1972 Cards That Never Were, HOF Edition...
 

Here are my latest workings of 1972 'In Action' cards. I'll end up putting together as many of the 'ignored' HOF'ers as I can. First off, I'm going with these three guys, with an additional Nolan Ryan thrown in, because let's face it, most people love him…

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And who could ever forget these two fellahs…

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And then there's Mr. Tiger…

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And an additional Mr. Perez…

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Those look great Darren!

And, of course, 'The Splendid Splinter'…

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And I did this Say Hey Kid a while ago, but it fits nicely into this thread…

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So cool. Thanks Darren.

Perhaps you remember this guy…

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1972
 

VERY NICE!

Wish, back in the day, Topps took more time to select decent photo's. Also, question who they selected in some of these IA cards.

1972 in action
 

The 1972 Topps In Action cards remains my favorite sub set of all time. Great work on these cards that never were, is there any way of getting copies?

Thanks...

great stuff!!!!! love that subset too. 72' was a doosy of a set!

To make this thread whole, I'll bring in some cards I created in previous posts. First off, the Cardinals…

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Edited to add a pair of new Gibsons:

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And then the Orioles…

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A couple of knuckleballers…

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And Lefty…

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Three versions of a card that would've been a beautiful (and expensive) high number. He was basically traded for Jim Fregosi, and Fregosi ended up on a 'TRADED' card, but the Ryan Express did not?? Huh?? (It's 44 years too late, but still) Come on, Topps!!

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1972
 

Great cards Darren

Nice Ryans. You are right, that would have been a $100 card.

'72
 

Darren,

Nice cards Darren. I think you should do a special green tint variation on at least 1 of the cards.

Also I have a request for a Mantle card. Every set should have a Mantle, in my opinion.

Z

Mantle
 

There is a rabble rouser in every crowd :)

A couple of more additions…

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And save a place for 'The Baby Bull'…

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Two guys who used a lot of spit to their advantage…

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A pair of hurlers for anyone still paying attention to this thread…

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Attention: Weaver
 

You got my attention "again" when you broke out the Weaver...

Of course the Brooksie one's are my favorite. Did you try the picture I sent of Brooks in the other thread to incorporate in the '72 IA?

It came across as nothing but thumbnail size. Tiny. If you can get me a larger version, I'll pop it into the Brooksie template I created and post it here.

Ironically, I was going through my 1972 Topps set the other day, and being a Cardinals team set collector I noticed for the first time that the In Action cards did not feature a Cardinals player. I had never noticed that before. The Brock, Gibson, Torre, and Carlton are very nicely done. Very impressive.

Are those hard copies or virtual copies?

Love the look. Keep them coming.

Very nice cards. Did you design backs also or just the fronts?

These are all just virtual creations and they only include the fronts. Wish I had a time machine to go back to Brooklyn or Duryea, PA in late 1971 and knock some sense into the Topps folks!!

I didn't for a moment put any effort into doing the backs, though. These take a long enough time to create as it is.

I'm paying attention. Very cool.

Very nice work

IA Brooks Robinson
 

Will this one work?

By special request…

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Now that's a COOL IA card...

Thanks so much for the post!

These are great! I keep checking back looking for a true Carlton Fisk rookie, since his rook was shared with two other guys in that set. The latter day Archives versions of the card from Topps are lame....though I did find this one out on the web..

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GMkkn_273T...rlton+Fisk.jpg

It's really tough finding somewhat contemporary photos on this web of ours, but I did what I could with Pudge…

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Really like the middle one. Nice work!

Awesome cards, let's put you in the 'Way-Back Machine' and send you to the Topps factory (with your computer of course).

Very nice.

And then there's Bert…

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And sadly, I believe, this will be my final offering in this thread, because the only guys left are a couple of other managers and Tony La Russa as a Braves infielder.

But this guy was tremendous, so I had to give it up for ole Sparky…

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Fantastic work! Were there an encore, I bet you could have fun with Dock Ellis!

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Love the blyleven card.

Shouldn't the sparky card be an "inactive" one though LOL

John

These are fantastic! I sure wish they were actually produced! :D

Ricky Y

You have the entire city of Cincinnati ready to riot!!!!

Hey, just saw these, somehow I had missed them. These are really, really slick! Nice work, Darren. Love them all, but the middle one is definitely my favorite. Thanks for doing these.

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The 1972 set is my favorite.
I was always puzzled why the Mets had 11 IA cards and the Giants had 10 and many teams had 5 (no other team had more than 5) while the Orioles,Cardinals,Rangers,Indians, Brewers and Astros had none.
The Orioles and Cardinals had many stars that year.
My only guess is that the photographer for Topps was not available when they came to NY
Bob Barton or George Mitterwald vs Lou Brock and Brooks Robinson just doesn't do it for me.

Terrific work, so much better than many of the real '72 "In Actions"!

Ok, one more to celebrate The Say-Hey Kid's birthday…

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This version's probably a little better…

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Willie
 

I like the last version; real cool looking.

These are great! Thanks...

I love the 72s for many reasons. I was 9 in 79 and started then, so every once in a while I would have a 72 card surface among friends and it was considered ancient and cool. When I was 10 I got a 72 Mays and I was the coolest kid in the neighborhood. Cost me a wrinkled 76 Babe Ruth (the sporting news card, completely coveted then, haha) and a 78 Reggie Jackson. I'll never forget all the negotiations that went into that trade! Now I love them because it's the last year of the 70's sets before the hair got too whacked out...haha. I was looking through my 76 set last night and some of those hairdo's are unreal and frankly distracting. I think that is one reason I love the 50's and 60's so much...all the players looked nice and clean...no gawdy White Sox uni's...:)

Anyhow...thanks again for putting these together, love them...

Finally get to see Rusty in the 1972 Set!

Darren,

I want to create a time machine and transport you back to '72 so your creations could have been part of the set. They are freaking awesome.

Bob

P.S. I'd apologize to anyone you know that might miss your present day self.

Let's revise this thread. Are these cards available to the forum members? Was there a Rusty Staub In Action card?

I have played with this set as well - also my favorite as a kid.

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That Traded Mays is awesome.

At first glance, I thought that was Kelly Gruber and his card. Had to look it up as I it looked very familiar to me.

niiiiice! I love this thread!

Ricky Y

I am amazed we have not seen in action cards of Dick Allen, Boog Powell and Mike Cueller - Denny Mc Lain?

Great Work, Darren!

Finally found the thread, so I'll bump it for the heck of it...

I love these cards that never were. How I wish Topps would make these with images that fit the time they were released.

For no reason whatsoever (well, besides personal enjoyment), I present for everyone's perusal a whole bag of Roberto Clemente In Action cards that never were...

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It is so peculiar that for someone who was known as a king of the outfield, finding color photographs of Roberto wielding the leather is basically an impossible task.

And, what the heck, some slight re-workings of the Brooks Robinson...

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...to get the grass showing.

Love the Clemente sliding card, great job

“Both” awesome...

By special request...

Not a Hall of Famer, but the guy who captured the 1972 MVP award, Dick Allen...

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All fake cards, the centering is too good. :)

This would have been the most expensive card in the set by far

What about Jim Fregosi or Boog Powell?

These are classics.

I just wish Topps would have put as much thought into the originals as Darren has put into making these great "cards that could have been" recreations. Great job Darren! I love the Clemente cards. :D

Okay, I'll add this guy, because (to paraphrase 'Levon') I like the name...

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Some additional eye candy...

Since reimagining all of those Roberto Clemente cards, I decided to give Hammerin' Hank the same treatment. Plus, I always hated the 'Fat Elvis' picture Topps used on his 'In Action' card in 1972...

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And here are two more versions of what coulda/woulda/shoulda been the greatest card of all time for us Mets/Mays fans...

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These Mays cards are insanely good. I think we need a 1972 Topps extension set now!

Ricky Y

Another non-HOFer special request...plus I was all loving the 1974 PSA 9OC Garvey I recently picked up...so the timing was perfect...

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Meant to do this 'Tom Terrific' work-up a while back, because I don't know what Topps was thinking when they put together their 'knee slapper' Tom Seaver 'In Action' card (although, oddly enough, because it's so different, I find it mesmerizing), but better late than never to celebrate one of my childhood heroes.

A celebration of the 'Seaver Snarl'...

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Rest in peace, sweet #41...

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He waited a long time to get his due, so let's show some love for Ted Simmons...

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Here is a newly imagined card of HOF'er Tony La Russa (with the spelling of his surname mirroring the usage on his 'regular' 1972 Topps card*). To say finding an action shot of Tony on the Braves is tough, is like saying finding a picture of the New Jersey Devil and a Chupacabra enjoying a mojito together on the boardwalk is easy. One doesn't seem to exist, so I pulled out all the stops to create something that could possibly seem realistic...

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*I call this type of inconsistent spelling of a name by the card companies a Skewedonym in my 'The New Directory of Collectorisms' thread on the main page.

I ran across this picture today and the beautiful joy on The Say-Hey Kid's face (and tomorrow being his birthday) told me I had to turn it into yet another version of what woulda/coulda/shoulda been the most awesomest card ever...

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And I just realized these guys never made it into the thread way back when...

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