If my blog has accurately followed my collecting, I have been working on 1956 Topps since August of 2011. I never expected that I would finish the set, but nearly 7 years on I am finally getting within striking distance of just that.
With these 4 cards, I am down to needing 43 cards to finish the set. I have most of the bigger stars like Aaron, Clemente, and Mays. The biggest names I lack are Mantle and Koufax. I am getting close to pulling the trigger on an airline ticket to Cleveland for the National Show and I think that would be a great place to look for affordable copies of one or both of those two.
What I am listening to: Angel From Montgomery by Tedeschi Trucks Band and Bonnie Raitt
Via Night Owl, I learned about a Blog Bat Around started by Torren' Up Cards about an All Autograph Team. I am primarily a vintage set collector and though autographs are mostly not my focus, I do have a small project of collecting autographed versions of the 1960 to 1963 Fleer baseball sets. Of course, like any collector, I do come across autographs at shows or in the occasion modern hobby box that catches my eye.
I reckoned that doing an all start autograph post would be easy using just my signed vintage Fleers and quite a bit harder using anything but those cards. So, I decided to try to do both. Luckily, most of my autographs have been posted here, so I just had to cut and paste links. So, this went quicker than I thought.
It has been a while since I went to a card show. The bi-monthly OKC show was yesterday, although I wasn't planning on going. Earlier this spring, we had someone come in with some heavy equipment and clean up an overgrown fence line next to the house and knock over/bury a ramshackle old loafing shed out by the barn. I've been steadily working to put new fencing in, but progress has slowed with the NBA playoffs going on. My plan for Saturday was to prep the fence line so that I can get started dropping posts in during the week. Alas, it was raining when I woke up and the forecast was for more of the same until evening. So, I decided to go to the show.
My main goal was to make some progress on my 1972 Topps set, for which I am only 47 cards away from completing. Secondary goals would be to make some headway on any of the several other sets I have in some notable state of completion (1955, 1956, 1968, 1970.)
The show was sparsely populated with a dearth of both sellers and customers. But, my main vintage guy was there and I settled in at his table. He didn't have many 72s and none that I needed. 37 of the 47 remaining 1972s I need are high and semi-high numbers, so progress has slowed down considerably. I get skunked more often than not and when I do knock some off the want list, it usually is only a handful of cards.
So, without much luck there, I turned attention to the secondary sets. I was similarly blanked on 1970, where over half of the remaining 144 cards I need are high and semi-high numbers. Luckily, that is where my bad luck ended (until, at least, the evening Thunder-Jazz game. Hoo-boy.)
I managed to find 47 cards I needed for the 1968 set I started recently when I won an auction for a reasonably priced starter set. I now have 348 of the 598 cards; good for about 58% completion. I already have the Mickey Mantle card in the set, but lack the Nolan Ryan rookie card.
I also managed to locate 8 cards for my 1955 set and I stand at having 116 of the 206 cards; good for 56% completion. That sounds pretty good until you understand that Al Rosen is the biggest star I have in a set that includes Sandy Koufax and Roberto Clemente's rookie cards. Needless to say, this set will take years to complete. And when I use the plural of year, I don't mean 2 or 3. This will probably be a five plus year project.
1956 Topps is another story. I managed to find 12 cards I needed, bringing me up to 86% complete (295 of 342 cards are in my possession.) With this set, I do actually have a number of the major star cards including Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron, and Roberto Clemente. The major cards I don't have yet are Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Pee Wee Reese, and the second checklist card.
Looking back through my history, it seems I picked up my first 1956 cards during the summer of 2011. Which means I have been working on this set for 7 years now. That Mantle card will hurt, but it would be cool to finish in under 10 years. So, I am going to start planning ahead. Note: I have a handful of 1955 and 1956 duplicates if anyone is working on the set and has a wantlist. Condition is low to mid-grade.
So, that is about it. I am still keeping my eye out for affordable autographed 1961 Fleer cards and I am planning on hitting a couple of local card shops in May to work on 1968. But, I don't expect to go to the June card show since the main vintage vendor will not be there. I'll probably skip August also, since it will be only two weeks before our annual fall trip to Cedar Point and I'm going to save money for Fast Lane passes so we don't have to wait in interminably long lines to ride the roller coasters. It is possible I will head to Cleveland in early August for the National Show, but I haven't decided yet. So, I cannot speak to the level of blogging activity in the months ahead. Not that it would be all that noticeable given that I have been averaging about two posts a month for the last 4 years. What I am listening to: Family System by Chevelle
It has been a while since I added anything to my Paul Blair player collection. But, something came up recently that I didn't have.
Strictly speaking, I have this card already. It is from Upper Deck's 2004 Timeless Team set. It is one of two different cards featuring Paul Blair: one as a member of the 1969 Orioles and another as a member of the 1970 Orioles. Yeah, I don't get that either.
Anyways, these cards come in a number of variations. There is, of course, the base card version. Then there is a bronze version numbered to 50, which is the card above. Then there is a gold version numbered to 5 and a platinum 1/1. Additionally, there is an autographed version. I have all but the platinum 1/1 for the 1970 team version. For the 1969 team card, I only have the base and the autographed versions. I probably have seen the others, but didn't recognize them. In my Ebay searches I tend to scan images quickly and zoom in on anything that isn't familiar. With a total of 16 saved searches, there isn't much choice. But, I guess I need to change that now.
What I am listening to: Caleb Meyer by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings
Let's be
realistic here. I am never going to finish 1952 Topps. That Mantle card
is not in my budget. Even if I won the lottery, I still wouldn't drop that kind of coin on a baseball card.
But, I do believe I can finish a large number of these sets. In fact, here is my progress after about 7 years collecting.
Year
Total
Have
Percent
1952
407
2
0.5%
1953
280
6
2.1%
1954
250
1
0.4%
1955
206
56
27.2%
1956
342
283
82.7%
1957
354
0
0.0%
1958
495
9
1.8%
1959
572
3
0.5%
1960
572
22
3.8%
1961
587
3
0.5%
1962
598
4
0.7%
1963
576
7
1.2%
1964
587
19
3.2%
1965
598
95
15.9%
1966
598
7
1.2%
1967
609
2
0.3%
1968
598
311
52.0%
1969
664
7
1.1%
1970
720
576
80.0%
1971
752
752
100.0%
1972
787
700
88.9%
1973
684
684
100.0%
1974
728
728
100.0%
1975
660
660
100.0%
1976
704
704
100.0%
1977
660
660
100.0%
1978
726
726
100.0%
1979
726
726
100.0%
16040
7751
48.3%
I stop at 1979 because that was the last set I was exposed to in my youth and the Topps sets after 1980 don't really appeal to me aesthetically (1983 is okay, but that is really about it.)
The chart above is slightly misleading. I have completed 1974. Sort of. I am one card short of the master set. I have all the checklists and traded series, as well as all the Washington Nat'l League variants. The one card I don't have is the San Diego large print variation of card 599. I have never got it because it usually sells for over $30 and I have a hard time paying that much for what is essentially a nondescript common. But, I probably should get over that.
Anyways, my main focus at this time is 1970 and 1972. I hope to finish at least one, but ideally both, in 2018.
2. 1960 to 1963 Fleer Baseball Autographed Sets
This didn't start as an autograph project. I always liked 1963 Fleer
and decided to build it. That led to building 1960 and 1961, even
though I am not enamored with their design. On a lark, I sent a couple
'63s out to a signing and off we went with trying to rebuild that set in
autographed form. As that project slowed, I decided to extend the
project to the earlier Fleer sets.
Here is my progress to date. Note that many card subjects in 1960 and 1961 died prior to the set being issued, so I measure progress against the number of cards of players who were living when the sets were issued:
Year
Total Cards
Possible
Have
Percentage
1960
79
40
7
17.5%
1961
154
95
16
16.8%
1963
66
66
63
95.5%
Total
299
201
86
42.8%
3. Player Collections (Paul Blair and Johnny Antonelli)
I am up to 124 unique Paul Blair cards and 62 Johnny Antonelli. There isn't much left to add to these. There are a couple O-Pee-Chee Blairs I need and I still need a Jello Antonelli. I am sure there are some regional issues out there yet unknown to me. There are number of unlicensed issues that basically consist of cut autos in card form. They are generally issued in small numbers (I hate artificial scarcity and will not reward it) and they generally don't ever feature actual photographs of the actual person. So, I don't collect those. 4. Various Modern Sets that catch my fancy
I pretty much avoid modern sets. As I have said, all the variations and short print artificial scarcity just ticks me off and I'd rather focus my limited funds on vintage. Occasionally though, a modern set will cut though the noise and interest me. Here are the ones I am (sorta) working:
2009-2011 Tristar Obak.
2000-2004 Fleer Greats of the Game. I don't include 2006, because it was the first GOTG set after Upper Deck bought out Fleer and, frankly, it had absolutely none of the charm of it's predecessors. In fact, it has no charm whatsoever
1991-1994 Conlon. The first three years are complete.
1993-1994 Ted Williams
5. Various Vintage Oddballs
I actually have more of these than I expected. My approach to collecting has been to maintain focus on a small number of priorities. That is what I thought anways. It is true, in a sense, since I still place much of my collecting effort on only one or two Topps vintage sets at any given time and the Fleer autograph project. But, dang, I've got a lot of things open.
1959 Fleer Ted Williams
1961 Golden Press
1968 Topps Game
1970 Kelloggs
1978 TCMA The 1960s
1972 Sunoco Football Stickers
1974-75 Loblaws Hockey Stickers
What I am listening to: The Perilous Night by Drive-By Truckers
It is late and I've been up 21 straight hours. I got up at 3:00 AM this morning and left home at 4:00 to catch a flight to Houston to attend an industry briefing on the expected effects of the recently imposed steel tariffs (Long story short, they won't do what they are intended.) At the end of the day, I started my trip home that, unfortunately, included a 3 hour layover in Dallas. I am home now, but it is after midnight and I am wound up. So, I am going to have an adult beverage, crank this post out and hopefully get some sleep.
Here it is. The 63rd autographed 1963 Fleer card (out of 66 total cards in the set) that I have added to my collection.
I snagged this on EBay in raw form for less than $40 and sent it off for authentication. It arrived back today. I only have three cards from 1963 Fleer that are not autographed:
38 - Dick Farrell
56 - Roberto Clemente
60- Ken Boyer
At the moment, I am still planning to attend the National in Cleveland this summer. I have family in Cleveland and it is a good opportunity to visit. If I do end up going, adding one or more of the three above will be my goal. I expect that Clemente will never happen, but I would be pleased to eventually add the other two.
I'm dang near caught up. Which is good, because I am heading to a card show tomorrow; my first in at least four months. So, let me knock this off right quick now. Here is the 16th autographed 1961 Fleer card I have added to my collection:
This one set me back the princely sum of $19 delivered, which I consider a bargain for a member of the baseball Hall of Fame. Kiner's career was cut short, after 10 major league seasons, due to back issues, but was elected to Cooperstown in 1975. He had a long career as a NY Mets radio announcer. At the time of his death in 2014, he was the last living player featured in the 1960 and 1961 Fleer Baseball Greats sets. Only 5 other players featured in those sets lived into the 21st centurey (Lou Boudreau, Marty Marion, Bob Feller, Ted Williams, and Eddie Joost.)
What I am listening to: Things Have Changed by Bettye Lavette
