Goose Joak 100th Tribute Card Contest!

To commemorate my 100th tribute card, I'm putting together a little contest! It's a small way to say thanks to the readers of this blog. First time readers and long time readers are all welcome to enter. It's easy to enter and anybody can win.

Rules
To enter, simply comment on this post and tell me what your favorite tribute card has been so far. You can pick from any of the first 100 cards. If you don't feel like going through them all, I've listed my personal top five at the bottom of this post. You can also check out the tags on the side of this page (player, team, set, brand, year) if you're looking for something specific.

I'll put all contest entries into a hat (well...into a SAS program, anyway) and pick two random winners. Each winner will be entitled to:

The Goods
- A grab bag of baseball cards (based on your favorite player, team, set...you decide)
- A custom tribute card of your choosing (you name the design and the player...or perhaps you'd like a tribute card of yourself or a family member!)
- A printed, signed and personalized tribute card of your choosing (whatever you vote as your favorite)

For the blog, I'll also post a special edition of the card with the most votes.

Yay! To enter, simply leave a comment below and name your favorite card.

You can check out all the tribute cards here: Picasa

My personal top five, in no particular order:


Joakim Soria, Kansas City Royals
Tribute to 1988 Topps
by Goose Joak

Joakim Soria holding up his "Pitcher of the Year" award from 2008. I love the card design, and I love the photo.

If you have read this blog a couple of times, you probably know that Soria is my favorite player. This is my favorite card of his that I have done.

Looking closely at the card, you can see Soria's braces that he wore during the offseason. Apparently several of his siblings are dentists. When asked if this might have been his second calling, had it not been for baseball, Soria said yes -- either a dentist or a math teacher. I found this really interesting. George Brett, by comparison, would have been a bartender had he not been a ballplayer (this was actually the title of a chapter -- "Would Have Been a Bartender" -- in the excellent Brett tribute Last of a Breed).


Bobby Thigpen, Chicago White Sox
Tribute to 1991 Donruss Elite Series
by Goose Joak and Jeremy of Jeremy's Custom Cards

One of my favorite collaborations. I just love how this turned out.

My first attempt was of the hand-made variety. Jeremy, who does some excellent custom cards, helped me out with this revision. He had a friend with connections to Thigpen, and so he had three actual autographs of Thigpen -- all from 1991 Donruss, no less! Between his scanned cards and an Elite Series scan of Jose Canseco, we came up with this revision.

One fun thing of note -- if you compare the first card and the second card, you'll notice that I had to be creative with Thigpen's right shoe. Anybody notice? That was a lot of fun.

By the way...I did finally get a real Elite Series card thanks to Brian of Waxaholic! You can read about it here.


Mike Jacobs, Kansas City Royals
Tribute to 1970 Topps
by Goose Joak

It may not look like much, but that's the point! I created this card in the offseason, not long after the Royals had traded for Jacobs. At that time, there weren't any pictures of Jacobs in a Royals uniform. After a friendly challenge from Zach of Autographed Cards, I set out to do a card of Jacobs in a Royals uniform before anyone else in the entire world had. I took a picture of Jacobs in a Marlins uniform and converted it to a Royals uniform. One of the hardest cards I've had to do but definitely worth the effort. I was really pleased with how it turned out and getting the positive feedback from Zach was just awesome.

It was hard to choose this card over the Aaron Crow card. Both were really fun.


Carlos Pena, Tampa Bay Rays
Tribute to 1990 Fleer Soaring Stars
by Goose Joak

If I had to handicap the vote, I'd guess that this card has a good chance of winning. The design is really cool, and I've received a few emails asking for the photoshop template I created (which I happily passed along).

Making this card was a labor of love. Several parts of the photo were missing or covered up, so I had to do some creative work to make the photo look complete. I really like how it turned out!

I saw this card design for the first time at Autographed Cards.


Mike Aviles, Kansas City Royals
Tribute to 2007 Goudey
by Goose Joak

This is the second tribute card I did, before I even had a blog. The Goudey set was pretty intimidating at first. Realizing that I could do it really gave me a lot of confidence and the desire to make more!

Thanks for all the support. It's been a lot of fun and I love to get feedback on all the cards.

You can check out all the tribute cards here: Picasa

Comments

  1. I gotta go with your 1993 Studio Brad Hawpe for a few reasons:

    1. It looks sooooo much like one of the originals - you do a great job with all of them, but that one is spot-on and could have been pulled from a pack.

    2. That's my all-time favorite Studio release, because the colors are so vivid, and there are no borders.

    3. It's just cool you would think to give Brad Hawpe that kind of special treatment.

    I'm ready for 100 more - might I suggest a 1988 Topps or 1991 Stadium Club-based Andy Pettitte?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The 1990 Mariano Rivera. You have done an awesome job with those cards as I looked through. Keep up the awesome work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's gotta be the '91 Elite Thigpen!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think my favorite would be the Stadium Club Brad Hawpe. Love the photo and that is what Stadium Club was orginially about.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have to go with the Crow card. It was fun to work with you on and the back made it unique.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Thigpen is definitely my favorite. Besides having a personal connection to Bobby's brother, I love the card design itself and the use of an autographed Donruss card from the same year is just brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was having a really tough time choosing between the Stadium Club Brad Hawpe and the Turkey Red Ozzie Smith, but then I saw one of the prizes was a printed copy of the favorite card. So, yeah. Gotta go with '76 Chipper.

    ReplyDelete
  8. done as a personal favour to me, the 1976 Topps Chipper Jones, hands down the best.

    (barely over the '76 LaRoche)

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Pena Soaring Stars is awesome, as are a lot of other cards ('86 Greinke, Goudey Curtis Pride, etc.).

    Picking just one, though, I'd go with the Stadium Club Mike Aviles. It works in ways the original Stadium Club could have. The photo really speaks for itself, with the player off center and the bat running the length of the top half of the card. Incredible photo, absolutely AMAZING card.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yikes. I don't know where to begin.

    Considering that the 1991 Pedro Upper Deck picture was my own request and also the background for my computer for four months I want to say that one, but I'm not going to.

    I love the Mike Jacobs because like you said you have no way of putting him in a Royals uniform yet and you pulled it off, but I'm not picking that either.

    I can't pick any of the Soria pictures even if his other career would be pulling teeth out. That would be too much of a cliche on this site.

    My pick is Topps 1986 Zack Greinke. The thing is I actually remember having a Roger Clemens card from the actual Topps 1986 set. Remembering that card and seeing the design of that card, I don't see a difference at all. Plus the action that Greinke is showing in that one is terrific.

    My hats off on putting these 100 together - can't wait to see the next 100!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the Vladimir Guerrero card, but then again I love everything about the Angels and Vladdy and am dismayed that there aren't MORE Angels in the Goose Joak collection!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I really like the 77 Topps Dave Bush. That is one of my favorite sets.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 2007 Turkey Red Eric Davis. Favorite player, favorite recent card design. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have two favorites. I'm having a tough time picking.

    Probably the best looking picture on any card would have to be the Minny and Dave 1975 Topps Tribute. :)

    My other favorite is the Bruntlett Wave of the Future card. That was masterfully done. If only we could print it with the water and sparkles in it!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I like the Chris Sabo A&G. Looks very realistic! You have a talent, Dave!

    ReplyDelete
  16. They are all great, but if I had to pick one I would have to go with the Stadium Club, Brad Hawpe card. It is an amazing photo and that is what I remember 1991 stadium Club for. Great card!

    ReplyDelete
  17. The '87 Fleer Galladro. Top shelf.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Clearly my favorite is the 1992 Stadium Club Brad Hawpe. The picture is down right outstanding.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Todd Shipler (Sent To Email)July 23, 2009 at 10:45 PM

    Ok so my work is blocking me from making a comment.... Hope this works as well!

    I have to go with someone from my favorite team the Royals so..... I'm going to say the Stadium Club Soria. I love the concentration on his face and you can see the ball perfectly in his hand (looks like a split fingered fastball). I got cheap bad wax with some old SC in it and love the full bleed pictures, no wasted space. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Ozzie Smith jumping over Steve Balboni on the Turkey Red card, with the Turkey Hill advertising from Citizens Bank Park in the background . . . Either that or the Bruntlett.

    ReplyDelete
  21. The '92 Stadium Club Brad Hawpe card is hands-down the best of the 100. Nothing else is even close.

    Saying that, I love the Ozzie Smith Turkey Red-Turkey Hill card and the Brandon Tallet '71 Topps card, but Hawpe blows everything else away.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love that 92 Stadium Club Hawpe card (like everyone else), but I'm going to be a Rangers homer and go with the 92 Stadium Club Josh Hamilton. It's such a different angle...great work.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Obviously the Allen & Ginter Sabo. Though I'm not crazy about A&G, it's Sabo. 'Nuff said. :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'm loving that Mike Aviles tribute to '07 Goudey. Great picture to accompany a great, simple card design.

    ReplyDelete
  25. That Ryan Ludwick card is really beautiful. Great colors, and interesting composition.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I really like the 1986 Topps Greinke. The bold letters with a surprise action shot in that style really enhances the design.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Gotta be Matt Kemp 1990 Topps since that was my first ever request. You could make a tribute Matt Kemp card for the best 8th hitter in all of baseball!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Thanks for all the awesome entries. These have been fun to read. I'll keep the contest open through Tuesday of this week.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment