Cake or gum? 1976 Terry Forster

 Last time Topps cruised to a 5-1 victory. Will this be a closer matchup?

Hostess shows Forster posing near the bullpen in Oakland. Topps has him in the outfield at Comiskey. Powder-blue road uniform or red-pinstriped home uniform? I am too young to remember when red was the White Sox' main color, so both look odd to me.

Terry Forster was one of the best relievers in baseball at this time. He was the White Sox closer in the mid-1970s, leading the AL with 24 saves in 1974. Later with the Dodgers, he was the closer on the 1978 pennant winners and a key member of the 1981 world champs. By the mid-1980s, in his stints with the Braves and Angels, he became more known for his weight than his pitching. Famously called a "fat tub of goo" by David Letterman, he embraced the notoriety, appearing on Letterman's show and eating a sandwich, as well as recording a song called "Fat is In". Overall in 614 games he went 54-65 with 127 saves and a 3.23 ERA in 16 seasons. He also had 31 hits in 78 at-bats. That .397 batting average is the major league record for players with 50+ at-bats or 15+ seasons. After his career he coached at the University of Ottawa and was a scout for the Angels, but he appears to now be retired.

Football from The Collector

Recently Chris The Collector made a comment on my blog that he is working on the 1994 Ultra set. 1994 Ultra is one of my least favorite sets. I find the gold foil number on the back, usually against a light background, very hard to read. Years ago I got rid of most of my extras in a large trade. I didn't have as many this time but I had some that he needed, so I was glad to thin out a lot of my Ultras again.

In return I selected a few football cards from Chris's TCDB page. I'm not actively trying to complete a set like 1989 Pro Set, but I like to see cards from this era when I first started collecting. There are more familiar names to me in this era than any other, certainly more than present day. The photos were a lot more dynamic than what Topps had at this time.

Lionel Manuel had a nice career for the Giants. Nice to see under-the-radar favorites like Mark Kelso and Iron Head Heyward.

One card that was not Pro Set was a Pro Line portrait of Giants lineman Eric Dorsey. (Well, technically it is a Pro Set set but a different Pro Set set.) This is one of the less-goofy cards in that set. Mike Quick and Vencie Glenn have some great action shots here.

Overpaying for Vintage Cards, Part III

Last time I posted one of these, I mentioned the weekly Greg Morris auctions of lower grade cards. One commenter said that they have gotten pricier and harder to win lately. Still seems to be some values out there, though maybe I'm still overvaluing some of these. These are from two Fridays ago - I spent even more this past Friday. I really have to rein myself in with these.

None of these are really bad purchases, but most probably would have come to me eventually in trades or gotten lucky in a cheap lot. Guess I'm just a little less patient for that these days. '72 Munson $4. '58 Brown $2. '60 Robustelli $1. '70 Topps football checklist $2. '62 Post Skowron $1.'61 Reds Heavy Artillery $2.  '70 Kaline $3. '71 Jenkins $1 '72 Reggie $3. '70 Reggie $3. .'61 Bunning $2. '61 Howard $1. '61 Groat $1.'61 Fox $1.  '61 Aparicio $2.'67 Koufax LL $2. '63 Cardwell high number $1. '63 Klippstein high-number $1. '72 Riggins RC $1 '68 Perez $1. .'69 Killebrew $1.  '62 Orioles $1. '69 Giants $4. '62 McCarver RC $2. '64 John RC $4. '64 Oliva RC $6. '61 Billy Williams RC $13.

Reds Heavy Artillery was the dumbest purchase, I forgot I already had it. A few others here I probably overpaid for. Still very excited for the Billy Williams RC, that's a great card and pretty reasonable at $13. I love the photo on the McCarver RC, great background. '72 Munson completes my Munson Topps run so that is very exciting. I also love the Giants photo on the '70 football checklist.

Elsewhere on eBay . . . 

$13 for 191 different 1969 MLB photostamps is a good deal. Lots of HOFers, this isn't even all of them. Many of the dupes are going to OBC but if you have any needs let me know. I'm down to nine needs now, almost all HOFers.

$2 for this card - I probably would have gotten it cheaper eventually, but not bad I guess for one of my few remaining lower number needs for 1968.

$17 is probably too much for this card, but Clemente is one of the biggest stars in the '68 set.

$4 for a chewed up Kelloggs, but Mays is one of the very very few who would be worth it.

Do I get an F grade for spending $6 on this? Possibly.

$2 for '72 Reggie. OK for a first series card that seemed elusive.

$5 for this card is OK. Banks is one of those players that I think should be more expensive then they end up being.

This card looks like it not only was someone's wallet card, but even went in the laundry a time ago. It feels very fragile in person. Still, I know $12 for a '63 Mays is pretty good.

$13 is definitely too much for Post, even if it is Clemente.

With combined shipping these were $6 total. Not bad for two HOFers and a '48 Bowman (Wyrostek).

Wood vs. Wood #184

Last time, 1962 cruised to a 7-2 triumph. Who will come out on top this time?

Haywood Sullivan strikes a catching pose for the Topps photographer. I'm not sure of the location. Sullivan came up with the Red Sox and had a few brief stints with the team in the late 1950s. He was traded to KC before the 1961 season and had more playing time as a catcher and utility player. He retired in 1963 after hitting .226 with 13 HR and 87 RBI in 312 games. The next year he took a managing job in the A's organization, and in May of 1965 he was named the manager of the big league club. That only lasted one season, and in 1966 he was named VP of Player Personnel for the Red Sox. Sullivan is credited with being one of the key architects of the surprising 1967 pennant winners. However, his long stay in Boston in a variety of roles including GM, CEO and part-owner eventually led to more controversy than success. He left the Boston organization for good in 1993, going into real estate and owning a marina. He died from a stroke in 2003.

Bobby Bonilla strikes a hitting pose in front of the red seats of Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Bonilla was a Pirates prospect who was selected by the White Sox in the Rule 5 draft before the 1986 season. He made his big league debut with the White Sox but was traded back to the Pirates during the season. Bonilla developed into a big star with the Pirates, with four straight All-Star appearances from 1988-1991. After the 1991 season he signed a huge free agent contract with the Mets, but struggled mightily in the 1992 season. The Bronx native had a very hard time with the New York media and fans, famously wearing earplugs on the field to drown out the Shea Stadium boos. He actually rebounded to have good seasons in 1993 and 1994. In 1995 the struggling Mets shipped Bonilla to the contending Orioles, beginning the next phase of Bonilla's career. Between 1995 and 2001 Bonilla played for the Orioles, Marlins, Dodgers, Mets (again), Braves and Cardinals, serving as a useful component to these contending teams, winning a World Series with the Marlins in 1997. Overall in 2,113 games he hit .279 with 287 HR and 1,173 RBI. Today Bonilla continues to earn over $1M a year from the Mets thanks to his famous deferred contract, and is involved in a variety of business and charitable endeavors.

Blog Bat Around: Post Without Words

  

History lessons from Johnny's Trading Spot

I got a fun PWE of classic ballplayers from Johnny.

Ten playing cards of Yankees greats from something called 2012 Hero Deck. Most of the information on these I already knew, but the "Junkman" nickname for Ed Lopat was a new one to me.

These two cards were quite interesting. Undated reprints from a set called 1948 Swell Sport Thrills. The Never Say Die Pitcher is the New York Giants' Hal Schumacher. The back says that no one will ever forget his pitching heroics. In case you somehow have forgotten, he was in a jam in Game 5 of the 1936 World Series, bases loaded and nobody out with the Yankees' best hitters coming up. Schumacher struck out DiMaggio and Gehrig, and got Dickey to pop up to end the threat. The Giants won the game but lost the series.

The "Football Block" refers to another World Series moment now largely forgotten. In Game 3 of the 1943 World Series the Yankees were losing 2-1 in the 8th inning, and had Lindell on second base with nobody out. Snuffy Stirnweiss's bunt was not a good one and the Cardinals tried to nail Lindell at third. Lindell barrelled into the third baseman Kurowski, which was a completely legal move at the time. This set up a 5-run Yankee rally to win the game and eventually, the Series.

TCDB/OBC Roundup

These cards came from TwinKiller on TCDB, who also has a blog called Turning Two. Lots of Twins and Senators on the baseball side. Meanwhile with Football a whole lot of Giants from when they were really good. One of the Twins is 2021 Topps Max Kiriloff which leaves me needing just one more to complete the set. Anyone have a Jake Cronenworth #371 available?

Two vintage cards and two Pepsi oddballs, courtesy of jweech.

One card from kwolff12, a team-issued oddball card of Dennis Burtt that I needed for his interview post from many years ago.

On to OCB. These aren't "old" but are appreciated. Gunny Musgrove found my 1990 Leaf wantlist and sent some needs.

Wayne Delia sent me 12 great cards from 1959 Topps. I was inspired to make a rainbow but it doesn't really work.

Steve Sankner sent these two. I like the miscut on "Red" Wilson.

Some big names in these cards sent by Bryson Boyd.

Dan Williams mixed vintage and modern. The vintage cards are great but I really like the Chicago skyline with the Willis Tower on Kevin Orie's card.

Three '71 semi-highs from Michael Salinsky.

Andrew Goguen also found my 1990 Leaf wantlist, and threw in some vintage to boot.

Finally some fantastic fifties cards from Andrew White. Clockwise from left are 1953's Joe Adcock, Steve Souchock and Sal Maglie, 1951 Dave Koslo, and finally my first 1950 Bowman, Mickey Harris.

 

Vintage Equipment: 1980 Topps

 Mike Norris has a very interesting glove. Looks like it says "Funcy Child". Perhaps a misspelling of "Funky Child"?

Randy Moffitt is "Mof". Too bad it's not "Moff." Even better would be "Grand Moff".

I know it says VUCK, but it looks like YUCK.

Here's a really great bat barrel shot. Craig Reynolds wore #12. That's not a 12 on the bat. Perhaps #25 Jose Cruz?

Dave Skaggs wore #8 for the Orioles. His helmet says #44. Looks like he borrowed from fellow catcher Elrod Hendricks.

Finally, a couple of spring training photos where the player has a number he didn't wear in the regular season. Tony Brizzolara's hat has #65. He would wear #43 for the Braves.

Tim Blackwell's helmet has the #52. He wore #9 for the Cubs.

Another unwise choice

I picked up an 800-count box on eBay for $8. Penny a card which is good. But I was still kind of foolish. It advertised being 1994 Upper Deck, Donruss and Church's Chicken, which I would not ordinarily be interested in having already completed the Donruss and UD sets. But there were some loose cards from other sets on top, including a card from 1998 Metal that I am trying to complete. So I figured maybe there would be a lot of variety and took a gamble.

Turns out there was a lot less variety than I thought. Other than these three cards it was just cards from four different sets. At least I needed the Griffey and the Marino will fit into my football card collection. The basketball card is available though do note that it is creased (all three are creased actually).

This was the other set in the box. 2017 El Paso Chihuahuas (D-Backs minor league team). It's a full set, no big stars but a few names I recognize. I didn't have any of these cards so it's a nice little addition.

The rest of the box was pretty much as advertised. My fault for expecting something different. There are some silver linings though.

That huge stack of 1994 UD is actually all 1994 UD minors. I still needed a fair amount of cards from that set so I was able to knock out a lot of needs. Still tons left over and lots of dupes of big names like Damon and Giambi. If you have needs from that set let me know.

1994 Donruss - that's all dupes there. Mostly commons but a few stars. Again, anyone have needs here let me know.

Finally, the 1994 Church's Chicken set. It's only a 28-card set so you can see there is a lot of duplication. And no complete set as there were no cards of Bagwell, Maddux, Piazza or Sandberg. But what makes it a little more interesting is that there was actually a parallel set with gold lettering, pretty unusual for a mid-1990s food issue. And those cards were plentiful here, in fact some players just had gold cards and not base cards.

Here are the cards available from this set, maybe you need them for your team or player collection. In many cases I have multiple available including golds. 

McRae (gold); Gooden (base & gold); Sierra (base & gold); Puckett (base & gold); Dykstra (base & gold); Salmon (base); Matt Williams (base & gold); Roberto Alomar (base & gold); Clemens (base); Fryman (base & gold); Ventura (base & gold); Sheffield (base & gold); Baerga (base & gold); Jay Bell (base & gold); Edgar Martinez (base); Plantier (base); Tartabull (base); Grissom (base & gold); Yount (base); Ozzie Smith (base & gold); Ivan Rodriguez (base & gold); Bichette (gold).

Overpaying for Vintage Cards, Part II

Here are some more singles and small lots I picked up recently. After a week or so of guessing what was a good value, I finally went back and did real research. I looked up the lowest sold price for each Topps base cards for about 25 HOFers (and equivalents like Pete Rose). I put them all in a spreadsheet and am using that as a guide, and it's helped me cut down on too many $5 and $10 purchases that could be $3 or $4. Mostly.

These however are from before I did that, so some of them I probably paid a bit too much for, from my point of view. I don't think I did too badly on any one of them, though. Even got a couple of big-time dupes which could make for interesting trade fodder.

Five cards for $20. I had just bought a '59 Ford so now I have one to trade. If you are interested, pick your poison between the one with writing or the one with the tape residue. '56 Banks I am most excited about, but these are all pretty good cards for $4 each.

$18 for four cards. (Same seller.) You know it's a great lot when Al Kaline is by far the least of the stars. I actually had a '61 Kaline but this one will be a rare upgrade for me. The one that will be available for trade has most of the back obscured by paper glued on.

There's a very high-volume dealer called Greg Morris who has a huge auction of low grade vintage every Friday night, with $5 total shipping. Becomes easy to spend a lot quickly but still get pretty good deals. '72 Kaline - $10, probably an overpay though it is a high number. I've seen this card on the blogs, it is one of the best shots I've seen of the old Yankee Stadium. '71 Aaron - $15. Probably could have gotten for under $10 somewhere else with more patience. '70 Perez - $1.'69 Carew - $4. '68 HR Leaders - $2. (RIP Frank Howard.) '62 Post Berra $3. '69 Royals rookie high number $1. '72 Reggie $5. '62 Harry Bright high-number $1. '62 Maris WS $9. (Overpaid for sure. Got excited for Maris in '61.) Killebrew Sends One into Orbit $3. I love that title.

'60 Gibson - $5. Yeah, I overpayed at the card show with $6 for a 1970.

'69 Aaron - $11. Not bad.