Vintage and new from Night Owl

Night Owl hit some vintage and new card needs in our latest trade. Starting with the new, some set needs from 2020 Topps. The big star here is Juan Soto. Soto's off to a fast start in San Diego.

Here are most of the vintage cards from Night Owl. My favorite is the '54 Bowman Carlos Bernier, but they are all really fun.

This is the last one. I had commented about it on Night Owl's blog which is probably how I ended up with it. It features Branch Rickey in front of a Continental Baseball League sign. In 1960, Rickey was president of the fledgling third major league which aimed to compete on a level with the National and American Leagues. So when Fleer issued this card in 1960, a 1961 Continental Baseball League season was a real possibility. This must be the only card from the time to actually recognize the Continental League!

The NL and AL held off the proposed CL by expanding their own leagues. The owner of the new league, attorney William Shea, had been trying to get the National League to relocate a franchise to New York; when the expansion Mets were announced, he lead the vote to disband the CL. Rickey is standing in front of the door of the league's headquarters, room 707 of 680 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. When the league disbanded, this became the Mets' first office headquarters. The team even negotiated with Rickey to be the team's first GM, though that did not come to pass. Located on the corner of 5th Avenue and 54th Street, this was a brand-new office tower at the time, constructed in 1957.