Group Breaks: Including One from the Daily Dimwit

Group breaks are great if you are a fan of a specific team.  You know, the life-long affiliation with one team that makes you care about the utility infielder from 1967 and reliever from 1985 as much as your home town superstar.  I lack that commitment to any baseball team.  In fact, the only team I possess any kind of life-long loyalty to is the Pittsburgh Penguins, not that I've ever lived in Pittsburgh, I just like flightless birds.

When it comes to baseball, I am nominally a Braves fan, due to the Superstation and getting cable around the same time the Houston Astros ditched orange from their uniforms and relegating Mike Scott to a secondary role.  I also have a strong affinity for the New York Giants of the Christy Mathewson/John McGraw era.  My fandom for this team and era in general led me to collecting tobacco cards.  In fact, here is a T205 McGraw I bought on a whim a few months ago. The portrait portion of the card managed to survive for many years unscathed, something the name portion of the card cannot claim.



Nonetheless, my lack of a team for life makes it harder to participate in group breaks, as it isn't like, "Oh, there is a group break, let me go claim the Royals."  I always need to break out checklists and research.  Half the time, once I've finished my research, any team that I wanted is usually claimed.  However, I joined my second group break over at the Daily Dimwit, selecting the Giants after much internal debate.  The boxes included in the break were 2012 Topps Triple Threads, 2001 Playoff Memorabilia and 2002 Fleer Legends of the Game.

Let's see what I managed to pull in the break starting with 2001 Playoff Memorabilia



And we're done.  I had low expectations for this box and they were met.  The Bonds was the only supershiny card in my package. 

And on to the 2002 Fleer Legends of the Game.  It was these cards which led me to choose the Giants, who are well represented in the set.  Out of 100 cards in the base set, there are nine Giants, all of which ended up in my pile, including a second of the Wilhelm below.  I included the highlights, since to be quite honest, no one needs to see a picture of Bill Terry, unless it is some kind of technicolor, art deco masterpiece. 



Finally, we are on to Triple Threads.  As we all know, the element of the gamble exists in every group break, as there are some winners and some losers in every deal.  On the good news side of the ledger, I beat the odds and ended up with a card from the box.  Even better, the card was numbered and contained Willie Mays.  The downside is that it is a base card numbered to 625. 



It's a pretty great card in its own right, but not the hit everyone hopes for, since aspires gives the wrong impression that there was work involved.  So, there is the results of the group break with the Daily Dimwit. Thanks again for running this break!

W575-1 Fred Toney

Every so often, a card arrives at my doorstep which reminds me of what I love most about card collecting, tying memories to a historical artifact.

In addition to writing the biography of Orval Overall, I was able to research and write about Fred Toney for Deadball Stars of the National League. Fred Toney was in many ways a far more interesting character, violating the Mann Act, pitching in the only double no-hitter in history, joining the New York Giants, but he never captured my attention the way Orval Overall did.

I did, however, want to find a card of Fred Toney to add to collection. My search was not always active, but something which existed in the back of my mind. About a week ago, I found the above card in a posting leading to eBay. I was quite excited and was preparing to make my bid on a one day auction when I noticed the auction ended.

Given the current climate, I assumed someone had swept in and made an off-site offer to obtain the card, leaving me to wait for another Fred Toney card to come across my path. However, upon returning to Net54, I found the card was not bid upon and was going to be listed for sale again.

I managed to find the card early Wednesday morning and sent a message to see if the card was available. Fortunately for me, the card was and nearly a year ago, the card arrived in my mailbox safe and sound, unlike this entry, which lingered, unwanted and unfinished in my drafts folder.

I want to thank Tony for selling me this card. It is the first Fred Toney card I own and potentially it is my last, because no other Fred Toney card will be able to take its place.