A Return to Normalcy

After the high of actually possessing two Mickey Mantle cards that were issued during his playing career, you might expect that I would experience something of a letdown. Not true.  As a set builder, every card is a goal unto itself.  And, as a set builder, I find the importance of a card is not measured by it's book or historical value.  On the contrary, the importance of a card to me is measured by when it is acquired.  A star card can be less important than a common if it was acquired earlier in the set building process.

Example.  When I bought a 1971 starter set last summer, it included a very nice version of card 513, Nolan Ryan, which books at $150.  However, since it was part of that initial set of cards, it is less important than the following two cards.

I got these for $3 each, which isn't too shabby considering they are high numbers. My progress on 1971 has been stalled for almost 3 months.  I didn't get a single card towards completing the set during that period. So, I was quite pleased to find these.  I am down to needing 50 cards to complete 1971, 4 of which will be upgrades to poor quality cards I already have.  I had hoped to finish 1971 by the end of the year, but with the holidays coming up, I am quite sure that won't happen.  There is another card show coming up December 15 and 16, which I may go to, but I don't expect to have much of a budget. And if my main (non-incarcerated) source for vintage commons isn't there....well.....forget about any more progress at all on 1971 until the calendar flips over.

One other cheap pickup yesterday:

I now have 27 of the 33 cards in the 1969 Deckle insert set. Luckily, none of the cards in this set are expensive. So, even though I still need Willie Mays, it won't be a hard set to complete.  Actually, the most expensive card in the set is 22B - Joe Foy, a short print variation (22A is Rusty Staub.)  Even that only books at $25 and generally sells on Ebay for less than half that.

So, with that, my collecting activity goes into hibernation and I'll probably go back to featuring interesting cards from 2011 Tristar Obak, with a couple brief interludes when I get some cards back I sent out to be autographed.

What I am listening to:  "The One that Got Away" by Dave Pahanish

Finally...with a Bonus

So, I drove up to Al's Sportscards mini-show to pick up the most expensive card I ever bought. Although, even at a C-Note it was a smoking deal. Check this out:

Now look at the same card over at COMC.  Granted, those are only asking prices and not completed sales, but I still think this card could sell for at least twice what I paid for it.  But, I had some additional good luck today. The same guy sold me the following card for $25.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out what the circles on the card are for. At first, I thought it was categories where Mantle led the league that year, but a quick visit to Baseball Reference killed that idea. It might be intended to be his career highs in each category, although the person who did this got hits wrong.

The day did end with one bad note.  The one seller who I have bought a lot of 1971 Topps from wasn't there.  When I mentioned it, I was told he was gone.  I asked "Gone as in passed away?"  The response came back "No, gone as in 5 to 10 with time off for good behavior."  Doh! 

Fond Remembrances....with Stickers!

As you may recall, I grew up in Rochester, New York. The main local grocery store in my suburban town was Loblaw's, which I know now is a Canadian company (and still in business the last time I was in Toronto on business.)  As you likely also know, hockey is the Canadian sport*.  Well, during the 1974-1975 hockey season, Loblaw's passed out strips of hockey stickers and coupons. Seeing as how my mother shopped at Loblaw;s, I came to acquire the stickers.  My mother, usually frugal to the point of making Mr. Lincoln cry, did spring for the sticker album.

And, so I spent that hockey season carefully pasting stickers in the album.  I never did finish it and, my mother also being quite unsentimental, it was thrown out at some point in the intervening years.  I occasionally think about it and, during a recent bout of nostalgia, looked for the stickers on EBay. Sure enough they are out there.  So,  I found an auction with a reasonable starting point and made my bid.  As you can guess, I won and now I am going to show you. In no particular order:

 Ross Brooks' NHL career only lasted three seasons. However, in that time he accumulated a 37-7-6 record and a 2.64 GAA with Boston. His career was so short because he was a 35 year old rookie.

 Living in Rochester, I was a Sabres fan, even though the local team, the Americans or Amerks, were the Boston farm club. Dontcha just love that old time goalie mask?

 Oooh! An error sticker!  He last name is actually spelled McAneeley.  I'm guessing it isn't worth any more because of it.

Another crazy mask! Cesare had a 190-257-97 record with 3.27 Goals Against Average in 16 NHL seasons.

 One of two Hockey Hall of Fame inductees I got with the lot of stickers.

Another goalie with a long career. The only reason I am showing this, though, is that wild mask.  It just makes me laugh.

This picture was taken as Mohns was entering his last NHL season. He was 41 at the time and had been in the league since 1953. Some of the people he played against probably weren't even alive when Mohns  started in the NHL.

The other Hall of Famer in the group.

 One of these things is not like the other.

Marson was the only black player in the album.  Come to find out, he wasn't the first player of African descent in the NHL.  That honor went to Willie O'Ree, also known as the "Jackie Robinson of ice hockey" who played in the NHL in the 1957-58 and 1960-61 seasons. Marson was, I suppose you could say, the Larry Doby of ice hockey, being the second black player in the NHL.  This was his rookie card/sticker.

I swear a lot of the players look like they had auditioned for the lead role in the movie Joe Dirt. I was the 1970's, after all.

I just can't get enough of those masks.

I guess I am going to have to try and put the set together.  The albums are as scarce as hen's teeth, so at the moment, these stickers are going into Ultra Pro sheets.

*True Story: One time I was in Toronto on business and ended up going out to a very fancy restaurant for dinner with group of associates. We are talking art on the wall fancy.  The waiters dressed head to toe in black fancy.  Nonetheless there was a large TV on one wall playing the Leafs game. That is when I finally grasped what hockey meant to Canada.

Question: Anyone interested in the duplicates?

Up Next:  I finally (hopefully) get that card I spent a buttload of money on.

What I am listening to:  Polk County by Della Mae

Jesse Burkett - Master of the Inside the Park HR

 I'm still waiting on that card I spent a C-note on to arrive.  I ended up dropping an email to the seller on Friday.  Alas, he doesn't actually own a computer and the email was answered by his son and business partner.  My message was passed on to Bill, so I'll keep an eye on the mail. If it doesn't arrive by Thursday, I'll give him a call and, if he hasn't sent it, I'll ask him to bring it to the mini-show up at Al's on Saturday.

In the mean time,I'll bring you another interesting story from baseball's history, using 2011 Tristar Obak as the launching-off point.

Jesse Burkett, a member of the baseball Hall of Fame, played major league baseball between 1890 and 1905 and still holds the MLB record for career inside the park home runs with 55.  Second on the list is Ty Cobb with 51.  Possessing a disagreeable personality, he was nicknamed "Crab." He continued as a player manager in the minor leagues putting in playing time from 1906 through 1913, as well as limited appearances in 1916 and 1919 (at the age of 50!)  His 1906 season may well be one of the more interesting seasons in baseball history. As a player for the Worcester Busters, he lead the B level New England League in hitting with an average of .344.  As the team manager, he lead the Busters to the first of four consecutive league championships.  What made it most interesting, though, was that he was the owner of the team at the time.  All and all, he appeared as a professional player in 28 different seasons.

Other Inside the Park Home Runs of Note:

1. The most inside the park home runs hit in one season is 12 by Sam Crawford for the Cincinnati Reds in 1901.
2. The most hit in one game is 3 by Tom McCreery of the Louisville Colonels on July 12, 1897.
3. Since 1950, only two players have hit 2 inside the park home runs in a game: Dick Allen of the Chicago White Sox on July 31, 1972 and Greg Gagne of the Minnesota Twins on October 4, 1986.
4. On July 25, 1956 Roberto Clemente hit the only walk-off inside the park grand slam in MLB history.

Y U NO TELL ME?

Why didn't any of you tell me this set existed?

Must collect.......must have.......

In Which I Take Willie Mays Hostage

 
This weekend is the October card show up in OKC and probably my last such show until after the holidays are past.  I had stashed some cash away previously, combined it with my monthly allowance and walked into the show with the princely sum of around $200 in my pocket. I normally don't take near that much, but today I had some specific goals which made it necessary to spend a little heavy.  My goals were as follows:

1. Formally purchase the big ticket card that I had closed a deal for a couple weeks ago.  Just about half my bank was set aside for this.(Yikes!)
2. Knock of some of the 50 or so-odd remaining high number cards I need to finish my 1971 set
3. Pick up a few 1960/1961 Fleer commons.

I only managed to actually succeed on the third goal, but half completed the first goal.  There were two specific dealers that tend to have a lot of 1971s and I was hoping one or both would be there. Neither were, leaving me to look at table after table of MOJO!!11!111!!!!  However, Zach and Bill from Wichita were there, so it wasn't a total loss.  Bill is an older gentleman, a retired investment banker, who I was to buy my big ticket card from.  Zach is a younger guy, who I buy from at every show.  He always has a decent selection of high end cards, but also a lot of big 3200 count boxes of midrange vintage commons. I started with him and  managed to find 10 commons from 1960 Fleer for a dollar each.

The cards were all really clean. Other sellers I have dealt with would have priced them at $2, which I might have paid.  I also managed to find 3 commons for 1961 Fleer, also for a dollar each.

Zach also had a small stack of 1963 Fleer and I found an additional 2 commons, and one star card, for that set that I needed.

Forgive the grunge on the left side of that Brooksie image. That isn't on the card. My scanner just needs to be cleaned.

After concluding the deal, I wandered down to Bill's table to get my card we had agreed on a couple weeks back.  Alas, he left my card at home and said he would mail it to me on Monday.  So, I looked over what he had at his table. He is sort of an odd dealer.  As a retired investment banker (who still swings a few deals in his retirement), he doesn't need to sell cards. He does it for the fun and normally will sell things at slightly more than his cost. So, his merchandise is generally more limited than other dealers and is usually a mish-mash of stuff without much rhyme or reason..But, he will always have some interesting stuff. So, when you are at his table you need to scan carefully to make sure you aren't missing anything. This time, he had one T206,  some neat 1939 Play Ball and a stack of close to 60 1950 Bowman cards that he was selling for $100 (some were nice, but most were rough). 

One thing did catch my eye.

I have been working on 1963 Fleer since last December but haven't made any progress in 2 or 3 months. Unfortunately, among the remaining are cards I need are ones like Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente (which book at $200 each.) I've been dreading getting those cards because they are so expensive.  But, having gotten over my nausea from closing a deal for over $100 for a card, I waded in anyways and he gave me a more-than-fair price for this one without me getting cold feet.  And it is a beaut.  Clean, sharp corners, and still has the original gloss on the front. The top to bottom centering, at 10-90, is the only weak point.

I am now in striking distance of completing this set, needing only 11 more cards to finish, including the aforementioned Clemente, Don Drysdale, and Warren Spahn.

So, we turned out conversation to the logistics of getting my other card to me.  I went ahead and paid him at the show, since I trust this guy. He said he had set the card aside for me and was pretty sure where it was.  Further, he said, if he couldn't find it he'd send me my money back. I offered him an alternative plan.  Pointing at another card on his table, I said that if he couldn't find the original card that we closed a deal for, I'd take that one.  He picked it up, handed it to me, and said "take it, it will be safer with you."  I protested quite sincerely that I didn't want to take what I hadn't pay for, but he was insistent.  Eventually, I relented.

And that is how I came to take Willie Mays hostage.

It is a nice card with solid corners and good gloss. I would put it in the NM range. It's only flaw is that it is miscut, as you can see by the solid line at the bottom. I assume it is a guide line for when the cards were cut at the factory.  The thing is that the top border looks close to correct to me. It may be a a tad narrow, but not enough that you should see the top of an adjacent card at the bottom. So, I held it up against another card and this one is actually cut a bit longer than it should be. Not surprisingly by about the width of that line.

Once (if) my other card arrives, I will send this 1962 Willie Mays back.

Or send a check to buy it.  At this point, with a 3 month card drought facing me, I am guessing I will opt for the latter.  Which, I am savvy enough to realize, was the seller's plan all along.  I generally pride myself on recognizing the tactics salesmen employ.  Resisting them is, apparently, another matter.  I guess we'll see later this week. I will be dropping an envelope in the mail.  Who knows what the contents will be.

Having completely spent my money in the space of about 30 minutes, I stayed a while and talked with Bill and Zack and then headed home to mow my lawn one last time for the year.  Last show of the year, but head and shoulders my favorite.

Fini

Well, the Yankees season is over, and not a moment too soon. That had too be one of the all-time most pathetic offensive performances in a post-season history. Game 4 started at 3 PM local time, when I was still at work.  I streamed the radio feed across my iPhone and listened to it while I was working.  By the fourth inning, when Detroit went up 6-0 my disgust level was such that I turned it off.

In a  way, I am relieved and am looking forward getting back to normal life. I have a stack of chores and small projects to work on over the winter.  Although, for the moment, I have a card show to go to on Saturday and I need to get myself prepared.

Over the coming days and weeks, I may dissect the Yankees a bit and talk a little bit about what I think they should do for 2013.



What I am listening to:  "The Boy in the Bubble" by Paul Simon