A Not-So-Great Show

I spent last Saturday at the summer edition of Houston's twice-yearly TriStar shows. I've been to countless shows of theirs so I thought I knew what to expect. But I was wrong. The show, at least for the five hours or so I was there, was underwhelming. The crowd was thinner than usual, few dealers with vintage bargains were on hand and the fun, oddball type stuff I usually come across was nowhere to be found.  Even the usual madcap autograph lines which normally hinder getting around that area of the show were missing.

After dropping $27 for parking plus admission I was pretty disappointed. I ended up making just a handful of purchases. I hit one dealer who had '62 Topps at decent prices and found a couple of dozen for my set build. He cut me a deal so the cards came in under what I would have paid on eBay. I also bought a sorting tray and several boxes of 9 pockets. You know the show isn't good when I browse the supply vendors for an hour.

I spent quite a bit of time at my friend Darryl's table. He had a newly arrived '62 Gibson which happened to be one of the last remaining 'big ticket' cards I was in need of. It's a beauty as you can see. For once my scanner does a card justice. It's got nice coloring, no scuffs, and sharp corners.

He had marked his dollar bin cards at 10 for $6 and I picked up my usual assortment of  '60s and 70s cards. I grabbed players I collect and stuff that catches my eye. I should know better than to add to the cards I have stacked on my desk waiting to be sorted but I can't help myself.

It was a nice surprise to find this Walt Frazier for my 1970 Hoops set. The stain puts it on my 'upgrade someday' list for about sixty cents it'll do for now.

This Billy Pierce is a dupe but will fill a need when I get around to chasing the '57 set. And that day is coming.

Even if I abandon my 1975 Topps plans I'm going to have a spot for these next two cards. Three player collection guys here among the four pictured. Plus a third baseman I think I've heard of.

Howard Cassady is in rough shape but what the heck, it's a card of 'Hopalong'.

Getting bargains from Darryl is always fun but I came away thinking that I could have picked them up at his hotel show and not paid any admission or to park.

I also found a few vintage cards on other tables. Maybe the lack of customers worked in my favor. I was able to pick up a few and not get elbowed out from in front of the boxes. The cards were either lesser names or in lesser condition.

This next card was my favorite buy of the day (other than the '62 Gibson). The great Bill Russell looking about as 'Seventies' as you can possibly look.

Finally a non-show card. France (and Manchester United) star Paul Pogba. I'm hoping he leads France to a World Cup title tomorrow over Croatia. In WC when I'm out of countries root for (Portugal, Italy, England, USA, Mexico) I root for players.

Newest Card Show Pickups

It's a little difficult to concentrate on cards and such these days given the fact that this country has gone to hell in a handbasket but I'm gonna give it a shot. Maybe doing a blog post is what I need.

I went to the hotel card show a couple of Saturdays back Darrell has changed locations for the West Houston show and it was a welcome surprise to see the room he's booked. Space to breathe! How nice. And more dealers table as well.

I had a couple of goals at the show. One was to scrounge the cheap vintage boxes for 1962 Topps baseball. The other was to help out a couple of blogging friends with their current needs.  To one extent or another, I managed to accomplish both. Plus I was able to nab a few cards that fall into the 'Just Because' category. Those are the ones I'll post here.

I might as well just call the 1972 Kelloggs set a collecting goal. I found a couple more at the show. The best of which is this Vida Blue.

I'm also calling myself an official Dick Allen collector. I mean why the hell not? I love this '74 card. Both front....

....and back:

"Dick likes to listen to stereo music." Awesome!

This is probably my third or fourth Brooks Robinson Deckle Edge. None of them are centered correctly. The bottom edge of this one does have the deckled edge but my scanner refused to acknowledge that fact. 

I'm not sure if I already had this '66 Elston Howard card. That's a problem that will rectify itself once I finish my grand scheme to re-organize. My hobby room/office is now completely re-done with shelves and bookcases. I made a bulk purchase of binders and pages. Now the real work begins.

This 1958 Jackie Jensen All-Star is an upgrade to the one I have in my '58 set. I'll do a fifty cent '58 card upgrade anytime.

I'm sure I've mentioned previously how much time I wasted as a kid studying the backs of these things. I loved seeing who hit what against whom. I don't know why for sure but it fascinated me no end. For example, I see that Jensen has a nice '57 versus the A's. in 19 games he smacked 6 homers, had 20 RBIs and hit .324.

A 1964 World Series subset card with Koufax will always jump out of the box and into my pile.

I don't have much Ali stuff outside on my autographed SI cover to I pick up cheap stuff when I find it. Like this '83 Olympic card.

I picked up a bulk starter lot of 1975 Topps cards recently because it was dirt cheap. But it was all commons so I bought these starts for a buck apiece. I'm not sure I'll ever get around to really pursuing the '75 set because I have several other things on my list but you never pass up stars for a dollar.

I found a few football cards as well. I bought this 1954 Bowman Buddy Young because I figured it might be an upgrade to the one in my Colts collection. It isn't but it's still a nice card to have a dupe of.

'Crazy Legs' Hirsch from 1956 because it's tough to pass up something like this.

This '59 Lenny Moore IS an upgrade. So I feel vindicated.

Back to a baseball card. this is one of those cards I just can't pass up even though it was two bucks and I'll never even try to complete the '53 Bowman set. I just thought it was a beauty of a card. I've been trying to find one of those Browns caps for a long time but I never can locate one to fit my huge head. I've got a nice gray and brown version but it's not the same.

Man, just look at this card. It's art.

Here's the back. I don't think I've ever really noticed that Bowman made room for kids to fill in 'this year' stats below the player's career numbers.

And finally here's my favorite card from the show. From out of the quarter box comes this 1975 Topps Seattle SuperSonics team card. Yup, that's Bill Russell on the tarmac. This card jumps immediately to the list of my favorite hoops cards. 

I don't know many of these guys but that's Slick Watts with the headband above Russ. Tom Burleson is (I think) the tall guy at the bottom of the stairs. Jim Fox is two guys to Burleson's right with John Brisker in between them. I think that's Spencer Haywood at the bottom of the stairs but I wouldn't bet on it.

All in all another fun show. Next up is the July TriStar extravaganza. That one should be great for working on want-lists.

Five Card Stud

Robert of $30 A Week Habit sent folks five cards. All we had to do is write a 100 word post about them. Here goes....

'59 style Topps Bill Russell. Love Russell. Love pink cards. Love '59 Topps. Fun card!

'75 Dan Dierdorf. Vintage football cards are cool things. That helmet logo bites though. LOL

Arian Foster. Shiny chromified 2011 card. Cool card, odd guy. Goes in my Texans binder.

Rod Gilbert. My first hockey hero! Great skater, wicked shot. The GAG Line, Goal A Game. Gilbert, Nevin, Ratelle. They were awesome!

100 words, on the nose. Thanks so much, Robert!

The Weird and the Wonderful

For your Sunday viewing pleasure I give you two of my favorite cards from the oddly attractive 1970/71 Topps Basketball set. These came as part of my latest COMC haul.

First we have Mel Counts, journeyman and career backup center for six different NBA teams, a lot of them (the Lakers and Celtics) very good ones. That card though. What is up with that? Did they tell Counts to 'bend over so we can get more of you into the frame'? Is he seated on the floor and the picture rotated? Is that actually his leg we see near the top of the basketball?

And what about this Dave Bing? Most every pic in this set is a posed 'action' shot but this is a dorky portrait pic. Bing was a hell of a player. I got to see him up close and personal once while working the scoreboard at an NBA game in Houston. The Rockets played in Hofheinz Pavilion on the U of Houston campus and I fell into the job since I knew the board from working the UH womens' games.

Bing had 21 points in that Saturday afternoon game. I sat a seat away from Bill Russell. It was a cool day.

From CardStacks comes a Stacked Deck

I wish I could collect vintage Bill Russell cards. But they are so darn expensive. I have his '61 Fleer card and I blogged it and told my 'I sat next to Bill Russell' story in a post in 2012. He was such a ridiculously intense competitor. I draw a lot of parallels between Russell and another favorite of mine whose card shows up below, Frank Robinson. While neither could be classified as the 'best' in their respective sports, both are guys I'd want on my team if I had to win one game.

So, as with many 'legends' whose cards I love sorting through, I content myself with modern, more affordable versions. And Ryan of the Card Stacks blog gave my Bill Russell collection a huge boost when he sent me an envelope stuffed with these Russell cards and a few others that fit nicely into various PCs.

Some of these are Heritage designs like the one up top. The others are from various sets, most are new to me, a guy who hasn't bought any modern hoops cards. (Do they make modern hoops cards? If so, who has the licence these days?)

I have a Murad card from the original 1910 set. They would make an awesome set to chase but who has the dough?

Bowman should have used green instead of red on this one. But it's got a neat photo nonetheless.

This one, based on the 1965 baseball design, may be my favorite of the bunch. Russ putting up a shot over Willis Reed in Madison Square Garden... classic.

Russ grabs a rebound. He was always grabbing rebounds. And pissing off Wilt.

And then there is this card of my man, Connie Hawkins. Behind the back moves were a Hawkins staple. Smiling wasn't.

Ryan also included a couple of baseball cards, both Gypsy Queens and both of players I collect. Frank Robinson and Lance Berkman. Berkman goes into my Killer B's binder. 

Thanks, again Ryan. I really appreciate your generosity. I'm sure I can help you out on some of your PCs.

1961 Fleer Bill Russell

For awhile when I was in college at Houston I had a job doing the p.a. and/or electronic scoreboard for the women's varsity basketball games. Through that job I ended up spending one Sunday afternoon working as the scoreboard operator for an ABC televised NBA game between the Pistons and Rockets at Hofheinz Pavilion on campus.

I found myself one seat away from the guy doing the color commentary, none other than Bill Russell. Other than his saying "Hello" to me (and everyone else working the table) I had no interaction with him. And I knew better than to ask for an autograph. He was a notorious non-signer back then. But it was a cool thing to be that close to a legend, especially a Celtic legend like Russell. If I had a rooting interest in an NBA team growing up, the Celtics were it. The Boston-Los Angeles playoff rivalry was worth watching even if a lot of the NBA wasn't.

I had been wanting a vintage Bill Russell for a long time. The field of possibilities was narrower than getting a Johnny U or even a Gordie Howe card. But patience (and a compromise) paid off.

I found this one on eBay. It was pretty cheap. It has back damage as it appears to have been glued down (carefully) to an album page or some such thing. Not much to the front of these as you can see. Black and white shot, name and card title, and a color block with the team name and logo.

Two things about this card:

1) I like that you can see Russell's black Converse, a Celtic 'trademark', and

2) Look at how much the Celtic logo guy's pose resembles Russell's leaping 'pose' on the card. Well, sort of. If you squint a bit.