Player Collection Additions

While I haven't been super active this year as far as adding to my player collections, I have made a few pickups here and there.  I have added one really cool piece to my Paul Blair collection, I am going to save that for another post sometime in the future.Hopefully soon, but probably not.

Today, I am going to focus on additions to my Johnny Antonelli collection.  By way of review for any newcomers here, I have a player collection of Johnny Antonelli because I grew up in Rochester, NY and (at the time) he owned a chain of Firestone tire stores in town. He was something of a local celebrity.  I suppose that is a odd reason to have a player collection, but there you have it.

Additions to the collection had stopped for quite a while, but have picked up over the last 6 months or so.  so, let's get to it:

This is supposedly a 1950s George Brace postcard, although it may be a 1970s reprint. In a few minutes of googling, I found there is some discussion about how to identify which vintage it is, but I haven't dedicated enough time to actually figure it out. I just liked it and added it to my collection.

My player collections follow a fairly simple rule:  trading cards that feature an image of the player in question.  That's it.  So, all the cut auto cards that come out each year in un-licensed sets don't count.  I am starting to come around to adding post cards to the mix. I have certainly been adding post cards, but haven't fully committed myself yet.  Speaking of which:

 
1985 TCMA post card of Johnny Antonelli and Hall of Famer Robin Roberts.

These look like the 1947-1966 exhibit cards, two of which feature Antonelli, but they are not. They are actually 1980 reprints and come in three colors: sepia, blue, and red.  I don't have the red one yet. There are several red on EBay, but are priced at around $6 including shipping.  These exhibit reprints, which are the same size as the originals, have a book value of less than a dollar. I'm probably being too cheap about it, but I am having a problem paying $6 for it. Especially given the cost of another recent Ebay purchase. But, I am going to wait to see if I can find the red version for $3 or less.

Earlier this year, I was looking through my player collection binder and realized that I didn't have a 1951 Bowman Antonelli. I am not sure how I managed that, given that I have been working on this collection for 4 years.  I guess I could attribute it to my approaching dotage. In any case, it took a while to find one reasonably priced, but now I have all 4 Bowman Antonellis (1950, '51, '54, and '55).

This is a card that I have been aware of for a while.  It is a 1958 San Francisco Call-Bulletin raffle ticket and Giants schedule. I have only ever seen one of these available and the seller wanted double the high book value. I wasn't going to pay that, so I just continued to keep my eye out.  Luckily, this one came up and I was able to snag it for $11.50 delivered. 

The auction was described as "Old Sport Raffle Ticket, Johnny Antonelli, Pitcher, San Francisco Giant Schedule."  I have to love auctions where the descriptions are poorly written, which allows me to buy the item at a fraction of the price I would have paid if it had been better written. If this auction had mentioned "1958 Call-Bulletin" it would have gone for a lot more.  Sucks for the seller, but I can't concern myself with that.

Coming up soon: another autographed Fleer and a odd, but historic addition to my Paul Blair collection.

What I am listening to:  Nearly Gone by Hank 3