Happy Birthday to Me

 So, with my wife out of town it is easy to fall into old habits.  Like leaving dirty laundry on the floor and procrastinating on chores.  Now compound that when it turns out last Sunday was my birthday.  Am I really going to buckle down and attend to my adult obligations?  Heck no!  I masked up and headed to the OKC card show.  I mean, who really attends a Sunday card show during football season? Not many, it turns out. I got there around noon, four hours before the show was scheduled to end, and a number of sellers were already loading out to head home.

I found the sole vintage vendor and sat down and started pawing through boxes.

Almost immediately I found one of the three remaining cards I need to finish 1968 Topps.  Just the Ryan rookie card and Lou Brock left to go.

I managed to pick up a fair number of commons for my 1960 set, along with the three star cards above.  I am sitting at jsut short of 75% complete on that set, with "only" 145 cards to go, with many of the most expensive cards to go: Koufax, Mays, Maris, and (of course) all three Mantle's in the set.

I mainly went to the show to see if I could knock of some of the few remaining cards I needed for my 1955 set.   I found one in my price range, this Kaline second year card.  Just 21 more to finish the set including Banks, Robinson, Killebrew RC, Clemente, and Snider.

Finally, I found only two cards for my 1965 set, but they were good ones.

 

The Mantle isn't in great shape, maybe VG at best, but the price was right.  The book is $800 on the card, but I got it for $125.  Still a fair chunk of change, but it was my birthday.  Anyways, down to 86 cards to finish that set.  Biggest remaining cards are Aaron, Clemente, Mays, Rose, and the Carlton and Perez rookie cards.

So, that is probably about it for the year.  Now that the days are short and the weather uncooperative, i need to pick my 1970 card back project back up.  

What I am listening to: Down to the River by The War and Treaty

New Antonelli Piece

 What a year, amirite? In some ways it has been a lost year.  But, we are heading into the most wonderful season of the year: no yard work season!  

Well, that isn't entirely true as we had a huge ice storm the last week of October and I lost a lot of branches off my trees.  The cleanup, however, is mostly done.  I am referring, of course, to the holiday season.  Because we have the farm, and live so far from family, we haven't travelled back for the holidays in a fair number of years.  We usually have other local "orphans" over for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.  

This year, with COVID obviously, that won't be happening. The situation was further complicated when my 92 year old mother-in-law came down sick and had to spend some time in the hospital.  My wife drove back to Ohio to help her sister care for her mother while she recovered her strength and got back on her feet.  So, she missed my birthday last weekend and will probably be up there for at least another week and a half. So, I'll be spending Thanksgiving alone, as well.  My wife and I have been together for 30 years (married for 28) so it is a bit odd to be a bachelor again.  But, I adapted quickly by reverting to eating poorly, and not cleaning up after myself.  

Anyways, do not mourn for me.  I am very fortunate that I have many blessings in my life.  And, while this holiday will be odd, I am happy that better days are ahead for us all.

Anyways, I recently added a new piece to my Johnny Antonelli player collection; the first since August and, as near as I can tell, only the second so far in 2020.

This is an advertising postcard from 1957 for Knickerbocker Beer showing Antonelli with Giants play by play announcer Russ Hodges.  At 7" by 9", it is larger than a normal post card and it appears to intended to send to retailers and not fans. I haven't found much information on these and have only seen 3 other, different versions with manager Bill Rigney, third base coach Tommy Henrich, and All Star outfielder Willie Mays.  This version is pristine with a surface gloss that belies the fact that it is 63 years old.

So, how did "sure bet" Antonelli do in 1957?  Did he make it to 20 games?  Not exactly. He went 12-18 with a 3.77 ERA for the Giants in their final season in New York.

What I am listening to:  Bum Rush by Body Count

And...Done!

 It has been a year, hasn't it?   Two weeks ago, the final week in October mind you, we had an ice storm here. I lost so many branches.  I've spend a good part of the last two weeks cleaning up.  It wouldn't be so bad except that I was only about 75% done with the clean up from the July wind storm that took out 8 or so large oak trees.  Needless to say, I've spent a lot of time operating a chain saw. But, you aren't here for the "woe is me" stories.

Getting those TCMAs from Night Owl really got me excited about finishing that set.  A few eBay purchases and a visit to Sportlots and, with these Hank Aaron and Brooks Robinson cards, I am now done.

I knocked off most of the want list buying a large lot of these on eBay. I now have close to 250 duplicates for this set.  If anyone is interested, I will gladly pay them forward.  All I ask is you throw a few pesos my way for shipping.

I also have completed a couple of Twitter trades.  On the first, with a person who goes by the handle Baseball Card Kid, I was able to help him finish out his run of Thurman Munson cards and, in exchange, I got a Ken Griffey Dairy Isle disk. I already had the Islay's version, so it is pretty cool to have a variation. I also got this 1967 Phil Niekro.  This is my fifth card from that year, so I only have 604 to go.

The second trade was with Twitter user Lanny Ribes.  I was able help him with some vintage needs, including 4 cards from 1956 Topps and I got 7 cards from 1955 back.

With these cards I am down to only needing 23 cards to finish 1955 Topps.  Unfortunately, 10 of those are star cards, including the Roberto Clemente rookie card.  That card would be a really stretch under normal circumstances, but in this current price bubble I am pretty sure it is well outside my budget.  But, I am excited about getting closer to finishing the set.

There was a big card show in Dallas last weekend, but I decided not to go. I went last year and had a great time, but the COVID19 situation down here is getting worse. I am not sure how it is elsewhere, but in the Oklahoma/Texas area there is a big overlap between the card collecting community and the subset of citizens who think coronavirus falls somewhere in the range of "not serious" to "hoax." Reports were that the show was packed, so I am glad I didn't throw myself into that Petri dish. 

There is a show next weekend here in OKC, and I am on the fence about going. Obviously, the risks are the same that caused me to bail on Dallas. Though, being sandwiched between Dallas and Christmas it may very well be lightly attended. I'd like to see if I can pick up a '55 star card or two. I've got some KN95 masks, so maybe I'll throw one on and make a quick visit.  I'll need to see what the state's virus numbers look like over the remainder of the week.

What I am listening to: Wouldn't Want to Be Like You by Sheryl Crow and St. Vincent