Wallet Card at some rare wooden houses in midtown Manhattan

Wooden houses have been against Manhattan building code for over a hundred years, for obvious reasons of fire safety. However, the occasional older landmarked buildings have been grandfathered inn. These two wooden houses on E. 53rd street were built in 1866.

1993 Studio Tim Salmon

Hobbies are weight lifting, hiking and golf: The Tim Salmon Foundation has an annual golf classic.

Favorite sports announcer is Vin Scully: Salmon grew up in the LA area, must have been a Dodgers fan.

Favorite player as a kid was Steve Garvey: Another Dodger answer. Salmon played against Garvey in a 2011 charity softball game.

Might have been a businessman if he hadn’t been an athlete: Salmon did not go into the business world after his baseball career.

Where he is now: In addition to his foundation, he is an Angels announcer.

Wallet Card at The

The what? This sign had piqued my interest for a long time, but I couldn't find any photos of what it originally said.

Recently, I read on Facebook that it was a sign for a western-themed restaurant called The Cattleman, that in the late 1960s and early 1970s was best known for offering free stagecoach rides around the city on weekend evenings.

1993 Studio Ruben Sierra

Hobbies are singing and show horses (Paso Finos): Sierra has recorded albums of salsa music both during and after his career. In 2011 one of his horses ran in the Kentucky Derby.

 

Favorite sports announcer is Rex Barney: An offbeat choice – Barney was the PA announcer for the Baltimore Orioles, a team Sierra never played for.

 

Favorite player as a kid was Roberto Clemente: Sierra was widely considered the best Puerto Rican ballplayer since Clemente, a difficult legacy to live up to.

 

Might have been a singer if he hadn’t been an athlete: He did become a singer, before his career was even over. His own songs were his walk-up music as a Yankee.

 

Pet peeve is two-faced people: No one likes those.

 

Where he is now: Singing and horses.

Wallet Card at Chase Manhattan Bank

It's just been called "Chase" since the 2000 merger with J.P. Morgan, so this sign is almost 20 years out of date. Located off Sixth Avenue in midtown.

1993 Studio Bret Saberhagen

Hobby is golf: Topps.com is auctioning a golf experience with Bret Saberhagen at the Pebble Beach Golf Club. Current bid is $8,995.00.

 

Favorite sports announcer is Al Michaels: Michaels was the announcer for the 1985 World Series that Saberhagen was the MVP of.

 

Favorite player as a kid was Billy Williams: Saberhagen grew up in the Chicago area, a Cubs fan I guess.

 

Most prized possession is his 1985 World Series ring: Saberhagen auctioned off the ring in 2013.

 

Might have been a fire fighter if he hadn’t been an athlete: Saberhagen did not go into firefighting after his baseball career.

 

Pet peeve is giving up runs after having just scored: Good one for a pitcher. A better one would be giving up runs at all.

 

Where he is now: The Bret Saberhagen Make a Difference Foundation is a child-focused charity.

Street trade

I flipped some of the extra Yankees I got in that recent trade at Al's table on 37th street. I flipped a '79 Munson for a '72 Stottlemyre. I hadn't even left his table before someone expressed interest in the Munson (though they didn't buy). Turns out the SP Sierra and the Soriano I already had, so they are up for trade. The SP is not the shiny parallel version, it just happened to catch the light that way when I took the photo.

Remember the Death Star

Bru of Remember the Astrodome was giving away Star Wars cards on his blog recently. I'm a big Star Wars fan so was glad to get these. Star Wars Galaxy was a fun set with a lot of weird, quirky images, most of them original to the set.

Jack Davis was a legendary Topps artist and did the cartoons on the backs of the baseball cards for many years.

 Gahan Wilson is another famous artist with a very unique style.

 Lots of fun images in this set.

 Nice to see an Ewok Adventure card.

 Growing up in the 1980s there wasn't much behind the scenes literature. I took out the Lando Calrissian novels over and over when I was a kid. Those books are largely forgotten today, but all three are referenced in the new Solo movie which was very cool.

 One of the best aspects of this set was artists coming up with images for events that happened off-screen. here is Uncle Owen dragging a young Luke away from an Imperial recruitment poster.

 Here's another one with Uncle Owen, featuring his and Beru's last stand.

 Bru threw in some baseball set needs too. Thanks!

Vintage oddballs

Got some great vintage oddballs in a nice PWE from Baseball Card Breakdown. Like my first ever vintage post card, of Billy Klaus. Back in 1960 a guy with over 600 games in the major leagues still needed an off-season job in a bowling alley.

Some more vintage oddballs, including my first ever vintage Fleer cards. The game card I already had; it is up for trade (Steve Hargan of the Indians).

 Gavin also sent some nice shiny cards plus an oddball from a set I had never seen before, I think maybe a later version of MLB Showdown.

Red Cardboard trade: what I needed

No one seemed interested in the trade bait I posted yesterday. Anyone starting to work on the 1974 or 1975 set I could really help out.
Here are the cards I am keeping from the big box from Red Cardboard.

Four more 1975s. Need less than 60 now for the set.

 Lots of '74 team checklists. I think I need three or four more to finish up that set.

 Some 1974 needs, including my first true "Washington Nat'l Lea." card, very excited about that one.

 Lots of '73s, including some big names.

 Many from 1972, including a couple of Hall-of-Famers plus a really nice Maury Wills cards.

 I think there were some '71s too, might have forgotten to take a picture of them.