Card Show Pickups - Set Needs

My main priority at last weekend's show was to work on set needs.  About a week earlier, I actually finished my 1965 set that I started back in 2017.  It was actually the third set I have finished this year, after several years of having completed none.  So, the main sets I was wanting to make progress on were 1955, 1958, and 1969 Topps baseball, 1973 Topps football, and 1972-73 Topps basketball. So, with that, lets proceed:

I found exactly 1 card I needed for my 1969 set. I have been focusing on1969 over the last year because it is reasonably affordable, even in comparison to some sets that followed it. I wanted to make more progress, but every little bit helps I guess. I am down to needing only 33 cards to finish this set.  Thankfully, I have the Mantle, but I still lack Roberto Clemente, Johnny Bench, Nolan Ryan, and the Reggie Jackson rookie card. I'd like to finish this set this year, but those four cards will be a challenge.  I am not one to pay up and over the last couple years, good deals have been few and far between.

I snagged 20 cards from 1958 Topps, bringing my total for the set to 180 cards. That is a bit over one third of the set.  I started this one since I have the Mantle already. I bought it about 10 years ago for the princely sum of $100, which was the most I had ever spent on a card at that time (and for several years after.)  Along the way, I;d already acquire Ted Williams and Roberto Clemente.  So, the only major cards I need at this point is Willie Mays, the Roger Maris rookie card, and the Aaron/Mantle Batting Foes card.  I'll keep plugging away, but this is probably going to be a 2024 completion.

I managed to find 8 cards I needed for the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set.  These are the first additions to that set build since 2015.  That ultra rare Ted Signs card has me spooked.  So, this will not be a priority for me. I'll add things opportunistically, but if I never finish this, I won't care.

And now to what you have seen in my previous post.

I am really close to finishing 1955.  I was down to 8 cards to finish, one of which is this Duke Snider.  The card is a bit rough, with water staining, and that missing corner.  But, this card is one of the more expensive, and elusive, cards in the set.  Of course, Snider was a star. But, not of the caliber of a Jackie Robinson or Willie Mays, who's 55 cards are of similar value.  At least part of this cards cost is due to being the last card in the set and (not dissimilar to the 1952 Andy Pafko) was prone to rubber band damage. The staining doesn't bother me, but I've always been one of those collectors that values good corners and edges.  And that lower right corner would normally be a disqualifier.  But, this card was priced at $30, which is so far below what it would normally be that I decided I can definitely live with that corner.  

I also knocked off another '55 need:

You can catch some hints of it in the picture, but this Banks card also has some water staining.  Without that, I think it would have graded out as a solid 5. I like it just fine. So, I am down to needing 6 cards to finish: 3 commons, Jackie Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, and the dreaded Clemente rookie.  I'm far enough along that I am going to try and complete it, but that Clemente scares me. I've never spent more than $400 on a card and can count on one hand how many times I've spent more than $250.  Dropping four figures is going to be painful.

That does it for the set building. Next up will be the miscellaneous stuff I bought just because.

What I am listening to: Down by the Water by The Decembrists.