Night Owl Delivers

 It's been nearly 3 months since my last post.  A lot has happened since then n my life, though not on the hobby front.  You're hear for the cards, so I won't waste time on life events other than to say I've been thrown a curve, but all is generally well for me.  And it is the holiday season!

I got back into the hobby just about 12 years ago, attending my first show and getting my first cards in December of 2010.  I began trading cards online shortly thereafter, though as a marginal blogging personality (at best) it was always a small part of my collecting experience.  I went back and looked to see who those early trading partners were.  The first person I traded with after re-entering the hobby was Chris over at Nachos Grande.  The second was Night Owl.  Fast forward to today and I do some sporadic trading over Twitter (though I intend to leave there soon) and at Net54.  But, for the most part, my only consistent partner now is Night Owl, with whom I trade with a couple/three times each year.

Anywho, I mentioned previously that I'm shifting my collecting focus somewhat.  Specifically, I won't be building any sets from 1954 or prior due to the cost and will start building some of the sets from the 1980s.  Sometime back I bought a huge box of junk wax for $10 and it included a substantial amount of 1989 Topps.  A few weeks ago, I got an email from Greg asking incredulously "Are you really building 1989?"  When I confirmed that I was, Greg was generous enough to knock off my entire want list for the set. And here is a sample of what he sent.  Knowing his feelings for the man, I am most surprised that he parted with a Jack Clark card.

Or, perhaps more accurately, I am surprised he allowed a Jack Clark card to take up space in his house for any length of time. Either way, I'm glad to have it and glad to have 1989 in the books.

Greg didn't stop there, though.  See for yourself:

A 1966 Roger Maris.  Damn.  I mean, damn!

This is probably a good launching off point to talk about my 2022 and plans for 2023. It seems like an awkward segue but bear with me.

2022 was generally a sedate year, hobby wise, as I was preparing for a job search.  But, at the same time it was very productive, as I managed to finish 3 sets (starting in December 2021): 1960, 1965, and 1968.  I also made substantial progress on my 1969 set.

So, what is in store for 2023?  My goals will be simple:

1. I'd like to finish my 1955 Topps set, because I only need 5 more cards.  Those 5 are Jackie Robinson, Harmon Killebrew (RC) and three high number commons.
2. Finish my 1969 set.  I am 15 cards from completion, with the biggest names being Clemente, Bench, and Nolan Ryan.
3. To the extent, I finish at least one of the two above mentioned sets, I'd like to start a new set.  1966 has vaulted into the lead now that I have Maris.  Logically, 1967 would be the choice since I have completed 1968 through 1979, but I have heard too many horror stories about the high numbers in '67.  So, '66 it is.
4. Start one set from the 1980s, with '82 and '85 being the leading candidates.

So, not only has Night Owl sent me a really nice, valuable card, but he has helped clarify my goals for next year.  Thank you, Greg!

What I am listening to: Colors by Black Pumas

Card Show!

Yesterday. I went to a card show for the first time in I can't remember when.  Since it has been a while, I had a little more money that I normally would. Plus, I took the 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle I won in a break a while back to trade up with.  My main goal was to make progress on finishing my 1970 set (3 cards to go), 1968 set (6 cards to go), and 1965 set (167 cards to go.)  By that measure I failed miserably.   I managed to find one 1968 card I needed. It was a good one, though.

Still 5 to go, including the Nolan Ryan rookie card.

So, with that I recalibrated and decided to work on my 1960 set, where I was sitting at about 30% completion and my 1955 set, where I was about 75% complete. I did much better here.  I managed to snag about 57 cards, mostly commons, from 1960.

This was about as close as I came to a star card with this show.

 In a recent post, Night Owl lamented to disappearance of manager cards. I have to say that I agree.  These manager cards from 1960 Topps are wonderful.  I found four manager cards yesterday. Far and away, these are my favorites from the new cards I added to my set.

I also like these types of cards, which were common in the 1960s sets.  While both Rocky Colavito and Tito Francona were good players, this card did not age nearly as well as that 1968 Super Stars card above.

Interestingly enough, this was one of only to Topps cards of Jim Baxes, the other being his rookie card in 1959.   1959 was Jim's only season in the majors.  He performed poorly in AAA in 1960 and was out of organized baseball after only 21 games in 1961.  Fun fact: Jim Baxes first major league home run was the first HR hit off of Bob Gibson. It was in Gibson's ML debut on April 15, 1959.

As far as 1955, I managed to find 18 cards I needed, which brought me down to only needing 32 more to finish the set.  Most were commons from the second, high number series.

That Williams (along with '68 Super Stars above) were the major scores in exchange for the '56 Mantle.  I could have gotten more money selling the Mantle on EBay.  But, with all the Johnny-Come-Latelys in the hobby, all the reports of buyer fraud scared me off.  This Ted is really nice.  It is in way better condition than I would have acquired if I didn't have some high end trade material.

So, that is about it, other than this 1966 Curt Flood I found in a dollar box.

I haven't given up on my 1970 card back series of posts.  I have just been fairly busy out in the real world and just haven't had the energy to sit down and work on the next installment.  It is coming, I just don't know when.

What I am listening to: Follow You Like Smoke by Elizabeth Cook

August Card Show - Vintage Stars!

I started off the show with a specific mission in mind. Namely, to make some progress on my 1971 set. With that accomplished, I slid into hunter-gatherer mode and hit a couple of the vintage dealers looking for deals. One fellow had a box of well-loved cards for 10% of book. I sorted through there and found a couple, but most were well-loved AND commons.  I also hit another dealer that had a lot of good condition vintage including stars and I found some there, as well. Not that I am have to stick with stars, but when going through discount boxes, the main thing is for the card to capture my imagination.

So, let's take a tour through my imagination, shall we?

1953 Monte Irvin.  Despite the fact that it looks like he is posing in a subdivision backyard, I really like this card. Indeed, 1953 is slowly moving up the list of my favorite sets.  I would put it in the top 3 along with 1955 and 1956.  The order changes from day to day.

 1960 Casey Stengel. I think this card cost me a whole dollar.

 1960 Whitey Ford.  I don't remember how much I paid for this but it was definitely under $10.

1961 Phil Rizzuto MVP. This is my first vintage Scooter card.  I know now that he had a reputation for malapropisms when he was an announcer for the Yankees, but I don't care. Growing up listening to Phil, Bill White, and Fran Healy call the Yankees games is one of the fond memories of my childhood. I can still hear their voices in my head........uhh.....that didn't sound right.  I mean that I can recall what it sounded and felt like to listen to them. I didn't mean they are talking to me and telling me to do things.

One of my goals for the June card show was to get a Bob Uecker card. I failed then, but found this little gem from 1966 at the August show.  Best part of this card? Free!  The dealer threw it in the deal for the following three cards.

1968 Bob Gibson.  Great shape and only $5.

1960 Roberto (Bob) Clemente. The guy was dealing. This only set me back $25.  This was the most I spent on a single card at the show.  But, given that it books at $200, and a card of equivalent condition has a price of $48 over at COMC, I am most pleased with this deal.  It wasn't, however, my favorite pickup of the show.  That is reserved for this card:

1948 Bowman Allie Reynolds.  This is in fantastic condition for a card of it's age. I would put it in the EX range.  Set me back $20.  The neat thing about this is the fact that Allie Reynolds was born in Bethany, Oklahoma.  At the time he was born, 1917, it was likely a farming town. Today, it is a near suburb of Oklahoma City.  And not too far from where the card show was actually held.

I have periodically toyed with the idea of starting a collection of cards from players who were born in Oklahoma.  There are a total of 240 players that fit that criteria, including 41 who were actually born before Oklahoma became a state.  The big reason I might not do this?  Mickey Mantle, born up in coal country (Spavinaw) in the northeast part of the state.  He is the biggest name of the 5 Hall of Famers from here. The others being the Waner brothers, Johnny Bench, and Willie Stargell.  Although, cards of the Waner brothers from during their career would probably be pricey, they wouldn't be Mickey Mantle pricey.

So, that is a wrap of last weekends card show. I had a great time and hope it won't be February before I can hit another.