1973 Topps Ron Cey Rookie Card

If you bid on a card enough times, eventually one of them arrives at your doorstep.  You bid, you get outbid, you lose interest, you come back, you bid on another, so on and so forth. 



With the Ron Cey/Mike Schmidt rookie card, it was always a matter of time and a matter of saying, this will cost more than a blaster.  In fact, I think it costs more than any other 10 cards I've bought for this set, possibly 20, since I ended up getting good deals on 1973 Topps cards throughout the last two years.  The key is to purchase large lots with stars, which is how I ended up with a couple of really cheap Ryans and other fine stars. 

The downside to purchasing the rookie card of the best third baseman of all time is that I am out of excuses for not finishing my 1973 Topps set this year.  There are no difficult cards stopping me from finishing the set.  No extravagant purchases left.  While there is a Ruth and a Phillies team card with Mike Schmidt from the high numbers, there are no stars to stop me. I have to go to shows, search on eBay and find the last 34 cards to finish the set.

So, by year's end, the set will be completed.  The pages full of cards and images of ballplayers from years gone by.  The album bursting with cardboard, ready to sit next to the other album of 100 year old flag cards will be full and put away, with I satisfied in the knowledge that I've put another set to bed. 

Scaling the Sheer Cliff Face (1973 Topps)

There are two ways to build a vintage set (not including buying the whole set at once, but where is the fun there), buying cards from various levels and difficulties, creating a gentle incline towards the end, where your problems are just finding the remaining cards you need and buying all the easy cards first, then trying to finish the set with all of the missing stars and short prints, a lot like walking through a valley, only to find a nearly sheer cliff-face reaching into the heavens in front of you.

For my T206 set, I've always managed to be judicious and left myself with a reasonable incline to finish, needing 23 cards, which only includes one short print and two inner circle hall of famers, making the sprint to the finish doable.  For my 1973 Topps set, I walked deep into the forest and then realized...wait, almost all of the last 75 cards I need are either Hall of Famers or High Numbers.  And there I was, at a bi-annual show last week, staring at the cliff face.

Finding one T206 card at the show, (a Christy Mathewson White Cap, only three times the price for a worse condition card than the one I own) and doing little more than feigning interest in a E92 George Stone, who while the 1906 American League batting champion playing for the St. Louis Browns, really didn't catch my eye, as caramel cards have drawings with softer lines and colors, lessening their appeal.


With those options foreclosed, I spent the better part of two hours picking through boxes to find 1973 Topps cards I needed for my set.  Unlike the day before, where I purchased four 1973 Topps cards while antiquing, all duplicates, I managed to only purchase one duplicate due to a failure to update my list after Superstorm Sandy.


So, I sifted and I sorted and I discussed and even found a Babe Ruth and a Hank Aaron at a price I thought was fair (and significantly lower than listed on the picture above).  I even picked up a Roberto Clemente and Bob Gibson, while making a significant dent in my high numbers.  When the day was done, I added about 40 cards, mostly stars, high numbers and Mike Lum, who never came my way.  I also only needed two cards to finish the first half of the set, Card 1, which contains Ruth, Aaron and Mays and 329 Ed Kranepool.  I was shocked that no dealer had an Ed Kranepool available for purchase, given that his fame is localized and his skills vastly overrated.  Nonetheless, I made progress on the tertiary set, behind my nearing completion T206 set and just started Diamond Stars set, where I am interested in scaling the mountain early and coasting to a finish line covered in commons. 

Trade Post: Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle

So, a few weeks ago, I showed a Dodger of some interest on this blog.  It was a double of a card I obtained a year or so ago when I was on the great Dodger hunt of 2011.  That same day, Greg from Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle reached out about its availabilty and after some back and forth negotiation, we were able to rehome the Dodger from close to its ancestral home to their current home.  I won't spoil the surprise of what I traded away, but instead will show the package Greg put together for the lonely card which crossed a nation. 



The Von Joshua moves me one card closer to completing my 1973 Topps set, which at the current rate of movement on my part, should be finished just shy of 2073.  One of these days, my focus will return, probably once I've finished with my T206 set and a smaller pre-war set, which eliminates the N173 Old Judge set from contention. Greg was also able to take some of the cards off my 2012 Topps set list as well.



I also gained his very nice Nicklas Lidstrom relic, numbered 260/599.  As another offensive minded defensemen, I am overjoyed to add a relic of his to my collection.  I'm rapidly moving my way through collecting something from all of my favorite defensemen, with Sergei Zubov moving to the top of the list.  Given that blogging was essentially non-existent, it is quite possible that this is the first time a Sergei Zubov relic topped any list in a blog.



I asked for the Neely, not because I am a Cam Neely fan, but instead, because I have a soft spot for Ulf Samuelsson, much like the insides of Cam Neely's knee.  I regret not tipping the card on its side when scanning and saving, to show the card equivalent of Cam Neely going down.  The Samuelsson itself was a very pleasant surprise in the package and a real favorite.  This is also not the last we will see of Cam Neely's relic on this blog, as he will make a return appearance with his old friend. 



Finally, we had these fine cards.  Player's Cigarettes is a British tobacco company, responsible for many of the tobacco cards still in existence today.  They issued cards containing cricketers, footballers, birds, plants, animals and men in uniform.  Before getting them, I did not know much about them, other than any time you can add something Ulster to your card collection, you pull the trigger, given how rare is it that Northern Ireland is represented.

The cards themselves are part of a 25 card set of Ceremonial and Court Dress cards.  Doing a little sleuthing, I discovered they are from 1911, making them just shy of the oldest cards included in the deal.  I've never said no to adding any new tobacco cards to my collection, though of course, I will now need to avoid searching out the last 23 to complete the run. 

Thanks again to Greg for sending these great additions to my collection. 

1973 Topps: So Close Yet So Far

One day, way back in 2010, I convinced myself that I needed to complete a vintage Topps set.  Realistically, I wanted something I could put into a binder and look through and thought a vintage Topps set would be a great way to go.  So, after a day or two of research, I decided to start a 1973 Topps set. 

I started by purchasing lots on eBay.  10, 20, 50, 100 or more cards at once, thinking this the best way to finish the set, usually at a dime or less a card.  And early on, it certainly was.  I quickly filled portions of pages in the binder, but began to amass duplicates, a very highly number of duplicates.  I even managed to completely fill some of the pages in the binder, which was a great feeling of accomplishment.  But with each passing lot, it became more duplicates, less filling in the binder. 

I also took my list to shows and added a decent number of cards at shows, though often the price was much higher.  Eventually, I found a places on eBay where I could select the cards and I made great progress there.  Even better progress than I remembered, since I thought I needed even more cards than I do.  I spent some time trying to find the right, low-grade Schmidt rookie, but never found one I wanted to pull the trigger on. 

And then one day, I stopped, so close, yet so far from completing the set.  There are still holes and I suspect that finishing the 1973 set will happen in 2013.  In putting together my need list, I realize that I tried to complete the set backwards, obtaining all of the easy cards and leaving the hard ones behind.  I only need three of the first 100 cards, Ruth, Clemente and Aaron, not a recipe for success.  I've put my whole list below, so I can track my progress toward completion. 

1 Ruth/Aaron/Mays
50 Roberto Clemente
100 Hank Aaron
130 Pete Rose
190 Bob Gibson
193 Carlton Fisk
210 World Series Summary
245 Carl Yastrzemski
255 Reggie Jackson
257 Yogi Berra
266 Mike Lum
275 Tony Perez
305 Willie Mays
320 Lou Brock
329 Ed Kranepool
330 Rod Carew
338 Checklist 257-396
343 Bobby Murcer - Boyhood Heroes
380 Johnny Bench
399 George Foster
400 Gaylord Perry
440 Glen Beckert
472 Lou Gehrig All Time Leader
473 Hank Aaron All Time Leader
474 Babe Ruth All Time Leader
497 Cardinals Team Card
498 Graig Nettles
517 Pirates Team Card
526 Ollie Brown
529 Milt May
536 Phillies Team Card
544 Von Joshua
545 Orlando Cepeda
552 J.C. Martin
556 Yankees Team Card
562 Wayne Garrett
563 Larry Haney
565 Jim Hickman
566 Lew Krausse
567 Bob Fenwick
569 Walter Alston
570 Bill Singer
571 Rusty Torres
573 Bob Didier
575 Dock Ellis
576 Expos Team Card
580 Joe Pepitone
583 Bob Greif
588 Checklist 529-660
593 Royals Manager
594 Vic Harris
595 Don Gullett
596 Red Sox Team Card
597 Mickey Rivers
600 Dave McNally
601 Pena/Robles/Stelmaszk
604 Jefferson/O'Toole/Stramp
609 Blanks/Garcia/Lopes
610 Freeman/Hough/Webb
611 Coggins/Wohlford/Zisk
612 Lawson/Reynolds/Strom
613 Boone/Ivie/Jutze
614 Bumbry/Evans/Spikes
615 Schmidt/Cey
616 Angolini/Blatric/Garman
617 Rich Chiles
618 Andy Etchebarren
619 Billy Wilson
620 Tommy Harper
630 Denny McLain
631 Tom Matchick
634 Alan Closter
636 Rick Clark
642 Jose Laboy
644 Jack Heidemann
650 Felipe Alou
652 Ted Kubiak
654 Twins Team Card
656 John Ellis
657 Bob Johnson
660 Fred Scherman

Needed as of 9/16/2012 - 91 Cards

What Do I Collect?

A simple question with an oft changing answer.  The oft changing answer is the bigger part of the problem, as I have a tendency to acquire items which are often neat in the moment, but not in the long term.  Nonetheless, I've tried to summarize my collecting goals, if for no other reason than to give me some additional structure in my acquisitions.

T206 Cards

This is where it all started for me again, with one Orval Overall leading to a tobacco collection of 457 unique T206 cards.  My goal is to collect the set to 518 and given the progress I've made in the last two+ years, I think this is a fairly attainable goal.  Most of my purchases are of the lower grade variety, in the trimmed/poor to good range.  To push me toward finishing the set, I've tried to pick up not only the commons when I find them, but to seek out the more difficult cards on the journey up front, since you never know when you will find them again at an affordable price.  I've picked up a substantial majority of the hall of famers, including the four Ty Cobb cards and managed to get most of the shorter print cards to 518 with the exception of the Elberfeld Portrait Washington card, which always manages to elude my grasp.  Now, collecting to 518 means no Wagner, Plank, Magee, Slow Joe Doyle NY National, O'Hara St. Louis or Demmitt St. Louis, but I can live with that.  The cards I own still have a sense of history and are stunning pieces of art, even though they are stunning pieces of art used to stiffen cigarette packs and encouraged people to smoke more.

Nonetheless, I am always happy with my T206 cards and they really are the core of my collection.

Orval Overall

Who is Orval Overall?  Well, in terms of sports greatness, he was a very good second or third starter for the Chicago Cubs around the last time they were viable World Series contenders.  His claim to baseball fame is that he won the last game of the 1908 World Series for the Cubs. 

My interest stems from some research about 10 to 12 years ago, when I wrote some of the biographies for Stars of the Deadball Era, National League.  While his life after baseball is what most people would call pedestrian, such as being a banker, I still find I have a strong connection to him.  Given the timeframe and the cards available, it became a natural for me that I would collect his cards beyond the T206 set.  There are a decent number of caramel and other tobacco cards, silks, discs, pins and even west coast candy cards to collect.  His popularity is not so great that his cards are prohibitively expensive, like chasing Ty Cobb or Christy Mathewson cards from their playing days.  That being said, the variety is nice, while not having too many exotic cards which I would have a slim chance of owning, due to the small populations available.  

Mike Scott

Growing up, my favorite player was Mike Scott.  There is something about a pitcher who comes out of nowhere, to dominate for a few seasons, which lures me in.  Especially once you put in the orange uniforms, split-finger fastball, false accusations of scuffing and complete and utter dominance of the 1986 Mets in the NLCS. 

Collecting Mike Scott cards gives me a great appreciation of how many oddball series were created in the 1980s.  I have heavy bronze cards, disc cards, bakery cards, fire prevention cards, coins and all sorts of other random cards which have crept into my boxes over time.  I am always on the lookout for a new Mike Scott card I've never seen before, so I can add it to the growing stack of orange and white cards containing an often bespectacled man. 

Other Collections

I also from time to time, pick up cards which fit into these categories.

Late 1980s and early 1990s Pittsburgh Penguins, such as Paul Coffey, Tom Barrasso, Ron Francis and other non-Lemieux and Jagr players as cards become available.  I'm especially a sucker for any relic cards for these players.

Non-Sports Tobacco cards.  I have a fairly decent sized collection of non-sports tobacco cards.  I especially enjoy cards containing pictures of flags and animals.  I managed to complete the entire T59 Flags of the World set, which makes is likely the only time I can mention Saxe-Coberg-Gotha and card collecting in the same sentence.  T29 Hassan Animal cards are my set in progress, as I have about 45 of the 80 cards in a binder directly behind the Flags of the World.  I also have my strays which I pick up at card shows and antique stores, which include Silk Flags, World War I picture cards and Franz Liszt. 

Deadball Era players on Post-1960 Cards.  Topps has done a great job in putting out cards containing Christy Mathewson and Ty Cobb over the last few years.  They even put out cards for less famous members of the Deadball Era, such as Kid Elberfeld, Willie Keeler, Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown and even George Davis (who is both a Hall of Famer and possesses quite possibly the coolest, most apocalyptic background found on a T206.).  I am such a sucker for these newer cards, that I almost always buy up these cards at shows when I see the guy who has the "new" Topps cards for sale.  Quite possibly, the card from this era at the top of my list is the 2011 Topps Ty Cobb driving a car card.  I'm sure you've seen the picture and somehow a Hall of Famer driving an open top car in 1910 or 1911 is begging to be in my modern collection. 

I probably also pick up cards of Astros in technicolor orange uniforms and I am working on a low grade 1973 Topps set which has fallen by the wayside, but left me with about 250 duplicates sitting in various boxes near the binders.

So, I think that covers what I collect, which is far broader than I hoped it was.  I'm sure more of these cards will be showing up on this blog soon.