Nothing beats cheap vintage—Part One

Ahhhh, feels good to get back in the swing of blogging, and feels good now that Friday is here. It was a crazy week at work in which my company laptop/computer crapped out and then IT had to wrestle with the Mac Powerbook in order to crack it open to retrieve the hard drive and put it into another old Mac. Thankfully, the HD was A-Ok, but then the next night, the power cord died while I was working on a rush project. Thankfully, after this episode, and pleading for the last year, a new Mac Powerbook Pro will be in my hands come Tuesday.

So now that I have caught my breath, I have been going through some stuff I had picked up on eBay and had scanned, but never posted. So with out further ado, let's kick off the weekend with some cheap vintage ....

First up, three super star pitchers of the 1960's, all three are Hall of Famers, they all threw No-hitters, and all three will anchor their respective All-Decade team pitching staffs.

I had forgot what I had won these cards for, so I went back into my eBay history and forgot just how cheap I won these for. I hate paying shipping, so figure it was either free or no more than a couple of bucks per card. The 1964 Juan Marichal was had for $1.54 and 1965 Jim Bunning was purchased for $1.86. So two mid-60's, HOFs in pretty nice shape (no creases, sharp color) for less than two, 2011 Topps packs. Hell yah!!! Sign me up!!!

Of the three cards, the 1966 Sandy Koufax is clearly the worst of the bunch, but I finally have myself a Koufax!! 'Ol Sandy has some creases, soft corners, but still a nice looking card. This one I went a little over $10 bucks in order to win the auction. If I could go back in time, Koufax and Bob Gibson would be the two fireballers I would have loved to see pitch in person.

Looking at the back of Juan Marichal's '64 Topps, you'll see he won 25 games in 1963. This would start a stretch in which he would go onto win 20+ games a season in six of the next seven years! Marichal would win more games than any pitcher in the 1960's, yet he appeared in only one World Series game. He started game four of the 1962 World Series against the New York Yankees. His final line was 4.0 IP, 2H, 0ER, 2BB, and 4SO. He did leave with a 2-0 lead but did not figure in the decision, a 7-3 Giants win.

When looking for a factoid for Mr. Bunning, I found this one and couldn't believe it. "When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career strikeouts in Major League history; he is currently 17th." Number one at the time of his retirement was Walter Johnson, number three ... Cy Young. Now you can see why I might have been wowed. I knew Bunning was a pretty good pitcher in his day but as one who was born in 1973, I never realized how good he was. Having thrown a no-hitter for both Detroit and Philly, Jim is only one of five pitchers to accomplish the feat.

And what can so you say about Koufax, he was absolutely brilliant from 1961–1966 before arthritis ended his career at only 30 years old. However, it is one moment in which Sandy will always be remember for, his decision to not pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur. This decision garnered national attention as an example of conflict between social pressures and personal beliefs. From the "Did You Know Department?" ... on September 29, 1957, Koufax became the last man ever to pitch for the Brooklyn Dodgers before their move to Los Angeles, by throwing an inning of relief in the final game of the season.

And there you have it, some good 'ol cheap vintage for a good 'ol Friday. Check back for later on tonight for part two.

Hmm, what's in this box ...

looks like some 1993 Upper Deck, some Pinnacle cards, oh boy 1992 Topps ... wait, hey I need that and that!

So I was recently back at my Mom's for the day and even though I have long moved out, there still is the occasional small box of cards I forgot to bring along with me. So at first, I thought this was pretty much just junk, and for the most part is was, but then I remember a couple of 1992 Topps cards that I needed for my No-Hitters Club, a Kent Mercker and Mike Flanagan — both guys who were involved in combined No-hitters in 1991. Mercker went six innings against San Diego on September 11, 1991, before Mark Wohlers and Alejandro Pena finished off the No-No. 

Mike Flanagan and the O's decided to go one better with four pitchers involved in their No-no on July 13, 1991 against the Oakland A's. Bob Milacki pitched 6 innings and struck out three batters before giving ball to the bullpen. He was taken out of the game when he was hit by a line drive in the seventh inning. Flanagan normally a starter pitched the seventh inning walking one batter. Mark Williamson pitched the eight innings and retired the side in order. Gregg Olson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning striking out two batters to record the save.

But wait, what else do we have here?

A 1968 Topps Carl Yastrzemski, hey, I can use him for cycle collection too, and how about some 1975 Topps!!!! We've got a Bob Gibson Highlight, a Lou Brock, and Thurman Munson too!!!! Sweet!!! Now it's too bad I couldn't use any of these three towards my 1975 set, but maybe someone out there can and have a couple of '75's I need. Shoot me an email if you need these and maybe we can cross a couple of cards off one another's list. I also snatched the 1982 Kelloggs Neil Allen just because I have always loved the Kelloggs cards and who knows, maybe I'll come across some others here and there. So not too bad for a "junk" box. Gotta love days when you come across some cards you completely forgot about! Now, I can honestly say, thank you Mom for nothing throwing out my baseball cards!

Taking delivery

With the Topps Million Card Giveaway ending soon, I decided to take delivery of my collection today.
Before I get into what is headed my way, I suggest you comparing shipping options. You have the option of USPS or UPS. The checkout defaults to USPS and I almost missed this, but changing it to UPS saved me a couple of bucks. I was also surprised that delivery time was only 9–12 days—I was expecting 4 to 6 weeks.

I will be curious to see what others are doing out there. 

So twenty-one cards are headed my way. Nineteen of these are guys who have thrown no hitters or been part of a combo no hitter. One card, Ed Goodson (1975) is for my 1975 Topps Set and the other is a 1979 Mike Edwards Season Highlight card.

The oldest in the bunch is a 1961 Lou Burdette who tossed a 1-0 gem against the Phillies on August 18, 1960. Tony González, the only opposing batter to reach base after being hit by a pitch in the fifth inning, was retired on a double play. Burdette helped himself by scoring the only run of the game. Following up his no-hitter, five days later he pitched his third shutout in a row.

The newest, was a 2005 Peter Munro who pitched 2-2/3 of no hit ball against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on June 11, 2003. Munro was one of six Houston pitchers that day. The others were Roy Oswalt (1), Munro (2-2/3), Kirk Saarloos (1-1/3), Brad Lidge (2), Octavio Dotel (1), and Billy Wagner (1). Oswalt only threw 22 pitches when he aggravated a groin injury. Munro's day was not a picnic either as he ran into trouble in the third when he issued one of his three walks on the day to Derek Jeter and hit Jason Giambi to load the bases. But with two outs, he coaxed a groundout from Jorge Posada toward first to escape further damage and stayed in long enough to induce two grounders in the fourth. Munro's final line: 2-2/3 innings, three walks, two strikeouts—but no hits.

There are seven cards from the 1960's, eleven from the 1970's, two 1990's and one 2005. And if I had a favorite, I think I would go with the 1966 Dave Morehead. Classic pitcher pose, a Red Sox, and a great name to boot.

I think most collectors were happy with this new program rolled out by Topps. I can remember being like many others that day the site launch, spending hours and hours trying to log in to redeem my codes. Fortunately, Topps got their act together and from there on, it was a better situation. I will definitely be looking forward to Topps next redemption program, the Topps 60th Anniversary Diamond Giveaway.

I still have three cards left in the collection. Hopefully, I can still make a trade or two and take one last delivery.

(Hi)Stories from my Topps Million Card Collection

Ken Johnson made major league history in a bittersweet fashion, becoming the first pitcher to ever throw a no-hitter and lose. Joe Nuxhall was pitching brilliantly for the Reds, and kept the game tied at 0-0 through eight inning. With one out in the 9th, Pete Rose tried to bunt for a base hit and reached second when Johnson made a bad throw to first. After Rose advanced to third on a ground out, second baseman Nellie Fox bobbled an easy grounder allowing Rose to score. Nuxhall pitched a scoreless ninth to give the Reds an historic 1-0 victory.

The big, easy-going, 230-pounder was told he had become the first pitcher in the annals of baseball to pitch a nine-inning no-hitter and lose.

Ken Johnson’s face broke open with a smile and he said, “Say, I guess that will put me in baseball history? What a way to get in the book.”

The Houston Colt .45s had just managed to lose to the Cincinnati Reds, 1-0, Thursday night in a game that was maddeningly frustrating to the 5426 customers who saw the 30-year-old right-hander in an artful demonstration of pitching skill.

It took a pair of errors in the ninth inning, one of them by Johnson, to get Cincinnati’s run. Meanwhile, the Colts were blowing every opportunity they had on the bases, partially because left-hander Joe Nuxhall was doing quite a job of pitching himself.

Johnson’s locker is next to that of Don Nottebart, the only other Colt pitcher to throw a no-hitter. And coincidentally, or not, the foes got a run in that one. Nottebart beat Philadelphia, 4-1, last May 17. Johnson and Nottebart are roommates on the road trips.

Here is the audio call of the final out.

... this is why I love baseball and love no hitters. You just never know what you are going to see. I know for me, the no hitter is one of those events I will stop what I am doing just to see if the pitcher can pull off one of baseball's rare feats.  The MLB network is a godsend for just this thrill.

I managed to pick this card up for a (go figure, now that I am going after this set) 1972 Topps Billy Martin. Not bad for a little piece of History.

Some content was pulled from www.astrosdaily.com.