Hot Stove: Skipping The “Saturday Morning” Narrative This Time Around…

Hopefully none of you are overly attached to the virtual Mom in these posts, nor to the stories that have gone with these posts to date… But I’m coming up dry this week, and as I skipped Christmas weekend already,  I figured getting the images out there is more important than trying to work “Mom” into this post.

I went into this Hot Stove set with a number of cereal box ideas in mind, but this one came to me just the other day, and as it worked out it was semi-inspired by another idea I’d had the day before (which we’ll probably get next weekend).  I originally feared I wouldn’t have enough cereal boxes to get through the winter without repeating myself, but I think I’ll be OK.

And while I’m gently poking fun at his Bryceness, I am a Mets fan who knows all to well that this past season could’ve been very different if some Nats other than Bryce Harper had bothered to show up, or if Matt Williams had at least a passing clue as to how to handle a bullpen.

The San Francisco Giants are like the original Star Trek movies – only the even-numbered ones are any good.

The original image used was from “Photo Day” last spring, and it wasn’t until after I finished the custom that I realized that Johnny Cueto is sitting on a stool, even though he’s ostensibly outdoors at AT&T Park.  I probably should’ve cropped it tighter, but I kind of like it… It seems like the kind of oversight Kellogg’s might’ve made back in the day.

If you like this next custom, you can thank Gary over at Coco Crisp’s Afro.  A couple of weeks ago he’d suggested making one of these customs with “bad airbrushing”.  I’d already had some ideas along those lines, so I mentally responded with “Challenge accepted!”

Part of the reason I chose Zack Greinke for this idea is because the D-Backs have new uniforms with this funky shoulder design-thing which I don’t know how to replicate at this point… So if one can’t do it right, do it wrong… very, very wrong.

The card design used is, of course, the 1976 Topps Traded design.

Next week’s cereal will feature another player who’s had his share of hype.  I’ve got a couple of candidates for the custom cards, but maybe I’ll be suddenly inspired by the Mets or Orioles signing a big name… or,  more likely, a former Met or Oriole signing a big contract elsewhere.