Newest custom: 1956 Frank Robinson "rookie"

Since I originally collected them as a five-year old, I have always counted the 1956 Topps cards as among my favorite baseball card sets.

They are, however, among the hardest customs for me to make.

Frank Robinson's "real" rookie card, of course, was in the 1957 Topps set. He did have a regional rookie card, however, in the 1956 Kahn's Wieners set.

That Kahn's card is where I lifted the autograph for my '56 creation.

You might recognize the background of my card as having been used another '56T Redlegs card, Ted Kluszewski. I gave Big Klu a racial transplant to more closely match Robinson's skin color.

The cartoons on back are from the Frank House (left) and Jimmy Piersall (right) cards. I had to make the center cartoon from a piece of clip art. Purists might note that the basketball cartoon is not a perfect fit for the style of cartoons found on the '56s, but it was as close as I could get.