Big rulebreaker lot

28 cards for 28 bucks. That's a big violation of the "quarter a card" rule. I think it was worth it. There was one card in the lot that I always knew I would break the rules for, then there was a second which made it an easy decision.

Let's start with the trade bait. I already had 9 cards in the lot (which covered 1959-1963). These five from '62 are up for trade.

And these four from other years. The 1960 Topps Yankees team card is a pretty good one. Most of these cards are in good shape.

On to the new cards for me. Starting with these two from 1959.

Five from 1960 including my first World Series cards from that set. They are really great looking. In a comment yesterday, Brett Alan mentioned that the '61 Post Maury Wills could be considered his rookie card. A year earlier, he was quite prominent on the "Luis Swipes Base" card.

One card from '61, and it's fantastic. Who cares about an inconsequential corner when you have Mays AND Clemente?

Skipping ahead to '63 for a moment. J.C. Hartman was known as "Spider" for his long arms and legs. You can see that clearly in his photo. He was the first Black Houston Colt .45 and later the first Black supervisor in the Houston Police Department. At the age of 88 he is still very active in the Houston community.

Finally, on to the '62s. The Kubek Makes the Double Play card is a fun one.

Some big star power on these cards - Elston Howard, Al Kaline, Warren Spahn.

But this was the one that I was looking for. Of all the non-base vintage Mantle cards out there, this was the one I wanted the most. Is there a better League Leaders card in all of history than the one that documents the legendary 1961 home run race? I guess the circle penciled around Maris brought the price down for this one, but to me it just accentuates his victory.

The back is fascinating. Six players with over 40 home runs, but nobody between 30 and 41. Only one grand slam for Mantle, and none for Maris. With the DH still years away, there weren't as many baserunners for players near the top of the order to drive in.

If I wasn't sure whether to pull the trigger after seeing this card, I was convinced when I saw this card in some of the last photos of the lot. It's a little rough but still looks great. As a kid, I had the Dover reprints book and had a reprint of this card, it's still burned in my brain like some other cards in that book ('65 Clemente, '57 Ted Williams, '63 Mantle for example). It's amazing to me that I now own a real '62 Ernie Banks.