Ed, Revisited

A few months ago I posted the following custom card featuring a character named "Ed" from Nickelodeon's All That (and later, the Good Burger film). Next to it is the original card that inspired the custom.

You can see that Ed (played by actor Kel Mitchell) bears a strong resemblance to Charley Neal on that original 1959 Topps card. 

Well, at the bottom of that post, Matt from Sport Card Collectors (and the newer Cards Over Coffee blog) left a comment in which he stated how much he enjoyed the Good Burger skits and the custom card. He also made a suggestion: If the card featured an image of Ed, why not also use his name on the top of the card instead of Kel Mitchell's? 

My original logic was that because the character doesn't have a last name, listing the first name "Ed" at the top of the card would look a bit strange by itself, especially as both letters would be lowercase. However, I gave it some more thought, and figured it'd be fun to whip up another custom card.

 

There's Ed, happy to be representing Good Burger in his official uniform and playing the position of cashier.

 

Notice that I had to remove Kel Mitchell's signature and replace it with Ed's. This gave me some artistic license, as Ed is a fictional character and I don't think his signature is ever shown in the skits or the film. But if you're familiar with Ed's eccentricities, I hope you'll agree that his signature might very well look like the one you see on the card.

 

And there you have it. My first custom card "variation". 

 

SPEAKING OF CUSTOM CARDS

To this point I haven't printed out/mailed out any of my custom cards to anyone. However, lately I've been looking into various printing techniques and services, and I'm going to finally try something with this card. 

For now, it'll probably just involve some thick cardstock that will fit in my inkjet printer, followed by a pair of scissors. I'm only going to send one copy into the wild, and it'll go to Matt. (I think he deserves a copy for providing the inspiration with his comment). I'll label it as a promo on the back.

If I do print out more of these one day, maybe I'll make it a short print. That would be properly annoying for a variation, right? 

 

Jokes aside, thanks for reading, everyone. And stay tuned for updates on custom card printing.

Dude (Looks Like a Custom Card)

Today's entry has some Hall of Fame connections.

The man on the original card is the son of a baseball Hall-of-Famer.

The man on the custom card is a well-known rock & roll Hall-of-Famer.

Here's the original:

1959 Topps #384, Dave Sisler

Now add some long brown hair and distinct American rock vocals. Any idea who the look-alike is?

Here are some hints:

If he were an umpire, after calling ball four he might point to first base and tell the batter to Walk this Way.

If he were a pitcher who threw a no-hitter, he might say the victory filled him with Sweet Emotion.

Instead of baseball cards in the attic, he might say he's got Toys in the Attic.

Enough hints? Okay, here's the custom:

The eyeglasses are not Steven Tyler originals. I borrowed a pair from Dave Sisler to complete the look.

Details for the rest of the card: I listed Mr. Tyler's position as "vocals-harmonica" with a hyphen, which helps give a wink back to some of the original 1959 cards that listed multiple fielding positions. The team name switched from Red Sox to Aerosmith, of course, and I swapped out the Red Sox mascot for an Aerosmith logo, color and outline to match. I also found an example of Mr. Tyler's autograph online and added it in place of Mr. Sisler's.

Speaking of Mr. Sisler, he had a pretty good pitching career across seven years and four teams. (Pretty bright guy too, going to Princeton on an academic scholarship while playing on the baseball and basketball teams.)

Career numbers as a starter and reliever?

38-44, 4.33 ERA, 12 CG, 1 SHO, 28 SV, 355 SO

And his Hall-of-Fame father? None other than George Sisler.

As for Steven Tyler and Aerosmith, what can I say? I was a big fan back in my pre-teen and teenage days. In fact, Permanent Vacation was the first album audio cassette I ever owned.

Overall, I prefer the raw, hungry, 1970s version of Aerosmith above all other vintages. (Although the album Pump, released toward the tail end of 1989, was a really good one too.)

But even with all that said, I couldn't leave this custom card on its own.

Why?

Because you can't mention Steven Tyler without mentioning the other front man in the band, guitarist Joe Perry.

And because the multi-player cards in the 1959 set provide a perfect template, it was only natural to create this card:

When you consider the alliteration that's present in some of those 1959 multi-player cards, such as Cubs' Clubbers, Keystone Combo, and Batter Bafflers, you'll see that "Toxic Twins" works just perfectly.

And similar to the Kel Mitchell-Kenan Thompson combination card I did a few months ago, I think I like this Toxic Twins custom even a little better than the Steven Tyler custom up top.

So that's that. Another fun project completed. And now I'm going to wrap it up with one of my favorite Aerosmith tunes, fittingly titled Combination:

Any Aerosmith fans out there? Favorite song? Favorite album? Share in the comment section.

Thanks for reading, as always.

Neal and Nickelodeon

Today's custom card was inspired by a pro who played multiple positions for the same team, and features a young actor who played multiple characters on the same show.

First, here's the original card:

1959 Topps #427, Charlie Neal

And here are some hints for the look-alike:

He was a cast member of a well-loved sketch comedy series on Nickelodeon back in the 1990s.

The characters he portrayed were usually a little wacky in one way or another.

He and another character from that show would spin off a show of their own. Plus a movie.

And this next hint is going to give it away for some of you, but...

WELCOME TO GOOD BURGER, HOME OF THE GOOD BURGER, CAN I TAKE YOUR ORDER?

Okay, here's the custom:

I deliberated for a while on how to style the text on this custom. Should I go with the actor's full name on the top, Kel Mitchell, or his character's name from Good Burger, "Ed"? And if I went with Ed, would adding Mitchell's facsimile signature be inaccurate? Would it be better to leave it without a signature? (On that note, I wonder what Ed's signature would look like.)

Well, I tried placing the name "ed" at the top of the card, but it was just a little too odd-looking all by itself. And I figured adding the facsimile signature would be a respectful nod to the original card. So I went with Kel Mitchell as the player name and signature, with the team name as "Good Burger" and the position name to match the character he's portraying in the photo: "Ed the cashier".

Now let's talk about the ballplayer who inspired the custom card.

In eight total MLB seasons Charlie Neal collected 858 hits, including 113 doubles, 38 triples, and 87 home runs. He tallied 391 RBI and posted a .259 lifetime batting average. 

His best season came in 1959, when he put up a .287 batting average on 177 hits, including 11 triples, tying for most in the majors with Dodger teammate Wally Moon. He also led the majors in sacrifice bunts with a whopping 21. Best of all, though, he earned a World Series ring. And he really did earn it, going 10-for-27 (.370 avg) with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, and 6 RBI in 6 games played.

And what a season, as he'd also be named an All-Star and take home the Gold Glove Award for N.L. second basemen.

Interesting note from later in his career: After the 1961 season he was traded to the New York Mets, and he'd appear in the starting lineup for their first-ever game. He went 3-for-4, driving home the first run in team history.

And what about Kel Mitchell?

That sketch comedy show mentioned at the top was, of course, All That. It featured Kel Mitchell, Kenan Thompson, and a bunch of other wacky kids who'd go on to have successful acting careers. Then came Kenan & Kel and the Good Burger movie. On top of that, Kel's had a long, successful, and varied acting career, even playing the voice of a canine character named T-Bone on the animated show Clifford the Big Red Dog.

As for Kenan Thompson, you might know him best from Saturday Night Live, but he's had an equally varied and busy acting career. And to tie it back to sports, in the second and third Mighty Ducks films, a young Kenan played the character Russ Tyler (you'll know him best as the creator of the "knuckle puck").

Since Kenan also played a big role in Good Burger along with Kel, and because the two are still good friends to this day, I thought about doing a custom Good Burger card for Kenan as well. But I think I might wait to see if I can find a ballplayer look-alike for him. 

Besides, I thought of something even better. 

The 1959 Topps set contains some of the greatest multi-player cards ever made. "Hitting Kings" Ashburn and Mays, "Fence Busters" Aaron and Mathews, "Keystone Combo" Fox and Aparicio. And since Kel Mitchell's custom card is already based on the 1959 set, what better opportunity to get the two dudes on a card together?

Here's the second custom:

I used the Fox-Aparico "Keystone Combo" card as a base, and found a similar font for the text. I really like the way this one turned out—maybe even more than the Ed custom above.

Finally, here's a compilation of skits from All That. The "Okrah" bit that starts at the 1:38 mark shows Keenan and Kel at their goofy best.

Any fans of All That out there? Do you have a favorite character or skit? Share in the comment section. And thanks for reading, as always.