks. By the time I was a hockey card–collecting kid in the late 1980s, the trend had caught on. From snack foods to car manufacturers to banks to fast food restaurants, board advertisements really ran the gamut—and they still do.

This series will explore some of the advertisements that also managed to make their way onto hockey cards. 

 

Previous entries are available here.

 

1990-91 Topps #362 Dave Poulin

There's Dave Poulin, wearing the classic black and gold of the Boston Bruins. The uniform has gone through some changes since the team's inception in 1924, but still, there's no mistaking those colors and that big letter "B" on the crest.

And look right behind him, there on the boards. You'll see another classic and unmistakable crest. In fact, it's been in existence even longer than the Bruins.

It's Cadillac.

The company's first car, the Runabout, was released in 1903 at the New York Auto Show. (Side note: What could an auto show possibly have looked like in 1903?) 

 

Here's an example of the Runabout, in all its glory:

That's the two-seater. It seems like there was also a four-seater available, along with a "some assembly required" convertible top. Snazzy.

As for Cadillac's logo, that came along just a few years later, in 1906. Here's the interesting story about the logo that I discovered while conducting research for this post:

The Cadillac company was named after French explorer and adventurer, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who founded the city of Detroit on July 24, 1701. The company logo, which is much more stylized nowadays, is based on his family crest.

 

I'm not sure I'm a fan of the newest iteration. But ultimately, I suppose logo changes are an indicator of longevity. And Cadillac is certainly an example of that. So kudos to them, not only for remaining in existence for so long and across so many generations, but also for setting a pretty good standard of luxury and quality over that time.

 

And that neatly brings us back to the man depicted on the hockey card up top. Because Mr. Dave Poulin set some pretty good standards of his own during his 13-year career.

Poulin spent his first 7 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, and put up some excellent numbers for a center who had a knack for the defensive side of the game. He was a 30-goal scorer twice, and never scored less than 15. He also played in two all-star games during that time, served as team captain for a long while, and took home a Selke Trophy (best defensive forward). A couple of years later he was traded to Boston, where in 1992-93 he'd finish second in Selke voting and win the King Clancy Award (player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice).

Overall, in 724 games with Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, Poulin totaled 205 goals, 325 assists, 530 points, 482 PIM, 28 game-winning goals, and 39 shorthanded goals. Those 39 shorties place him in a tie for 5th all time in the NHL, with Butch Goring and Jari Kurri. 

 

The only players who have more? Gretzky, Messier, Yzerman, Lemieux.

 

Pretty classy list right there. Which brings us back to the car brand we've been discussing.

I've never owned a Cadillac. Never driven one. Pretty sure I've never even been inside one. But I'd like to take a drive in one of the older models. Maybe from the 1970s. You know, like this.

 

 

 

I wonder how many stationary objects I'd end up hitting if I tried to drive a big, heavy boat of a car like that.

Do any of you readers have a Cadillac experience? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

Another Autographed Custom Card, Doo-Dah! Doo-Dah!

A couple of months ago I shared a cool story here on the blog about actor Burton Gilliam, and how he sent me a few autographed copies of the Blazing Saddles custom card that features his likeness. 

 

 

 

 

What I didn't mention is that there's more to the story.

 

You see, a week or so after I finished my email correspondence with Mr. Gilliam's friend, I received another message. The friend reiterated that Mr. Gilliam enjoyed the card a lot. In fact, he enjoyed it so much that he was hoping I could send over a bunch more copies. Like, 50 or 100 copies. 

 

Why?

 

Mr. Gilliam wanted to bring them to upcoming shows and conventions, to autograph and give out to fans!

 

How cool is that?!

 

I excitedly replied in the affirmative, and said I'd order a big stack of the cards. Happiness all around. And the happy feeling was so great that it inspired me to do a little more design work for Mr. Gilliam.

You see, that Rock Ridge Stars card was just one of the cards from the 6-card set I'd created. Some of the other cards were of the "Highlight" variety, and I figured I could create a similar highlight card featuring Mr. Gilliam's character, Lyle. He was part of a few classic scenes in the film, after all.

One of those scenes involved Lyle breaking out in song, hooting and hollering to that cowboy favorite, "The Camptown Lady". (Note: There's a word at the end of the video that's NSFW.)

 

 

The genuine belly laughs I got (and still get) from that scene were all the motivation I needed. A few days later, I came up with this:

 

 

 

 

 

And here's the card back

 

 

 

 

I sent out sample images, and heard back that Mr. Gilliam loved the card, and hoped I'd send a big stack of them to give out at shows as well.

 

So, I finished up the design, and placed an order for both cards. Within a few weeks, they were in Mr. Gilliam's hands.

And being the kind cowboy he is, it wasn't long before I received some autographed copies in the mail as a thank-you.

 

 

 

But wait, that's not all.

I couldn't possibly accept any kind of monetary compensation for the stacks of cards I sent, so Mr. Gilliam mailed me some autographed 8 x 10s instead!

 

 

 

He even personalized a couple of them to my dad, who got a big kick out of them.

 

And that's still not all! 

 

 

Because just like last time, Mr. Gilliam created a thank-you video for me. This time he even sang a few bars of "The Camptown Lady"! Totally amazing. (I won't share the video here for the sake of privacy, but I'll tell you that he sang the lyrics with a similar amount of gusto as he did in the actual film.)

Totally amazing. And that's the second part of the story. 

 

Another huge thank you to Mr. Gilliam and friend. This has been such a fun experience, and it's so cool to think that good ol' Lyle from Blazing Saddles will be putting his signature on my customs and handing them out at shows.

Thanks for reading, everyone.