I am really struggling with my next post in the series about my signed 1961 Fleer collection. The subject of that post is (supposed to be) Bob Feller. It is easy to write about players that, while they were big names in their time, are mostly forgotten now. I get the opportunity to learn about them and invariably I find interesting things to write about. But, legend like Feller? How do you write about them without regurgitating what people already know. I am trying to think of an interesting angle, but haven't figured it out yet. Thoughts?
So, I'm going write a post about a couple cards that showed up today.
2004 Upper Deck Timeless Teams was an interesting concept for a set, but poorly executed. I give my unvarnished opinion in the middle of this post. Also in that post I list out the six variations of each card. Since Paul Blair has two cards in the set, there are a total of 12 cards* to collect. The Bronze parallel above brings me up to 9. I still lack 1 of the Signature Golds (# to 5) and both Signature Platinum (1/1) This is the 170th unique item in my Blair player collection. I organized this collection at the end of 2024 but have updated the want list since and the last handful of acquisitions haven't been placed in their proper location yet. So, it is probably about time to organize again and assess where I am against known cards.
I mentioned a while back that I was building the 1970-71 Topps Hockey set. It is a weird set. But first, some context. When I build my want list, I always have the Beckett book value next to each card number. Mind you, I don't pay book value (except for 1967 high numbers. Grrrr) but usually look to be around half for high grade raw cards and a third or so for mid grade. The 1970-71 hockey set is odd in that my experience so far has been that commons sell for more than book value and stars for less. I have no idea why. Maybe my experience is wrong what with small sample sizes and all. But I am making steady progress on the stars and only occasionally picking up commons.
Anyhow, the two most valuable cards in this set are the Bobby Orr above and Gilbert Perreault's rookie card and I have the Perreault on its way. Of the ten most valuable cards in the set, I have 8 with the Gordie Howe and checklist cards to go.
Us set builders can be fussy about how we go about business. In the case of this hockey set, I have to state that I have a few OPC mixed in with the Topps. This doesn't really bother me. It probably should, but it doesn't I am considering, when I am done here, building the OPC-only part of the set (cards 133-264) When I get closer to completion (I'm 2/3 of the way there), I will start scouting out those OPC cards and see if they are reasonably affordable before making a final decision.
* Paul Blair also appears on a multiplayer relic card, but they are so dang expensive I am not interested in chasing it.
What I am listening to: All I Wanna Do by Sheryl Crow
Feller's behind the scenes involvement in raising player pay is an underappreciated angle. He was behind some of the game's earliest pensions, arranged barnstorming teams (extra revenue for players), and was a big proponent of multiple All-Star games.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Timeless Teams had parallels. I should've figured.
ReplyDeleteWhen writing card-by-card set blogs, the stars are always the most difficult to write. I just hunkered down and did extra research. That might be a little more difficult now with the way the internet is .