3 big guns down in 1971 Topps

I'm in Louisville for a family get-together this weekend. I've been here a few times over the years thanks to an aunt and uncle and a few cousins all living in the area. About 20 years ago, I took a tour of the Louisville Slugger factory. That was pretty neat. Got a couple mini-bats that I think I've since gotten rid of, including a Griffey one I'd like to have back. Then in 2004, I caught a Louisville Bats game, still the only minor league game I've ever been to. All I remember about it is being excited to see former Padre John Vander Wal in the lineup, the only name I knew. But no baseball-related activities planned for this trip, though I did watch Rookie of the Year for the first time on the plane/in the airport on my laptop. A couple weeks ago I watched Air Bud: 7th Inning Fetch. I'm really being thorough in my "classic baseball movie" watching, huh?

Anyways, I took to eBay recently to check off 3 notable absences of my 1971 Topps setbuild.

I just showed off my first vintage Stan Musial, and now here's my first vintage Ted Williams, coincidentally also a Happy Card candidate. Of course I still have a dream in my heart to one day own a vintage Teddy Ballgame as a player, but this manager card is pretty cool in its own right.

Have I mentioned yet that September is Clemente-mber here at Baseball Card Breakdown? Well, I should have, because it is. Stay tuned for a couple more Clemente posts before the month's out. This specimen has a pretty obvious crease through the width of the card, but as an A-lister high-number, this can be a pricey card, so I'm willing to settle for less than mint. Still an amazing card.

Finally, that's a nice looking Pete Rose. A minor crease below his bat, but again, I'm not too picky while putting this set together. Nice card. Feels good to check off #100 from the list.

Unfortunately, I made a typo in my 1971 Topps needs spreadsheet, accidentally typing "11" instead of "1" to mark off Rudy May, which of course messed with my calculations. So even with these 3 new additions, I've actually stepped back in my completion percentage since I had 10 phantom cards in my total number before spotting the typo. Bummer.

Here's the real progress:

475/752

63.16% complete

as of 9/12/14

Card show coming up in a couple weeks. I'm hoping to pick up a few cheap high-numbers and approach 500 cards down for this set.