Customs, the early years

These are some of my very first customs when I discovered what I could do with publisher.  The four in the center were my very first attempts and you can see changes here as I changed sizes of the signing area and the transparency, (very evident in the Cedric Hunter card).  I got those four cards in the center signed at a game in Portland when the Portland Beavers were the AAA club of the Padres.  It was real easy to get autographs because you saw the players multiple times. 
Colt Hynes was the next style of custom cards I did.  I discovered Getty Images and the ability to find photos from the Padres media days.  I got the Colt Hymes card signed through the mail.  When I send cards through the mail, I usually ask the player to sign just one and include a copy for them to keep.  I also include a sharpie (I tell them to keep the Sharpie), and a self addressed stamped envelope.  When I made a set of the Padres A club, the Eugene Emeralds back in 2014 I also gave each player a copy of the card to keep.  
One day I saw that an autograph dealer had done a signing with Leon Everitt and I tried making a card that looked like a 1969 card.   I made this and the autograph dealer liked it and so did Leon, I got a signed card through that dealer and we have made over 500 cards of obscure players over the years.