Project Post inspired by Night Owl

A week ago Night Owl posted about his various hobby projects and that post spurred quite a few other bloggers to do the same. I'm kind of late to the party as usual. I had a very similar post in the works for awhile so NO's entry got me to dust it off and revise it for posting today.

My MO is to be working on a 'primary' project (likely a vintage set) while having others churning in the background. Those secondary ones are usually just my long term PC searches. That's pretty much where I am at the moment. Truth be told though I'm spending most of my time on a project that isn't directly hobby related but certainly will effect my collecting. More about that at the bottom. First things first.

Here is my primary project right now:

1970/71 Topps Basketball

I'm enjoying the ride on this one. It's challenging without being impossible. I'm in need of 32 cards to complete the 175 card set. Plus I'd like to nab the Checklist Two variation. I've got the biggest names knocked off, at least in terms of their regular cards. I need a few All Star cards and some second tier stars. The rest of what I lack are mostly short-printed common players.

I was happy to pick up a very nice Wilt Chamberlain last week. It was significantly less expensive than other examples in similar shape. Patience pays off.

In the same transaction I grabbed these two. The Championship Series cards which land at the end of the checklist command a premium about equal to a semi-star card. May be because NY and LA stars appear on the fronts.

My secondary, ongoing projects:

T206 Baltimore Players

Here's a word to the wise: If you get your checklists from the 1977 edition of the Sports Collector's Bible you are likely going to end up disappointed.  Trust me on this. Years ago I wrote down six cards from Bert Sugar's book into my wantlist thinking they were the Baltimore Orioles represented in the iconic T206 set. Over the course of a few years after I began looking I was able to acquire all six. Turns out that there were nine! I only found this out recently. Luckily none of the three Orioles I was missing were stars or otherwise hard to find.

This card of Sammy Strang is one of the 'missing' three. I picked it up not long ago on eBay. Strang had played 10 major league seasons, mostly with the Giants. He played on their championship 1905 squad and got one at bat in the World series against the Athletics. He led the NL in On Base Percentage in 1906. He finished his career with three seasons in Baltimore with the Eastern League Orioles. He played both the infield and outfield. After his playing days Strang, whose father was a baseball executive, served during World War I and later was a minor league manager and coached baseball at West Point and Georgia Tech.

I hope to complete this small group of cigarette cards in the next few months.

Player Collections

I always look to add to my player collections. I have too many of them for sure and only a few are really being actively pursued but I get a lot of satisfaction from building them. 

My Billy Pierce collection is at a point where the last pieces are going to take some time. There are only a couple of vintage pieces open on my checklist. One is his 1959 Topps Venezuelan #156 Ace Hurlers card that he shares with Robin Roberts. The other is his 1959 Bazooka card. It's an SP and doesn't show up often and when it does it is out of my price range. The other things I look for are 'one offs' and oddballs like ballpark pins and team issued postcards. These things are difficult to checklist and may not even exist. I find press photos all the time but I just don't buy every one that comes along. Outside of those two cards I mentioned I figure my Pierce collection is complete. Of course there are also cards issued post career by Topps and other companies. I collect them as well but do so without a lot of effort or zeal. The ones from Topps use the same photo over and over (sound familiar to you Koufax collectors?) and the differences are just silly in my eyes.

This card, the 2011 Topps 1952 Black Diamond Pierce autograph card, is an example of that sort of thing. It's probably the most costly of the lot and I shouldn't have picked it up but whatcha gonna do? I don't know how collectors who chase some of the more popular players deal with stuff like this. 

A couple of years ago I read Chief Bender's biography and found him to be a fascinating baseball figure. Since then I've tried to collect his cards. Obviously many of them are very pricey and will never find their way into my collection but combing through eBay for bargains is fun. Right now I have about a half dozen vintage Bender cards. This 1940 Play Ball was issued after his career was over obviously but it's still a great card.

Other player collections...Elston Howard, Johnny Callison, Bob Moose, Juan Pizzaro, Connie Hawkins, numerous Orioles and Baltimore Colts players and several more are all checklisted to one extent or another. I poke around at card shows and online and add things that I come across but none are complete nor am I confident that my checklists are even accurate. That's a long term project.

After ignoring many of these collections for awhile I checked a few of my eBay saved searches recently and found this Bob Moose ARCO collectible. It's an 8x10 photo and I like that the back mentions his no-hitter that I witnessed at Shea Stadium in 1969.

The Baltimore Colts

As with Billy Pierce I don't have much in the way of vintage mainstream cards to find for my ongoing Colts collection. Just a few of the Fleer Super Bowl cards and a Topps premium/insert or two remain. In the meantime I pick up the stray modern card of Baltimore Colt players and oddball pieces that turn up here and there. I had this this on the front bumper of my '64  Malibu SS back when I was tooling around campus back in the 70s. That is until a cop stopped me and informed me that I needed to put my state-issued plate back on or get a ticket. I since lost the Colts plate but found came across it in my garage a year or two ago. It now sits proudly on my office wall.

Non-Sports Sketch cards

I've set this aside for the time being. Every few weeks I check eBay for Batman and Mars Attacks sketch cards but not much has surfaced that looks nice (and affordable enough) to go after. I won't call these 'complete' but I am satisfied with what I currently have. The same can be said for my pins and postcards. I'm in a holding pattern at the moment. 

Publications

I've finished my goals for the most part. I have a straight run of Orioles yearbooks and media guides from 1954 through today with the exception of the '54 and '56 guides. I collect game programs but have never worried about having one from each year. Maybe one day I'll see if I'm close to a full run. I'm pretty sure I am. My Baltimore Colts media guide collection is complete. As with the Orioles I dabble in game programs but don't have very many. I have spent some time working on my New York Rangers publications lately. I have about half of their Blue Book/media guide run that they began in the early 60s. I'll never finish it but filling in the gaps in my 80s and 90s shelves is cheap enough.

Fantasy Sports Collection

I have been running a fantasy football league for college friends and some new arrivals since 1980. I've been playing fantasy baseball in multiple leagues for about the last seven years. Every player I've ever 'owned' on all those teams is represented in my fantasy baseball or football binders. Sometimes I've had to make my own custom cards, sometimes I've bought custom ones on the net. But the vast majority are actual cards and my goal is to have as many different sets represented as possible.

The only current cards I seek out are those of my players. This '18 Heritage card of Alex Colome came in my only pack of this year's Topps I've bought. It will push out his '17 Topps card since I have a bunch of those in my baseball binder.

Over on the football side I'm always looking for cards of players who are now represented by those custom cards. A real card, even a throwback always bumps a custom. But I doubt I'll see Elton Veals or Kyle Mackey for example in a Donruss or Score set anytime soon.

With this year's baseball draft coming up in a couple of weeks I'll be back in the market for singles of my players. I wish I had the internal fortitude to wait until the season was over and nab each one in a single transaction on COMC. Not happening I'm afraid. I'm too anal. I need a card of the guy I picked up on waivers NOW! The good thing is I've stockpiled a 400 count box of current players so hopefully that'll cover most of my players.

My next project:

1962 Topps(?)

I told myself I wouldn't take on another vintage Topps baseball chase after I finished the 1970 set. And I'm not sure I really will. But the itch is still there. I recently picked up a small '62 Topps lot. through a collector I know via an online forum. The cards are in 'collectible' condition (for me that's VG or better) and came pretty cheaply.

Even in my weaker moments when I was thinking about a new project I hadn't really considered the '62 set as a goal. It's not terribly popular (but that might make it more easily obtainable). Plus I was leaning towards 'bookending' my '59-'60 run with either the '57 or '61 set if and when I did give in to my urge. I also considered doing the '1966 set to commemorate the Orioles first title.

If I do take on the '62 set I have a decent head-start. I have the Orioles of course, some stars and dupes of guys in my PCs. Plus I have the starter lot now. Darrell at the hotel card show has plenty of these in his bargain bins and always cuts me a good deal. My secret weapon though might be my friend Bobby who has a boatload of all the early '60s sets and could probably be persuaded to sell me some dupes. His cards are in remarkable condition.

There is no urgency to this one. A vintage set chase is a big commitment in terms of cash and time. I still might back out. 

My over-riding and most urgent project

Organization and re-claiming space!!

I mentioned above that I've run a fantasy football league for almost four decades. This fall we will play our 39th season. For most of that time I printed and saved all sorts of statistical stuff. Sometimes it was for or five pages a week or more. That's not counting draft and transaction histories, rosters etc. And until about 2007 or so I produced, printed and mailed a weekly newsletter to all the owners. And I've kept every single scrap of it in binders. Those binders took up multiple shelves and I had more sitting in the top of my closet. I finally decided enough was enough.

A few weeks after I retired in December I began a long term project to get rid of it all. I pulled all the binders, culled out the multiple copies of some stat sheets I kept and began a huge scanning project. I'm turning the whole mess into digital format. I tried out different .pdf freeware programs and have settled on a good one. Each season's paperwork is going to become a single file. It's slow going but I'm making headway. I have ten seasons of paper scanned, saved digitally and then tossed in the recycling bin. I have other seasons through 2004 in manila folders under my desk and ready to scan. It's amazing what reducing a dozen 3" and 4'' binders to one thumb drive and one remaining binder will do for your shelf space.

That space and those binders will be put to good use. All my PCs and sets currently in boxes will be put in sheets and bindered. That is something that is long overdue. I also plan to combine the digital files that all this fantasy stuff has generated since we went fully online in 2008 into single .pdf files. My goal is to finish this all by the end of the year.

That's it for my hobby project update. Apologies if you fell asleep halfway through and hit your head on the keyboard.

1961 Golden Press Chief Bender

This Golden Press Chief Bender is what I call a 'PC tweener'. The 1961 Golden Press Hall of Fame set which was issued as a book with the cards inside and perforated. Intact books are not very common and in decent shape run over $200 for the most part. I've had some on my watch list but never pulled the trigger. If I'm going to spend that on any one item it will be a vintage Bender or a Billy Pierce '59 Bazooka.

By 'tweener' I mean it was from a set from between his career years and before Topps flooded their sets with old time guys on modern base cards. Things like the Kelloggs' Hall of Fame set falls into the same category. Bender, like many early century Hall of Fame guys has a lot of these types of cards. His include the 1950 Callahan set and 1960 Fleer to mention a few. I'm slowly adding these to my Bender PC. I have a 1940 Play Ball Bender en-route. That would qualify as a 'tweener' as well I suppose.

My scanner cleaned up the front of this card to the point that it smoothed out the perforated edges. But you can see them on the scan of the back.

The Golden Press book contained 33 cards. Sports Collector's Daily has a nice write-up and pics of the book itself.

1911 T-201 Mecca Double Folder 'Chief' Bender

Sometimes you have to compromise. I dearly love adding vintage cards to my small but much loved Charles 'Chief' Bender* collection. But I'm just not willing to pay the asking price for graded and slabbed cards. 

I found this 1911 Mecca Double Folder on eBay and the price was right. Chief shares it with his A's teammate Rube Oldring. Bender was a big part of five World Series clubs in Philadelphia between 1995 and 1914. Oldring played on three of those teams. Bender won three titles, Oldring two.

This is such a wonderful set. Players generally share a card with a teammate. Here is a short description of the set and the star-laden checklist. The 'back' of the card has both players' 1910 stats. I like how Bender's pitching numbers are labeled as 'Field' and they also list his hitting stats. Also interesting is the fact that home runs are not listed but stolen bases are. It was a different game back then. Oldring was second in the league in dingers in 1915...with 6!

Here is Oldring's side of the card. An outfielder, he played for 13 seasons in the majors beginning and ending with short stints with the Giants and Yankees. But the bulk of his time was with the A's. He hit .270 for his career and twice finished in the top ten in hitting including 1910 which was his best season at the plate..

BTW...don't be fooled by the scan. The corners on my card are in decent shape but they are not as perfebt as my scanner made them out to be. I have a couple other of Bender's cards targeted but as with this one I'll wait for the right card at the right price.

*=I cringe a bit whenever I type 'Chief' but that's what he is widely known as throughout his baseball life. Although he usually used  his given name when signing autographs he at least tacitly accepted his nickname.

E90-1 "Chief" Bender

I've had my eye out for an American Caramel card of  'Chief' Bender for awhile and finally landed one. It's a little rough around the edges but if fell within my 'retired guy' budget. I don't need sharp corners or original gloss. This thing was in the hands of a kid in 1909 and that good enough for me.

The American Caramel sets are interesting and this one, the E90-1 is the most popular. That previous link and this one (specifically about the E90-1) are good reads.  

My copy came in a holder and because it looks pretty delicate I'm going to leave it in there. I much prefer holding my cards in my hands but I make some exceptions.

The is likewise paper loss on the back, and if the front had this much I would not have bought it, but the more pristine copies I found were twice the price.

I became interested in 'Chief'' Bender some years ago when I came across this book. Highly recommended!

My Bender card collection is slowly growing. I have one of his T206 cards and am trying to pick up a 1940 Play Ball and another T206 (he has three counting variations).

A T206 Reprise.....Chief Bender

I first posted this card a couple of years ago when I was writing mostly to myself. I love this card so much I thought I would post it again on the day before the 130th anniversary of the birth of Charles Albert “Chief” Bender in Crow Wing County, Minnesota.

"Chief' Bender is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating players to ever don a major league uniform. I read and enjoyed the Bender bio written by Tom Swift. From Bender's Hall of Fame biography:

Played For: Philadelphia A's (1903-14), Baltimore Terrapins (Federal League, 1915), Philadelphia Phillies (1916-17), Chicago White Sox (1925)
Elected to the Hall of Fame by Veterans Committee: 1953
Biography: Possessing a solid fastball, excellent curveball and outstanding control, Chief Bender also developed a slider to help him win 212 games during his 16-year Major League career. He led the American League in winning percentage three seasons, tossed a no-hitter in 1910 and retired from the game with 1,711 strikeouts. Bender also pitched in five World Series, going 6-4 with an ERA of 2.44. A member of the Chippewa tribe and a graduate of the Carlisle Indian School, Bender overcame subtle discrimination and a derisive nickname to become one of the top pitchers of his era.

Here is the only other Bender piece I own. His Perez-Steele H-O-F postcard:

T 206 Charles 'Chief' Bender

Here's my latest T206 acquisition. It's a Chief Bender/no trees and it's a beauty, don't ya think? Except for that missing paper chunk and the stain that mars the back, LOL. But I let the Mr. Mints of the world worry about cardback issues. The front's what counts and this one is really nice. And compared to others that were on eBay this was a bargain. People look at the overall grade and this one got a 'fair' 20 1.5 (whatever all that means) and so the price was lower than some examples that didn't look as nice on the front.

I couldn't get a good scan with the card in the case so I cracked it open and then put it back. I usually don't care about slabbed cards but this one looks better in the case and I wanted to protect it, too. My scanner sort of made the corners look even sharper than they are but for a 102 year old card they were pretty damn good I think. Just the upper left is fuzzy.

I was prompted to find a Bender card by reading his story. He was a pretty interesting guy and excelled at trap shooting, golf, painting, fishing and billiards in addition to his Hall of Fame pitching career. Tom Swift's bio of Bender is very readable.