This Custom Card Features a Savage Ballplayer

  

What if I told you that back in the early 1970s, there was a young minor league baseball prospect in the Cardinals' system who was so determined to make it to the big leagues that he learned to play different fielding positions?

 

It wouldn't surprise you much, right?

 

Well, what if I added that one day, a minor league teammate saw him warming up by throwing left-handed, instead of using his natural right hand? And how his left-handed throws looked pretty darn good? And that when this teammate asked why he was warming up lefty, the young prospect said that if their coach ever wanted him to pitch, he wasn't going to pitch right-handed because he didn't want to risk blowing out his throwing arm. (Simple as that, right?)

 

And what if I added that later, this young prospect injured his right shoulder in a collision at home plate, but was still so determined to make it to the big leagues that he switched positions from catcher to outfielder, using that trained left arm to make the necessary throws back to the infield?

 

And what if I added that a few years later, the young prospect's coaching staff didn't think he would pan out as a big leaguer, and cut him from the team? And that despite the setback, this young prospect was still determined to be a star in some sport, somewhere, so he turned to the sport in which his father excelled? 

 

And would you believe it if I told you that this young prospect, named Randy Mario Poffo, eventually turned into this guy?

 

 

 

Well, believe it or not, it's true. As Randy Poffo's professional baseball career was winding down, he began training with his father—who was a successful wrestler himself—to become the best professional wrestler in the world. Such was Randy's determination.

 

And did he ever accomplish his goal. Two-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion. WWF Intercontinental Champion. 1987 WWF King of the Ring. Pro Wrestler of the Year in 1986, 1987, and 1988.

 

The story was inspiring enough for me to create a custom card.

 

 

 

 

Over the years I'd seen a few Randy Poffo customs, but none that captured baseball and wrestling on the same card. So that's where I wanted to go. I thought a design from the Then & Now series would fit nicely, and settled on the one you see above. There's young Randy on the left, in his catcher's gear. Then you've got "Macho Man" Randy Savage on the right, sporting his championship belt.

And you know I had to create a custom card back for this two-sport star. Here it is, with stats and everything. I'm going to enlarge it so you can look through the numbers more easily.

 

 

The baseball stats reveal that Poffo was a pretty decent ballplayer. Solid batting average, some power, and what seemed to be a good eye at the plate.

 

As for the wrestling stats, wow, that's a lot of matches over a long period of time. Macho Man was pretty athletic in the ring, and I can't even imagine the wear and tear he put on that body over all those years. But it sure was fun being a kid in the 1980s, watching him do his thing. 

 

You can find plenty of entertaining Macho Man highlights online—both in the ring and during those classic pre-match interviews. And I encourage you to do so. But for this post, I wanted to include something different. Here's a three-minute interview where Mr. Poffo discusses his baseball career and his transition to wrestling.

 

 

 

Nothing was going to stop that guy. We should all be so determined.

 

And that's another custom card in the books. I really had fun working on this one, and I hope you guys are enjoying it, too.

 

Thanks for reading along!  

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!

Wrestling with a Custom Card

Have a look at smiling Ralph Klassen here:

1976-77 O-Pee-Chee #282, Ralph Klassen

When I first saw that face, it reminded me of a big name from the 1980s sports and entertainment world. Any idea who? 

Here are some hints on the look-alike:

Instead of shouldering opponents into the boards, he flung them into the ropes.

He performed body slams, not body checks.

When I say he was a big name from the 1980s, I mean that figuratively and literally. The guy was huge. You might even refer to him as a giant.

Okay, that last hint probably gave it away, so here's the custom card:

Now that I see both cards together, I'm really not sure there's much of a resemblance. But a few weeks ago, when I first saw Ralph Klassen up there, it did remind me of Andre. So I'm going with it.

At first I couldn't figure out what position to list for the big guy. Probably defense, right? Or even a goalie? But then I thought, "Duh, he's a Giant!" Problem solved.

Before we get to Mr. Roussimoff, though, let's talk about the man on the original card. Here are some career NHL numbers for Ralph Klassen:

497 GP, 52 G, 93 A, 145 PTS, 120 PIM, 7 GWG

Doesn't seem like much to write home about, especially because Klassen was a talented player who put up some good numbers in juniors—so good, in fact, that he was selected 3rd overall in the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft. 

But there's something important to keep in mind here: He played for some awful NHL teams. Have a look at these win-loss records.

1975-76 California Golden Seals (27-42-11)
1976-77 Cleveland Barons (25-42-13)
1978-79 Colorado Rockies (15-53-12) 

Oof. Three straight seasons of cities that were barely hanging onto their franchises. That's got to take a toll on a player. And it didn't end there. After the 1978-79 season was over, look at this two-day transaction roller coaster that Mr. Klassen experienced:

June 13, 1979: Claimed by Hartford from Colorado in the expansion draft. (i.e., goes from an NHL cellar dweller to a WHA transfer team. Not fun.)

June 14, 1979: Traded to the Islanders by Hartford. (Wait! Glory is ahead!)

June 14, 1979: Traded to St. Louis by the Islanders as part of a three-team transaction. (Back to the cellar. The previous season, St. Louis went 18-50-12.) 

Klassen would stick around in St. Louis for a few seasons though, and the team did put up some decent win-loss records in that time, including a first-place Smythe Division finish in 1980-81. For Klassen, that must have felt great.

His best individual season was 1976-77, when he put up 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points—placing him in the top 10 for team scoring. Not too bad, all things considered.  

As for Andre Roussimoff (a.k.a. Andre the Giant), it's likely you know a bit more about him.

If you were an '80s kid, the guy probably amazed you. Not only was he part of the cast of characters in the World Wrestling Federation, but he also played the loveable role of Fezzik in the 1987 film The Princess Bride. 

And can you picture Andre on skates? Playing hockey? If you've been a hockey fan at any point over the past 20 years, just picture big, tall defenseman Zdeno Chara, but then add even a few more inches and about 200 extra pounds. There you have it.

I mean, imagine you're a forward carrying the puck. If a guy like Andre is actually mobile on skates and has quick reflexes on defense, you don't have many options. Can't go around him. Certainly can't muscle yourself through him. Just avoid his half of the ice, I guess. Or maybe hope you're traded to his team.

In any case, it'd be a sight.


BONUS CUSTOM CARD: 

In the original 1976-77 set, card #264 depicts the Montreal Canadiens celebrating their Stanley Cup championship in a design inspired by the sports pages, complete with black and white image and newspaper-style caption running across the bottom.

I thought Andre's wrestling championship victory in 1988 would make for a good parallel, so I revised the text and swapped out the NHL logo for that classic WWF design. Here's the card:

I had even more fun than usual designing these two cards. And I still chuckle when I look at Andre as a Cleveland Baron up there and picture him skating around, opponents bouncing off his bulk in various directions.

Hope this gave you a chuckle, too. Thanks for reading, as always.

Hulkamania

This is the first wrestling card I've ever owned:

1987 O-Pee-Chee WWF #26, Hulk Hogan

It came as part of a recent trade with a collector from Canada, hence the O-Pee-Chee version.

As a child of the '80s, I did get caught up in the wrestling thing for a year or two—right around the time this card was printed. How could you not, with characters like Hulk Hogan, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant, for goodness sake.

It was a weird, wacky combination of drama, intrigue, flamboyance, aggression, brute strength, and body slams. But it worked.

And because this particular card is the O-Pee-Chee version, I've got to show the back.

L'EXPLOSION DU HULKSTER!

That works, too.

I can't imagine my wrestling card collection getting much larger, but I'm happy to have the Hulkster on my side of the ring.