Some long awaiting posting

Just looked at the last post and couldn't believe it's been over a month. And then I realize that the freelance I have picked up has almost become a second full-time job. Certainly not complaining but between work, freelance, and my commute I find I haven't been able to find time to blog. Some days I feel lucky I have five minutes to go to the bathroom.

Well without further rambling, I will jump right into this while I have the time. Over the past month, I have made a couple of trades (My Cardboard Mistress, Smed, and Angels in Order) that I have scanned, just need to write and post. I have some vintage eBay winnings to post but right now, I will throw some vintage (cheap, cheap) from the LSC.

So I keep finding myself going back to a 1600 shoebox that has all sorts of 1960's Topps odds and ends, mostly '61, '62, and '63s and managed to pull these out. Still like the simple look to the 1961 Topps, strong colors and one of the largest photo image areas in the 1960's Topps. I like the Fairly card because it's clearly Spring Training and you can see that the "dugout" is barely a bench against the stands. Nice touch with all the batting helmets lined up too. I knew I had a 1968 Curt Flood but something about this fielding shot drew me in.

These four cards came from the same shoebox at the LSC. Always love grabbing some vintage leader cards, especially when they have some HOF'ers on them (in this case Jim Bunning). Jim King hit for the cycle on May 26, 1964 and Perranoski was a hell of a reliever for the Dodgers during the 1960's. I think the '65 set is one of my all-time favorites. Nice design with the baseball pennant, great colors ...

Next box I jumped into was a 3200 count of 1969 Topps. While it's not my favorite design, it certainly yielded some awesome cards!!! One them, the Say Hey Kid. Soft corners, and a crease but for $5.00 I was not going to Say Ney. I had been looking for a Mays off condition card but couldn't land one this cheap on eBay. Nice showing of three other HOF'ers as well, although Topps was lazy and had used this Joe Morgan pic in it's 1968 set.

Next up some star pitchers from the 60's including the two stars of the 1968 Tigers World Series championship.

 Some Miracle Mets although I was a little shocked I didn't come across a Seaver from this set. I believe Terrific Tom is a double, if not a triple print in this set. It's on my list of cards I definitely want to track down.

Next batch I pulled had some stars and minor stars from that decade. In all the vintage Topps '60s I have gone through at the LSC, this 1969 All-Star was the first Willie Horton I came across. Had to have it. Odd to see the "A" on the A's hats not have the "A's". They had just moved to Oakland in 1968 and it wasn't till the 1970 season did the apostrophe and "s" appeared.

And finally, some vintage leaders cards. I think I grab the four of these for maybe a buck total. Where else can you find three HOFers on the same card? Marichal, Gibson, Jenkins!!!!  McCovey, Santo, Williams!!!! Love these and don't mind that they're a little beat up.

And with that, it comes time to make lunch for the kids. Have a bunch of stuff to post and hope to do some writing tonight while putting back a Shipyard Pumpkinhead or two. 

Trolling the 'bay

So in my ongoing effort to put some sense into my collection and to keep it fresh, I have been looking for cheap, off-condition vintage for my All-Decades Team Project. It is a project that will encompass Topps cards from 1960 to the present day. I hope to get some wants lists up in the next week as well as get some of the "team pages" scanned and posted.

One thing I have come across in my researching this project and trying to determine who ends up in my "starting lineup" and who rides the pine.

Take my 1970's California Angels for example. First base wasn't the best of positions for the Halos during this stretch ... Jim Spencer, Bob Oliver, Mike Epstein, Tony Solaita, Bruce Botche, Ron Fairly, and finally Rod Carew. So right off the bat I know it's going to come down to Spencer and Carew. Spencer had two solid years for the Angels and even won a Gold Glove in 1970. Carew had just been traded before Spring Training in 1979 and had a solid year for California. He was an All-Star but failed to be in the top 10 for hitting and his lone stat achievement was ranking 5th in on-base percentage. Right now Spencer is my starter, Carew, on the bench, and don't worry you Solaita fans, where he appears to have been a useful player for several seasons with the Angels, he too lives on for this team in a bench role.

And with that little tidbit out of the way, onto some good, off-condition, vintage finds I have recently acquired on the 'bay (I apologize for not scanning the backs, it was late and I had a number of other scans to do) ...

a little bit of everything in this first scan. Speaking of Angels, one of the originals, Eddie Yost. He was drafted off the Tigers roster as the 25th pick. Yost resides the pine on my 1960s Angels team on a "They-Used-to-Be-Great" page. A nice shot of a 1961 Topps Tito Francona, who was a pretty good ballplayer during his day. I love this 1965 high number Boog Powell. I'm a sucker for the old school O's look, especially the script and bird logo on the wool uniform. And lastly, a 1966 Topps Tom Tresh, who was a pretty damn good player for those power house Yankee teams of the early 1960's.

Second scan, five cards, five Hall of Famers, all of them cheap!! Got me self a nice Hank Aaron and being an All-Star card and a great pose, helps me not break the bank in looking for some of the superstars of the 1960s. One of the original New York Mets, Richie Ashburn, also his last card too. Not sure why Topps had to butcher the "NY" painting job in the circle photo when they clearly had actual photos of Richie in a real Mets cap. Next up, Mr. Cub, Let's Play Two ... your starting FIRST baseman for the 1960s Chicago Cubs ... ERNIE BANKS. Moving on, Whitey Ford's last Topps card and what a way to go out on the classic 1967 design. I wish Topps would bring back the multiple, series of releases only so we could revive these in-season "TRADED" cards. I once had this 1972 Frank Roby but I sent to Night Owl a couple maybe a year and a half ago. Welcome home Frank.

And with that, I wait one more day to rip my hobby box of Ginter.

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HELP ME!!!! With the 2011 Ginter now LIVE, I will be attempting to collect the mini set and any mini inserts from this new edition. I do have a hobby box with me name on it for Wednesday, so that will get me a little bit of a head start. As for the base cards, SPs, hits, and any other cards in that come out of that box, they will be available for trade. If you can help, please, please drop me a line. For those of you still looking for 2011 Topps sparklies, I have a few from series 2, maybe I can grab a couple of minis for these??? Will also be posting some trade bait on Friday to help entice people to send mini Ginters my way as well.

Anyhow, drop me a line if you're not into the minis, and I'm sure I can find something to trade you.

Filling up on vintage before Ginter release and looking for HELP

So with the kids away at the in-laws this past week, I was looking forward to heading back to my LSC to go through a small pile of vintage cards I had looked at a couple of weeks ago.  I still have to post these scans but was too excited about what I landed this weekend that these scans needed to go first. 

What I didn't realize was that there will be many, many boxes to go through in the weeks and months ahead.

While looking at some off-condition vintage in the case, I noticed a boxed behind the counter. The owner said it was a mish-mash of stuff and more than happy to let me go through it. I went through that (and will go through again I'm sure of it) and then a good sized box of 1966–68 Topps cards.

So without further ado, let's dig in and see what I pulled ...

First to bat, a 1960 Topps Vic Power and some 1961 Topps. "Dr. Strangeglove" is the most beat of this bunch which is quite appropriate for his nickname.

Next up, some '62 woodies! Been trying for a while to pick up a cheap Ken Boyer and Mike McCormick will be forever know for getting "blown off" the mound in at the 1961 All-Star game at Canndlestick.

Some 1963 Topps ... Dick Groat almost won the 1963 NL MVP award after being trade by the Pirates to the Cardinals. He would be moved a couple of years later to the Phillies in a pack with Bob Uecker and Bill White.

Moving into the mid-60's ... 1964 Topps ... wonder who had the bigger unibrow; Wally Moon or the O's Andy Etcheberran?

Onto one of my favorite 1960's Topps designs, the 1965 release. In this batch is O's great, Mike Cuellar ... imagine if the Cards hadn't traded him to the 'Stros. Gibson, Carlton, Cuellar ... love the specks on Bob Veale

Mving down the line, 1966 Topps. Still need to read Jim Bouton's Ball Four.

Another of my favorite designs from the 1960's, the 1967 Topps set.

The first batch of many '68 Topps. When I was younger I actually really liked this burlap design ... of course, I then grew up and still don't know why Topps thought this was a good look. I finally landed a Drysdale to go along with my Koufax. Don is a little beat up but with serve well in my All-Decade's project. The Bunning had some massive wax residue but with a little rubbing of some nylon, all clean!

You like the long-ball???? These sluggers could do the trick!

Are slick fielders more to your liking? Can't go wrong with any of these guys. Looking at this photo selection makes me wish Topps would shoot/choose more of these looks in their design selection.

And to round haul, more burlapped beauties.

All of this for less than two, 2011 Topps Value boxes and all with find there respective places in my All-Decades Team project. And with more boxes to go through, they'll be more vintage posts to follow!

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HELP ME!!!! With the 2011 Ginter release just days away, I will be attempting to collect the mini set and any mini inserts from this new edition. I do have a hobby box with me name on it for Wednesday, so that will get me a little bit of a head start. As for the base cards, SPs, hits, and any other cards in that come out of that box, they will be available for trade. If you can help, please, please drop me a line. For those of you still looking for 2011 Topps sparklies, I have a few from series 2, maybe a can grab a couple of minis for these???

Nothing beats cheap vintage—Part Two

Gonna jump right into this post as I am hoping to also post a random mish-mash of trade bait material.

So three more cheap vintage cards and three more Hall of Famers!

While all three did not quite come as cheap as this morning's post, these still we all had for a little more than the cost of a blaster box. All three did come with free shipping so I didn't mind paying a little bit more per card.

Love the 1960 Warren Spahn card. Has a lot of rich color and the corners are pretty decent. I had tried landing this card a couple of times but got outbid in the closing seconds. There is a super light crease than can only be seen if you tilt the card just right, still, a pretty sweet card of one of my favorite Topps designs of the sixties. Regarded as a "thinking man's" pitcher who liked to outwit batters, Spahn once described his approach on the mound: "Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing."

Next up is a 1961 Topps Frank Robinson. A young Robinson would go on to win the National League MVP in '61 scoring 117 runs, while mashing 37 homers and knocking in 124 Redlegs. Oh, and he could run too, the 25-year old stole 22 bags that season. While not the card I was trying to get (I liked his '62 Topps better), this year always seemed to be priced pretty low compared to some of his other cards. Frank helped the Reds to the NL pennant in 1961 but, the Reds lost the 1961 World Series to the Yankees.

And finally, the 1974 Topps Nolan Ryan. This is a great shot of Ryan from the mound, menacing and intimidating. Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher. He is tied with Bob Feller for most one-hitters, with 12. He also pitched 18 two-hitters. Despite the seven no-hitters, Ryan never threw a perfect game, nor did he ever win a Cy Young Award. Nolan is one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to have appeared in Major League baseball games in four decades.

Speaking of vintage and trade posts, I hope to start putting some vintage up for trade bait to help fill in holes with my All Decade teams. I know I'll be throwing a 1960 AL Kings (Kuenn/Fox), a 71 Rose, and a '73 Seaver just to name a few off the top of my head so stay tuned.