Knocking out Series 2

For the second straight year, I did bulk trades to knock out Series 1, and purchased Series 2 off of eBay. I feel like it would be harder to do bulk trades for Series 2 because TCDB doesn't differentiate, making it harder to tell who has bulk amounts, and I think people buy it less than they do Series 1. I was able to win an auction just under $30, which seems a good price and worth the cost of the cards and shipping that several trades would entail.

Here they are all together. With the borders being black on top and white on the bottom, when they are lined up this way they look a lot like 1986 Topps.

I really like the design of this set, but unfortunately it's lipstick on a pig because everything else is same-old, same-old. The photo selection continues to be very uniform, the same four or five poses. Even the team cards are all similar celebration sites. I went through to pick out some photo highlights. I only found four I thought worth posting, and didn't realize when I was done that three of the four were fielders leaping for a ball. I don't know how that nice shot of Smyly with the Chicago skyline made it through, it's by far the nicest card in the set.

The photo editor for the base set must be really strict on their requirements for a pose. Or maybe the editor is an AI that only recognizes a narrow range of photo types. Still, I like having the base Topps set of each year as a record of the season and the players. It's also nice to immediately know I have a card when looking at a lot, makes it easier not to waste time or money filling in holes in the set.

Mini matching

Fuji generously sent me some fun 1975 Topps mini cards.

Most were team photo/manager cards. I found that these went nicely together when photographed.

Three Hall of Famers here. Following up on a comment on Night Owl's blog the other day, someone said that 35% of managers at one time being Hall of Famers was too much. I'm inclined to disagree - there are only 30 managers at a time (24 in 1975) and the best ones last for 20 or 30 years, so I think their percentages would skew much higher than the percentage of Hall of Fame players.

Some more manager/team cards, including the legendary Billy Martin. Speaking of Night Owl, I wonder if he used to line up his '75s this way? This particular quartet makes for a very 1970s color pattern.

Breaking the mold, here are four miscellaneous minis. Two future '78 Yankees including Ed Figueroa with one of the oldest cards with a blue glove.

Wood vs. Wood #209

Last time 1962 shut out 1987 for the second matchup in a row, 9-0. Will 1987 get on the board this time?

Jim Fregosi poses in spring training on his rookie card. (In 1987, he would appear for the first time on his own Topps card as a manager, though he was previously in Topps Traded, Donruss, Fleer and Topps team cards as a manager.) Fregosi came up with the original Angels team of 1961 as a 19-year-old, and by 1963 was the regular third baseman. He had some solid seasons, and was a six-time All-Star due more to the lack of star power on the Angels then him being a premier third baseman. He had five seasons when he hit better than .275, and five seasons of 10+ HR, and led the AL with 13 triples in 1986. He was a very good fielder, winning a Gold Glove in 1967. Coming off a down year in 1970, the Angels sent him to the Mets for Nolan Ryan in what became one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history. The Mets sold Fregosi to the Rangers in 1973, where he spent a few years as a backup, and he ended his playing career with the Pirates. He was still on the Pirates in 1978 when the Angels expressed interest in him as a manager, and Pittsburgh let him retire to take on that role. Eight years after being traded for Ryan, Fregosi was now managing him. He guided the Angels to their first postseason in 1979, but was let go after down years in 1980 and 1981. He also had stints with the White Sox, Phillies and Blue Jays, winning an NL pennant in 1993 with Philadelphia. He died in 2014 after suffering a series of strokes onboard an MLB alumni cruise.

Rick Schu is caught in game action at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, his pants already ripped from a slide earlier in the game. He only played in one day game there in 1986, entering in the bottom of the seventh as a defensive replacement for Mike Schmidt on July 20, with the Phillies leading 9-0 (they would win 9-2). Schu would have one at-bat and flew out, so the rip would have had to come on a fielding play. Perhaps it was ripped catching Buddy Bell's lineout to end the eight, or handling Wade Rowdon's groundout to start the ninth. As a rookie in 1985, the Phillies were so impressed with Schu that they moved Mike Schmidt to first base to make room for him. Schu didn't live up to the hype (.252, 7 HR, 24 RBI) and Schmidt struggled with the position change. The Phillies moved Schmidt back to third in 1986, and he responded with an MVP season, while Schu did better in a backup role, with higher average, HR and RBI totals in exactly half the at-bats. After the 1987 season the Phillies traded Schu to the Orioles for Mike Young. Schu bounced around the majors for a few more stints with the Tigers, Angels and finally the Expos for one game in 1996. After his playing career he was a hitting coach for several teams, most recently the Giants in 2018 and 2019. He appears to now be retired.

Wallet Card at Charles Cox Plumbing and Heating

Charles Cox Plumbing and Heating operated in Valley Stream, NY, beginning in 1982. A few years ago it was acquired by another plumbing business in a neighboring town. I noticed the old neon sign recently...

 ...and found an even better sign in the window, with the old phone number, VA for Valley Stream.

Both businesses that were in this building have closed, and there are real estate signs all over it, so it is quite probable that this old building will disappear soon, so I'm glad I got these photos when I did.

Time Travel Trade

These cards whisked through space and time very quickly, thanks to Diamond Jesters.

Let's go back to a time when McDonald's was not only cheap, but you could get baseball cards there.

Back to a time when the A's played in Oakland. (And were really good!)

Back to when Pacific was one of many licensed card manufacturers, when Will Middlebrooks was the hottest prospect in Boston, and when the Yankees were in the World Series every year, even if they sometimes came up short.

I picked one football card too, this terrific sideline shot of Giants great Mark Haynes.

 

Cards from S.R. '75

I was surprised to find a taker for all of those basketball cards I got in one of those recent lots. Long time reader Stuart, who now has is own blog S.R.'75 Cards claimed them. I sent him a medium flat rate with three 660-count boxes of cards. The cards weren't trashed like some of the others in that lot, but they did have some bricking issues, and I told him to just send me 150-200 random football cards to cover postage. The cards themselves weren't really worth anything, certainly not to me.

Instead he generously sent a 660-count box of his own stuffed with some really nice football, cards. It's much nicer than what I sent him, hopefully he is not too disappointed with what he got.

Probably half the box were 1975 Topps cards. These will really make a dent in this set for me. There were lots of dupes, so if you need some cards from this set (no big stars in here) let me know.

The rest of the box was mostly Giants cards. Most were from the 1990s, a decade where the Giants started out terrific, then got lousy, then got better again.

NFL coaches don't get lots of cards like MLB managers do. I don't think I ever had a Bill Parcells card before. Some great memories of Super Bowl XXV here.

Several Phil Simms cards!

A lot of Rodney Hampton. He was hurt his rookie year when they won the Super Bowl, then was the only star for some mediocre Giants teams. He did have a huge playoff game against Minnesota one year.

A whole lot of Danny Kanell cards. Stuart must have been prospecting him way back when. He was the backup to the underwhelming Dave Brown, and showed a little promise, which made Giants fans hungry for him to take over for Brown. Around the same time, the Yankees traded for a pitcher with a somewhat similar name, Denny Neagle. My dad would get the two names confused, and when Brown would struggle, my dad would shout at the TV, "Bring in Neagle!"

There were some more recent cards from the terrific Eli Manning era, including several Eli cards. It's been twelve years since Eli won his second and last Super Bowl for the Giants. It's still the last championship by a New York team in one of the four major sports.

Stuart surprised me with some vintage baseball too! I needed the '71 Unser and Heise and the two '75 OPCs.

 

1974 Topps Deckle Dating - Burt Hooton

Candlestick Park was known for it's chilly ocean breezes, which is probably why Burt Hooton is wearing a windbreaker.

Even though it is July 11. Assuming this was late morning, the temperature was in the mid-60s.

Three days earlier Hooton lost in San Diego to drop to 8-7, in a season that he would end with a 14-17 record. On this day teammate Milt Pappas got the start, and pitched pretty well, two earned runs in six innings. The Cubs brought in Dave LaRoche in the seventh inning of a 2-2 game, and he immediately gave up five runs, including back-to-back home runs by Ed Goodson and Gary Matthews. It was more than enough for the Giants to hold off the Cubbies by a 7-3 final. Even with the loss the Cubs were 51-38, five games ahead of the second-place Cardinals, and 14 games ahead of the last place Mets. However, this game kicked off a six-game losing streak, and a stretch where the Cubs lost 27 out of 31. The Cubs would finish the season 77-84, five games back of the first-place Mets after one of the wildest division races ever.

This appears to be the same photo used for Hooton's 1975 Hostess card.

In other news, a plane crash near Paris killed 123 people, former Attorney General John Mitchell told a Senate investigating committee that he concealed information about Watergate from President Nixon, Willie Stargell set the all-time Pirates home run record, and 29-year-old tennis star Billie Jean King accepted a challenge from 1939 champion Bobby Riggs, almost twice her age, to a Battle of the Sexes in September.

Vintage lots

I've also gotten lucky with a few off-condition vintage lots lately.

1975 Topps mini is a lower-priority set for me, but at basically a dime a card I went for this one. The top row is cards I needed; the bottom row is for trade. I haven't updated my trade lists yet, but if you have needs for this set let me know. All common cards, and all in nice shape except that someone wrote a number on the back of each one.

Got an off-condition '77 OPC set in my quarter-a-card preferred range. This is the best year for OPC as it had a lot of photo differences from the Topps set. For example Marty Perez's only Yankees card from his playing days. Lots of new ones added to my set.

These are available. The biggest issue with the cards is the curling; however most of my other '77 OPCs are in pretty good shape and I'm happy to send my better ones as this condition is fine with me.

Finally I was able to get a '55 Topps lot for a similar price. Almost all of the cards were trimmed which is why it went so cheaply. I was able to add a dozen needs for the set. Harry "The Cat" Brecheen got an action photo even though he had retired a couple of years ago and was now a coach. He pitched for the Browns but never the Orioles as he is shown there. Another interesting tidbit is that both Phillies in this group never played a game in the major leagues.

Lots to trade. No guarantees of a better-conditioned card with these, but if you need any of these cards let me know.

Vintage star cards roundup

I keep having fun with those weekly Greg Morris auctions. These came yesterday, plus two others. Fun oddballs, decent star power, and a Bobby Murcer high-number for a lot less than the $12 Al the street vendor was asking for one last year. Haven't made my way over to him the couple of times I've been in the city this year, I should really rectify that.

These two I was really excited about. $2 for a 1930s card is awesome. It's a 1934 Batter-Up of Jimmie Wilson. It was cheap because the detachable back was missing, but it's still a great card. But I was even more excited for a 1954 New York Journal-American card! A baseball card that is also ephemera from a defunct NYC newspaper is doubly cool to me. It's a NY Giant, not a Yankee, but still very cool. I would think Night Owl would have some of the Brooklyn Dodgers from this set, seeing he's a newspaper guy. Didn't see a mention on his blog. If you were wondering, the back of the '34 is blank; the back of the '54 has the Giants' home schedule. I was afraid it might be newsprint, but it's thin cardboard, like a ticket.

The week before had some heavy star power, most notably Feller and Mays. That Vic Raschi card I was keeping an eye out for ever since I saw it on the Penny Sleeves blog. Jon mentioned that he thought it was taken in the Yankees' clubhouse. I think it might be the dugout, but either way it's a great photo, with what looks like a reporter in the background.

And the week before that a nice mixture of everything from Venezuelans to a '63 Aaron/Banks card. Even with the pen on it it's a great photo. The photos in that set seem clearer than most other years.

Not much to report outside of those. I was focusing more on cheap quantity lots, but still made room for a cheap version of a pretty tough card, with a heavily trimmed and worn '59 Koufax. I'd upgrade it if a better one fell in my lap, but that's not going to happen.

The only other vintage purchase were these five cards at the end of the '58 set, 5 for $5. Two Skowrons which I already had. The Bazooka insert card is very cool, I didn't have any vintage advertising inserts before this one.

Here's a look at the back. Some nasty-looking stains on these, maybe gum residue due judging by the shape. I'm keeping them in plastic sleeves so I don't have to touch them, but it's fun to see the contest instructions and the Brooklyn 32 address.

 

Interview with Jim Wohlford

Outfielder Jim Wohlford played fifteen seasons in the major leagues for the Royals, Brewers, Giants and Expos. His best season was 1984, when he hit .300 with 5 HR and 29 RBI for Montreal. Overall in 1,220 games he hit .260 with 21 HR, 305 RBI and 89 SB. He is now Senior Vice President of Investments at Raymond James in Visalia, CA. He kindly answered my baseball cards stories in a phone interview, and also shared some other baseball stories. He clearly loves talking baseball!

Do you have a favorite card?

My rookie card with Rich Coggins and Richie Zisk.is my favorite. It is the most valuable of my cards, because Zisk also played a long time and Coggins finished high in the Rookie of the Year voting.

I had a lot of cards. There are 23,000 players who played major league baseball, and 1,500 played 15+ years. I got hits off of 21 Hall of Famers. I loved all of the teams I played for, but I liked National League baseball better. I don't love the DH. I love all of the moves in baseball without the DH.

I came up with the Royals as a second baseman. They brought up Frank White from their academy to play second, and George Brett was playing third, so I moved to the outfield. Brett was a good third baseman and the best hitter I ever saw. He worked his butt off. His brother Ken should have been a hitter. He hit a lot of pinch-hit home runs.

Other players that stood out: I saw Roberto Clemente in spring training. One year we played the Toyko Giants and I saw the third baseman Shigeo Nagashima.

Do you collect baseball cards?

I don't collect now, but I did when I was a kid. I was a Yankee fan, and loved Mickey Mantle. Hank Aaron would have been the biggest star had he played in a bigger city. Willie Mays was terrific too. Sandy Koufax was the best pitcher I ever saw.

Thanks!

Wallet Card at Barasch's

A while back I photographed several old store signs in floor tile in and around Main Street in Freeport, NY. I must have missed this one when I had done that; perhaps it had been covered up. I noticed this one recently. Barasch's Department Store, later Barasch's Youth Center, opened in 1902 and lasted until sometime in the 1980s.

 

TCDB/OBC roundup

Trade have been lighter lately. Perhaps they'll pick up as I finish going through all of these lots. Still, three TCDB trades and an OBC PWE in the last two weeks.

williams3b is a Matt Williams supercollector, and the former Giants slugger is on a couple of these cards. The Ballstreet set (top left) has some really unique photos. They're easily the best of the unlicensed magazine sets. Lots of fun and unusual photos here.

fritz63 sent this eclectic mix. My favorite is the hologram of Yosemite Sam and Ken Griffey. I still love to move these kinds of cards around with my hand to catch the light in different ways, just like when I as a kid.

oldschool72 sent these modern classics. That Rivera card is a great one, a terrific photo from early in his career. Definitely a theme in this package, of players doing non-baseball stuff.

Finally, from OBC's Brian Betza, seven 1959s and a 1960. So cool to see Dave Philley as a Phillie. (He even played with the A's when they were in Philly!)

1986 Spokane Indians at the Mall - Paul Quinzer

 

Paul Quinzer poses at Hickory Farms. They appeared in all four sets. Looks like neither the cashier nor the customers could resist peeking as the photographer snapped the picture.

Paul Quinzer pitched in the Padres organization from 1986 to 1990, winning 21 games and saving 18, including going 2-0 with 5 saves at the AAA level. He is now a retired high school science teacher and a youth baseball coach in Indiana. He shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2011.

Lots more

Three big lots in three days. This is the last of them. Certainly enough to occupy lots of time, and I'll probably cool it for now unless  I stumble across something really interesting. This was easily the highest quantity and lowest quality, about 4,000 cards for $25. Lots of garbage (figuratively and literally) but easily enough fun stuff to be worth it.

A few hundred baseball cards. Many in really bad condition. Lots of junk wax. Lots of '02 and '03 cards bricked tightly together. Most of theses are dupes but I can tell there will be quite a few keepers. The bricked-together '02s and '03s I'll probably try to keep as potential trade bait, to switch with the ones in my collection. The bricked together '92 Donruss are likely going to be garbage. All the cards in the top left of the photo are 10-20 cards bricked solidly together. The bottom left are cards that are so heavily worn that at least the junkwax era ones will probably be garbage. There were lots of contest cards, I'll have to check Angels in Order's wantlist but there was nothing particularly unusual so he probably has them all. Mauer rookie is pretty good trade bait.

Lots of football. I don't actively try to add to my football collection but I do like adding to it. As you can see, especially in the bottom row, some of these are really bad. Cards with major parts ripped off, and there were also cards that were stuck together so that when I peeled them apart the whole front or back of a card came off. Still, I'll have fun with these.

If it was just football and baseball I might not have done it, but it was the Star Wars cards that cinched it for me. I guess I could look for low-grade Star Wars lots but I don't. This had cards from all three original movie sets, and even a couple of Kellogg's Empire Strikes Back oddballs. Glad to get a copy of the famous C-3PO card even if it isn't the ultra-rare F--- Face version.

Of the 4,000 cards in the lot, probably half or more were basketball. I have zero interest in these cards and would love to send out bulk packages of these to whoever's interested. Just get enough cards back to be worth the postage. They're in better shape than the other sports but mostly not mint, mostly bricking issues. Tons more that are not in the photo. I saw several copies of that Jordan Washington Wizards card in the lower right. Saw a rough-shape Shaquille O'Neal somewhere too. Anyone collecting 1990s and 2000s basketball sets/players/teams let me know. Happy to look for individual players/teams/sets/whatever.

There was a lot of variety of other kinds of cards which was part of the appeal for me. Mork & Mindy is one of my favorite shows and I was glad to add some cards from that set.

From here on out, everything is trade bait, though condition is a factor for most cards. 

Just a tiny bit of hockey in this lot, in fact it was outnumbered by auto-racing cards of all things.

I don't consider these bouillabaseball cards real baseball cards, but maybe someone who likes Alf would want them. Also note a couple of card-sized Ohio State fillers/ads.

Who wants to start an ET set? Who knows, maybe there's a complete set in here. I know nothing about it and won't be sorting this for a while.

Ditto this Incredible Hulk set. I'll keep one of those Manhattan Mayhem cards for myself.

Some music cards, and war cards. I'm going to keep the Doors card, I like that one. Led Zeppelin, NKOTB and California Raisins are available, as are the Pro Sets.

Late 80s non-sport miscellany. Harry and the Hendersons, TMNT, Roger Rabbit and Bill & Ted.

Three late 70s sets that look a lot alike. Superman, Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.

Finally, some more 70s oddballs. Well, Supergirl should have gone with the 80s, I guess. Also a few Charlie's Angels, and one each from Happy Days, King Kong, and a sticker-back (no sticker) from the 1978 Donruss CB Stickers set.