Oh Happy Day!

 

Stuff on my desk, Pt 2

Here are some other things I've had kicking around that I'm scanning today before they go into the right binder.

This c. 1963 Jim Rowe produced postcard of Billy Pierce was on eBay and pointed out to me by Jeff Wilk. I have a copy of this but I'm happy to have added a signed one for just a few dollars.

I spent more of my fantasy football winnings on some '67s. Those are on their way. Meanwhile here are some that came my way a week or two ago.

Bobby Tolan was among the last of the non-high numbers I was lacking. His is one of those cards that seem to command a premium for no apparent reason by a certain number of dealers while the rest list him at common prices. It's an odd phenomenon I've seen with other sets like the '61 T and '62T.

Fergie officially finished off the low numbers.

When I went to my first in-person Houston SABR chapter meeting I got a very 'cliche-ish' vibe. I felt like an outsider honestly. But I ended up sitting across the table from Larry Dierker and he was very friendly.

Now, something different.near the end of 2020 I bought a stack of twelve or so 1958 Atlantic Oil Film Stars cards from someone on NET54. Rather than cherry pick what he had I just grabbed the lot. Or at least what he had left after someone else had taken a few. Happy to add Janet Leigh to my Hollywood collection but the main draw for me was Ingrid Bergman.

Ava Gardner was a nice bonus.

I don't think Gregory Peck ever gave a bad performance. I scanned Lana Turner's card with a mosern card to show the size difference.

I've been adding to my SSPC Baseball Immortals set with the later-issued Hall members. I still need a few. Fun little set.

I also added to my '75 Topps mini build. Not sure I've mentioned that before. But it's a slow build that I may or may not ever finish. I had most of the Orioles and a few others before I bought a starter set years ago and just let it sit in a box. If you have some dupes lemme know. I'd love to trade.

I'll post a few of those and a handful of other odds and ends in the next week or so if we all don't go to hell in a hand-basket before then.

Fantasy Football Pays Off

 

The biggest stumbling block to my 1967 Topps chase arrived today via Fed Ex. The Seaver/Denehy rookie is now the biggest hobby purchase I've ever made. By far.

Tom Seaver's death in 2020 forced a bump in the price of an already super expensive card. It was rather discouraging to look at the prices asked in auctions and on eBay. I gave a few thoughts to backing out of my pursuit of the set but I was really too far into it. I was past the point of no-return. I guess I could have sold off what I had put together but I'd have lost money on the graded cards I'd broken out of their holders and the work involved in selling cards just isn't something I find enticing.

Then something happened that changed my way of looking at the last leg of the chase. I won two of my fantasy football money leagues and was the runner-up in the third one. I had a pretty healthy PayPal balance a day or so after Christmas and it was back to eBay for me.

Over the last few months I'd made a few half-hearted attempts at some low-end Seavers but lost out on all of them. As I've done with all the expansive cards in my sets builds I kept my eyes out for graded cards I would accept and raw cards from very well established dealers I trust. Two targets popped up last week and I made an offer on one PSA 1.5 which was turned down and then on this one from a dealer I hadn't bought from before but who had 100% feedback with many, many thousands of sales. He counter-offered,  I thought it over and bought it. The cost was a bit more than I had hoped to pay but still within reason. 

The corners are decent, there's a scuff along the bottom edge a a stain on the back but considering the $1000+ examples I had been seeing I am more than happy with this one. It puts me at 40 high numbers away from the finish. That includes the spendy Carew rookie. But that one isn't as bad as the Seaver. 

I'll get there. Finishing this thing and maybe my '62 Post set are my 2021 hobby goals.

Stuff on my desk Pt 1

Not much new in the world of cards for me in the last few months. Been catching up on books I've been putting off, binge watching The West Wing on Netflix, picking up photos and some '67T high numbers and messing with the '62 Post cards and some Philly Gum sets. 

I have a small stack of stuff that's sitting on my desk awaiting transfer to binders and boxes. Figured I'd scan a few because I had time on my hands after getting knocked out of my home league fantasy football playoffs. 

Here's a poorly cut Daryl Spencer. I have no problems with these being ragged. They were cut out by a lot of clumsy 10-year-olds like me in 1962. He played for the Giants, Cardinals, Dodgers and Reds from 1952 through 1963 but managed to avoid any postseason action.

A couple of Reds kicking off with Gordy Coleman. He was a power hitting Cleveland prospect who was dealt to the Reds in December of 1959 after getting into three games for the Indians. He played for the Reds through early 1967 and has a '61 World Series homer (Game 2, off Ralph Terry) to his credit.

Some kid (I assume) marked the Brosnan card with 'retired'. At least it looks that way. Brosnan actually retired after the '63 season. He was a solid relief pitcher who later wrote a couple of well received (and rather controversial) books about his time in the game.

These (the Olszewski above and Smith below) are customs I made for my fantasy football player binder. I hate spending on guys I only have for a week or two and who have only hard-to-find cards or none at all.

Here are a couple of cards I bought to fill out an order and I scanned because I had room on the platen.

 

 

I recently made a nice dent in my '67 needs with a purchase of high numbers and a few 'name' players. Killebrew was one. Nice Yankee Stadium shot. 

Steve Blass, he of the complete career collapse. The bunting on the railing behind him had me confused. This must be an Opening Day photo because he wasn't in the postseason or an All Star Game at this point.

J.C. Martin whose out of the base line trek to first in the '69 Series pretty much summed up the shit show I endured that fall.

I liked him better in 1960 when he appeared on a card disguised as Gary Peters.

Earl...1969

 I haven't done much hobby-wise lately and really haven't had the need to post much of what I have picked up. The photo seller's store I like to prowl through on eBay had a big promo running recently and I grabbed a bunch. Here are the two baseball news-wire shots I bought. Both Earl Weaver pics from 1969. Both are 101% Earl, too. For both pics I've enlarged the cutline for easier reading.

In this one he's arguing with Larry Napp. It's over game three of the '69 Series play involving Jim Palmer and Bud Harrelson who had been caught in a rundown after being picked off first. The play (and the call) ended up being of little consequence. Unlike the terribly botched JC Martin debacle later in the Series.

The second photo is Earl in a much different mood. The Orioles had wrapped up the AL East that day in mid-September. Just like Earl, I was a happy guy!!

Just a note here...I had a bunch of comments in the queue that were awaiting moderation. I haven't been getting notifications from Blogger so I must apologise if you posted something and never saw it show up. I had been getting a bunch of spam comments and went to moderation settings some time back. I may just remove the filter and see how it goes.

Pass The Milk, Please

A few more from my 1962 Post Cereal pickup...

Figured I'd toss up some National Leaguers since my last post (no pun intended) focused on AL guys. NL players got the red trim although a few errors occurred where they had blue grid lines around their stats. I'm very likely to blow those variations off. No need to build a master set when I'm gonna collect these in 'over-excited-nine-year-old-cut-these-out' condition.

The always underappreciated John Roseboro kicks this thing off. The Dodgers are the first team in the checklist for the Senior Circuit. The AL got the first hundred cards, the NL the next hundred in this 200 card set. Which reminds me...I was curious how Post decided the order of the teams in the checklist. They are aligned close to their 1961 finish, but not exactly. Obviously, the Dodgers didn't win the NL pennant in '61. The Reds did that and they are second in the checklist.

I did a bit of digging and played a hunch. Sure enough, the teams were numbered in the order of the major league standing in early- to mid-August, 1961. Between August 7th and 13th, the teams' spots in the standings and checklists matched with the only exception being following the games on the 11th. So that's the week the set must have been planned. Worth noting is that there were 10 AL clubs and 8 NL clubs in 1961. Fans of the newly formed Mets and Colt .45s didn't have player cards to look for on their boxes of Grape-Nuts in 1962. On a positive note, the NL teams got more players per team.

Player success and popularity have a bearing on the cost of these things but scarcity is an even bigger factor. Some players were included on the backs of less popular cereal and so fewer of their cards were snipped from boxes and put into kids' collections. There seem to be plenty of Ed Mathews cards out there.

My Santo is pretty brutal. He appears to be bothered by that fact.

The 'V' or checkmark that appears on my Mossi was on every card I received in my original lot purchase. No issue for me. 

Killer got the V for Victory treatment as well.

Back to NL guys. I think I like the red elements more than the blue of the AL cards.  I've given some thought to 'trimming' some of the cards where there is room to do so. I could 'fix' the Elroy Face card's top with an X-Acto blade, for example. No need to though, I'll never get these things graded.

Ruben Amaro was portraited by his son, Ruben Jr, a player/coach/executive, on a couple of episodes of The Goldbergs. Amaro Jr. went to the same school that's featured in the show and was attended by Adam Goldberg who based it on his life. That's a weird fact.

1962 Post Cereal

As my '67 Topps chase reached the point where I was looking at only needing the high number SPs, I figured I could take up an oddball-ish set just for grins. I happened upon a Net54 member looking to dump a nice, big starter set of 1962 Post Cereal cards at a bargain price. Right up my alley.

I had a lot of these back in the day. In '62 my siblings were just about the age where they would want cereal for breakfast and I, as a pre-teen, loved the stuff. (Honey Comb and Alpha bits were my favored Post offerings) Add in the fact that there was a family down the street with about six boys junior high age and younger, and there were plenty of these floating around my block.

My goal here is just to collect the cards. I don't care at all whether or not they were cut straight, folded, or have kids' names written in the blank backs. These were trimmed from box backs with blunt, dull scissors for the most part and I think that adds to their charm.

The lot I bought was mostly American Leaguers. And there were plenty of stars in it.

I also found quite a few more at a card seller's store online and grabbed more cheap ones. That bunch got me this mantle.

I had a Pierce in my BP collection but I needed one for this binder so for a buck I grabbed this one. 

I also found some of the last inexpensive '67s that I needed and those will get posted soon. 

Charley Maxwell, aka Paw Paw...aka The Yankee Killer. He sure resembles some TV personality but I can't quite figure out who it is.

Anyway, I'll have a wantlist up and if you have any of these that are collecting dust, I'd be happy to swap for 'em.