Gio Balistreri Creates Custom Baseball Card Sets Worthy of Cooperstown
The Game's Biggest Stars Come to Life in Unique Ways in the Hands of This NJ Artist
Intro
Longtime baseball card collectors will remember Baseball Cards Magazine from the 1980s and early ‘90s. One of the highlights of the magazine was cardboard inserts of “cards that weren’t” - cards featuring current era stars in classic baseball card designs. The magazine's editor Bob Lemke later took up the Mantle (pun totally intended) and designed some of these phantom cards, which he shared on his personal blog. So custom-made cards have a long and distinguished history in the hobby. But Gio Balistreri takes creating custom cards to the next level. And then some. Not content to merely create cards that didn’t exist (which he excels at), Gio’s craftsmanship and artistry really shine in the unique card SETS that he designs and packages, paying homage to the history of both the game and the hobby.
Briefly give us your background.
My name is Gio Balistreri (aka When Topps Had Balls blog owner & custom card creator) and I'm 57 years old. Been a card collector/sports nut for 50 years now. Though born and raised in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn (think Saturday Night Fever), I moved to Somerset, New Jersey 15 years ago. I've been an Art Director/Graphic Designer specializing in product packaging/product development for 30 years now, working on licensed goods for brands like George Lucas (Star Wars), Marvel, Transformers, Nickelodeon, My Little Pony, Snoopy and many more. Along the way as a professional graphic designer the idea of initially starting my own baseball card blog where I would "fill in the gaps" of 1970s Topps baseball cards occurred to me in 2013, so I started WTHBALLS, the name referring to the fact that Topps were like the "sports card mafia" at that time, beholden to no one as far as what kind of product they put out there, leaving us with tons of "missing" players, lack of "career-cappers", etc. In the beginning I truly just wanted to digitally fill in all these gaps as a digital visual for like-minded card people to enjoy. About five years later I decided to create my first printed custom set, 1930 Stars of Baseball set, using all the skills developed as a designer, with connections with printers and sourcing materials to make oddball type releases in various sizes in different/interesting packaging. From that set it moved on to other elaborate releases in unique packaging like 1920 in metal candy tin, 1940 as a dice-roll baseball game on fold-out player field, 1910 tobacco burlap pouch, 1950 candy bar (bookmark sized) set, etc. Really fun to come with different card presentations with every set while encompassing baseball's rich history in the process. In 2020 I decided to start producing 15-card 1970s based sets from my blog-created "missing" cards so I could add these to my set binders. I'm a vintage Topps set collector, and I fell in love with the idea of creating these cards to add to my collection. Now, when using commercial printers, there are minimum print runs, so I realized that producing minimums of at least 50-cards per design meant that it wasn't feasible unless I'd make them available to others to recoup the cost, so I began offering them to other collectors I knew at cost, solely for the fun of creating these sets. The rest, as they say, is history! Since then I've built up a checklist of over 1000 cards in the WTHBALLS checklist, spanning the 1890s through the 1980s. I just appreciate the fact that others like the cards and want them for their collections, sharing the same quirks about collecting as I do! Just too much fun.
1910 STARS OF BASEBALL SET
Did you play sports growing up?
I played everything I could get my hands on growing up! In Brooklyn back then the school-yard was every kids' world, and I happened to have grown up across the street from one, so it was softball, "box-ball" (baseball with a painted box against the wall to pitch to), basketball, two-hand touch football and even frisbee football, soccer and wiffle ball. We were so into it we'd create leagues, have refs/umps, paint/re-paint the fields and courts, even measure and install a full-court basketball court since we were all the kids of contractors and carpenters, so we were handy with tools! In addition to that my friends and I also joined little league baseball, CYO basketball leagues, then onto High School sports, which for me was baseball. Sports and all related (card collecting) was absolutely HUGE for most kids then, with the schoolyard jam packed with kids every single day, including snow days where we'd even shovel snow to play basketball in the Winter or use the snow as "padding" to play full tackle football. That place was our world. I still make a point of driving by the old schoolyard when I visit my folks, who are still in the old neighborhood.
1920 BASE BALL STARS SET
How did you first get interested in art?
I was always an artist as far back as I can remember. In school I was always the kid in art classes, always drawing at home. It was just a natural thing for me. By the time I was in junior high I was somewhat serious about art, taking classes, learning more and more, and much to the dismay of my parents, even went as far as becoming a delinquent graffiti writer in New York City through the 1980s, using the city as my canvas while using spray cans and magic markers. I became obsessed. It was graffiti that got me focusing on the "graphic" nature of art out there. The art that was about display, commerce, product driven purpose instead of studio/portrait classic art.
1940 STARS OF BASEBALL GAME SET
Did you study art formally or are you self-taught?
Funny enough, by the time High School came around in 1983 I became crazy about drafting/rendering/architecture, and immediately took to those classes throughout my High School years. By the time I was ready to graduate, I got accepted to Pratt Institute School of Architecture in 1986. Sadly, I found myself in way over my head at such a tough school at the age of 16/17, and was not ready for that academic life, so I left Pratt and went over to Brooklyn College to eventually earn a degree in Sports Journalism with a dual major in American History. As I was doing this, interning at New York Newsday and beginning my journalism career, I fell in love with the lay-out and design part of that industry, and began self-teaching myself all aspects of computer graphic design by the mid-90s. It was the "wild west" back then with computer design as far as freelancing, doing small jobs for people, learning and creating web sites. It was amazing. You didn't have to be some degree holding "Graphic Designer" from some fancy design school to land jobs, and by 1997 I got my first real design job for the famous S.O.B.'s nightclub in NYC. Things just developed from there, eventually finding my niche in product design, packaging development and design for stationery and school related supplies (paper goods, writing instruments, backpacks, lunch boxes).
BASEBALL STARS OF 1960 GELATIN SET
What inspires you most in creating art?
I just love creating art: music, writing, digital and physical art. I love adding to my ever growing body of work that I like to think will be here way after I'm gone. It really is something that has always been a "necessity" for me. The custom card stuff is a happy cherry on top later in life. Creating art has brought me everything good in my life: friendships, relationships, travel, experiences. It's my fuel.
How do you know you’re “in the zone” when you’re creating?
That's easy: when I'd go from starting a project to BOOM! having it done in front of me, and not even realizing how I got there. Being in that zone is fantastic, everything else falls away and you're creating, time flies by, no thought of hunger, sleep, exhaustion, discomfort. Not even a thought to completion. It just...happens! And then you take a step back and look at your work, take a breath and enjoy the result. I live for that feeling.
1976 “POWER ROLL” 25-CARD DICE GAME
How can Beauty of a Game readers follow you?
The main blog that gets a new post every other day is WTHBalls and the blog dedicated to what I have actually printed up is WTHBallsCustomCards or you can follow me on "X": @wthballs . I love talking to folks from all walks of life! The hobby has brought so many wonderful people into my life which I value immensely. Feel free to reach out!
WTHBALLS 1981 DRAKE’S BIG PITCHERS SET
Favorite Sports Book?
Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia.
Also"The Bronx Zoo", "Loose Balls", "The Rebel League", "Going Long", "Ball Four", "Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty", "Baseball in the Garden of Eden", "Blackguards and Red Stockings"
Favorite Sports Movie?
Slap Shot.
Also "Raging Bull", "The Battered Bastards of Baseball", "Baseball" by Ken Burns, "The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh", "Ford v Ferrari".
Favorite Sports Card?
1976 Topps Johnny Bench.
Also 1978 Topps Reggie Jackson, 1977 Topps Rusty Staub, 1977 Topps Dave Kingman, 1979 Topps Rod Carew, 1979 Topps George Brett, 1980 Topps Dave Parker, 1976 Topps Julius Erving, 1977 Topps Jack Lambert, 1971 Topps Pete Maravich, 1955 Bowman Y.A. Tittle, 1974 Topps Fran Tarkenton (to name a few!)
So much amazing nostalgia!
I can relate to so many things in this article. Terrific work!!!