TCDB/OBC roundup

 Been a couple of weeks since I did one of these.

Starting with TCDB, and this is really a blogger trade - The Angels, In Order needed some of the checklists from the Long John Silvers set and told me to send him a proposal on TCDB. I sent him the six checklists for these three modern Yankee cards.

 

My only other recent TCDB trade was with wmj2890, who helped whittle down several set needs. 1986 Sportflics is now down to needing just one card (#43, Nolan Ryan). The other sets are all now under five needs.

On to various TCDB trades or RAOKs. Mark Talbot sent a holiday greeting with two 1972 high numbers.

Scott Jensen sent a fun mix of 1952 Boxman and early 1960s Topps.

Cliff Franklin sent five vintage baseball cards and a modern autographed custom football card. The player is his daughter, Lauryn Franklin, wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Passion of the Women's Football Alliance, the world's largest female pro football league. That card goes into my binder with other autographed cards of pro football players.

I sent Neal Thomas the last 1967 Poster he needed, and he sent back a '67 high number and a jam-packed NL pitching leaders card.

Finally, lots of delicious cake from Bob Neill.

 

Henthorn of plenty

 Got another stuffed PWE from OBCer Greg Henthorn that is big enough to be worthy of its own post.

Starting off with some oddballs, one over 20 years older than the others. I love those '51 Topps cards! And I'm also a fan of the '73 Kelloggs where you can actually see the photo. The Hostess card is an error - the photo is Lee May, not Milt May.

Four from 1962 Topps, highlighted by Elston Howard getting congratulations for his Game 1 homer in the 1961 World Series.

Speaking of New York baseball legends, there are several more here, if you count Willie Mays and the other legacy NY Giants on the '61 SF Giants card. There are 1950s Yankees heroes Billy Martin and Don Larsen playing for other teams in the 1960s, and Don Newcombe as a Brooklyn Dodger on a 1961 Topps card, when he was winding up his playing career with Cleveland. Jack Harshman did start his career with the NY Giants, losing both of his games there, but later had success with the White Sox and Indians.

 

Nine cards for twelve years

Once again Dime Boxes celebrated his blog anniversary by giving away some cards. I think I was the first person to come across the giveaway, as nothing had been claimed when I came to it. I tried to restrain myself as much as possible, and only selected nine cards, and tried to pick mostly cards that would have limited appeal to others.

Most bloggers love to hate the Yankees, so I knew nobody would miss having a chance at these. A shiny card of Giancarlo Stanton, by far the best postseason performer the Yankees have had since the core four left. Speaking of postseason, never a shortage of heroics from Berra or Rizzuto. I couldn't pass up a vintage Yankee oddball with Danny Cater, and of course a Mattingly Broder was a must-have.

I had never had a Topps Throwback Thursday card, and I've always really liked the designs that came from Topps's non-baseball sets. I wish these were more readily available. The 1985 football design is a favorite of mine. The Rickey Henderson is a TBT too, which I did not realize. That design is from the Terminator Two set, which I was not familiar with. Like Henderson, Claudell Washington was a Yankee when I started following the team, so I was happy to pick up an unusual card of him. Finally, Doug Glanville is someone I interviewed for this blog, so I was happy to pick up a very shiny card of him.

Cake or gum? 1976 Steve Garvey

Last time it was gum with the 8-4 triumph. Who will win this time?

These are very likely photos from the same shoot. Garvey was known to be one of the best players for photographers to work with, and it looks like he is really getting into posing in a variety of angles for first base action shots.

Garvey is one of the best players from his era not in the Hall of Fame. A ten-time All-Star, he was a potent bat in the heart of the lineup for the great Dodgers teams of the 1970s and early 1980s, and later helped the Padres win their first pennant. He had six 200-hit seasons, twice leading the NL, and five seasons of 100-or-more RBI. An excellent fielder, he won four Gold Gloves. Overall in 19 seasons he hit .294 with 440 2B, 272 HR and 1,308 RBI. He continued his excellent hitting in October. In 55 postseason games, he hit .338 with 11 HR and 31 RBI, including a .319 average in five World Series. After his playing career Garvey's sordid personal life became a source of scandal, hurting business interests and a potential political career. In the decades that have ensued, Garvey has restored his reputation, being involved in a variety of business and charitable endeavors and avoiding personal scandal. In 2023 he decided to return to the political arena and is finding success, currently sitting in a surprising second place, first among Republicans, in polling for one of California's seats in the US Senate.

Wood vs. Wood #187

 Last time it was 1987 with a 5-2 victory. Who will come out on top this time?

Gene Conley crouches down from his full 6'8" height so the photographer at Yankee Stadium can get his photo. One of the greatest athletes to play major league baseball, Conley pitched eleven seasons in the major leagues, and was a three-time All-Star. In his 11-year MLB career, Conley had five seasons of double-digit wins for the Braves, Phillies and Red Sox. Overall in 276 games (214 starts) he went 91-96 with a 3.82 ERA. Most impressively, he accomplished all of this while playing professional basketball most offseasons! The only player to win a championship in MLB ('57 Braves) and NBA (three Celtics teams), he was a solid bench player in nine seasons for the Celtics and Knicks of the NBA, the Hartford Capitols of the EPBL, and the Washington Tapers of the ABL. The Tapers were owned by the Tuck Tape company, and in his time with the team he went on sales calls with owner Paul Cohen. After his sports career ended, he had a long career in the tape industry, eventually owning a duct tape company and later a paper company. He died of heart failure in 2017.

Mark Huismann is relaxing in what I think is the Tiger Stadium dugout or bullpen. I can't quite make out the logo on his cup. When I was a kid I always thought it was a Slurpee cup. Huismann came up with the Royals in 1983 and was a solid middle reliever for them. He made the postseason roster in 1984 but spent most of the 1985 championship season in the minors, pitching in only nine major league games. In May of 1986 he was traded to the Mariners, leading to a stretch where he pitched for six teams over five years. Overall in 152 games, all but one in relief, he went 13-11 with 11 saves and a 4.40 ERA. He stayed in the Kansas City area after his playing career, and is currently the pitching coach for the American Legion Post 499 Senior Fike team in Blue Springs, MO.

New York Times July 25, 1969

The Astronauts get the full-page treatment again with their return to earth.

And now that they are home safe without mishap, all of the companies that had a little hand in the endeavor are quick to congratulate themselves.

Boy, this headline could certainly have been today. I never thought to consider how inflation may have led to  men choosing to grow their hair long.

The management of the upcoming music festival take out a big ad about how they are all about peace, music, and suing Wallkilil, NY. It does not appear the lawsuit ever happened, though the man who eventually hosted the concert on his farm, Max Yasgur, was sued by his neighbors for the damage sustained by their farms during the concert. Also in this photo you can see the wide variety of off-Broadway fair available for viewing in these new, more permissive times, running the gamut from Gilbert & Sullivan to de Sade Illustrated.

Laminated pin-up posters

I probably spent too much on this, or maybe it's a good buy if you consider it one-of-a-kind.

A near-complete set of 1967 Topps Pin-Up Posters, including the Mantle. $40 was probably too much, even if I rationalize it as $20 for the Mantle and $20 for everyone else. But I think it's not too bad considering that the lamination, in my opinion, actually improves the condition. The regular pin-ups, which were inserts in packs, are basically newspaper and very flimsy. They also have very prominent fold marks after 56 years of being folded. These posters are sturdy and the fold marks are barely visible. The photos really look good at this size, you can see lots of detail like the fabric of the players' uniforms. These really are one-of-a-kind, or close to it.

Part one of three. You bet I left the Mantle on my desk for a few days before putting it away. Anyone else have a "desk card" either permanently or temporarily?

Part two of three. Some of these look quite similar to base card photos, others quite different.

Part three. In terms of photography the Joe Morgan is my favorite. Something about that sky just pulls me in.

I had a few from this set already including three that weren't in this lot. I gave a little thought to spending $20 on a laminating machine, but quickly thought of three reasons not to. (1. Don't need to spend more on this lot than I already did. 2. What if I want to switch out a poster later on if I get a dupe in different condition? 3. What if I screw up? Look at that Pepitone for example, laminated while ripped.)

So I decided to do a fake lamination with the other three. I cut up a couple of one-pocket sheets, each one was big enough to fit two posters. I cut some cereal cardboard for backing and taped the holes, keeping the plastic as taut as possible. Not professional-grade by any means, and you can still see the folds, but it's acceptable and helps keep these posters roughly similar to the others. I store them in a little box in numerical order, so they don't seem too far out of place.

Now I have a few extras, non-laminated posters available for trade. #10 Cardenas, #14 Callison, #16 Drysdale, #28 Marichal.

And on the chance anyone has extras, most of my remaining needs are commons: #7 F. Howard, #11 Clemente, #17 Knoop, #24 L. Wagner, #29 M. Alou, #32 McCovey. 

Certainly don't need to trade poster-for-poster though.

A Stout package

An OBCer named Joe Stout was looking to build out his collection of modern Topps sets, and needed starters for 1998 Series 2 and all of 2011. I was able to send him a box of about 1,000 cards from those sets to get him most of the way. In return he sent a really fantastic variety package of vintage cards.

Starting off strong with ten cards from the 1950s.

Just some 1960s common cards? Not really, each is a high number.

Some 1960s inserts. I really like the 1970 booklets. These were the last two commons I needed, the rest of my needs are all HOFers (and Pete Rose).

Finally, knocking off my last All Star need from 1970 Topps, and the tough Ernie Banks final card from 1971 Topps!

CardBoredom, but certainly not boring

I got a terrific generous package from a new blogger called CardBoredom.

Six 1954 Bowman cards! Very Senators heavy. I personally like this version of the Washington W much more than the curly one.

And two 1952 Topps cards! Dale Mitchell is best known as the final out of Don Larsen's perfect game.

Very cool early '50s cards!

Latest vintage star pickups

I was able to bring my Greg Morris spending down significantly this time. I lowered how much I bid on all but the bigger stars, and came up with a solid lot of cards that I was happy with. The Maris is by far the best and it was under $4; everything else was around $2 or less. My first '62 Bell Brand Dodger is another highlight. Those are nice looking cards.

Otherwise a pretty light week. Got a lot coming in though. For now just:

Another vintage Aaron for under $5.

'62 Whitey Ford. Also under $5.

More generosity from Crocodile

I was fortunate to win another free box of cards from Crocodile, which arrived yesterday. It was another fun random assortment of cards. I found plenty that I needed and plenty more that I can hopefully send to another collector.

The reason I decided to join the contest was the '68 Topps Game card I saw peeking out. I thought it might be one I needed, the Jimmy Wynn which has an O for Out. It wasn't but I've gotten the Wynn in the meantime. Everything here I had already, so if you see something you can use let me know.  Some pretty big stars in here. Some have condition issues (which is fine for me) so I can swap out for a better conditioned card if I have it.

These were all cards that I needed. Plus one other card, a Leaf Gold Rookie I forgot to put in the photo. Nice to see a Yankee need, a star for my '88 Sportflics set build, and a shiny refractor.

This was very cool - sealed packs of all eight parts of the 1990 Long John Silvers set!

Here is the complete set, now out of the plastic. I had about half the set already so if you have needs here let me know.

There was lots of football in the box too. I'm always happy to get more cards from the '86 set, the first sports card set I collected. I needed all four of those. The only dupes for me were the cards in the bottom row, including a Guy who is in the Hall of Fame.

Finishing up with a little hockey and hoops, all of which are available.

Thanks Croc!

Wallet card with the new Avenue of the Americas medallions

Two of my favorite Wallet Card posts are my tours of the remaining medallions on the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue). [Part one and two]

After World War II Sixth Avenue was renamed "Avenue of the Americas" in order to drum up interest among the various countries of the Western Hemisphere to do business in NYC. It remains the official name of the street although most New Yorkers still call it Sixth Avenue. In order to emphasize the new name and function of the street, medallions featuring the various countries of the Americas were affixed to street lights. They were taken down in the 1990s as they were exhibiting signs of age and many streetlights were being replaced anyway. 

This year, new medallions have been put up, bringing that post-war look back to the Avenue of the Americas. (The old ones that were still standing are being replaced too.) The design is not exactly the same but I am really enjoying seeing Sixth Avenue looking like it's old self again.

I tried to do a couple of faraway photos to get a sense of seeing several medallions at once, but I am not a good photographer.

Here's a close-up of one of the medallions (chosen at random!). The design is a little sparser, and the holder is a different shape. Still, it's nice to have a bit of the old New York recreated in a new way.

 

Cleaning out The Collector

The Collector recently had a contest where he was trying to give away every card in his TCDB tradelist. While the prize didn't interest me, the idea of completely cleaning out someone's tradelist did. I waited a week or so for everyone who was interested in trading with Chris to do so, and I saw he had plenty left that was interesting. And the cards I didn't need for my own collection would help bulk out my trade bait, if not for TCDB then maybe elsewhere. I told Chris to pick out what he wanted from my own TCDB tradelist, and he found plenty of Red Sox and other cards. 

Here is what I got. It's been a lot of fun going through these. The days of buying collections in person seems to be pretty over so this recaptures some of that fun of going through random piles of cards.

Starting off with the baseball. I didn't need the '87 OPC Dawson, the '88 Score and Topps, the '96 Score or '23 Topps, and one of the Bowmans. But every other card here I needed and will go into my collection.

By far the most cards here were football. While I don't "actively" collect football, I do like picking up some random football cards from time to time. As you can see there were some big stars, fun photos and shiny cards. The only dupes for me were a handful of Pro Set cards, including the Unitas.

On to sports I don't collect. A couple of years ago I sent Chris most of my basketball cards, several hundred of them. He sent these to me, about half of which I recognize by the sets must have come from me originally.

Lots of hockey available. Some 1980s cards on top. I like the set where it looks like the team name was stamped on. Some 1990s/2000s in the middle, and some new cards on the bottom. Maybe there is a set or team you collect?

Finally, some nonsport. My kids are basically over their brief nonsport interest, other than my son who likes Magic cards (to look at, he doesn't play the game). There are a couple of samurai cards in here that I think he will like, but I don't think he will have interest in the comic book cards or other stuff here. That Santa Todd McFarlane card fits the season well. That Game of Thrones hologram card is pretty cool. I enjoyed the TV show which led me to the books which I really enjoyed. I like the card but it doesn't fit my collection so I'd be happy to pass it along.

1974 Deckle Dating: Bob Gibson

 Here is card #3, Bob Gibson.

Candlestick Park, July 7, 1973.

This is presumably the date of his base card, as well.

If he looks uncharacteristically happy, it's probably because he pitched a great game the night before, with a complete game 3-2 triumph, striking out eight batters. Jose Cruz was the hitting hero with a two-run double in the seventh inning. The victory tied him with Juan Marichal for most wins among active pitchers.

July 7th brought more joy to the Cardinals, as Reggie Cleveland and Orlando Pena combined for a 6-1 victory. The Redbirds got first-inning RBIs from Joe Torre and Jose Cruz and never looked back. In other Cardinals news, Jose Jimenez,  who would pitch a no-hitter in 1999, was born. In other news, President Nixon told the Senate Watergate Investigation Committee that he would not testify or permit access to Presidential papers.

TCDB/OBC roundup

TCDB.

 A baseball card that is just a random old sign with nothing to do with baseball. Boring for a lot of people; a must-have for me.  From MMehler30.

Mostly Pacifics but a few odder, newer cards from ChicoSportsCards.

I didn't realize the two SI cards were oversized when I made this trade, though they still look pretty good. They tower oven an eclectic mix of cards including a Mr. Turkey card. I never heard of Mr. Turkey, let alone their cards. (Seems it was a Sara Lee brand that they stopped producing after a fatal listeria outbreak in the late 1990s.) From rencherg.

TCDB

Two 1960s cards from Steve Sankner. The Yankees may have had facial hair limitations but not armpit hair limitations.

Two '62 Posts from Robert Musgrove.

Three from the fabulous '56 set, Joe and LaShelle Denning.

Finally, a nice mix of vintage Topps cards from Mike Rumley-Wells. Thanks to the three cards at the bottom, I am now at exactly 670 cards at both the '71 and '72 sets at this writing.