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.

Another one

Yesterday I posted about a big mixed lot of cards I got. Later that day another one arrived. This was also around $20, and was well over a thousand cards. While there was a fair amount of junk wax, and a lot of 2020s (especially 2021) which don't really excite me, there was no shortage of fun and interesting cards.

Just a sampling of the many shiny cards in the lot. Ranging from Aaron Judge to Bernie Williams to Ted Williams.

On the topic of shiny cards, there were these weird cards from 2001 E-X. They appear to have backs larger than the front, like the front was sliced off, trimmed slightly and then glued back on. This doesn't seem to be a parallel, maybe some weird printing error.

There were a few of these shiny 2021 cards in the style of the old Topps Big sets. Brought me back to my childhood, though I wish Dave Winfield was a Yankee like he was at the time.

Some water damage made an extra-colorful parallel of this Topps Gold Label card.

There are some other modern cards that I like. There was even a "parking lot card".

Lots more early 80s stars to trade. Also two very-nicely-conditioned 1974 cards, by far the oldest ones in the lot.

Particularly heavy on stars from the 1982 Topps set. Anyone working on that set?

There were some hits in the lot, an autograph and three memorabilia card.

My son saw these 7-Eleven coins and thought they were cool.

This was an interesting oddball. There was a paper holder, looked like something that would hold hash browns. Inside was an oversized Lenny Dykstra card, numbered to 10,000, as well as a regular sized counterpart. There was also a regular-sized Mattingly elsewhere in the lot, which I was happy to see. Very nice looking card.

Some graded cards lol. Gem Mint 10 might bring these cards up from $0.05 to $0.10. I don't think either of the grading companies here are considered "legitimate" anyway.

The lot was mostly baseball, but a few other things snuck in. There was a small pile of Pokemons. My son might enjoy those, I'll give them to him. There were also some Zorro cards which I could not identify, and I don't see on TCDB. The two orange cards are very thin, like stickers but they don't appear to be stickers. The other card has two images which can be punched out. I haven't watched Zorro since I was little - was there a koala on the show? They are available if someone wants them.

These 1987 Garbage Pail Kids cards took me back to my childhood. They still make me chuckle. I don't think my kids would like them though. I'm not in a hurry to get rid of these but I would consider trade them for some baseball cards. There are some wrappers available too.

Just a little bit of football, but it included a couple of autographs. I wasn't familiar with either player on those cards. Sad to see that one of them, Ronnie Hillman, died of cancer at the age of 31 in 2022.

Finishing off with some sports I don't collect, so these are definitely available. There's a numbered card of Draymond Green, a big enough star that even I had heard of him Two Signature Rookies autographed cards as well. It's hard enough to read their names in person let alone in the photo. I had to look them up because I don't know basketball players. One is B.J. Tyler (Texas). He played one season for the 76ers, then fell asleep while icing his ankle, causing nerve damage serious enough to end his career. The other is Eric Montross (North Carolina). This card appears to have some food stuck to the front. He played eight seasons for six teams - Celtics, Mavericks, Nets, 76ers, Pistons and Raptors. He died of cancer in 2023.