Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Cards That Never Were #5

1973 Topps - Mick Kelleher

This is a special request from Johngy of Johngy's Beat. He asked if I could make a card of Mick on the Cardinals, from his early playing days.

Mick's first Topps card was with the Cubs in 1977. He also has a card in the 1976 SSPC set, showing that the competition against Topps was a good thing. The only problem was that Mick made his debut in 1972, with the Cardinals.

He also played with them in 1973 and 1975. He played enough in 1973, that it could be argued that he would have been eligible for a card in the 1974 set. So, I decided to make the card a 1973 Topps card. It would realistically be the first card that Mick could have had.

The main problem with this project was not the lack of a photo. Johngy provided a great looking photo for the project. The problem was that Mick had signed the photo in bright blue ink boldly across the middle of the picture. Topps did not have fake signatures on their cards for the years that I could have used, so the signature, while beautiful, had to go.

John, I hope that this meets your expectations. It was fun to do. Thanks for the challenge!

3 comments:

PunkRockPaint said...

As much as I love autographs, I sure do hate 'em when it comes to makin' cards. What is your removal technique? Nice work!

Johngy said...

Love it. Awesome job. I am adding it to my collection and sending one off for a signature.
See JohngysBeat tomorrow.

Steve Gierman said...

Removal technique involves a combination of the healing tool, an eye dropper, and a very small paint brush while magnifying the image in Photoshop. It's a long, painstaking process, but the results are usually excellent.

Glad you liked it! I'll be sure to look out for JohngysBeat tomorrow. I'll link your post to this one.

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