Five Cool Commons

Twitter friend Mark Del Franco tossed up a tweet the other evening asking to see collector's favorite commons. I tossed up my '61 Wes Covington as it's one of my favorite cards, common or otherwise. And I thought that idea would make a good post. I know I really need some motivation to post and I appreciate neat commons from vintage sets, so here we are.

I'm sure I've posted each of these five cards in one form or fashion before, either on this blog or one of my set build blogs. These five are here for different reasons but all are among my favorites.

This '57 Charlie Neal card challenges the '61 Covington for artistic appeal. I just love the Ebbets Field background with the Schaefer Beer ad atop the scoreboard, the fencing above the Gem Blades ad, etc. And don't forget that "Schaefer is the one beer to have when you're having more than one."

Don Rudolph's 1959 Topps card looks very ordinary, yes?

But here's the cartoon on the back...

You really do want to read about Don Rudolph's 'dancer' wife. Trust me on this. She's the reason this common is so high on my list.


And Wes Covington appears...

That, my friends, is art. The pose, the bat rack, the uniform (those stirrups!!). The perfect baseball card? It has to be in the running.

I was always a fan of the late Elrod Hendricks. He played and lived with joy and a smile on his face. He never turned down an autograph request and loved talking to fans, especially after his playing days when he was on the Orioles' staff.

This card from the 1975 SSPC set captures him perfectly. Seeing his smile makes me smile. I have a signed copy of this card in my Hendricks binder pages but I like the unsigned one just as much. Hard to beat Ellie's zest for baseball.

The best day I've ever spent in a ballpark came in late June 1970. The Yankees-Indians mid-week, afternoon doubleheader was more fun than one could ever hope for. Tony Horton crawling back to the dugout after whiffing on a Steve Hamilton 'Folly Floater', four dingers by Bobby Murcer, a firecracker tossed from the upper deck that landed at home plate and probably shaved a few years off Ray Fosse's life. And the best baseball brawl I've ever witnessed in person. I did a blog post a few years ago centered on this remarkable day which you can see here.

This card of Vada Pinson from Topps' wonderful 1971 set uses a photo taken during the first game of that doubleheader (with a cameo by Thurman Munson). Every time I see this card I'm reminded of the day my best friend and I spent at Yankee Stadium just weeks before my family made our second, and permanent, move to Houston.

So there they are, five commons I love. I'm sure there are many more I could include in a list of commons I treasure but it would take something remarkable to bounce one of these off my list.

I'd love to see other bloggers' lists.

North Texas Card Show

I woke up early this past Saturday and headed up I-45 through Dallas and on to the North Texas Card Show staged at the Comerica Center in Frisco which is the Dallas Stars' practice facility among other things. It was a four hour trip and was the first time I'd traveled out of town for a card show since the National was held twice in Arlington, Texas in 1986 and 1990.

It was a nice 'medium' sized show, bigger than the hotel meeting room shows I hit all the time but smaller than the TriStar events. About 200 tables I'd say.

They had several former members of the Dallas Cowboys as autograph guests and I had no interest in them but I hadn't remembered that former major leaguer Eddie Robinson was going to be there. He served in the Navy during WWII and then played 13 seasons of baseball in the American League. He played for 7 of the 8 AL teams that existed during his career. He was a favorite of my Yankees fan father who always told me Robinson was under-appreciated as a ballplayer. He was pretty spry for a 98-year-old and I asked him to sign a copy of his book to me. Many years ago I came across one of his game-used gloves that he had signed at some point. I have it in storage and wish I had paid more attention to the show flyer and ads. I would have dug it out and brought it along.

There were several of the major auction houses with booths at the show. I didn't stop at them but I did enjoy the displays that they brought along. First is this beautiful Roy Campanella jersey that was in place near the Heritage Auction booth. Sweet, yes?

But this next display really had me drooling. A complete 1915 Cracker Jack set. Unreal to see it up close.

Just beautiful cards.

Of course, I had to find the card that is my personal white whale, the Chief Bender card.

I spent about four hours circling the floor, minus a Diet Coke break and the time spent with Eddie Robinson. I didn't spend a lot of money but driving up and back in one day kind of forces one to want to come home with something. And I did......here is a quick look:

This very nice 1954 Bowman Jackie Jensen is a fine addition to my rather informal JJ PC.

The same dealer had some very deeply discounted '57s which I snagged. I'm not ready for really begin my pursuit of the set but I pick up cheap cards that I know I need whenever I come across them. This Dodgers' Sluggers is a neat card...even with the wicked creases.

Speaking of Dodgers...I also chose this Duke Snyder. It was in very nice condition for the price.

As was this Red Schoendienst.

I spent most of my show budget filling my 1971 want list. I found several dozen, Here are a few. The Hundley card is a replacement for the one I bought and then lost at the last hotel show.

I also bought a stack of 1960 Leaf gems. I'll have more on these in an upcoming post.

When you entered the show everyone was given a stack of oversized Upper Deck hockey cards. I didn't get a Rangers card but this Joe Thornton is kind of fun. I've been watching a lot of the Stanley Cup playoffs. To say it's the craziest playoff season may be an understatement.

Thornton has played over 1800 NHL games without winning the Cup. That's the most of any player still working this year. I'm hoping he gets his shot.

                                                                          

And as I was sitting at a dealer's table I heard my number called for the hourly door prize. I was awarded a Panini Instant basketball card of this guy:

I enjoy the Rockets but my knowledge of the NBA is pretty limited. When the guy handed me the card he pointed out that it is numbered as #1 and advised me to keep the seal on the holder. Not sure what to say about it other than it's better to win than not win.

By about 4:30 I'd put about 9000 steps on my Fitbit and my back was telling me that it was time to go. Another long drive home has convinced me that I'm no longer built for 8-hour road trips. Next time I'll stay over a day. But it was fun. It's nice to see different dealers is a different venue.

The Trouble with Tribbles

I've fallen way behind on scanning/posting the many great items I've received in packages from fellow bloggers/readers. I'm going to try to play catch-up here over the next week or so. I'll sprinkle in a few related items I've picked up online and at shows where appropriate. I'll go in the order that I received these (as best I can remember!)

If you are a fan of the original Star Trek television series you probably remember the Season Two episode that I reference in the title. Tribbles were fuzzy little creatures that multiplied frequently and prolifically and quickly overtook every nook and cranny of the Enterprise. That's kind of how the 1971 Topps set has been for me. First of all, it's by far the largest set I've attempted to collect piece by piece. My three column Excel checklist runs five pages. Even with narrow margins.

For the longest time, before I had a binder set up, I had little stacks of these babies all over my desk and shelves. They seemed to be everywhere. And my want list looked LONGER every time I scratched off the cards I acquired.

After one of my last postings for the set chase, I heard from John who writes Johnny's Trading Spot. He let me know that he was sending some stuff including two cards from my '71 list.

Larry Stahl was coming off a two year stretch under the Mendoza Line but was rebounding nicely when this card arrived in 1971. He had been selected off the Mets' roster by the Padres in the expansion draft after the '68 season. Which meant he lost a shot at being a part of the 1969 Miracle. His final major league at-bats came with the Reds in the 1973 playoffs. He got two hits in four trips against the victorious Mets.

Ray Jarvis pitched in 44 big league games, all for the Red Sox in 1969/70. He was traded to the Angels right after the 1970 season but didn't make the team and pitched for their AAA affiliate in Salt Lake City. He had some arm issues and was cut during Spring Training of 1972 and went into sales and eventually coaching at the college level. He had a rather long and interesting SABR bio, especially for a guy with such a short career.

Thanks again, John, for knocking off a few Tribbles 71s.

I attended the hotel card show last Saturday and added six or so 71s including a few star cards. They all came from my friend, Darryl, the show's promoter. I also lost(!) two 1971 cards that I bought from a different dealer. They simply were not in my bag when I got home. They were easy to replace since they were not SPs or anything but to simply lose $5 worth of cards is pretty frustrating.

These were among the cards that DID make it home with me on Saturday:

I'll always remember Dave Boswell for his part in the terrific ALCS Game Two matchup he had with Dave McNally of my Orioles in Memorial Stadium in 1969. With me and my father watching from our seats above the left-field bullpen he dueled McNally for 10 innings, wriggling out of a few jams along the way in a scoreless ballgame. He walked Boog Powell to start off the bottom of the 11th. Powell was bunted up to second by Brooks Robinson. Dave Johnson was walked to fill up first base and when Mark Belanger popped out it looked like the game might go to the 12th. But Billy Martin did us all a favor. He brought in Ron Perranoski who had gone almost four innings in relief the before in that 12 inning affair. Curt Motton pinch hit for Ellie Hendricks and roped one to right for a hit and Boog trucked it on home for the 1-0 win. A great weekend!

I got a nice deal on this off-condition Roberto Clemente. I've 'conditioned' myself to look past condition while building this thing. Just like I did with the 1962 set. But it's a beauty with or without nice corners, isn't it? Love this card! It's so damn Clemente.

These next two cards are really as nice in hand as they appear to be in the scans. First, here's Sparky.

That's a Reds' home uni he's got on but that sure isn't Crosley Field. I did some digging and I'm 99% sure that the photo was taken in Tampa. The original Tampa Stadium was built in 1966 and was directly behind the Reds' spring training home field, Al Lopez Stadium. It's visible in this shot which I found after a lot of digging on the net:

It's hard to tell whether the photo of Sparky was taken in Lopez Field or perhaps the Reds were working out in the football stadium. One thing I DO know...these posts wouldn't take nearly as long to finish if I didn't have this weird compulsion to know just where the photos were taken on baseball cards.

This set's design really helps to show off the better photos and especially the terrific A's green/gold unis. No question here, that's Yankee Stadium.

Finally....here is a clip from the Star Trek episode I mentioned. With a William Schallert
(Patty Duke's TV dad) sighting!

Floating Cubs Heads!

Or would it be 'Floating Cub Heads'? Or 'The floating heads of Cubs'? Dunno.

But I do know that the 1971 Cubs team card is unique and a lot of fun.

The Cubbies did this for several years between 1971 and the early 1980s. Many have asked why but I'm not sure what it was with the Cubs and their aversion to the standard team photos. Maybe they just liked the look. They certainly were not the first to do this.

And strangely the Cubs had a standard team pic in the '75 set but the White Sox went 'floating head'. This has been discussed on several blogs in the past but with the addition of the '71 card, it's the first time for me to explore it up close.

That Cubs card was part of a COMC stack of about 40 1971s that included a couple of hall of Fame members on really nice cards.

'71 Stan Bahnsen..WTH is going on?

I was sorting my 1971s today, culling dupes, and getting ready to binder this thing when I came across the two Stan Bahnsen cards I owned.  Check them out.....

Notice anything?  Look at his eyes. On the card on the left he is looking skyward. On the other card he isn't. And it's obvious. What exactly is going on here? I can't find any reference to a Bahnsen variation online. Did Topps think having him looking up was somehow not attractive and had an artist 'fix' it? Or is it just the opposite? Did they want to improve the somewhat bug-eyed look and the artist did his best to change it?

It also crossed my mind that it was a case on my copy of one of these had been inked by some kid. But I looked at the cards using my jeweler's loupe and, while I'm no print process expert, it was obvious that neither card had been adulterated after coming out of the pack.

Blowing up the two sets of eyes gives much the same effect as using the loupe:

And it gets kind of weirder. I went to COMC and found dozens of copies of this card. Quite a few of them looked like this:

Am I nuts or does Bahnsen have brown eyes on this card? Here is a closer look. Obviously, I can't get the same dot pattern to show on a 'borrowed' pic from the web but even so...those eyes are not blue.

It's very possible that the third card has eyes that match the cards I have and the scan online is simply playing tricks on me. I'll be able to look closer at this copy because I went ahead and purchased it..in the interest of card science!

I looked at the back of both cards to see if there were any differences but, other than one having a crappy (and not unusual) 'off' tone, they were identical. My dealings with the '62 Green Tints prompted me to look at the photos for cropping differences. I guess it's possible that the printing plate was pulled and the card redone, sort of like the '62 second series was, but if so the tell-tale cropping differences are not apparent. At least to me.

And I had one more idea. I checked Night Owl's 1971 blog to look at his copy of this card. (I hope that was OK, Greg.) It appears to be a match for the COMC example. Maybe in-hand ALL these cards will show Bahnsen with blue eyes. But even if that's true I'm still left wondering how/why Topps changed which way he was looking.

And a note to Night Owl...I'd bet good money that the player in the background is Fritz Peterson.

Border Crisis

My 1971 set build has been a 'stealthy' one. I don't think I've posted anything about it on here other than putting my want list over in the sidebar. Over the last month, I've been knocking down some of the base cards and dipping my toe in the high number water.

I wasn't collecting this set in '71. I had gotten my fill of commuting across Houston to college classes and I was a dorm resident at this point. I was working at the Houston Post and had a couple of part-time campus jobs that helped with room and board. I was still heavily involved in sports (I worked for the Athletic Department and I certainly followed my favorite teams), but life was coming at me pretty fast and collecting wasn't a focus anymore.

I think I remember seeing this set when it was on the shelves but I'm sure I never owned any. And that's too bad because I've come to really enjoy it. It's certainly unique. The colors and photos pop off the black cards. There are plenty of stars in the checklist and my Orioles were coming off their 1970 title so the whole thing is right in my wheelhouse. That's the good part.

The bad parts are pretty well known among vintage collectors. A high number series with SPs and even a semi-high number series make this thing a bit more costly than you'd expect. And there are 752 cards to collect. But the killer is the black borders and how hard it is to find really nice cards that are not chipped and dinged. The little flaws that are inherent in most raw vintage cards just jump out at you in the '71 set.

Which makes me glad I'm not very concerned about card condition. I have a target in mind when I buy these things and it splits the difference between these two gems:

The Ron Bryant card is about as good a card as I can find in the stack that currently sits on my desk. The Campaneris represents to the low side. These two came from either COMC, the TriStar show, eBay or the last three hotel shows. LOL, I can't remember. I've really ramped up my purchases lately and I grabbed these things from a lot of different places.

I'm at about 83% give or take. I have about 600 of the 725 with about 30 needs coming from the low series (1 thru 5) and the rest being semi-high or high numbers.  I scanned some from this stack to show here:

I may take this Dierker to the next SABR meeting I attend. He's a semi-regular attendee. I sat across the table from him at my first meeting a few years ago. I always have a few signed cards in my sets and to get one signed in person is the best way. He's got what I first thought was a golf shirt on under his jersey. But I think it's just one of those windbreakers with cut off sleeves.

The odds are most definitely against it but I'd like to think this photo of Bobby Murcer was taken on the day my friend and I saw him hit four dingers in a doubleheader against the Indians.  I know the Topps photographer was there because Vada Pinson's card photo was taken that day, the single most fun day I've ever experienced at a ballpark.

Murcer's card is a classic and the familiar Yankee Stadium background shows up again on Yaz' card.

My scanner did this Jackson card a favor. The edges are not as sweet as they look in the pic. But that A's gold and green uni is as cool as it gets.

John Bateman was playing as part of Eddie Feigner's The King and His Court four-man softball team when I saw them in the late 70s.

Pete Rose is just a bit off-center, but then again, aren't we all?

Roger Repoz was one in a long line of Yankee outfield prospects who was supposed to replace Mickey Mantle. Jack Reed, Ross Moschito, and Steve Whitaker were others.

This Ray Culp card shows him wearing that Red Sox jersey with the red outlined lettering. That always looks weird to me. This has to be a 1970 spring training shot since the 100 Year MLB patch that was worn in 1969 isn't on Culp's sleeve. Another windbreaker here, as well.

Speaking of Culp... he had some really good years for the Red Sox. they fleeced the Cubs when they traded for him. I think there's a chance the Cubs could have held off the Mets in '69 had they still had Culp in their rotation.

And here is Dick Billings because why the hell not?

And finally, The Major.

Another neat Yankee Stadium shot. My lasting memory of Ralph Houk and that place came from July of 1966. My mom put me on a train into NYC that afternoon and my father met me at Penn Station after he got off work. Off to the ballpark we went. Usually, we made it in time for the first pitch but this was a weekday doubleheader and we arrived in the middle of the first game.

Here's how it ended...

Of course, Houk, the fans, the Yankees (and me) went nuts. What I recall is that Houk came out to bring the lineup card to the umps for the second game and he was still arguing. So much so that he got tossed right there at the plate before the game even started. Good times!

My '71 set chase will pick up once I'm done with the last dozen 1961's I'm looking for. I have some of the inserts that were included in packs that year. Those were the coins (which I love) and the Scratch-offs (which I don't). There are only a handful of known variations and none of them are particularly notable. I have no plans to grab any of them.

Oh, I almost forgot...Night Owl collected and blogged this baby over several years and he did a great job with it. If you haven't already checked it out you should go read some of his posts. Fun stuff.