Jack Faszholz gave up pitching rubber for pulpit

As sometimes happens in my on-going custom card creation process, a new card jumps the line and takes precedence over some others that have been in process or on my to-do list for much longer.

Such was the case with this 1954 Topps-style custom card of Jack Faszholz. In perusing the 1951 issues of The Sporting News I saw a news short about Faszholz that struck my fancy. 

The article detailed "Jack Faszholz" night that was held at Rochester on Aug. 15, 1951. 

Then in his second season with the Red Wings, a Class AAA International League farm club of the St. Louis Cardinals, Faszholz was presented with a check for "clerical robes" by the Genessee Zone Lutheran Layman's :League. The article mentioned that in the off-season, Faszholz was studying for the ministry at Concordia Theological Seminary at St. Louis. 

Faszholz won his 10th game of the year that night, defeating Buffalo 2-1.

In checking his listing at baseball-reference.com, I found that Faszholz had a lengthy minor league career between 1944-1956, mostly at the top rung of the Cardinals system, but had enjoyed only the proverbial cup of coffee in the major leagues in 1953.

In poking around the internet, I found a wonderful write-up about Faszholz by Pat Doyle, at http://www.baseball-almanac.com/minor-league/minor0104.shtml . Since he did such a good job detailing Pastor Faszholz's life and career, I won't rehash it here. 

I just wanted to share with you my Jack Faszholz custom card. I could have chosen to create a card in about any Topps or Bowman style between about 1952 and 1955, since he was on the St. Louis 40-man roster often in those years, but generally began and ended his seasons at Rochester. 

The '54 format was my choice because it has always been one of my favorite sets of the Fifties and -- and is often the case -- when I found pictures of Faszholz in Cardinals' livery on the internet, the image of a 1954-style card popped into my head.

Creating '54 customs is more challenging than many other years' cards because of Topps' use of cartoon biographical bits on the back. For me to make a '54 custom, I have to scour through original '54T cards in search of cartoons that I can re-purpose on my card. Because of the distinctive style of those cartoons, I don't think it would be possible to get artwork from any source other than the old cards themselves.

For my Faszholz card's back, I picked up cartoons from original Phil Rizzuto, Jerry Lane and Bob Trice cards.  

Be sure you click on Pat Doyle's write-up, and then I think you'll understand why I chose to create a custom card for Jack Faszholz.