My Oldest Yankee Card

It's been a little while since I shared one of the cards with "character" from my collection. Here's one today from a set that doesn't get seen all that often:

It's a T213 Coupon and was printed around 1914. There are three types of T213 (each with a different back and different years of issue), and this card is a Type 2. The player is Jeff Sweeney, who is also found with Richmond as a team name. I'd show the back, but there's not a lot of it still attached to the card. But it's nearly 100 years old, and it's an early Yankee (they had changed their name from Highlanders in 1913).

There is sometimes a little confusion with this set, since it shares a similar design with T206 cards and even uses the same photos. However -- and this is a little hard to see on my card -- the text at the bottom is blue, which a T-card collector should notice right away. Blue ink is found on Type 2 and 3 cards, while brown ink is used for Type 1.

The Old Cardboard website has a quick breakdown of T213 cards, including years of issue and back images.

1963 Fleer...A Glimpse

After releasing specialty sets since 1959, the Frank H. Fleer Corporation decided to really get in the ring with Topps in 1963 and issue a set of cards featuring modern baseball players. The design of the set was not bad, as this Willie Mays card attests:

Card #5 -- Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants

Featuring a nice, main picture, there was a drawing of a baseball player in the corner, along with the name, team and position. While some may point out that the 1963 Fleer design wasn't too far off from the one Topps used that year (that is, if you placed a second player photo in place of the drawing), the back of the cards were a lot different from anything you'd see come out of Topps:

Card #5 -- Willie Mays (Back)

The biggest major difference was the way the back had its number placed right in the middle of the card. With Topps, Post, Jell-O, Bazooka, and even earlier Fleer cards, the numbers were normally located in a place where they'd be easily seen if you were thumbing through a stack. But not in 1963. Fleer put them right in the middle of the card, inside a baseball with two bats. The write-ups were better than what Topps used in its limited space; in fact, the vertical alignment of the text makes this card stand out.

There were 66 cards in the set. There were likely plans to make more, but Topps decided it really didn't need to have anybody to to them what they themselves had done to Bowman only a decade before. Instead, they took Fleer to court and argued that the cards infringed on their "exclusive" rights to sell pictures of players on gum cards. Fleer argued that they didn't include gum -- even though it was their company that had invented bubble gum -- and instead used a cookie inside the packs.

The term "cookie" is a general one. Since they needed to reduce the sugar content in order to avoid stepping on Topps' toes, they were generally considered to be terrible. In fact, court testimony recorded shows that a Topps executive said -- on the record -- that the cookie tasted rather like a dog biscuit. Eventually, the court sided with Topps and halted the Fleer set at one series.

However, that didn't stop thousands of sets from making their way into collectors' hands. Here are some of the memorable Fleer cards from 1963:

Card #42 -- Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers

In 1963, the Los Angeles Dodgers returned to the World Series and faced their old nemesis from the days they played in Brooklyn: The New York Yankees. Showing that this team wasn't the lovable Bums of olden days, they sent the Yankees home in four straight. It was the first time the Yankees had ever lost in a sweep, and Koufax set the tone early, by striking out 15 batters in the first game. The newspapers had the following headline after that performance:

"KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKoufax!"

Card #56 -- Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirates

A little-known fact about Clemente was that he was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves from 1959 through 1964. He had been in a car accident in 1955 that had given him some back problems and sometimes limited his effectiveness on the field. However, once he was forced to serve in the military (as many American boys -- including ones from Puerto Rico -- were then) he became a Marine. Those who've paid attention know that Marines are infantrymen first, and the training helped his on-field performance. There would not be a comfortable desk job waiting for him there. After '59, Clemente's back problems went away. At the same time, his power and speed made him one of the more dangerous players in baseball.

"Semper Fi!"

Card #8 -- Carl Yastrzemski, Boston Red Sox

"Yaz" was in his third season in 1963 and enjoyed a breakout year by winning the American League Batting crown. Later, he won a Triple Crown in 1967 and was the only batter to hit .300 in the entire league in 1968. He was a part of two pennant-winning Sox teams (1967 and '75) but never managed to get a World Series ring. When Fleer was finally able to resume active player cards in 1981, Yaz was one of only two players still remaining who had been in the 1963 set.

Jim Kaat was the other one.

Card #43 -- Maury Wills, Los Angeles Dodgers

Actually, Maury Wills ended up being included in the 1981 Fleer set too, except he was featured as the manager of the Mariners, a team that didn't exist in 1963.

This card was obviously designed to remind collectors that there were some players who were missing from their Topps sets. Wills famously refused to sign with them after they declined to offer him a contract during his days in the minor leagues because they assumed he wasn't going to make it into the majors. In 1962, he set a new record for stolen bases, becoming the first modern player to swipe over 100 in a season. However, the mention of his '62 N.L. MVP award on the card itself seemed to give a raspberry toward Fleer's competitors in Brooklyn.

Card #11 -- Dick Donovan, Cleveland Indians

Another big difference between Topps and Fleer was the way they handled players who switched teams. Instead of using a "hatless" picture or airbrushing a new logo, Fleer just used an old photo and designated the new team. The only issue with Dick Donovan, though...was that he was traded to the Indians after the '61 season and played all of 1962 for the Tribe. In fact, even Topps used a picture of him in an Indians uniform on his '63 card.

Card #46 -- Joe Adcock, Cleveland Indians

Another fellow Cleveland player was Joe Adcock, who actually was new to the club for the '63 season. In the case of this Adcock card, it's better remembered as a short-print than it is for his playing. Fleer printed a checklist, but needed to make room for it on the printing sheet. Thus, Adcock's card was bumped to allow for it.

The checklist card looks like this:

(Unnumbered) 1st Series Checklist Card

The use of the words "1st Series" indicates that Fleer definitely planned on issuing more, but Topps' injunction prevented them from doing so. It's not known who may have appeared in a second series, but there are always collectors who can imagine.

An Early eBay Story

In 1999/2000, I discovered the great little online yard sale known as eBay. At the time, it was still a neat little auction site...this was before it became the big behemoth it is now that I mostly avoid today.

It was a nice boost to my collection, too, since it gave me a way to look for cards without having to search through card shops or calling dealers, only to have them look for half an hour and then either being a higher price than I wanted to pay or being told that there wasn't much in the way of vintage material there.

So, having a way to toss out small bids on cards and knowing what I was going to get was a great way to justify my internet connection.

I was also looking to work on my 1956 Topps set. My first wantlist page consisted only of 1956 Topps cards. One day early in 2000, I saw this card being auctioned off:

I put in a bid, and ended up winning it, for about $4 plus shipping. So, I mailed out a money order, placed the line for Hoyt Wilhelm in red (which I still do sometimes when I know something's coming) and waited for the card to show up in my mailbox.

About a week and a half later, an envelope from the seller showed up. And this was the card inside it:

While I was satisfied about getting an older card than expected, I was working on a 1956 Topps set and really wanted that card. I wrote a quick email to the seller explaining that the wrong card arrived and asked if I could get the one I actually won for my '56 set in progress?

Of course, I said I'd return the '54 once it arrived. However, I'd lost or tossed away his address and needed it again so I could send it back to him.

He wrote back, apologized for the mix-up and told me my card would arrive as soon as he could get to the post office. And sure enough, in a few days it arrived. However, he didn't put a full address on his envelope and never sent it in his reply. When I had the card in hand, I sent another email thanking him and asking once again for an address so I could give back the original card he sent me.

He told me I could keep it, since he screwed up the order. So, $4 plus shipping got me two cards of a great Hall of Fame pitcher from the 1950s. I really wish I could remember who the seller was, though. I'd love to give him a plug if he's still around.

eBay was great before it became bloated.

Slap Shot to My Mailbox!

Last week, Tom -- a long-time trading buddy and occasional reader of this blog -- sent me the very first hockey cards to go into my collection.

That's right, a guy who writes a blog featuring vintage cards from all types of sports never bothered to add one of those sports to his collection. And this after growing up near the Canadian border and even following the Montreal Canadiens and Guy LaFleur as a kid. Sorry, but they simply didn't have any hockey cards for sale where I grew up and I never really went out of my way to collect them.

I really should have, though. They have a richer history than football and basketball cards, going back to the same 1910 era as the T-cards and several sets from the 1930s as well.

Tom sent me six cards, and they were all from the 1972/'73 Topps hockey set. That's actually a good set to start out with, since I also appeared that hockey season (made my own debut on December 2, in fact). Here's the big hit of the package:

Card #56 -- Stan Mikita, Chicago Black Hawks

Considered the NHL's premier center during the 1960s, Stan Mikita played with the Black Hawks from 1959-'80 and went to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. I don't know the wait period for the HOF, but three years after retirement is pretty quick.

Knowing I'm a collector who always has an eye for historical things, Tom also included this card in the stack:

Card #170 -- Art Ross Trophy

The Art Ross Trophy is given each year to the top scorer in the NHL. Although the official trophy began to be awarded after the 1947/'48 season, the back of this card shows the leading scorers for each season going back to 1917.

And Stan Mikita won it four times. In fact, Mikita is the only NHL player to ever win the Art Ross Trophy, Lady Byng Trophy (for sportsmanship) and the Hart Trophy (for the MVP) in the same season. And he did that twice, in 1966/'67 and 1967/'68. His card is a great start to a small hockey collection.

So thanks, Tom!

1970s Hoops Cards

Now that football season is over and Spring Training hasn't yet begun,let's focus on another sport that's still active.

Back in October, I showed off what were then the only basketball cards that were in my collection. Now, since I've added a few more that have filtered in from other deals, I'd like to do a short about these new additions.

Topps was out of the basketball card market for a long time. After a set in 1957, they waited until 1969 to make a second set. The sets in 1969/'70 and 1970/'71 were both large-sized sets, much like 1964 Topps hockey and 1965 Topps football had been. Since basketball players tended to be taller, the format was actually appropriate.

In 1971, Topps reduced their basketball set to the same standard size all their mainstream sets had:

Card #58 -- Calvin Murphy, Houston Rockets

In a way, these were similar to the design of 1969 Topps football, with a player photo in front of a solid color. A very 1970s font is used at the top to denote the player's team's city, while red sets apart the player's initials and position. Cards 1-144 feature NBA players while series 2 (145-233) feature players from the old ABA.

I only have a small handful of cards from this set, but I did notice this:

(Love the old ABA basketball seen on Cannon's card)

1971/'72 was the first season the Rockets played in Houston after four seasons in San Diego. Since NASA was in Houston, the "Rockets" name was a fit there. However, they weren't the only professional basketball team to play with the name. Denver was an original ABA team in 1967 and also called themselves the Rockets. As the ABA/NBA merger appeared to be working out during the mid-1970s, the Denver team changed its name to Nuggets, a name it still uses to this day.

1972/'73 saw a new design that wasn't going to hearken back to any other designs:

Card #238 -- Gerald Govan, Memphis Tams

Again, the set was broken down between the leagues. Cards #1-176 featured NBA players, and #177-264 were from the ABA. There were also subsets for playoffs and statistical leaders in each Series as well.

Here's an interesting card I noticed in my stack:

Card #2 -- Stan Love, Baltimore Bullets

The back of Stan Love's card says, "Stan's brother, Mike, sings with a rock & roll group."

Mike Love. Why couldn't Topps just say he was a member of The Beach Boys? There must have been a licensing issue that prevented it.

For the 1973/'74 set, here's a card featuring somebody familiar to fans outside of basketball:

Card #71 -- Phil Jackson, New York Knicks

At the time this card was being printed, Phil Jackson had just helped the Knicks to the 1973 NBA championship. He didn't get any more titles as a player before retiring in 1980, but he made up for that as a head coach, leading 11 teams to NBA titles. This is part of another set split between two leagues: #1-176 are NBA players and 177-264 are ABA pros. Again, there are subsets for league statistical leaders and playoff series.

Here's a card from the set worth showing:

Card #179 -- Steve Jones, Carolina Cougars

Yes, it's a victim of Topps' sometimes lousy QA control. There are two things here that I immediately think of:

1. That Afro is too big for the card to hold
2. "Cougars" has a very different connotation today

Like I said back in October:

As a guy who is not only a vintage collector but also a 1970s style connoisseur (which is a fancy word for "freak"), it would logically follow that I'm also a fan of 1970s basketball cards. However, I never really started picking up the cards despite the fact that the sets are often quite small and not overly tough to collect. I'll probably be pretty easily hooked if I ever chance upon a nice starer set somewhere.

Well, somebody actually took me up on that, and any further additions to my collection will only help me as I keep showing the cards here.

 

 

Q&A

I got this email last weekend, and am sharing it because of what the follow-up email explained. Alana writes:

Q:

"I was viewing your website, mainly because I Googled these baseball coins to see what they are worth...Would it be possible to tell me what I may have?

Juan Marichal  Giants Pitcher   coin number 125

Thanks for any help."

(Not the Marichal coin, but an example from the same set)

 
A:

I wrote about the 1964 and 1971 Topps coins on my blog last October. You'll get some nice background info here.

Your coin is from 1971, and it was originally inserted into the packs with 10 cards and a stick of gum.

As for what it's worth...depending on condition, I see that Marichal coin at card shows for $3-5 depending on condition. If it has any rust on it, it'll impact the price.

(Another 1971 Topps Coin to show off)

And here's the part of the question I find to be cool:

This was a standard reply that took a moment or so to return. She replied, thanking me for getting back so quickly and telling me that she was about to visit Las Vegas with her family. While there, they were going to stop and visit the pawn shop shown in the TV show Pawn Stars and get something small pawned there just to say she did it.

As it turned out, I was the "expert" she consulted with before going, and that Marichal coin she found laying around was the little piece she decided to take with her. They may give her 50 cents for it, but that makes me feel good to know that somebody read what I'd written on the Web and thought enough to send me an email to give her an opinion. Stuff like that just makes my day.

Pre-"Big Game" Post

You may have heard there is a big football game being played this weekend. Long-time readers know I have an affinity for one of the teams that will be playing. However, as a fan of football the way it used to be played, the other team is also a team I appreciate due to their long-term history. Yes, I'm a Steelers fan. However, you'll never hear me trash-talking about it, as I prefer to let the team do its own talking on the field. As a fan of history...watching two teams with so much tradition go at it for all the marbles is just a great thing for the game. I just hope it's not a blowout either way; there's nothing worse than losing interest during the third quarter because the game's gotten out of hand.

So, this post will focus on something from my Steelers collection. That said, it'll still be written to inform collectors about a couple things they may never have realized.

But, before the football part...a little baseball card talk. In 1952 Bowman was definitely caught off guard by Topps and its baseball set. Therefore, they made the decision to enlarge the size of their cards for 1953 to (almost) match the larger size Topps used. Before making that decision, however, they decided to print their 1952 football set in the two sizes:

That's a great pose on this Jerry Shipkey card, one that is close to the image used for both his 1950 and '51 cards. He looks like he's giving a command to one of his blockers to open up a hole for him.

The card on the left is the same size as 1951 and '52 Bowman baseball cards. The card on the right is the same size as 1953-'55 Bowman baseball cards. Each of the 144 cards of Bowman's set was made in both sizes, with some scarce cards in the larger-sized set. Cards that are divisible by nine are tougher to come by, with the numbers 72 and 144 being the hardest.

In fact, one of the three cards I still need for my '52 Bowman Large Steelers set happens to be #72, featuring John Schweder. I don't expect to add that one for a while, but if I do, you'll see it here.

Although Topps wasn't intruding on their football license in 1952, Bowman added some extra cards to their set that weren't part of their previous sets. Several rookies were featured in their college uniforms -- and while Topps released college football sets in 1950 and '51, they wouldn't do another until 1955 -- and each team had its head coach included. This included mainstream cards for legendary coaches like George Halas, Paul Brown and Steve Owen.

The Steelers' head coach was taking over as the 1952 season began:

It was Joe Bach's second stint as the Pittsburgh coach, after leading the team (then called the Pirates) in 1935-'36. One of the members of the very first Notre Dame team to win the National Championship in 1924, he was a teammate of the vaunted "Four Horseman." The back of the card says more:

Bach played both offense and defense, which was common in those early days. However, one thing shows up on the card that shows how history was being made. It mentions that Bach was eliminating Pittsburgh's single-wing offensive formation in favor of the T-formation. The single-wing was developed by "Pop" Warner and involved the ball being thrown to the quarterback rather than snapped. It's a precursor to the modern "shotgun" formation but had the backs in different locations.

While this card mentions the "temporary" loss of the single-wing, the history books still show that the Steelers were the last team to use it, and that they abandoned it in 1952.