Cards That Never Were #8

1974 Topps Traded - Rick Stelmaszek

Here's a personal request from Johngy. He always brings me the most interesting ideas for these cards.

Rick was a catcher who last appeared in the majors with the Cubs. He started out in the Washington system as an eleventh round pick in the 1967 amateur draft. He made his debut for the Senators in 1971. Rick moved with the Washington system to Texas.

After spending 1972 in the minors, Rick was called up to catch for the Rangers in 1973. He was traded to the Angels in May 1973 and finished the season out with them as a back up.

1974 was spent with the Angels AAA club. Near the trading deadline, the Angels dealt Rick to the Cubs. He played 25 games with the Cubs in 1974, with a good amount of those being one game of a double header.

1975 was spent in the Cubs minor league system. In January 1976, Rick was dealt to the Yankees. He bounced around the minor leagues until 1978, when he became the manager of the Twins A club.

I had my choice of card mock ups. Johngy requested to see Rick in a 1974 Topps Traded, a 1975 Topps or a 1976 Topps card. The choice was left up to me. I chose the 1974 Topps Traded because Rick Stelmaszek had a 1975 Topps card with the Cubs. It was badly airbrushed, but it exists. I didn't choose the 1976 Topps, since Rick last played in the majors in 1974. Therefore, in my opinion, the 1974 Topps Traded was the way to go.

When I say that Johngy presents real challenges, I mean it. The photograph was dominated by Rick's signature and personal inscription. The big yellow TRADED sign is over the part of the photograph with the signature, but the personal inscription was right above Rick's head with part of it looping down.

I think the final product turned out alright. Ordinarily, the 1974 Topps Traded set is famous for it's tight head shots of players. I wanted to zoom out a bit. If all that work was for nothing but a head shot, I would have completely wasted the effort. I set up the photograph as if it were framed by the border and not the yellow overlay.