Hey There Boo-Boo...

It's been a while since I've shared one of the "beaters" from my collection, so here's another one of the cards I'm holding onto while I wait for a more complete version to surface in a price range that is more in line with what I want to pay:

It's what would otherwise be a terrific example of a 1952 Topps Yogi Berra card, but a previous owner decided it needed to match up better with the cards Topps issued after 1956 and trimmed the edges away.

That said, I'll probably be waiting for a while until this one gets upgraded. I can't buy an awful lot of caviar when all I have is hamburger money.

Player's Been Traded! The 1965 Topps Edition

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so here are some of the "turkeys" I have in my dupes box from 1965.

As I've written this blog, I've shared some of the cards that show the way kids in the 1950s and 60s dealt with things during the era of one card set per year. When a player was traded, or a new player arrived, those kids weren't about to let something like a monopoly baseball card company get in their way of having a complete team set. With a little American ingenuity and a ball point pen, anything was possible.

First, we have a guy who was traded:

Billy Cowan will be best known to baseball card collectors for the way he posed on his 1972 Topps card, with the halo of the old Angel sign over his head. However, before he posed for that card, he is shown here as a Cub. For whatever reason, he didn't get the "capless" treatment Topps usually gave players who had been traded. He actually began the 1965 season with the New York Mets (which aren't mentioned on this card)  and ended it with the Braves (who are). The card shows his updated status as he played for the Phillies (1967), Yankees (1969) and Angels (1969-'72).

As for Bob Tiefenauer, he would begin the '65 season in Milwaukee. Before the season was over, though, he'd be sent to both the Yankees and Indians. the Yankees are noted at the bottom of the card and the Tribe at the bottom of the pennant. He would finish his career in '68 with the Cubs, as indicated by the card.

Chris Cannizzaro actually lasted with his team the entire '65 season. Then, he was back in the minors for two years. In '68 he came back up with Pittsburgh, before becoming an original member of the San Diego Padres. While "Tigers" is shown on the card at the bottom of the pennant, Cannizzaro was with the organization during his minor league stint in '66-'67 but likely wasn't needed to back up Bill Freehan. He would go on to play with the Cubs in '71 and the Dodgers in '72, but those aren't reflected here. Looks like the kid had put away his collection sometime after 1969.

In the case where somebody came up to the majors before his card was printed, collectors needed to do something different. Here's an example:

George Culver began playing with the Reds in 1968. Jim O'Toole, on the other hand, was gone after '67. An easy adjustment.

Likewise, when a team trades away a veteran for a hot prospect, like the Reds did after the '67 season...it really helps if both players have the same first name. Bench didn't get his first card until '68 and didn't appear by himself on one until '69, but that wasn't a problem when this was a handy solution.

This last card, though, is a puzzler:

Bill Henry was with the Giants by the close of the '65 season, so I understand the idea of tossing him from the Reds' pile. However, Sandy Koufax was appearing in the Topps set on his own card. Since he appeared on card #300, perhaps it was necessary to "make" a Koufax card to play baseball card "games" with early in the season as a way of waiting until Sandy showed up in the gum packs. Aside from being left-handed and in the National League, there's not a lot of similarity between the two pitchers.

As I said earlier, all these cards are sitting in my dupes box. If you'd like one (even if you don't have anything to offer in trade), drop me a line.

Campy!

(Today's post is the 100th I've written for this blog. Since starting a little more than six months ago, I've been able to keep writing new stuff for it. Hopefully, there will be more as time goes on...but I'd like to take the opportunity here to point out the bit on the left-hand side asking for submissions. Specifically, I'm not a collector of basketball or hockey...but I'd love to get some stuff on here about vintage cards from both sports and make this truly a "Sports cards" blog. Now, I return to the regularly-scheduled entry, already in progress...)

The Brooklyn Dodgers are still beloved by their fans even after more than a half-century since leaving their borough for the California sunshine. I grew up in Upstate New York in the 1980s, and remember how people were still heartbroken by the move...in fact, the father of one of my friends used to tell me that he quit paying attention to baseball the day he learned the team had moved. As far as he was concerned as a young man, if his favorite team was going to leave, he had no business with the sport at all. A little extreme, I suppose, but I respect the hell out him for sticking to his guns.

Here's one of the most popular players on his boyhood team, from my 1953 set-in-progress:

I picked this one up for about $4 on eBay a little while back. The low price was due to the seller not featuring a picture in the auction. She did accurately describe that it had damage, which likely kept prospective buyers away if they couldn't see the extent of that damage.

The worst part for me was waiting for the card to arrive. I wanted to see for myself if it was a good deal. While I was satisfied when the card arrived, my imagination made me think it would look a lot worse than it did. I wasn't exactly worried due to the low selling price, but I shudder to think about the anticipation if I'd blindly spent an awful lot more on a pictureless auction out of faith.

Anybody else have an eBay story like that? Winning an auction where you didn't know what was going to show up?

A Couple More Cards From My Collection

Last time, I posted about football cards and will continue that with a couple of cards from my own Steelers collection. Here are two of my 1957 Topps cards:

As you can see, my vintage football cards often tend to be in much better shape than my vintage baseball cards. I think that focusing on only a single team is part of the reason, but the fact that vintage football cards sell for much less than their baseball counterparts also helps.

For instance, look at the Stautner card. It's a high number card of a Hall of Fame player, and I paid around $5 on eBay to add it to my collection. It's unlikely I'll ever find a '57 Topps baseball card of a Hall of Famer for $5 in any series regardless of scarcity that looks anywhere near as nice as this one.

However, the design of the '57 football set led some kids to use their imaginations. Why be satisfied with one card when you can have two? Thus:

At least the Stautner card was cut apart. It looks a little neater than the ripped Watson card.

Where the cards shown at the top of this post would normally be upgrades to the ones below them, the two (or four, depending on your perspective) "mini" cards were included in a trade as "unique" variations. They still sit in my dupes box if anyone's interested.

Mail Call

These cards arrived in the mailbox a short time ago:

The players are all beloved to fans of 1950s baseball:

1. Vic Wertz, who hit the ball in '54 that caused Willie Mays to make that amazing catch.
2. "Puddin' Head" Jones, third baseman for the 1950 "Whiz Kid" Phillies.
3. Andy Pafko, best known as '52 Topps card #1.

These 1951 Topps cards are fairly worn.

Okay, they're beat to hell. They exhibit paper loss and water stains. They're in lesser shape than my other 1951 Topps cards (which is saying a lot). However, look at the backs:

As 1951 Blue Backs, they increase my own collection from only four cards to seven, so I have no problem adding them. They were sent to me for free, with two stipulations:

1. I give them a good home.
2. Should I ever upgrade, they are sent for free to a new owner.

I think I can handle those terms.

Only 45 left to complete the set!

Another Prized Card

Here's a card that has a great story:

While it looks pretty beat up, it's a very special card in my collection.

1979 was my first year of collecting baseball cards. I was six then, but still remember opening those packs as clear as day. I had also become a Yankee fan when they won the previous year's World Series. So, as I opened wax packs that year I had a routine: I would rip open the wax...since the cards were packaged with a scratch-off game card I split the stack at the insert card and flipped one side over so all were facing teh same way. I then quickly looked through the cards for an orange banner at the bottom. Any Yankees went to the top of the stack. That sometimes meant getting annoyed that the Padres also used an orange banner, but getting a Yankee card was the best feeling. Once I sorted through the cards, the wrapper and gum were tossed into the trash.

Every summer, we'd go visit with Mom's family in upstate New York.  During the summer of '79, we went up there and discovered that Grandma had gotten cable. Not just cable, but WPIX out of New York City...Channel 11, the television home of the Yankees! For the first time, I got to watch the games and hear Phil Rizzuto yell "Holy Cow!" whenever a great play was made.

I also ended up playing baseball in the evenings with some of the local kids in a field behind my Aunt Mary's place. One day the game was broken up when my cousin Lori came out the back porch crying that Thurman Muson was dead. The game broke up immediately and we all went home to see what had happened.

As I learned about the crash and dealt with the news that he was gone (and at 6 it may have been the first time I actually understood that). I also began looking through my baseball cards (they came up with me in a shoebox) to see if I had Munson's card. Since the cards were sorted by team (each one neatly bound with a rubber band), I pulled out the Yankees (on top, as always) and went through them. Reggie, Piniella, Dent, Gossage, even Ken Clay and Gary Thomason!  But no Thurman to be found.

Of course, my older cousin Jimmy had one. He began to hammer me about it. He had the card and I didn't. It was going to be worth "a hunderd bucks" and he had it. Since Jimmy was much bigger and stronger than me, I just sat down and felt sorry for myself as he continually taunted me about it.

A couple days later, I went down to the store on the corner -- a small store owned by an older couple -- and bought a pack of cards. I gave Mr. Forney my quarter and walked back to where we were staying. I tore open the wrapper,  took out the cards, tossed the wrapper -- gum still inside -- in the garbage can and walked up the road. As always, I oriented the stack of cards so the game piece that came in each pack was on the top. Then I went looking for any orange banners.

Somewhere in that stack was this Munson card. It was poignant, because I realized the man in the picture was no longer alive, yet there he was on a piece of cardboard. It may not look like much, but I'll likely own the card until the day I can shake hands with Thurman himself.

Now That's an Upgrade!

Here's a cool card I got from a collector buddy recently:

While it may not look like much...take a look at the card it replaced in my 1957 Topps binder:

Yes, I've said before that I'd rather have a hole in the card than one in the binder...but I still know I can always upgrade a card later.

While I'm at it, that '57 Skizas card is still available in my dupes box. Let me know if you want it. Seriously.