A bonanza of '68s

So finally got a chance to hit up the LSC for the first time since I landed that partial 1968 Topps set and boy did it pay off. The above image shows the hual; 134 cards off the want list including; thirty-eight high numbers, thirteen Red Sox, 3 checklists, and numerous Yanks and Mets cards. Most cards fall in the VG-EX to EX range but did manage to obtain a number of cards that look like they just came out of the packs.

First batch of Red Sox landed me Elston Howard's final bubble gum card appearance. After playing his entire career with the Bronx Bombers, he was traded to Boston in August of 1967 and helped Boston capture the American League pennant. The middle row of Sox are all high numbers while the Lou Brock, game #1 card finishes off my World Series subset.

Second lot of Red Sox included skipper, Dick Williams. Having finish next to last (New York was only a half game worse) in 1966, no one predicted that Boston would find itself in the 1967 World Series. Williams guided the Sox through a heart-punding, four-team pennant chase with an aggressive style that make the Sox the toasts of New England.

Favorite card is this batch has to be the Manny Sanguillen rookie card. Manny always seemed to have some cool photos on his cards. His 1969–1971 and 1974 Topps cards stand out for me for some reason.

Good to see Walt Williams never had a neck to begin with. Is it me or does his head look grossly out of place on that body. The Wills is pretty beat up, but at this stage I'll take a filler card to erase a blank hole. Note sure when the A's team photo was taken, but it's the only A's card in the 1968 series that depicts the players without airbrushed hats. This card also falls within the high number series and notes the move to Oakland on the reverse side.

Always good to find some unmarked checklist cards, including the Boyer who falls in the last series.

After flipping through my pile of '68s, had to scan these guys as you can't beat some of these names. Dooley, Adolfo, Turk and who doesn't love a Bubba. Not sure I'd be wanting the name John Edwards right now for a variety of reasons and poor Dave Ricketts. Topps was not kind to him on several of his photo selections over his cardboard career.

Next time, I'll showcase some 1975 Topps I grabbed that leaves me with just 8 cards left to finish my set. Until then, please take a moment and look my 1968 Topps set and 1975 Topps set wantlists, as I am jonesin to make some trades.

Another day, another round a trade bait

Thought I'd throw another round of trade bait up here. Hopefully I will get some more offers from other traders who may have taken a long weekend off from their computers. Please be sure to take a look at the last two posts.

First up is a 1970 Topps Scratch Off game card of Red Sox great and Baseball Hall of Famer, Carl "Yaz" Yastrzemski. This booklet card is in great shape, with all the black scratch boxes still unscratched inside. Also, the line score on the reverse is clean and unmarked as well.

And lastly for today, what inserts I garnered from three packs of 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen. I think if this set had white borders, I may have tried collecting it but the grey/pewter just didn't excite me for whatever reason. The Fister mini card is a "Straight Cut" back.

Also, if you are still trying to collect the 2011 GQ mini set, I have a bunch that I can trade away—just shoot me a wantlist.

Again, looking for trades that will help me towards completing my 1968 Topps set and my 1975 Topps set so please drop me a line and hopefully we can find a trade that helps out both of us!

More trade bait ...

 

More trade bait .... On the 1970's, let me know if need cards towards a particular set. I have a lot more stars than what is shown. I'll try to scan more 60's and 70's during the upcoming week.

Those 78's are O-Pee-Chees. I also for some reason have a little stack of 1992 O-Pee-Chees. A lot of stars too.

Again, looking for trade that are aimed towards completing my 1968 Topps set and my 1975 Topps set so please drop me a line and let's get trading!

Vintage Trade Bait

First lot of trade bait. Vintage Topps from 1960 thru 1969. I have a lot more as well as this is just a small selection. Shoot me an email if you're looking for something in particular, whether from a certain set or team.

If you look at my prior posts, I am willing to trade any of the vintage cards I have picked up tht aren't 68s. I have a number of 1969 Topps both semi-stars and commons as well as a number of 1963s and 1966s. If the 60s isn't your thing, I have quite a bunch of 1970-1979 Topps as well. Stars and commons.

If you needed larger scans and/or the back of a particular card(s), I will be happy to do so.

Please take a look at my 1968 needs, drop me line and hopefully we can help each other out. The set I am putting together runs VG-EX will some NR-MT and some GD. I'll take cards that have creases, soft corners, pin holes, pen ink.

I will posting more bait throughout the weekend—thank you again!!

1968 Topps: Joy of a (first) completed page

Beautiful day today here in New England, mostly sunny with a high in the mid 70's. Perfect! Finally had some free time over the last couple of nights to transfer the obtained, partial 1968 Topps set in a new binder and new UP sheets. After loading my '68s into the album, I have my first and only completed page. Behold ...

The card that completed this page was that ink-marked, Ernie Banks. I just picked up a little over a week ago from a game and comic book store. Besides the pen ink, it's a nice, clean card.

So who are these other guys that make up this page ...

Jackie Hernandez was a member of the 1971 World Series Pittsburgh Pirates.

Mac Jones had quite the major league debut. On July 13, 1961, Jones collected four hits, (three singles and a double). Mack the Knife also played the outfield in the first game the Montreal Expos played on April 8, 1969.


Pete Richert also had a memorable Major league debut on April 12, 1962 against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium. Richert set a record by striking out the first six batters he faced. His Dodgers trailing 4-0, he entered the game with two outs in the top of the second inning and struck out Vada Pinson for the final out. He then recorded a four-strikeout third inning in which his victims were Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman (who reached first base on a passed ball, Wally Post and Johnny Edwards; his record-tying sixth strikeout was of Tommy Harper leading off the fourth. To date, Richert is the only pitcher to record a four-strikeout inning in his Major League debut.

Ernie Banks .... Mr. Cub was nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career. The back of his card notes that he is "The Cubs all-time home run leader." He would finish with 512. He is now second to Sammy Sosa who hit 545 home runs as a Cub. 

Ken Holtzman (Checklist) was a 2-time All Star, and a 3-time World Series champion. He also threw two no-hitters. The first on August 19, 1969 was a 3-0 win against Phil Niekro and the Braves. One note about this game, he did not have a single strike out.

Len Gabrielson played for the Braves, Cubs, Giants, Angels, and Dodgers. He once beat out Orlando Cepeda for a starting spot in the Giants outfield. Cepeda WAS coming back from and injury. Traded to the Dodgers in May 1967, Gabrielson would spend the next four seasons with Los Angeles. He led the team in home runs with ten in 1968.

Mike Epstein was a power hitter for the Senators and won a World Series ring with the 1972 Oakland A's. He could take a walk and had a number of hit by pitches (career OBP of .358). His career ties in the aforementioned Pete Richert as well ... One story I found on "Super Jew" as he was nicknamed was the following:


He was first brought up for 6 games by the Baltimore Orioles in 1966, at the age of 23, having hit over .300 with at least 29 home runs and 100 RBI in his first two minor league seasons.
After the Orioles tried in vain to convert him to the outfield (they already had Boog Powell at first base), they demoted him to Rochester again. The outspoken Epstein refused to report, going home to California instead, and did not play again until the end of May 1967, when he was traded by the Orioles with Frank Bertaina to the Washington Senators for Pete Richert. Later that season, in first at-bat against the Orioles, Epstein hit a grand slam.


Joe Moeller is the youngest starting pitcher in Los Angeles Dodgers history at 19 years, 2 months of age. He pitched two innings in the 1966 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles.

Willie Horton is a 4-time American League All Star, and won a World Series with the 1968 Detroit Tigers. Horton posted double-digit home run totals in 12 regular seasons from 1965–76, and hit two home runs in a game on 30 occasions. In 1979 with the Seattle Mariners he was again named the AL's Outstanding Designated Hitter after hitting .279 with 29 HRs and a career-high 106 RBI, and he received the Comeback Player of the Year award as well.

As I make my way through completing this set, and as the completed pages pile up (I hope), it'll be interesting to learn more about these players. Some of these players will only have one card, while others make appearances throughout the '70s and even into the 1980s.

Stay tuned for some vintage trade bait later today/night. Again, looking to obtain any 1968 Topps that are on my needs lists. I'll be posting some nice and some off-conditioned vintage Topps. Koufax, Frank Robinson, Brooks, Robinson, multi-player cards are just some that will be available to trade. Until then, thank you for reading.

A Red Sox Hall of Fame Battery

So back a couple of months when I picked up the dual-patch relic of Curt Schilling via trade (see Dec. 12th post), I had an itching to find some other Sox patch relics.  Two of those that I picked up, formed one of best batteries to even don a Red Sox uniform.

First up is a 2002 Donruss Leaf Certified "Fabric of the Game" Carlton Fisk #12/20. 
I had never seen this card prior but what I like best—and what companies should do with their relic cards—is show where the swatch/patch/jersey came from. If you look on the backside of the card at bottom it reads "This is a photo of the actual jersey from which the swatch was taken."

I love knowing that and that unlike a generic white swatch that could have come from a White Sox uni, that this came from a Red Sox road jersey from either 1979 or 1980. Growing up as a kid, I was never fond of the blah gray road jersey with "BOSTON" in block letters. It just didn't seem as cool as other teams from the 1980s. But I also liked about this card is that the swatch also shows a little bit of patch and stitching.

Forming the other side of this Red Sox Hall of Fame tandem, El Tiante.

A 2004 DonrussThrowback Threads Century Collection #10/25.
From all accounts, this jersey patch is a number from the back of a Red Sox uniform from the mid-1970's. We was as dominant as any pitcher during that decade and many have tried making his case for induction into the Hall of Fame. I was too young to remember him pitching for the Sox, but many compare his charisma and love for the game as to that of Pedro Martinez'.

Tiant was masterful in the 1975 World Series, beating the Cincinnati Reds in a 6–0 five-hit shutout in Game 1. He won Game 4 as well (throwing 163 pitches in his second complete game in the series) and had a no-decision in Game 6, which has been called the greatest game ever played.

I know there's a number of other Boston collectors out there, but if you have any Red Sox relics, please email me and I'll do my best to find something to trade for it.

Out of hibernation

So it's been awhile since I last posted. Been so long that Blogger has dramatically changed their dashboard and I feel a little lost writing this. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it again. Life's never-ending rush has prevented me from posting since December as well as reading many of the great blogs on this blog roll. I have managed to stay in the loop as far as new releases by picking up some packs here and there as well as continue to pick up some off-condition vintage along the way. I plan on getting back to posting more as well as trading. I do miss a good trade.

I recently put my near completed, 1975 Topps Set in sheets. I really had forgot how nice of condition set this was. The colors really pop and almost all the cards have sharp corners. It's definitely my favorite set of the 1970's, if not all-time. Of course, it's probably because my childhood idol, Jim Rice's rookie card is in this set. I have always wondered what made Topps place Jim Ed on a four-player card while the likes of George Brett and Robin Yount appear all by themselves.

One newly purchased item and a partial 1968 Topps set.

With the partial set, along with about seventy-five 1968's I already had, I have a little over half the set. While not my favorite design of the 1960's, it brings back memories from about 25 years ago. Back then I had worked in a baseball card store and had almost purchased a partial set from the owner. It was missing a number of star cards, including the Mantle, Bench rookie, and the Ryan rookie. God knows what it would have run me, maybe $80-100 bucks at the time. I just couldn't do it as I think I was intimidated by the cost to obtain all the other missing cards. Long before trading, eBay, COMC I just didn't pull the trigger.

Anyhow, I made an offer on the above and the seller took it. Overall, the set runs VG-EX which is fine with me. The "burlap" pattern actually does a nice job of hiding those soft corners. The high numbers aren't too pricey and for the time being, I can pick up reprints of the Bench and Ryan to fill in those holes.

It's a great set for me to tackle as the LSC has a number of commons, high #'s and semi stars in stock for pretty cheap money. The 1968 set brought back the return of The Sporting News All-Star cards and the leader cards are stacked with some nice pairings. You also have The Mick's last card of him while he was still active; same with the great Eddie Matthews (Tigers). There are two awesome multi-player cards; #490 "Super Stars" with Mick, Mays, and Killebrew and #480 "Manager's Dream" with Oliva, Cardenas, and Clemente. Also in this great set is the Sox-Cards World Series subset. That 1967 season changed how New Englanders followed their beloved BoSox. The Nation started then and there.

So for any of those out there with some '68's to trade, drop me an email. My wantlist is on the right hand side. I have a number of vintage stars from the 60's and 70's, some pretty nice, others a little beat up. Heck, if you have an off-condition Mantle, I'll trade you an off-conditioned 1963 or 1966 Topps Koufax. If you have a nice Bird Belters (#530), I have a 1961 Topps Frank Robinson with your name on it. Whatever you have, drop me a line and I'll be sure to respond.