Epic Card Show Fail

 

OK, so it wasn't that big a deal but yesterday, for the first time I can recall, I attended a card show and walked away with every dime I brought with me. Blame it on my quirky wants, blame it on the explosion of interest in shiny stuff, blame it on the pandemic. But whatever is to blame, it felt weird. 

Coming home empty handed really was the result of all of the above excuses. I don't have much on my want-lists that dealers carry to small shows in the best of times.... '67 High Number SPs, '62 Post Cereal, '75 Topps Minis, and an admittedly odd selection of non-sport sets. The tables yesterday reflected the current trends in collecting. There were plenty of boxes of what I suppose are the kinds of cards people are in line for at Target these days. Display cases were generally filled with 'hits'.

Daryll, the promoter and my friend, did a great job with the show, the first hotel show since last year. COVID protocols were in place and enforced. I should note here that my wife, my mother-in-law, and myself are all fully vaccinated. If not for that I likely wouldn't have gone at all. 

He cut back on tables to give plenty of room for social distancing. But some of that is the reason for my striking out. With fewer tables the dealers cut back on what they brought. I normally spend at least 75% of my time at the hotel shows at Daryll's own tables since he usually has tons of vintage stuff. But he's limited what he brings and only sets up a few tables to give more to the dealers. After all, it's table rentals that pay for the room.

I struck out card-wise but getting to chat with Daryll for a bit made the trip worthwhile. And it was nice to get out of the house for a bit. I stopped at a few stores on the way home and bought binders and other hobby supplies so that made the trip worthwhile.  

Meanwhile, I have a few things that were picked up in my latest SportsLots binge and an eBay buy or two. The '62 Post Cereal McCovey up top brought me to just five remaining. There are also some variations out there which I don't plan to chase. If they fall into my lap I'd take them of course. I also added Juan Marichal. His card is a bit pricey but after a day or so of combing through eBay looking at '67 Topps SPs like the Rod Carew rookie, it doesn't seem so expensive. And it really is as nice as the scan shows. That level of condition is rare for a set that was generally cut from the backs of boxes by 10-year-olds with dull scissors.

Over on Twitter a hobby friend showed a couple of cards from a set I was unaware of, the 1968 Topps/Milton Bradley Hot Rods. I commented on them and did some digging. They reminded my of the George Barris 'Kustoms' that we loved as kids and he was gracious enough to send me the cards. Turns out I had a couple of these stashed away in a box of oddball singles and strays and had completely forgotten about them.

This turned out to be a 66 card set without any rarities so I'll work on it casually for now. I found a dozen or so being sold by an eBay dealer so I'm at 16 or so. Finding them, not cost, is the challenge. That's a much more enjoyable hobby predicament than wondering if nabbing the remaining 26 Topps 67s will take my whole stimulus check. 

There are some back color variations. The story behind these is a bit murky (I've read a couple of conflicting accounts) but I'm not going to worry about any of that. They will make a nice companion to the World On Wheels binder.

No Upgrade Needed!

Not long ago Shane, the Shoebox Legend himself, messaged me and asked if I'd be interested in a '61 Juan Marichal rookie which happened to be the last non-high number I lacked in that set. He warned me that it wasn't mint and there was some paper loss on the back. He'd picked it up at an antique store at a good price and thought I could use it until I found a better one.

Well, Shane has never looked through my vintage binders. 😁 If he had he'd have seen that a little back damage never stands between me and an open slot. And that's especially true when I'm down to just the most expensive open slot-fillers.

The Marichal card (and a few friends that came along for the ride) arrived Saturday and I'm happy to report that it's a fine fit in my 1961 set build. The damage is no big deal and the card is really in fine shape. I can think of several cards (I'm looking at you, 1960 Nellie Fox All-Star) that I have in sets with more significant issues than this sweet Marichal.

The fact that for my money (or maybe Shane's?) this is one of the cooler cards in the 1961 set.  Marichal always had a million dollar smile and it's shown off here.

I'm telling you if I had won this card 'flipping leaners' in the schoolyard at St. Mary's in Nutley N.J. in May of 1961 I'd have been thrilled.

 And Marichal finished off a binder page, a really nice binder page at that. He shares the top row with Hank Aaron and Dock Howser, the runner-up for AL RoY in 1961. The sweet Charlie Neal card is gravy.

It comes right before this one which I posted back in January.

Five Hall of Famers, three Rookie Star cards and that mis-numbered error Braves team card within 16 binder slots of each other.

Shane sent along some other cards as well. My most unlikely PC is Bobby Locke. I kicked that one off when I lucked into pulling a signed card in a Heritage pack a few years ago. After that, I added the few Topps cards that were available and some fun oddballs. I also had found a '68 buyback issued in 2015.

Packed with the Marichal were two more buybacks. I'm not sure which stamp was issued in which year but I'm sure I can find out easily enough.  Doh....this first one is a 2017.

This next one is stamped with the 75th-anniversary foil mark so Google tells me it's 2014.

Along with them were a few shiny Orioles. Cards are the only thing associated with the Orioles that does any shining lately.

Schoop will find a place in my fantasy player binder. This one boots out some plain jane Heritage card.

I miss JJ Hardy. And Chris Tillman is not on the Texas Rangers roster. Nor anyone else's as far as I can see. The two guys that came to the O's for Erik Beddard from Seattle in 2008, Tillman and Adam Jones, are without baseball work. Time marches on I guess.

Do I have to give up my Orioles fan club membership when I admit that I have no clue what Luis Matos did?

OK, Google to the rescue again...he played in Charm City for SEVEN SEASONS!! Who knew? Not me!

Soccer cards! Mbappé starred in the 2018 World Cup and plays professionally for Paris Saint-Germain. He's ridiculously talented. Paul Pogba, who did a Manny Machado-like reputation nose-dive over the past year, has had a nice resurgence under the new Man United manager. Thank God.

And this next card has a story, too. It was one of a pair that Shane used as a buffer on the outside of the stack he sent. Kind of like some eBay sellers will do. A 'bonus' with a job to do in a way. Well, this Kendrick went straight from the scanner to my fantasy football baseball (I had the fb one on my desk 😵) binder since I needed a card of him as an Angel to replace the (wrong team) Dodgers card that was in the binder. Yes, I am that anal when it comes to that collection.

Again, Shane...Thanks so much for the most generous trade package. It is appreciated.

You meet the best people in this hobby, yes?

1966 Baseball 'Rag'...True's Baseball Yearbook

I love love love old baseball mags. This one was a virtual 'throw-in' to an eBay purchase I made recently. I would usually buy one of these type of magazines every spring. I always bout the Street and Smith annual, and I got the Sporting News but I'd grab one of these 'junk' mags, too. This one is typical with superstar photos and breathless article teasers on the cover. I'm kind of surprised that none of them announce a player being 'at the crossroads'. There always seemed to be an article about some player in that situation..."Johnny Callison...at the crossroads!" or some such foolishness.

This is the index page. There are some two page 'feature' articles (see below), a 'Gallery of Stars'..i.e. one picture/one paragraph stories on several players. Note that the cover calls them 'Exciting" articles. Ooookaaay.

I'll give True credit for having some big name writers as contributors. Bill Libby, George Vecsey, Maury Allen and Leonard Koppett are familiar names to those of us old enough to have followed the game back then.


Here is Libby's Koufax story. Note the first paragraph swipe at Cassius Clay!

No mag worth it's salt could skip a story on the Yankees, even in down times.

I love this shot of Yogi Berra getting the heave-ho. Norm Siebern of the O's looks rather bemused by it all.

This is the one page feature on Juan Marichal.

Most teams got a two page spread previewing their '66 season. This is the orioles' entry:

For my Yankee fan friends. I knew this team very well.

Oh baby, True did NOT like the Red Sox. And they only got one page.

No self-respecting 60's baseball magazine would be complete without some classic ads. Here's one I don't recall ever seeing. It's for a product call the 'Dippy Disk'. It's not real clear from the ad but I assume it's some sort of 'flat' baseball that is made to curve when thrown. Sort of like a Frisbee I suppose. When I read this I was instantly reminded of Eddie Murray's story of how he and his brothers learned to hit by swinging at plastic coffee can lids.

And of course I think it was a government regulation that every magazine carry a Joe Weider advertisement. This was True's back cover. Back then, and even today, I find this mildly disturbing.

If these old mags weren't such a pain to scan I'd post a bunch more.

EDIT....For Joe Shlabotnik....

Kenny Boyer? Who the heck thinks of him as a Met? I don't and I saw him play there. Went back to look at his stats and I was reminded that he also played for the White Sox and Dodgers. I'm losing memory, fast.

Some '64 Topps Giants Hall of Famers

Sorted and scanned a bunch of my '64 Topps Giants cards. I'm still 10 short of completing it but I plan to knock it off this summer when I'll have more time.

I'd love to know where the Bob Gibson shot was taken. That looks like a hotel in the background. Maybe Spring Training. I loved watching Gibson but I've told my Gibson stories a few times already so I'll spare you a repeat.

I'l post one card-back. Here is the Gibson.

Ron Santo was elected by the Veteran's Committee a few years ago. He had a real 'cult' backing his bid for election. I'm glad he made it.

Juan Marichal. This linked SI story about the epic Marichal-Spahn duel in July of 1963 is a great read!

Frank Robinson. I have so much 'Robby as an Oriole' stuff that sometimes seeing him in Reds gear makes me blink once or twice. Gorgeous uniform though, isn't it?

Three Aces

I bought a pack of 2013 Gypsy Queen before I went on vacation a couple of weeks ago and they came out of the pack looking a lot like the previous versions. Nothing wrong with that, but I'm not inspired to buy more of them. I was lucky enough to get a Bob Gibson.

He's a member of my "Favorite NL Pitchers Trio". The other two members of that little club of mine are Juan Marichal and Sandy Koufax. I checked and found that they also had GQ cards in this year's set.

I had some PayPal money burning a hole in my pocket so I went to eBay with the idea of completing the trio and that's what I did.

Of the three I like the Koufax the best.

So that'll do it for my '13 Gypsy Queen experiences. Unlike the last couple of years I'm going pass on buying any more packs to save my money for something else.

Heartbreaking Cards from Matt

I received a surprise envelope from Matt of Heartbreaking Cards fame on Monday. Those kind of surprises are especially welcome. Here is what he included:

Dig this one. 1967 Topps N. League (N. League? I never noticed that before) ERA Leaders. I'm always rambling about how much I like these leaders cards with the list of players on the back. I'd spend lots of time as a kid studying the numbers. Is this one scarred? Yes, but who cares, look who's on the front...Sandy Koufax, Mike Cuellar and Juan Marichal!!! I have collections of all three. I sat next to Cuellar in the Astrodome at a game in 1968 and he became a favorite of mine.

Look at Koufax's ERA... 1.76 One point Seven Six. LOL

A couple of Lance Berkmans. The first of these is a patch card that's about as thick a card as I've ever seen. My kids and I have followed Lance since his days at Rice. His leaving the 'Stros was a day of mourning for my boys. He's had some tough luck lately and I just heard he got hurt again this week. 

Wei-Yin Chen A&G. The 20 years of Camden Yards patch is a nice touch. I like cards that show sleeve patches front and center.

A Mike Cuellar issued by Topps in 2005. Someone who collected in those days can clue me in as to whether this was a regular issue card or some sort of insert, subset, etc. The modern card stuff confuses me. But either way it's a nice addition to my Cuellar binder pages. 

Finally here's the immortal Johnny Unitas on a Allen & Ginter's Yankee Stadium Tribute mini card. The back mentions that it was a National card show promo. This looks like a variation of my eTopps Johnny Unitas card except I can actually scan this baby. 

Thanks so very much Matt. Again I find that this hobby has some very generous and thoughtful people in it.

1969 Topps #572 Giants Heroes

Two great players. One cool card. 

I saw Juan Marichal go 13 plus innings against the Mets in 1969 and lose on a Tommy Agee homer in the 14th. That wasn't the last time Agee pissed me off in 1969. I vaguely recall seeing Marichal pitch in Houston but I don't remember anything about what he did.

I do remember that Willie McCovey hit a whistling foul that banged off the armrest of the seat in front of me one night in the Astrodome. That thing was spinning and buzzing as it ricocheted past my ear. Scared the crap out of me. That was the closest I ever came to getting a ball at a game (or getting killed at a game) until earlier this season when my wife was hit with a foul at an Astros-Cardinals game.

Upper Deck Marichal Sweet Spot

There's a TriStar card show coming to Houston next weekend. I still call them 'card' shows but I guess the proper term is 'memorabilia' shows. They are big and dominated by dealers selling other things than just cards. By the size of the lines and what the promotional flyers that I get tell me, autographs are the big draw.

I'm not complaining. I collect all kinds of sports 'stuff' and there are still enough card dealers to satisfy my wants in that area as well. Other than when I looking for '59s I never have a 'game plan' for the shows. I buy on impulse.

At the last show I attended there was a dealer who had a big box of game used cards that he was selling for a few dollars each. I think the highest price he had one any was $5. I'm still new enough in my return to modern card collecting that the 'shine' of these things hasn't worn off.

I bought a handful of these and paid maybe ten or twelve dollars. I was really impressed that I could have a piece of a Juan Marichal uni. I loved watching him pitch when he was in his glory days. Saw him a bunch, too. My best friend was a Giant fan, as was his father. We'd hit up the Giants are Shea frequently. Marichal wasn't my favorite Giant, Jim Ray Hart held that distinction, but he sure was fun to watch.