'61 Topps: Wasted opportunity?

 I really like the design of the '61 Topps set. The clean, sparse border allows plenty of room for the picture, which should have made this an all-time great set like '57. However, Topps botched it by overwhelmingly using plain headshots. You can see this in this recent lot of '61s I picked up. I never got the $25 eBay coupon it seems everyone else did, but I was able to massage $1.40 of extra bucks and the sellers' combined shipping to win three five card lots of '61 for under a quarter apiece.

As you can see there are two copies of #212 Haywood Sullivan, if anyone wants to trade for one.

Most of these cards have some kind of scribbled word or name on the back. But I took this photo to highlight the cartoon. Jim Brosnan's book was the first baseball tell-all and was somewhat controversial; I'm kind of surprised Topps made a cartoon about it.

Ebay mixed lot

 It's getting harder and harder these days, but I am still able to occasionally get a lot of beat-up vintage for under a quarter a card, my self-imposed limit. Here's my latest win.

First, the trade bait. 
1957-1966

1966-1969. A few pretty good cards here including Cepeda, Marichal and two Aparicios.

The '67 League Leaders card I had already but I'm switching out the one I already had for this new one, because I love cards like these. I was actually able to find a reference to Lamont Morgan at this address in a 1952 directory of the US Army's Ninth Infrantry Division. I'm guessing that 15 years after the Korean War, Morgan was married with a kid who labelled his baseball cards so they wouldn't get lost in flipping or trading.

Here are the keepers from the lot. 1954-1959. My first 1954 Bowman card! A nice Yanke card in there too.

Some big names from the 1960 set.

That Haddix card in particular is a beaut. What a great photo. Here is a closeup.

1961-1967

My "biggest" time travel trade yet

 Diamond Jesters' regular time-travel trading series had a really interesting addition this week. I actually waited a day in case someone would have a better offer, as I didn't have anything really great to trade, but no one else seemed to want them, so I scrounged up my oldest cards for trade plus a few "newer" vintage stars, and got these in return from Matt.

This was the easy part, three standard vintage cards I needed. I really love the Burdette/Shantz card. Burdette had eight inches on the 5-6 Shantz. 

These were the big draw though. Three 5 x 7 Yankee photo cards, issued by Jay Publishing in 1963. Like the '30s Diamond matchbooks, these are in Beckett and the TCDB, so I'm happy to consider them part of my baseball card collection.

Here's Ford next to one of the cards, to give you a sense of size. In hand they are similar to magazine pages, thin and not shiny, but with a crisp and clear photo that would look great in a frame.

A surprise consolation prize

 During the ALDS I was having fun with Chris the Collectors' "predictions" about the Yankees, pretending that Chris, a Red Sox fan, could use his powers to help the Yankees. Of course, the Yankees ended up losing the series, but I was surprised by an envelope from Chris this weekend, with a note apologizing for "jinxing" the Yankees. Inside were these three great cards. Two reminders of the 1996 World Champions (25th anniversary next year! Where did the time go?), and a 1967 Topps need, of one of the far-too-many baseball legends we lost recently.

Like Chris I am rooting for the Astros tonight. In my case it is so the Yankees won't be the only team to have ever blown a 3-0 series lead. Right now that doesn't look too like, 3-0 Rays in the 6th inning. Looks a lot like game 5 of the ALDS, in fact. Chris, I'll send some Red Sox your way soon. Thanks!

All the way back in 2018

 I recently got a nice stack of cards for my 2018 Topps setbuild from Jafronius. 

Some big names in here like Trout, Yadi, Scherzer . . .

It's only two years old, but a photo like this already seems quite out-of-date. I'm surprised at how much I miss the home crowd reaction during games. When a Yankee would hit a home run in Yankee Stadium, you would expect to see everyone jumping up like this. I found it surprisingly disappointing not to see that in baseball games this year.

This photo could be 2020. Heck, it could be 1920. Just a great photo that looks more like a Stadium Club card then a standard base card.

More cracked goodness

 I got another great package this week from A Cracked Bat.

Part of it was my latest pick pocket picks. I went heavy on the shiny this time.

Julie also included these three '66 needs, which I don't remember asking for - what a nice surprise!

In my last pick pockets I had gotten a Panini White Wave Prizm of Gio Urshela. I loved the card - one of the most colorful shiny cards I had ever seen. Julie had a bunch of them in the pick pockets so I told her I would trade some cards for any leftovers. Here's what I got. Magnificent!

Cardboard Cousins: '56 Topps/'01 Fleer Tradition

 In 2001 the Fleer Tradition design was a ripoff of the '56 Topps design. This is the closest match I could find among cards I had. Moose Skowron was a prototype of the Aaron Judge/Giancarlo Stanton model the Yankees have today - big hulking slugger who is always pulling a muscle and losing playing time. Casey Stengel had him take dance lessons to improve his flexibility, maybe Aaron Boone can have his guys do the same. Enrique Wilson is pictured as a Pirate here but is best known as a Yankee. Primarily a backup, he was famed for his hitting prowess against Pedro Martinez, and was always in the lineup against the Red Sox Hall of Famer.

There's a surprisingly simple connection for Skowron and Wilson - both wore #14 for the Yankees. Personally I think of Lou Piniella with that number. It is currently worn by Tyler Wade.

 

Vintage backgrounds: Don Zimmer

 My original goal for this series was to include anything interesting in the background - could be unusual objects, people or famous lurkers. Here's a famous lurker. Even though Bobby Adams was pictured as an Oriole on his 1956 Topps card, he played for the Reds and White Sox in 1955. That infielder is the Brooklyn Dodgers #23, Don Zimmer, at the beginning of a very long career in major league baseball.

This appears to be the first game of a doubleheader, July 17, 1955 at Ebbets Field. In the second inning Adams singled, then went to third on a throwing error by third baseman Don Hoak. This was presumably a double play attempt where Hoak threw the ball past Zimmer who was setting up for the double play. It does appear Zimmer is looking for a ball that went past him here. Despite the error the Dodgers cruised to a 6-2 victory.

Almost free vintage

 I claimed quite a few cards from the recent Almost-Free Friday from Cards As I See Them. I made sure to send GCRL a lot of cards in return for this high-quality vintage acquisition.

From the 1970s. The 1970 Topps RBI Leaders marks a milestone for me - it completes my 1970 Topps Series I (cards 1-132), my first completed series from the pre-1974 years when Topps issued cards in series.

Some great early 60s cards, including baseball card legend Wally Moon.

Finally, I couldn't pass up a nearly free '55 Bowman or a star from the Yankees' dynasty days.

Cards and Vintage Things: Charlie Maxwell and the Baby Dolls

 Fortunately for me, the pandemic surge in baseball card pricing has not affected the matchbook market, and I've been able to acquire cheap lots at a steady rate. I'm not showing all of them here, though I will eventually show off the lot that this one came in as it had a lot of sports-related matchbooks. However, when I saw this one I realized it would be perfect for Collecting Cutch's annual Save Second Base event. It's not very vintage, '80s I guess by the hair. However it goes well with this pink 1958 Topps card.