This is the last card I needed to complete the 1958 Topps baseball set.
And this is the last card I needed to complete the 1973 Topps football base set. I still need two more unnumbered team checklists but I've been working on this for over 4 years and I feel like this is an accomplishment. I'll probably just scope out eBay in the next few days and knock those two checklists off.
Now my focus will be on three sets:
1972-73 Topps basketball - I only need 23 cards to finish and none of them are all that expensive. I've been working on this since late 2018, so 5 1/2 years. Time to put it to bed.
1970 Topps Football - I am a little short of 70% complete on this, but have pretty much all of the valuable cards. The only star card left is the Jan Stenerud rookie card. Everything else is commons with a few minor stars sprinkled in.
1967 Topps Baseball - Ugh. I am making some progress on this set and am almost 75% complete. However, 2/3 of the remaining cards are in the sixth and seventh series, so this will be slow. I expect it will probably be another 2 years at a minimum.
It is supposed to rain tomorrow, so I may try to knock out another signed 1961 Fleet post.
What I am listening to: Things Change by Dwight Yoakam
Today is the last day of 2023 and I suppose it is time for reflection on the year and to make some promises to myself for 2024. Logically, there is nothing magical about January 1 with regards to self-assessment and new resolutions. But, I live a fairly busy life and having a lot of down time at the end of December does give the opportunity to look back...and then forward. I won't bother you with the personal, though it was generally a better year for me after two lousy years in '21 and '22. I will stick to the hobby stuff that you are here for:
Overall, 2023 was a good year hobby wise if a bit scattered. I managed to complete two sets during the year:
1955 - I started building this set in earnest in 2013, so this was 10 years in the making. As I reported earlier, the last card I needed was a common, Gale Wade. The second to last card was Jackie Robinson.
1969 - I wasn't planning to finish this set in 2023, but I discovered that my bank has rewards program for debit card use and I was able to convert over a years worth of points into a nice pre-paid VISA card. The last card was Al Downing.
So, the other highlights of 2023 were:
Fleer Autograph project - I started the year with 15 signed cards from 1960 and 62 from 1961. I will close out the year with 16 and 70.
Started both 1966 and 1967 Topps baseball - I haven't mentioned it here, but I bought a large stack of 1966 and 1967 baseball commons in low to mid-grade for about $0.02 a card. I am planning on working on 1966, but after I sorted through the stack and separated out the cards in G condition or better, I found that I had about 20% of the 1966 set and 35% of 1967. know I said I would probably never build 1967 as the design doesn't interest me, but 35% is pretty far along. So, I may need to hold my nose and build the set. Hopefully, the high numbers are affordable in G to VG condition.
Added a few cards to my Paul Blair and Johnny Antonelli collections. The only one I was actually excited about was a 1960 Topps Venezuelan card of Antonelli that I got dirt cheap.
What does 2024 portend? I have 5 sets I would like to complete:
1958 Baseball - with only 25 cards to go, I am going to prioritize getting this one done. Having started in 2012 when I bought the Mantle, 12 years is long enough.
1972-73 Basketball - I started this set in 2018 and have 33 cards to completion.
1973 Football - I started this set in January of 2020 and have 24 to go towards completion.
1974 Topps Baseball - Wait, what? I've said that I've completed the entire Topps run between 1968 and 1979, so what gives? What gives is that I need one card (599 - San Diego Small Print) to finish the master set. I rarely see that card for less than $30-$40, which seems excessive for what is essentially a common. But, I am close enough to completing the master set that I just need to hold my nose and get one.
2009 Tristar Obak - I started the three Obak sets in 2011. I finished 2010 and 2011 long ago and only need 7 short prints short of finishing 2009. They don't come available all that often and when they do, the prices are generally unreasonable. So, I probably should just be happy to make progress.
Beyond that, I will just let the hobby tide carry me and look back in a year to see what else happened. Though, I would like to post more of my signed 1961 Fleer cards. The last I posted was 39 and I have 70, so 31 to go. I won't get through all of them, but one a month seems doable.
Happy New Year to you. May your 2024 be your best year yet.
What I am listening to: Auld Lang Syne by The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin
As I was re-sleeving the partial 1973 Topps football set I bought last weekend, I came across the Merlin Olsen card and I remembered that he had a post-football acting career. It also occurred to me that other football players made a transition into acting after they retired. It got me thinking about how many playes with cards in ther '73 football set actually had Hollywood careers.
While I will make no representation that this is complete, my best estimate is 11 players featured in this set also had some form of acting career. So, let's take a look. I included a small summary of their football career and what I consider their most iconic acting role. Keen observers will note that my choice of iconic roles gives away my age and primary TV viewing era. Since YMMV, I have included a link to each players IMDB profile, so you can view their acting career and decide for yourself what you consider their greatest role.
Terry Bradshaw - Card #15
Football Career Summary:
14 seasons and 158 starts as a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 107-51 record
Playoff appearances in 9 seasons and a 14-5 record including 4 Super Bowl wins in 4 attempts.
Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989 along with teammate Mel Blount
13 year career as a defensive end starting with 3 years with the Giants, which culminated in a trade to the Patriots and subsequent trade to the LA Rams where he spent the last 10 years of his career
Set an NFL record by scoring two safeties in a single game against the Packers on 10/21/1973
Played in Super Bowl XIV in which the Rams lost to the Steelers
13 year career, mostly with the NY Jets, but finished out his career in 1977 with the Rams. He started the first 4 games of the season with a 2-2 record and rode the pine the remainder of the season before retiring
Led the Jets to an upset victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III
Elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985
Most Iconic Acting Role:
Himself in The Brady Bunch
He also has guest hosted the Tonight Show subbing in for Johnny Carson
So, there are the eleven subjects in the 1973 Topps football set who also had acting careers. Interestingly, there are two other players who were active during the 1973 season, and had acting careers, but did not get their first trading card until Topps' 1974 set: Ed Marinaro, best known as a regular on Hill Street Blues and John Matuszak, who made a fair number of guest appearance in TV shows and movies but is best known for playing Sloth in The Goonies.
EDIT: Does anyone get Blogger? I publish posts and it has multiple fonts and line spacings despite me not trying to do that. It really ticks me off and having to fix it in the HTML code is a real PITA.
