Tales from the Card Show

OK, I really don't have any 'tales' of this past Saturday's hotel card show. I didn't even stay that long. But I did bring back a rather large piece of a set I've been working on (off and on) for a very long time...the Pete Maravich rookie from the 70/71 Topps hoops set.

It's a weird and wonderful set, maybe the last set I bought from packs before college life took over and I put collecting on a back burner. I'm waiting on an Amazon delivery of the six pocket sheets these cards require. I'm going to finally get this one organized and make an attempt to finish it in 2018.

It's also one of those sets in which the backs are more interesting than the fronts. The Pistol gets a glowing write-up on this one to go along with his vitals, his college numbers (he averaged over 44 points a game at LSU) and a cartoon that mentions that his father (Press Maravich) was his college coach.

I never saw Pete play in person as a collegian but I had just started working for the UH Rec/IM department when LSU played in a holiday season tournament against the Cougars in the Astrodome in 1971/72. Press was still their coach but the Coogs prevailed.

Speaking of the University of Houston....I was thrilled to see Case Keenum's magical moment on Sunday. That last play TD pass to Stefon Diggs and the ensuing media attention is something Case richly deserves after a long uphill fight to grab a bit of NFL glory. He was overlooked coming out of high school (UH was his only offer), ignored by the Heisman voters despite his eye-popping stats, spurned by the NFL scouts ('too small, weak arm, system qb' etc)and undervalued by the teams he played for. He's a class guy who deserves every second in the spotlight.

Houston's first alum to play QB in the NFL was this guy, Bobby Clatterback who was drafted by the New York Football Giants in 1954. He was a 27th round pick! He muscled his way past a couple of much higher previous picks to win the back-up job in New York and played for several years before finishing with the AFL's LA Chargers in 1960.

I guess finding his 1955 Bowman in the dollar bin at the show on Saturday should have tipped me off that Case was destined for a memorable weekend.

Almost all the hockey cards I add to my collection come through the generosity of fellow bloggers. But I managed to find a couple of Rangers in the bargain bins. Unless you were a Rangers fan in the 60s and early 70s it's hard to fathom just how popular Rod Gilbert was.

Jean Ratelle partnered with Gilbert and Vic Hatfield on a line known as the "GAG Line"...as in Goal A Game. When the Rangers traded him AND Brad Park to the Bruins for Phil Esposito I was beside myself.

These cards are from the 1969/70 Topps set. That was my last year to live in hockey country. I don't remember the stamps that apparently were inserts and were supposed to be applied to the back of the cards. The Cardboard Connection site says this:

Any card that has a stamp attached to its back will be considered to be damaged. 

To which I bull. Those stamps are awesome additions!

I grabbed a few other vintage cheapies as well. No specific reason other than I liked them and I knew that Darrell, the show promoter whose tables I haunt, would knock the price down to nearly nothing since I was buying the Maravich from him.

Love the old Browns uni and mascot on Lou Groza's 1955 Bowman. 

Of course Topps bought Bowman the following year and used the same pic on his '57 card.

Chuck Bednarik was famous for being a two-way player. He was a center and linebacker for the Eagles and was the guy old farts always mentioned when they were comparing the 'toughness' of then-current players and those of days gone by. I once bought a large print of the famous Bednarik photo of him standing over a KO'd Frank Gifford and was intending to mail it to him for signing when he passed away in 2015. He was a prolific signer who famously would inscribe a few lines about the hit. Check out the video below the '56 Topps I bought.

George Shaw's '56 Topps was one of several Colts cards I bought because they had a chance to be better than the ones in my All Time Colts collection binder. Shaw's card wasn't but one or two others were.

Finally I selected this 1956 Sandy Amoros. Why?  #1) I dig the set (who doesn't?) #2) It's got Yogi Berra there on the card, a fun guest appearance and #3) I'm sure someone out there needs this card.

That's pretty much all I could do in my short visit. I grabbed a few cards for some other bloggers but Darrell seems to have rotated his oddball box off his tables which was a disappointment. He had some real gems in that thing in months past. I forgot to ask him about it. 

The huge TriStar show blows through Houston next month. It's always fun to wander around a couple of hundred dealer tables of 'stuff'. Negotiating around the lines of folks waiting for the (seemingly) 4000 autograph signers..well that's a different story.

1956 Topps Baltimore Colts

I knew going in that my Baltimore Colts vintage card quest would mean two things. First of all I'd have a big project that would be fun and occupy my time for months and second of all the posts that came out of it would be mostly ignored.

So be it. I know football cards are not particularly popular in the blogging world but ya gotta do what ya gotta do, and so here we are. These three '56 Topps cards are part of my recent eBay binge. And they are probably typical of the cards that will fill out my checklists, used but not abused.

George Shaw is the 'guy before Johnny Unitas' in my Colts' addled mind. He was drafted in '55, started that season and then lost his job to the great Unitas in '56 following a minor injury. Here is something I just learned today...Shaw was the Vikings starter in their first game ever. He played the first half of their 1961 opener against the Bears, went 2 for 3 passing and made way for Fran Takenton. I see a pattern here.

Bert Rechichar shows up in almost every Colts set from the 50s. He played both offense and defense and served as their kicker for many years. As the card states he set the then-NFL record with a 56 yard FG in his first attempt ever. He played a year for the Browns prior to his tenure with the Colts and played baseball in the Indians' farm system.

this is how all team cards should look.. I count six NFL Hall of Famers on this one: Ray Berry, Weeb Ewbank, Don Shula, Gino Marchetti and Artie Donovan. Buddy Young, who should be in the Hall of Fame for his on and off the field contributions to the NFL, is also here.

The back of the card is pretty neat as well. Love the blurb about the Colts fans buying the season tickets to assure the teams existence. The item about the Colts 'reentering Pro Ball in '54' is not accurate. The Colts were one of the teams from the AAFL that were absorbed by the NFL for 1950. After one season they folded. They 'reentered' as an 'expansion' team in 1953, not '54. The Colts 1953 club was actually the remnants of the '52 Dallas Texans but that's neither here nor there. The fact is that Baltimore was back in 'Pro Ball' in 1953.

'56 Topps Lenny Moore

I'm a big Lenny Moore fan. I was too young to appreciate him in his early years with the Colts but as he played into the mid-60s I got to see some of his amazing talent on display. Lenny is still around and I think he still does card shows. I met him once at a function in Baltimore that my uncle took me to and he was a super guy when visiting with all the guests.

I had my eye on this card for quite awhile. Graded copies were too expensive and I never found a reasonable ungraded one that wasn't beaten all to hell. Finally this one popped up online some time back as a buy-it-now on eBay for only $15. It was in better shape than a lot of the examples I've seen for much more. From what I understand the Moore card is notorious for having centering issues which is one reason a nice conditioned graded one is out of sight price-wise.

This is a cool card from a fun set but it isn't my favorite Lenny Moore card. I just picked up that card recently and I'll post it next week. I'll save most of my Lenny Moore chatter for that post.

The 1956 Topps football set ranks behind the 1955 Bowman in my mind but it has a lot going for it. The set includes 120 large size cards, which measure 2 5/8" by 3 5/8". I read someplace that vending machines that sold the cards had larger cards. I may be hallucinating that because I can't find where I read it.

The cards were issued in a single series, but the Redskins' and Chicago Cardinals' cards were printed in smaller quantities. An unnumbered checklist was also issued and five unnumbered 'contest' cards as well. The contest cards were to be filled out (with game scores) and sent back for prizes. That are very tough to find as I'd guess most kids either tossed them or sent them in. The checklist is tough, too. Team cards were included for this first time in a football set.

Some prominent Hall of Famers among the 120 cards are Y. A. Tittle (#86), Lou Groza (#9), George Blanda (#11), Bobby Layne (#116) and Frank Gifford (#53) and the key rookie cards from this set besides this Lenny Moore include #41 Roosevelt Brown and #101 Rosey Grier. Each team's players had matching colors. I think that adds to the appeal.

I've got a dozen of so out of the set but I don't see myself chasing the whole thing. I would like to finish off the Colts in the set and maybe pick up a Tittle and Layne. If I was to try completing a '50s football set the '55 Bowman would probably be the one.

I have some of the Hall of Fame players from the '56 Topps which I will save for another post. Meanwhile here are some other Baltimore Colts from the set that are in my collection.