When Ruby is at doggy daycare-- because otherwise she'll rarely let me focus on a project for long-- I still spend much of my spare time working on CardArt ideas. I'm now in my 4th year of being a dedicated wanna-be "artist / creative-type" and while I would have liked to be in a better position by this point (grown a little fanbase, see consistent sales, etc.), I keep at it. It's humbling when I whip up something I think is really cool, but then I can't find anyone who wants it. I make a sale from time to time that keeps me from getting too down about the situation overall and I'm still optimistic my stuff might "catch on" at some point, but even if this never becomes a financially-rewarding use of my time, it's a hobby-within-a-hobby that I don't plan to quit anytime soon.
Recently it hit me that it's probably some sort of midlife crisis thing driving me. Like.. I never had children, or had a profession/role that really positively impacted anyone, or even done much charity/volunteering. Realizing I don't have much of a "legacy" to remember me by has started to weigh on me as I get older. And so I guess I figure if I can tweak a baseball card in an interesting way and it finds a "forever home" filed away in some guy's massive player collection, then in some small way I'll have made a mark that will live on after my time on earth wraps up. Or something like that?
And as long as I'm opening up...
June 2026 saw some turnover in my extended family. My uncle Ed passed away the first week of June after months of declining health. He had been semi-estranged most of my 20s and 30s, but thankfully reconciled with the family in the past few years. The last time I saw him was at my cousin's kid's wedding last summer. That happy young couple just now welcomed their first child, son Lewis, on June 30th.
Real "circle of life" vibes for me, losing the family's de facto patriarch and gaining a new baby boy within the same month. And believe it or not, I've been the "baby boy of the family" my whole life. Baby Lewis is my first male blood-relative who's younger than me, after a few girls leading the way for the next generation. I know it's a long shot these days, but fingers crossed little Lewis grows up to be a baseball fan, as it'd be nice to have somebody penciled in to leave my card collection to once I'm no longer around to enjoy it. (It really seemed like my wife's brother was bound to pop out some kids [unlike my wife who's always been quick to shoot down any talk of her ever becoming a mom] -- and I was excited to be the fun uncle-- but now he and his wife are deep into their 30s, and travel the world whenever they have time off, no indication of settling down as parents, so it's not looking good as far as an heir on my wife's side who might want my shit.)
But enough introspection, let's check out some junk wax I've gussied up!
Here's a page worth of Griffey, specifically his 1991 Topps All-Star card reimagined into some parallels-that-never-were.
Ryne Sandberg getting the '91 AS treatment too.
And here's fellow Cubs great, Andre Dawson. 1993 Topps Black Gold inserts are fun sentimental favorites for me to mess with.
Here's a page of Robin Yount 1988 Topps remixes.
Late update to the post: 1987 Topps Ozzie Smith. Love doing the "full wood" treatment with '87 Topps (and they often look better with rounded corners).
1988 Donruss like you've never seen it! Imagine back in the day if these things were randomly inserted one per case or something. That'd be a fun chase.
Tony Gwynn minis! Did you immediately clock the source of this Tony? It's from the 1988 Topps "Padres Team Leaders" card, with apologies to Benito Santiago who gets cropt out for the mini refinement.
Maybe you remember a few years ago when there was a stack of 1990 Leaf Tony Gwynn cards making the rounds from Rod to Fuji to me? I've finally started doing something with them!..
Only doing a smaller segment like that as opposed to covering the full card means these are quicker and cheaper to create, which should help me work through the stack.. Still like 50 "blanks" left! I think my plan is to make a listing for Gwynn cardart like these where I ask $3.94 for each (maybe $6.19 for the fuller ones), with the majority of the profits going to a San Diego area charity.
This 4-card display of a blinged-out 1992 Score is likely bound for eBay eventually, but I liked it so much that I'm enjoying it up on my own wall for the time being. I need to get better at making videos so you can see it actively shining in the light. It's a treat for the eyes!
There you have it, highlights of my creative efforts from the past several weeks. If something caught your eye-- or you think to yourself, "I bet Gavin could make some cool versions of my favorite junk-era cards for my PC..." and want to trade me something cool to make that happen.. just let me know. The Younts are already up in my eBay store, and I'll likely get around to adding the rest soon enough. (But again, I prefer trading for stuff on my wantlist, and I really only sell cardart on eBay because that seems like the distribution method of least resistance.) And as always, thanks for taking the time to check out my blog.
