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

Oversized Additions

I have to admit a little ambivalence here.  My Paul Blair player collection has pretty much ground to a halt. I need to pony up the $9 for a month of access to Beckett, for the sole reason of compiling a more comprehensive list of Blair cards, but I don't expect that to change my activity level significantly.  My expectation is that I will find a fair number of cards I don't have, but they will mainly be low population cut auto cards (without photos) from modern unlicensed products.  Now, unlicensed products don't bother me, but cards without photos do.   As do serial numbered cards with small populations (1/1, x/5, etc.)  Several things contributed to my exit from collecting modern sets, but the main issue was artificial scarcity.  Low population serial numbered cards and short prints really chapped my ass.  So, unless I can get them cheap, such cards won't be a high priority for me.

Oh, there are a few O-Pee-Chee that I lack, but I've never been willing to pay the inflated asking prices.   I may bend on that.  The other main category is Topps Venezuelan.  Those are so expensive, though, I have a hard time seeing myself biting the bullet. So, until then what do I do?

Post cards, I guess.  I am really torn whether post cards qualify as trading cards.  I mean they are cards and all, but they just aren't the same.  They are larger and instead of statistics on the back, they have a little square labeled "Place Stamp Here."  I did win the post card above for the huge, huge price of $5 delivered.  Alas, the seller managed to ship it to the wrong address, so he compensated me by also sending the post card below.

Not to shabby. Two autographed postcards for $5.  I like that. Getting deals like that would change my ambivalence to post cards.  At some point I need to figure out what years they are from, but not tonight.  There is a show tomorrow and I need to get ready.

What I am listening to:  Worried Mind by Eilen Jewell

First New PC Addition

As I had mentioned earlier, I have started a new player collection (or more accurately, two player collections) of the Waner brothers, Paul and Lloyd. Since then, however, I haven't done much.  I've bid on a few EBay auctions, but never won. Until I got this card:

I am always leery of buying autographs off of EBay, but I compared this PSA certified autographs and it looks good to me.  So, I took a flyer on bidding and got it for under $17 delivered.  Once I won the auction I had a realization that Paul Waner is also in the Hall of Fame and probably has one of these post cards as well. I haven't gotten one yet, but will shortly. I don't expect to get a signed version. I have not researched these postcards history, but I wouldn't expect to find a signed Paul Waner as he passed away in 1965.

Having thought about having player collections for brothers who are both in the Hall of Fame, I realized that I need to set out some rules for how I am going to do this.  Three rules to be precise:

1. Where both Waners appear in the same set, try to get both at the same time.  This will make tracking progress and identifying cards I need (without continually consulting a want list 500 cards long) easier.  This will probably not be practical for vintage cards as they will probably be expensive and getting both at the same time would likely blow my budget. In those cases, I will try to focus on finding the second quickly after acquiring the first.
2. There are numerous cards on which both brothers appear.  For these cards, I am not going to get two copies, one for each collection. Rather, I am going to maintain a section of the binder for "Waner Brothers."
3. Speaking of vintage, I had to make a decision on condition.  I am normally condition sensitive, but in this case, with numerous cards from the 1920s through 1940s, I am going to relax because I would never be able to afford them in EX or better condition. I am going to look for cards with nice eye appeal, border all the way around where applicable, and no obvious creases that extend through the entire card.  Round corners, surface creases, and some paper loss on the back are just fine.

So there we go. Now I need to go find that Paul Waner HOF card/