1989 Fleer Billy Ripken FF - A Story...

[scmavl]

I met a fellow collector online after seeing a neat piece of cut-card art he made for his son. We started chatting, and he said he was open to doing custom pieces. The one for his son was his first, although he is an art school graduate and designer by trade, so he had an idea of what he was doing. I tried to think what card had the most impact on me as a kid, as well as what card my wife would also enjoy having displayed in the house. '89 UD Griffey? Checks the first box, but not the second. '52 Topps Jackie? Beautiful image, but I don't even think I knew about that card as a kid.

Then I remembered the '89 Fleer Ripken. 1989 was the year I became fully immersed in collecting. Of course we chased the Griffeys, but when we found out about the FF card... THAT WAS IT. No telling how many rack packs I opened looking the the uncorrected version. Plus, my wife really appreciates the humor in that card ever since she heard about it years ago. The plan was set.

Thousands of cut up junk wax cards later (but only two months!), I get this in the mail. The detail is out of this world. There are many hidden easter eggs in it, from Billy's lifetime statistics to just little jokes. It's 18"x24" and covered in museum glass. It is truly amazing the talent some people have, especially after only doing this once before and in a much smaller format. I love it.



The elastic wristband of the glove was given texture by using a card's middle, pulling the front and back apart. Genius!



So many '89 Fleers cut up for just the gray/silver stripes!



If you notice the note above it, you'll see it's from the guy's son. His son's name is Henry Aaron Lastname, who he made the first piece for- a '54 Aaron rookie card. Well, his son has lots of Aaron cards, but not that one. So I gave him mine as payment for the piece. And the next pic is one of his son with the first piece and the card. (He posted this on his social media, so I don't think he'd mind me sharing it here)