Josh Silvi - 2016-17 Perth Heat

Despite being only being 23 years old and having played only 28 games games, Silvi is fast becoming a veteran of the Perth Heat players with the 2016-17 ABL season being his sixth season in the ABL.

2016-17 Perth Heat Josh Silvi card front - ©2017 Adam East

Liam Bedford - 2016-17 Melbourne Aces

Melbourne local Bedford returned for his fourth season with the Melbourne Aces during the 2016-17 ABL season.

2016-17 Melbourne Aces Liam Bedford card front - ©2017 Adam East

Custom NFL Card - 1988 Topps Colin Scotts

As a follow up to my Colin Ridgway 1996 Philadelphia NFL card, here's the next in my series of "Aussie NFL Players who need a trading card". This is for Colin Scotts, the second ever Australian to play in the NFL and the first to be drafted.  He was drafted by the St Louis Cardinals as the 70th pick in the third round of the 1987 draft. Scotts ended up playing seven games at DE/TE for the Cardinals before being traded to the Houston Oilers. Unfortunately, he didn't end up adding to his game tally but still holds the distinction of being one of only a handful of Aussies to play in a non-Punting position in the NFL.

I couldn't find any photos of Scotts from his actual NFL games, so I had to take one from his days playing at the University of Hawaii and modify the uniforms to look like the 1987 St Louis design. Noting that he played in the 1987 season, it made sense to add him in to the 1988 Topps NFL card design. I have to admit that the Cardinal logo on the helmet in the photo looks a little funny in the placement to me, but the helmet is actually lifted directly from the image of another player from the era so it is authentic.

1988 Topps Colin Scotts custom card front - made by Adam East

1988 Topps Colin Scotts custom card back - made by Adam East

River Stephens - 2016-17 Canberra Cavalry

Sometimes it's hard to tell all of the Canberra Cavalry players with their golden flowing locks apart .... in this case it's River Stevens, American import from the San Diego Padres organisation. Stevens returned for his second season with Canberra during the 2016-17 ABL season. In between his ABL stints he played with the Padres' single A, Advanced A and double A affiliates in 2016.

2016-17 Canberra Cavalry River Stevens card front - ©2017 Adam East

Rick Teasley - 2016-17 Brisbane Bandits

Teasley is an American independent ball player who returned to the Brisbane Bandits for his second year during the 2016-17 ABL season. In between his ABL stints he played for the Southern Illinois Miners in the Frontier League.

2016-17 Brisbane Bandits Rick Teasley card front - ©2017 Adam East

Loek van Mil - 2016-17 Adelaide Bite

The evertall Dutch import Van Mil returned for his second season with the Adelaide Bite during the 2016-17 ABL season. In between he spent time at both the Curaçao Neptunus in his native Honkbal Hoofdklasse and the Rochester Red Wings, the Minnesota Twins' AAA affiliate. Unfortunately for him, he was released by the Twins after 5 games, ending his 10 year career in the minors.

2016-17 Adelaide Bite Loek van Mil card front ©2017 Adam East

Malik Collymore - 2016-17 Sydney Blue Sox

Collymore is an Canadian import from the Milwaukee Brewers who played for the Sydney Blue Sox during the 2016-17 ABL season. Collymore played for the Brewers Advanced A affiliate, the Brevard County Manatees in 2016 before being released in 2017. Fortunately he was signed  by the Cincinnati Reds and spent  time between their Dayton Dragons and Daytona Tortugas affiliates.

I couldn't resist using the tongue out photo fro an alternate card front.

2016-17 Sydney Blue Sox Malik Collymore card front ©2017 Adam East

2016-17 Sydney Blue Sox Malik Collymore alternate card front - ©2017 Adam East

Derek Peterson - 2016-17 Perth Heat

Peterson is an American import from the Baltimore Orioles organisation who spent his second year with the Perth Heat during the 2016-17 ABL season. Peterson had previously spent the 2015-16 ABL season with the Heat, but missed all of the American 2016 season due to injury, hence his return to the Heat. For some reason, he doesn't seem to have played in 2017 either. The official Minor League Baseball website has him still listed as Active for the Orioles, however I suspect he may have been released during 2017 Spring Training.

2016-17 Perth Heat Derek Peterson card front - ©2017 Adam East

Joe Quinn - Beginnings 1880s by Ars Longa Art Cards

I came across the awesome custom artwork and baseball cards done by Jesse at Ars Longa Art Cards recently. Jesse takes vintage baseball cards and creates modern day custom cards using the vintage designs. There's a lot of research and effort that goes in in trying to make the images historically accurate. I was excited to discover that he had a card of Joseph Quinn, the very first Australian MLB player. Even better was the fact that one of them would soon be coming up for sale. I was fortunate to be able to get it, and it finally arrived in the post last Monday.

Here's a enlarged version of the card front. I think the card is awesome - the art work is very well done. More than happy to add this to my collection. It's an awful lot cheaper than the Old Judge card that it was based off of as well.

Beginnings: 1880s #219 - Joe Quinn by Ars Longa Art Cards

Kyle Perkins - 2016-17 Canberra Cavalry

The older of the Canberran Perkins brothers Kyle returned to the Canberra Cavalry lineup for the 2016-17 ABL season. Perkins had been a part of the Cavalry's first 4 ABL seasons however gave up baseball after the 2013-14 ABL season after struggling with the game. A renewed interest saw him return back to the Cavalry and the ABL.

2016-17 Canberra Cavalry Kyle Perkins card front - ©2017 Adam East

2016-17 Canberra Cavalry Kyle Perkins alternate card front - ©2017  Adam East

Custom NFL Card - 1966 Philadelphia Colin Ridgway

Although this blog is focused on baseball cards, I do collect cards of Australian players who appeared in all of the American major sporting leagues - MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL and even the WNBA.

The NFL has regularly flirted with trying to convert Australian Rules Football players to American Football punters due the Australian games' strong skills  in relation to placement kicking. Throwing the ball isn't allowed in Australian Rules Football and so Australian footballers need to be able to kick a football with the same accuracy to a team mate that an American quarterback needs to be able to throw the ball. The upshot of this is a number of Aussies have made attempts at the unglamorous American punting position, some successfully, some not as much. (Note to non-Australian readers - Australian Rules football is not rugby. Americans somehow get confused between the two. Rugby is a completely different sport altogether with very little kicking skill. It's like getting American football and soccer confused.)

The upshot of this though is that a lot of the Australian NFL players haven't ever had NFL cards made for them - when you have a roster of 53 players to choose from, the special teams unit are well down list of players to be featured in a card set.

I've been toying with the idea of trying to rectify this by making cards for the Aussie NFL players who currently don't have one. This was my first attempt to do so and featured Colin Ridgway, the very first Australian NFL player.

Ridgway was a gifted athlete who represented Australia in the High Jump at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the 1958 Commonwealth Games, as well as being a  reserve grade player for the Carlton Blues in the Victorian Football League (the forerunner to the Australian Football League for the non-Australians who might be reading this.)

He accepted a scholarship to Lamar Tech in the USA. He was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 1965 where an attempt was made to convert his Aussie Rules kicking to American punting. The result wasn't successful and he only ended up playing in 3 games for the Cowboys during that 1965 season. It would be another 30 years before Australian punters would start to make the regular transition between the two football codes.

The card design is a replica of the 1966 Philadelphia Gum NFL card design. I figured that since he debuted in 1965, his debut card would show up in the 1966 set. I'm reasonably happy with the result except maybe the skin colour. I've only had black and white photos to work off of so I'm a bit unsure about Ridgway's skin complexion at the time, but I've had him come across as quite tanned rather than a fairer tone. I'll assume that's correct.

1966 Philadelphia Colin Ridgway custom card front - © 2017 Adam East

1966 Philadelphia Colin Ridgway custom card back - ©2017 Adam East

Louis Cohen - 2016-17 Canberra Cavalry

Cohen was an American import who returned to the Canberra Cavalry to play with them during the 2016-17 ABL season after having also played with them during 2015-16. Cohen appears to enjoy using baseball to play overseas, having played for the Hamburg Stealers in 2016 in the German Bundesliga before moving on to the Solingen Allogators in 2017.

2016-17 Canberra Cavalry Louis Cohen card front - ©2017 Adam East

2016-17 Canberra Cavalry Louis Cohen alternate card front - ©2017 Adam East

Lists of Aussie Players Updated

The lists of Australian MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL players has been updated. I will hopefully get to update the WNBA list soon.

Ryan Battaglia - 2016-17 Brisbane Bandits

Even at age 25 Battaglia is becoming a veteran Brisbane Bandits player, having played in all seven seasons since the start of the latest ABL incarnation, including the last 2016-17 ABL season.

2016-17 Brisbane Bandits Ryan Battaglia card front - ©2017 Adam East

Marcus Greene Jr - 2016-17 Adelaide Bite

Greene is an American import from the San Diego Padres organisation who played with the Adelaide Bite during the 2016-17 ABL season. In 2016 Greene played with the Fort Wayne TinCaps and the Lake Elsinore Storm, before returning to the Single A level TinCaps in 2017. Greene was part of a 2015 trade between Texas and San Diego that saw Padres' Major Leaguer Will Venable traded to Texas.

2016-17 Adelaide Bite Marcus Greene Jr card front - © 2017 Adam East

2016-17 Adelaide Bite Marcus Greene Jr  alternate card front - ©2017 Adam East

Andrew Case - 2016-17 Canberra Cavalry

Case is a Canadian import from the Toronto Blue Jays organisation who played with the Canberra Cavalry during the 2016-17 ABL season. He had spent 2016 playing with the Lansing Lugnuts, the Blue Jays' affiliate in the single A level ball Midwest League. There was a bit of background to Case's shift to the Lugnuts, with the promotion coming about after he received a 50 game suspension for missing a drug test earlier in 2016. In 2017 he has rocketed up the ladder, playing Advanced A, Double and Triple A level ball.

2016-17 Canberra Cavalry Andrew Case card front - ©2017 Adam East