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.