The Fleer Autograph Project - Part 25

A little longer than 4 months after I shipped them out, three cards from my 1963 Fleer set are back in my hands.  By way of review, I had sent them out to Chris Potter Sports to be autographed in their May/June signings.  Unfortunately, in the end, only one ended up being signed.

Don Lee here is the 25th 1963 Fleer card I have had autographed.  Jerry Kindall and Art Mahaffey came back unsigned.  That is a disappointment, but with many of these players in their 70s and 80s, it probably isn't surprising that health or family issues may interfere. I do see that they are going to try to reschedule Mahaffey early next year.  So, there is still hope there.

This project has pretty much ground to a halt.  I have been keeping an eye out for more signing opportunities, but I haven't seen any since the signing this card was sent to.  Even Sandy Koufax hasn't seemed to have his annual private signing.  Ah well, it is still pretty cool having nearly 40% of the cards signed.

Every Dog Has His Day - Gene Alley

Gene Alley's career day came on September 8, 1967 when his 0.618 Win Percentage Added led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 win over the visiting St Louis Cardinals.  His game started off poorly, fouling out to the Cards first baseman Orlando Cepeda leading off the bottom of the second. He came to the plate again in the fourth and popped out, again to Cepeda.  Things got only marginally better in the bottom of the sixth, when he singled but was caught stealing to end the frame.

So, how did he get such a high WPA? In the eighth, with the Bucs behind 3-2, he doubled in Roberto Clemente with two outs to tie the game.  After regulation ended with the score knotted at 3, Alley led of the tenth with a triple off Ron Willis.  After St Louis intentionally walked both Bill Mazeroski and Jerry May, and struck out pinch hitter Al Luplow, Gene scored the winning run on a walk off single by Maury Wills.

While it is off lesser import, Alley had 4 putouts and 5 assists in the field, including initiating two double plays.


What I am listening to:  Copenhagen by Lucinda Williams




Yeah, it is melancholy but, holy hell, is it a beautiful song.  Lucinda Williams is an absolute gem.  The video is a bit odd, given that the song was about her hearing of the sudden death of her long time manager and friend while she was on tour in Copenhagen, but I think it works anyways.

August Card Show Haul

I wouldn't say the card show was a total bust, but I definitely don't have much to show. Indeed, I actually spent more time pawing through discount box for other folks than I did on myself. Roger Neufeldt wasn't there, and I wasn't able to find any 1973 Topps or 1960/61 Fleers that I needed with any of the other sellers.

For myself, I found a card game called Authors, the rules of which seem to be the same as Go Fish. 

It doesn't really fit in my collection, but it struck my fancy so I got it. Doing a little research on the game, it appears that there are several versions of the game, each with different authors as subjects. It would be interesting to work on building a binder with all the different versions of the game. I didn't really find a lot about when the set I have was produced, but I didn't look super hard either.

My one sports card pick up for myself was a lot of 12 cards from the 1961 Golden Press issue, a 33 card mini set.

Here is what the back looks like:

The set consists, as mentioned above,  of 33 cards, all Hall of Famers. My cursory research indicates that these cards came in a booklet, which explains the perforations you can see on the edge of some of these cards.  I have to admit to having a weakness for these types of small vintage sets.   As a set builder, it takes me a while to complete a Topps set, what with them having anywhere from 660 to 792 cards. I am generally finishing one set a year. These small issues allow me to get the satisfaction of completing a set more frequently.

So, that is it.  I walked out with most of my cash still in my pocket.  I'll just have to tuck it away in a drawer until the October two day show, just in case Roger Neufeldt is there.

Card Show Today!

There are generally two card shows a month here in the greater OKC area.  On the first Saturday of the month, there is a small show up at Al's Sportscards in Edmond.  This show is okay.  There are only 5 to 6 vendors, but usually 3 will have some vintage stock.  Then, later in the month, a larger show is held in Oklahoma City proper out, in a hotel conference room out by the airport.  This show is a one day show every other month and a two day show in the alternating months.   The one day shows aren't all that great in comparison to the two dayers.  They have most of the same sellers,  but one seller in particular only will come to the two day shows, and not even all of them.

That seller is Roger Neufeldt of Sports Memories of Oklahoma.  If the name is familiar to you, it is probably because Dayf over at Cardboard Junkie gets all Tommy Boy when Roger has a show in Atlanta.  Roger mainly does shows in MLB cities, but does set up at 2 or 3 local shows a year.  And he is my main connection for good quality vintage cards. He is a bit more expensive, so I don't hit him up until I have hit all three main local card shops.  But, as a national seller, he reliably will have cards I need.   I would bet I got a plurality of my 1971 high numbers from him.  And, presumably, will also get a fair chunk of my 1973 high numbers from him, as well.

And that is my goal for today.  Walk in, see if Roger is there and, if so, make a bee line for his table and ask for his 1973s. If he isn't there today, I may look for some more 1960 and 1961 Fleers, but other than that I'll probably pocket my money and use it to get a 1973 Mike Schmidt rookie card that is behind the counter at one of my local LCS.

Now if you will excuse me, I'm getting all Tommy Boy here and I need to get my morning chores done and get my want lists together.

Visit to Another LCS

There was, at one time, 5 LCS here in the greater Oklahoma City area.  I am not sure how many there are now, as I only go to the three that have vintage inventory.  I have now visited all three in my quest to finish the 1973 set.


Al's in Edmond didn't have any 1973s, so my next visit was to The Old Ball Park, in South OKC.  I managed to pickup about 45 cards.

So, where do I stand on 1973?  Well, I am down to needing 7 of the non-high number series, two of which are among the more valuable in the set:  #1 All Time Home Run leaders and #305 Willie Mays.  I also need 65 of the high numbers, two of which are more valuable: #588 checklist(!) and #615 the dreaded Tom Hinton rookie car.  I know where a decent copy of card 615 is.  At this point, it is a matter of timing as to when I want to go get it. Lastly, I need 18 more of the unnumbered team checklists.

There is a two day show coming up near the end of August that I will go to.  Hopefully, Roger Neufeldt of Sports Memories will be there as he is my last local. in person source before I start scouring the on-line dealers.

August Mini-Card Show Haul

I went to the mini-show up at Al's Sports Cards in Edmond yesterday and spent a whole $10 on this.

I have always liked sets dedicated to the all-time great players.  They need to have a nice classic design, of course. No glitz, glam, or shiny.  So, this set is right up my alley. 

I haven't busted a box in well over a year.  So, this should be fun. I wonder if I have one of the 20,000 boxes with an autograph in it?

Answer: No.  Nor did I get a complete set.  I only need two more to complete it. So, a want list has been added over to the right.

The Fleer Autograph Project - Part 24

I also sent this card off to Chris Potter Sports back in January, but had to wait until this week to get it in my grubby little hands, due to delays in the actual signing.  I am pleased to finally be able to put Vern back in the binder.  This is, as the post title states, the 24th 1963 Fleer card I have had autographed.

I still have 3 more 1963 Fleers out for signing with Chris Potter, although it appears that one of those signings was cancelled and one delayed until mid-August. Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I'll get those back too and my set will all together again.

Oscar Gamble Hair Club for Men

I sent this card off to Chris Potter Sports back in January, but Gamble's signing was postponed until the May/June signing.  I finally got this back earlier in the week, along with another 1963 Fleer card that I'll show off tomorrow.

I sometimes wonder if Gamble sees a lot of these cards when he does signings. I hope he enjoys the fact that he has one of the most iconic baseball cards of the last 40 years.

Another Trade with Night Owl

It seems I trade with Night Owl a lot.  Night Owl is the Dean of Card Bloggers and I suspect most of you can say the same thing. We worked out a fairly simple trade where I sent him some vintage duplicates that I had and I got back a nice stack of 1975 duplicates from him.  1975 is the next set I am going to build after I finish 1973, hopefully, later this year. So, getting a leg up on the effort is always good. Here are a select few that I got.

The late Bobby Murcer is an Oklahoma City native son and is recognized with his name and number emblazoned on the centerfield wall at the Bricktown Ballpark, where Houston's AAA affiliate, the Oklahoma Redhawks, play.

Don Baylor was also a Yankee for a few years and is one of the autographs I got when I busted that box of Upper Deck Yankee Classics a couple years back.

The Captain.  This is a neat card.   It is actually much thicker than a normal card.  I will have to research the 2006 Topps Bazooka set at some point to see if they are all like that.

2013 Topps Archive Robbie Cano.  Robbie is the best position player on the Yankees now and is a free agent after the season. At this point, I am mostly worried about the Yankees giving him too long of a contract to keep him.  The team's tendency to give 8 plus year contracts to players at their peak, ensuring they get to suffer through much of the age related decline (think A-Rod and Mark Teixeira) really annoys me.  I'd be willing to give Cano a 5 year deal with a mutual option for another year, but that would be it.  But, after the Yankee's (so far) pathetic 2013, I wouldn't be surprise to see him handed something longer than that.

Anyways, thanks, NO!  Your cards did finally get put in the mail yesterday.  Hopefully they'll be to you on Monday.