1972 Sunoco Sticker 'Updates'

Here's something that won't interest many (any? LOL) but it sure made me happy. The 1972 Sunoco Stamps Baltimore Colts issue was part of a semi-national gas station premium that featured 24 players from each NFL team plus an album.

The initial group of 24 Colts was easy to find in a lot on eBay, as was the album. What was much more difficult were the two 'new player' stickers which were what amounted to an update to the original group.

Back in October I found a seller who had these things. I sent him an offer for the two Colts and then the listing disappeared. But the seller contacted me and said he'd relist them for the price I offered and that was that. It was all sort of weird but in the end I picked up what amounted to a pair of minor 'white whales'. 

Yes, the two new player stickers actually have 'NEW PLAYER' printed on the bottom. Here is the post from early 2015 in which I included these things as part of my Baltimore Colts Card History series. Below are a couple of the regular issue stickers.

EDIT:

Sports Collectors Digest had an article on these stamps earlier in 2017. No mention of the added players but still informative.

Randy Burke Customs

My ongoing interest in obtaining a Randy Burke card for my Fantasy Football collection reached it's natural conclusion when I ordered a couple of custom cards to be made from photos I've picked up in the last year or so. I had previously made my own custom cards but while they looked OK I really had no way to produce a quality professional-looking two sided cards.

The backstory I discussed here previously. In a nutshell I finally determined that the 'card' I had been searching for was actually a team issued photo. I'm not sure if they were distributed to the public or were exclusively used as publicity stills.

In the end I found and purchased two copies of the pic, neither of which was without flaws. The photos are below, the one on the left had red ink bleeding thru from the newspaper archives stamping on the reverse. The other had crop markings.

But using my very rudimentary graphics skills I pieced together a clean copy (below) that I was able to made use of for the first card.

The final product, which is posted at the top and arrived late last week, came out really well I thought. Clean, simple design that reminds me of regional issues. The finish is shiny and the card stock, while not as thick as a '56 Topps, is better than the current Archives release. I'm very happy with it. Here is the back:

The second card was made using a photo I purchased from the Baltimore Sun archives. It shows Burke as a rookie being fitted for his helmet by the Colts' equipment manager. Here is the original pic. Below that I've posted the caption.

I cropped the shot and didn't bother to try to eliminate any of the gray 'painted over' area that the Sun photo editor applied. Turns out it doesn't detract all that much from the finished card:

The reverse is identical to the first card.

I ordered some extras and sent them along to Randy Burke as I've discovered that he didn't have any cards from his career. That's not surprising given that nothing seems to have been issued. I'm hoping he likes them and I've asked that he sign one of each for me. I'll post if he does.

So my collection 'white whale' has been reeled in. Not exactly as I had envisioned it many years ago when I first went on the hunt for a card of every player on my fantasy rosters but in many ways it's even better. Thanks to Shelley at Customcardboard for the nice work!

I Need This Card!!

Yes, whatever it is, I need it. And I'm willing to pay dearly for it!

While researching one of my Monday Morning Quarterback posts I was looking through old transaction logs for my fantasy team and the name Jose Cortez popped at me. He was a 49ers kicker in 2001 when I made a trade that included him as a throw in. I actually started the guy a couple of times.

The problem was I didn't recall seeing a card on him in my fantasy football binder. I checked and sure enough, no Cortez card. For years I've been under the assumption that I had some sort of card for every player I've ever rostered. Some of those cards are homebrews for guys who never had a real one, some are unlicensed custom cards made for suckers like me. But if a guy had a card, even if it was a college card, I had him in my binder.

But I have no Jose Cortex card. This is unacceptable. I did a quick check and didn't find any card for him so I figured I'd just throw one together. But a second search found the card you see up top. It's a 2003 NFL Showdown card, whatever that is. Now the Showdown Card site apparently sells these things and the Cortez is listed for $2. But it's also listed as 'sold out'!?! {See EDIT below} But you can sign up to be on the waiting list. So I did, for whatever that's worth.

It would actually be much better if there was no legit Jose Cortez card as then I could make one and feel like my binder is complete. But with an actual card out there, obscure though it might be, I have an obligation to track it down.

It's a new white whale! The Billy Pierce '59 Bazooka will just have to wait. I won't rest until the 2003 NFL Showdown #281 Jose Cortez card is in my fantasy football binder in the placekicker section. I will have this card some day. Count on it.

EDIT: After writing this post on Saturday I found this page. It seem Jose Cortez went on to a career in law enforcement after his football days but got himself canned for improper conduct on the job. Could that be why his card has 'dried up'? 

OMG... EDIT #2: Apparently I'm not the only blogger who had this card in their sights! I found this post from Spastik Mooss detailing his quest for the same card. And he had more info which might help me. The Showdown cards were made by a game card company. And maybe 2002, not 2003. Live and learn.

1955 Robert Gould Billy Pierce card

Back in February I picked up and posted the Billy Pierce 1955 Robert Gould 'Statue' cheap little plastic toy that had been one of the more elusive pieces on my wantlist. At the time I commented that the card with which the toy was issued was even more scarce and expensive. I hadn't seen one for less than $300 (yes, I track stuff like that).

Two weeks ago or so I was looking for a different Pierce item and this card popped up at less than $100. I figured that if was 'now or never' since there was no telling when another example would appear at that price.

The card is in pretty rough shape but it really isn't too much worse than a lot of the much more expensive examples I've looked at. The original packaging seems to have included a rubber band which was used to attach the figure to the card and that pretty much eliminates the possibility of really pristine cards.

Here is a shot of the toy from the original posting back in February.

What little background I have about these is included in that post. Some additional details came up in the comment section.

The card I bought came in this form (sorry for the lousy scan):

I pay no attention to the grading since I have no idea what the numbers mean. The grade of 'Fair' seems mighty generous unless it's given relative to the other examples of this came card. I scanned the thing and then broke it out of the plastic prison.

It's blank-backed for those interested in that sort of thing:

Just for comparison here is one of the $300+ versions that was on eBay and I had saved a picture of:

If mine is 'fair' this one is easily EX+. Would I rather have this one? Hell, yes. Am I ever going to upgrade the one I have now? Sure, I'll do that the day after the Publisher's Clearinghouse folks show up at my door with balloons.

('68 Topps) Game (Inserts) On!

I got a couple of '68 Topps Game inserts from Jim in Downington a few weeks back (look here for the Robinson boys, Brooks and Frank) and then I got to poking around eBay and COMC just to see what the other cards in the set were going for.

What I found was that of the 33 cards in the set about three quarters of them could be had ungraded but in nice condition for between .69 cents and a buck. Well, hell that's all I needed to see.

I went on a little spree and snatched up 24 or so from COMC including most of the 'common' players and some of the stars. If you exclude the Mays which cost $3.50 the average cost was about .75 cents apiece. That's pretty neat for a set with plenty of late '60s star power.

Granted these cards are inserts, and probably are not for everybody but they are a cool and cheap way to pick up some big names at bargain prices. If they were popular they would not be that cheap. There is a lot of 21 including 14 different and some dupes up on eBay for $10 and change.

I like the Mays card as it appears that whoever did the cut'n'paste-ing for the sets' proofs was more careful with Willie than they were for some of the others.

As I mentioned in that earlier post the pitchers included in the set are a notch (or two or three) below the hitters included. There are 14 Hall of Famers included, none of which are pitchers.

I have bids in on the rest of the set and once I have them in hand I'll post them and the others I have scanned.

One thing I never realized was that the set was available as a boxed set! I saw these cards when they were included as Third Series pack inserts in '68 but never saw the box. I recently found a scan of the box through Google.

I may have a new "white whale"!