'58s are great

Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown sent me some '58s for our latest trade. These cards almost doubled my '58 set. What is striking here are the logos. The KC A's elephant, Chicago's cute Cub, both Sox prominently featuring Sox, and so much more.

Plastic into cardboard: Part A

A week or two ago I give Al another, larger bag of toploaders. He said he had a big box of commons for me, mostly stuff I wouldn't want but maybe I'd find something I could use. That sounded intriguing so I said sure. It took a couple of weeks but he brought in the box yesterday. He also said that there was another box, "Part B", that he would bring in next week.

I've seen these boxes many times but I've never owned one before. It's charmingly old-fashioned. "An educational hobby for boys and girls". The 500-count box was 90% 1987 Topps, and most of the rest was from 1988 Score. Anyone need cards from those sets? Also a few other cards I had already are in this picture.

But there were ten cards that I did not already have, making this box a very solid win. "For the fun of it!"

1981 Topps Jim Dwyer

The front: The photographer catches Dwyer laughing in one of the better candid shots so far in this set.

The back: Dwyer’s pinch-hit single off of Bill Castro in the top of the ninth inning scored Carl Yastrzemski and George Scott to break a 10-10 tie. Bob Stanley finished off the Brewers in the bottom of the ninth to give Boston the 12-10 victory.

The player: Dwyer spent 18 years in the major leagues as a pinch-hitter and platoon OF-DH. His 103 pinch hits rank 17^th all-time. In 1,328 at-bats for seven teams, mostly the Cardinals and Orioles, Dwyer hit .260 with 77 HR and 349 RBI.

The man: Dwyer coached for many years in the Twins organization, retiring after the 2016 season.

My collection: I have 33 of his cards, from 1975 to 1990. I would be interested in trading for 1989 Donruss Baseball’s Best #311.

Spot the vintage card

I got three cards from Diamond Jesters in my latest Time Travel Trade. One vintage card and two "imposters".

There were no Rays in 1967, and no comedians in 1880's tobacco cards. Only the '72 Sparky Anderson is a real vintage card. I still needed the other two for set fillers, though. Happy to get all three.

Wallet card with some old FDNY call boxes

I posted one of these a few years ago, but a recent post on Forgotten New York inspired me go look for some of these again. They are fire department call boxes associated with the subway, and they contain the abbreviations for the three lines - BMT, IRT and IND - that haven't officially been used since 1967. They did stay in popular use for a decade or so after, so it's possible these call boxes aren't quite as old as '67, but it's still fun to find nomenclature that is 50+ years out of date. One one block by Times Square I found two boxes that between the two of them reference all three lines.

1981 Topps Dick Davis

The front: Davis’s cap is rakishly askew.

The back: Davis went 0-5 in his first game against the Yankees in 1979, then got 9 hits in 16 at-bats in five more games against the Yankees. Eight of the nine hits were singles. The other was a pinch-hit home run off of Luis Tiant in Yankee Stadium to cut a Yankees lead to 4-2; the Yankees would hold on to win 4-3.

The player: Outfielder Dick Davis played six seasons in the major leagues, mostly for the Brewers, from 1977 to 1982. In 403 games he hit .265 with 27 HR and 141 RBI. He had greater success in Japan, where he played from 1984 to 1988. In 1985 he hit 40 home runs for the Kinetsu Buffaloes.

The man: Davis was accused of selling and using cocaine with several Brewers and Phillies during his times with those clubs. Later, his Japanese career ended after a marijuana arrest. Davis now appears to have cleaned up his act and coaches a youth baseball team in Victorville, CA.

My collection: I have 12 of his cards, from 1979 to 1983. I would be interested in trading for 1982 Topps Traded #24.