More Topps License Plates and Post Cereal ones, too!

Here's a follow-up to my first post about the 1953 Topps License Plates set I'm dabbling in. I found the New York plate I wanted and grabbed several more. I doubt I'll ever try to collect all 75 but they are cheap enough so I'll give it some thought after I finish up my other projects.

The rest of these were bought because I have some (usually tenuous) connection to the state..or just because they caught my eye.

I really like the cowboy image which Wyoming still uses, I think I bought the Massachusetts plate because it's close to a clone of the one on my car.

Colorado still uses the 'Colorful Colorado' slogan, or at least they did not long ago.

The set had plates from some foreign countries as well as US states and Canadian provinces. I bought both of the Swiss plates I saw.

Two from north of the border.

I've been thru Delaware many times. Best part is that it's the starting point for the neat ride on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry.

Not going to post all the backs of these....just a state, province and one of the Swiss 'Cantons' which are more or less the equivalent of  our 'states'. I read the Wikipedia entry and it's still 'swiss' to me. This link goes to the Trading Card DB checklist if you are interested.

In 1960 Post cereal boxes came with state plates as part of the boxes. There were 50 in the set and like Posts' baseball and football sets of that era they were intended to be cut out by hand. The backs are blank. 

I bought two, New York and Maryland, in the same COMC (or eBay..I forget) purchase as the Topps ones here. As you can see the info included here under the plate image is similar to the backs of the Topps items. 

These things are a bit 'taller' than standard sized trading cards.and just a bit narrower. I scanned one with a horizontal current Topps card for comparison. And they are similarly priced. I think they were a couple of dollars each.

License plates are a neat little item. My dad worked for Shell Oil's tax branch when we were growing up and was transferred back and forth between New York and Houston a couple of times in the 60s. As a family we made the trips by car and cataloging the plates we came across was one way to kill the time. That's one reason these have caught my eye I suppose.

1953 Topps License Plates

Sometimes Often I buy stuff and have absolutely no good reason to do so. And sometimes it works out. Like the Batman Sketch Card project. I'm enjoying the hell of of that. I'm past a page of them now and still digging.

These 1953 Topps License Plates are a whole different matter. If I knew at some point that they existed I long ago forgot about them. When someone posted one on a blog a few months back I thought having a Maryland or New Jersey one would be cool.

I looked at COMC and found a bunch for about two bucks each. The fact that I went that route is weird, I never think to look for non-sports on COMC even after buying some Civil War News cards there.

Except for that California plate I have some sort of connection with each of these states.

I've lived in Maryland, New Jersey and Texas. I've visited (and come to love) Nebraska since my son was recruited by UNL and ended up going there. The only state I failed for find was New York. That's the other state I've lived in. I'll track one of those down at some point.

The backs of these things are more interesting than the front. I remember having to learn all the state capitals in elementary school. Some of the facts have changed in the 63 or so years since these were produced. I think 'largest city' is the same for all five. But 'population' have changed for all of them of course.

The Nebraska State Capitol building is just a block or two off the Husker campus. It's worth a visit if you are ever in Lincoln. Nebraska's population is now 1.9 million (as of 2013), about a half million higher than 1953. Each of those folks was at the Husker football games I attended.

I've never been to California. The population is now 38.3 million. That's a far cry from the 10.5 million of 1953.

Last month I was back in the Texas State Capitol building in Austin lobbying to protect teachers retirement benefits and pensions. As if they cared. Other notes of interest from the Texas card....the speed limit is now 80 in some parts of the state. And on a few roads I've been on doing 80 will get you run over. The 7.7 million people have now become 26.5 million. Nearly all of those people drive like idiots in pickup trucks.

The population of my home state of Maryland has risen from 2.3 million to just under 6 million. I'm ashamed to say I've never visited Annapolis. We hope to fix that the next time the University of Houston plays Navy up there in 2018. I like that the plate is orange and black, Orioles colors!

And last but not least, New Jersey. I was born in Maryland, lived in New York but I was mostly raised in New Jersey. In many ways it's my 'home' state. I have a shirt that shows the state with a slogan that reads: 'New Jersey, everyone hates us and we don't care!'.  I get a lot of comments on it. BTW..the population has about doubled to almost 9 million. I swear my Uncle Gerald knows at least 2/3 of them.

So, these were actually more fun to post than I thought they'd be. Now I'm off to find the New York plate.

Friday night Update:

Found a NY and a few more on eBay. And a Post Cereal version from 1960. I'll post those when they arrive.

For Mark H.: 3 3/4" wide by 1 7/8" tall. Like so................

1953 Topps #15 Bobo Newsom

I've really been enjoying Classon Ave's Adventures in 1952 Topps blog. I'll never be able to put that set together but it'll be fun watching him do it. And like me, he's not all that concerned about condition so it's an attainable goal.

One night I got to wondering how many of the players pictured on the '52 set had played with or against Babe Ruth. With his last season being 1935 I knew it was probable that a handful of the older players had done so. I was just beginning my informal research* when the name Bobo Newsom popped up. I'd heard his name come up before but didn't really know much about him.

Turns out that Bobo Newsom was a heck of a colorful character. He pitched for twenty years beginning in 1929 and 1930 with cups of coffee in Brooklyn. After an inning with the Cubs in 1932 and 30 win minor league season(!) Bobo found himself in a starting role with the St. Louis Browns in '34. And as such he faced the Yankees six times that year, five starts and a relief appearance. In those games Ruth was in the line-up for the Bombers four times and he went 4 for 14 off Bobo, all of his hits being singles.

In 1935 Ruth was playing out the string with one last early season fling in Boston with the Bees (Braves) and Bobo was still in the AL with the Browns so the two never again faced each other in a regular game. Newson's best days were perhaps his Tiger seasons in the early 40's. In the 1940 World Series against Cincinnati he pitched and won Games One and Five and then went out and lost a tough 2-1 decision to the Reds in the decisive Game Seven.

Newsom kicked around the majors through 1948 while putting together both 20 win and 20 loss seasons here and there. He spent the 1949 through 1951 seasons in the minors and operating a drive-in diner and then returned to the majors in 1952 and '53 with the Nats and A's.

Turns out he didn't have a card in the 1952 set but he returned to cardboard acclaim as part of the 1953 Topps offering. So he wasn't part of my personal "52 Topps guys+Babe Ruth" subset but was interesting as hell and he DID face Ruth.

I went hunting and found a bunch of Newson's '53 cards online and picked up this one for next to nothing. It's off center (ok, seriously off-center) but it's otherwise a beauty. Bobo looks like he'd be a million laughs at a party, doesn't he?

Do yourself a favor and read his SABR bio. Turns out 'Bobo' wasn't just his nickname, it was what he called just about everyone else. He worked as part of the Orioles broadcasting crew in the mid '50s and appeared on a pair of the Esskay Meats cards distributed at that time. I found a few pics online. Here is one of them. Once again Bobo has that twinkle in his eye! These are well outta my price range I'm sure. Too bad.

*=I believe the answer is three, Dutch Leonard who pitched for the Dodgers in 1935 but didn't face Ruth, Al Benton who faced Ruth in four games as a pitcher for the Athletics in 1934 and Newsom. Several other guys came close. Johnny Mize debuted the season after Ruth retired as did a few others.