Major League Turns 30

Now that the 2018 NFL season has wrapped up it’s time to start gearing up for baseball’s spring training.  We’re also coming up on the 30th anniversary of an absolutely iconic baseball comedy, Major League.  It’s a little hard to believe that come April 7th this movie will officially be thirty years old!  Be that as it may it’s as timeless a  tale of underdogs defying all odds as there is.

I actually made a few Major League cards with an ‘89 Donruss inspired design a few years back.  They were okay but I knew that with all the cards I’ve made since that I could do better.  With the timing of the movie’s anniversary coming up I wanted to make a mini-set for the movie that would be one of my best sets to date, and I think I just may have accomplished that with these.

In thinking what design to use there was a few to consider.  I did not consider Topps’ 1989 design because 5 years ago they had Major League cards in their Archives set for the movie’s 25th anniversary.  I wasn’t looking to duplicate my ‘89 Donruss effort and 1989 Score… super “meh”.  There was really only one correct selection … the set that brought collectors perhaps the most infamous baseball card of all-times.  Of course I’m referring to the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken F*ck Face “error” card!  It was only fitting that I commemorated Major League’s motley misfits with this design.

I wanted the set to be as comprehensive as I could so, unlike the real Fleer baseball cards, I’ve included the coaching staff, team owner, GM, and even color man Harry Doyle.

I added two cards in style style of the “Super Star Specials” and “Major League Prospects” subsets that were part of the ‘89 Fleer set.  The Hayes / Vaughn Prospects card is easily my favorite of the mini-set.

I specifically wanted to find a picture of Pedro Cerrano doing his voodoo snake ritual.  I wanted that

card to be in homage to another famous Fleer baseball issue; the 1984 Glenn Hubbard card.

The two rival Yankee cards in the set are actually cards I made quite a while ago in the style of the 1988 Donruss set.  I think the Clu and Duke cards in a different design adds a nice contrast for the movie’s goliath-like antagonists so I included these two as official parts of this set.

Mr. Baseball

This Mr. Baseball is another set that came as a suggest/commission from the very same friend of the site that recommended the Sidd Finch card.

1984 Calbee

These cards are done in the style of a Japanese Calbee brand baseball card set.  Apropos choice for a movie about an American ball player that went overseas to Japan to play ball, right?

Calbees are the most collected Japanese baseball cards.  Unlike Topps, Donruss, or any other major American cards that are distributed in packs, starting in 1973 the Calbee cards came as a premium in Calbee brand snack foods, which makes putting together a complete set quite an undertaking.

These, as requested, were done in in the style of the 1984 Calbee set.  Despite Mr. Baseball having been released in 1992 I chose to keep this design as the PCb  Mr. Baseball set going forward.  For one, the 1984 set, design wise, has a bit more going on.  In a way they resemble the 1981 Topps baseball set.  For two, I thought the size was unique, measuring 2" x 2 5/8" as compared to the normal 2.5" x 3.5" of the standard size American sports card.  For the 1992 set the Calbee cards were the same size as phone cards complete with rounded corners, which I know would have given me fits as I strived for authenticity.

I matched the "D" on the card to match the "D" on the Chunichi Dragons cap as seen in the movie and the set's requester helped me wit the Japanese characters for the player names.

Back To The Minors

When you think the Major League franchise Back to the Minors (1998) is probably not the first thing that comes to mind, or even the second.  Despite that, there’s now a custom card set thanks to my perchance for the somewhat obscure.

I’ll eventually get around to the first two movies.  I’ve already made several cards from the original.  But, for now I want to show a little appreciation to third installment.  I’m not saying it’s better than the original Major League movie which has got to be considered one of the best sports comedies of all-time.  I will say, for me at least, it can be a coin flip between Back to the Minors and Major League II.

I like that even though it wasn’t the Cleveland Indians there is still continuity with the first two

1991 Impel Line Drive

movies with Roger Dorn, Pedro Cerrano, Rube Baker and the Taka Tanaka characters.  Plus, you can never go wrong adding Ted McGinley and Scott Bakula.  Solid cast.

I dig the fact that it revolves around a Minor League team.  It gave me a chance to use a template inspired by the only Minor League card packs I ever busted; the 1991 Impel Line Drive set.  I think I might have bought two packs.  In one of those packs I got a Todd Van Poppel AA Huntsville Stars card.  I was pretty sure that card was going to make me a rich man.  What ever happened to that guy?

The South Carolina Buzz is a fictionalized version of the AAA Salt Lake Buzz (now Salt Lake Bees).  South Carolina was where the film was shot.  The consistent though was the team’s Major League affiliate being the Minnesota Twins.