Peeling Protective Film (a handwritten post)

 

Remembering Willie Mays

Like many collectors, I took a moment to appreciate Willie Mays in the wake of his passing by looking through my cards of his.

I watched the Willie Mays doc on HBO a while ago and really enjoyed it. He's got solid representation in my collection, but Mays is a bittersweet figure in my personal hobby history, with a couple questionable decisions on my part regarding good cards of his that I parted with.

About 10 years ago, I bought a Mays 2003 Retired refractor auto for a whopping $300. A guy who read my blog post about it offered me double for it. I couldn't resist that ROI and agreed to part with it, though I've since come to regret the decision in hindsight, still chugging away on a run of Retired refractors as perhaps my #1 collecting goal. With part of the proceeds from the sale, I picked up a replacement Mays auto (more modestly priced at $160 shipped) for another ambitious collecting project of mine: the "Archives Reserve Master Set" I've been slowly building over the years..

It's a nice consolation prize, for sure-- they don't sell for anywhere near $160 anymore!-- though I still miss the '03 Retired refractor. I'm still in touch with the buyer, Dan, and we've done more swaps since. Last time I checked in with him, he was 8 cards away from his goal of completing the 2003 Retired refractor autos. (I'm going for all 3 Retired releases, with 2004 my priority, but Dan doesn't mess much with '04 or '05, instead laser focused on 2003.)

But my initial $300 purchase had a nice bonus included in the lot, and I still own that one:

I call these "charcoal" parallels of 2003 Retired, though officially they are called black borders (despite clearly being speckled dark gray). It's a nice looking card, even if not refractorized. 

It's got the "ebay 1/1" distinction of being jersey number 24 out of 99. You get a nice back of complete career stats, with the black and red text easy to read against a white background, which is appreciated even more in these days of Topps making Archives backs harder to read than the originals they mimic. If you want to check for typos-- I've noticed Retired cards often have uncorrected errors in the stats-- here's his baseball-ref page.

The other bonehead move I made with Willie Mays cards is a few years back when I forgot I had bought his 1957 Topps card for my setbuild and then bought another one. Hey, I was drinking too much in those days. I ended up trading the extra to blogger bud The Diamond King for a Cody Bellinger SSP photo variation RC. Of course, like clockwork, Cody then instantly fell off from the MVP numbers he had been consistently putting up to start his career. LOL. At least he's bounced back somewhat now. Anyways, the card pictured above is the one I still have in my set. Man, I should really prioritize the last 79 cards I need to finally complete a basic set 1957 Topps to hang my hat on.

Ten years ago I was in Hawaii getting hitched. Yep, Willie Mays died on my 10th wedding anniversary. I'm weirdly honored to share a special day with the legendary Willie Mays. It's sad he passed, but he made it to the impressive age of 93. An incredible life to be celebrated for years and years.

a vintage advantage

Expect to see plenty of vintage on this blog in 2021 as my interest in current cards continues to wane (I don't plan to attempt ripping much if any current product this year). I've revived my goal of completing a page of each vintage Topps baseball set, and I've been filling out my new vintage (non-flagship) frankenset. Plus I've also got a few vintage setbuilds in varying stages of advancement, and sometimes I just pick up random singles for PCs or whatever. Such as...

Check it out! I hadn't picked up a playing-days Clemente in a while, and when I saw this '62 Post with a low opening bid, I took a run at it. The first four cards in this post were from the same seller, taking advantage of combined shipping. Not in perfect condition, but just right for my collection.

Clean back, too.

And here's a '61 Post Willie Mays. I threw bids on a handful of cards from the seller and this was another that I ended up with after the dust settled. Again, not in mint condition, but considering the fair price, works just fine for me. Helps kick up my little PC of the Say Hey Kid.

Some light pencil marks on the back that I've resisted the urge to try taking an eraser to.

I also snagged this '60 for my Minnie Minoso collection.

Looks good.

Here's the main card I was after from the seller. Bobby Richardson was one of the few notable rookie cards missing from my 1957 Topps setbuild. Took me a while to find one that looked ok in the price range I was hoping for, but I'm happy with this one.

Just barely makes it out of my personal "upgrade needed" threshold. It's from the toughest series of '57, so you can't be too choosy unless you really want to pay up.

Here are a couple more rookie cards of All-Stars that I needed for my set. Chris the Collector surprised me with this pair recently.

Thanks again, Chris! Very much appreciated!

About half my recent Sportlots box order was vintage cards, including a couple more '57 needs plus Don Larsen for my '64 build. It's been slow going, but I'm nearing 80% complete with both. Doubt I'll complete either this year.. maybe in 2022.

A more realistic goal for me this year would be to finish off at least one of the 70s sets I've got in the works. Thanks to these from Sportlots, I now have only 29 cards left on my 1974 wantlist, though the remaining cards are pretty much all HOFers and "Washington" Padres variations (the latter of which I've been considering cutting bait on). The Red Sox checklist finishes all of those red-bordered inserts for me, though I'd like to upgrade many of them from marked on the back to unmarked.

My 1978 build is a bit further out, with 131 cards still remaining after checking in these four. As always, please check out my wantlists and get in touch if you think you might be able to help me out with anything in trade. Thanks

ignorable filler post: 1991 Cardboard Dreams #1 Willie Mays

I received a weird Tony Gwynn oddball as a bonus card in a purchase a few weeks ago, and I was so enthralled and entranced by it that I then went out and scored myself the entire 16-card set. I'm thinking that posting the whole set at once might be too intense, so the plan is I'll do a card at a time on days when I otherwise don't have a post ready to go but want a quick post option.

Card #1 is Willie Mays. The likeness isn't too bad. Perhaps a little pale on the complexion . Reminds me of somebody else, but can't quite place it.. Emma Stone? Oprah? Miley Ray Cyrus, maybe?

The background picture of his famous World Series catch is pretty great. This is one of the better fronts in the set, no question.

I think I like the backs of these cards better than the fronts. They feature a fun caricature of the subject and a few interesting factoids.

Willie currently ranks 5th in career home runs, with Bonds and A-rod passing him since this card was made. Albert Pujols will likely hobble past him next year. (You gotta wonder what would have happened had Willie still had a few years left on a big contract once he was showing signs of being done [a la Pujols]. If long-term contracts were a thing back then he probably would have stuck around a couple more years and reached 700 easy.)
1. Barry Bonds 762
2. Hank Aaron 755
3. Babe Ruth 714
4. Alex Rodriguez 696
5. Willie Mays 660
6. Albert Pujols 652

As far as I can tell, Willie still holds the record for most extra inning taters with 22, followed by Jack Clark (18) and Babe Ruth/Frank Robinson (16).

The cartoon references the Treniers' "Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)" that was released in 1955. Willie doesn't sing on the song, but he recorded some dialog for it.

My best Willie Mays card is an autograph from 2001 Topps Archives Reserve (1952 reprint) I got back in 2015.

My oldest card of his is 1957 Topps.

End of post.

Card Show Quarterboxing from the 60s

Time for another batch of cards I snapped up from a quarter box at the card show.

Before we hit the '60s baseball cards, I wanted to show off this Tiger Woods card numbered 19/35 that was also among my 25¢ bounty. He just won his first Masters since 2005, which is pretty crazy. I don't follow golf or collect golf cards, but couldn't pass up a low numbered card of an all-time great for that price (though it's a thick card and the corners are a bit dinged.)

Happy with this 1960 All-Star Rookie card of Jim Perry, who would win the Cy a decade later. The card had some wax spots on the front, but it cleaned up real nice after a minute with the hair dryer.

1961 features a sweet trio.. HOFer Robin Roberts, rookie of future MVP Zoilo Versalles, and an LL highlighted by Warren Spahn.

Just one 1962 card, the Red Sox team card.

No 1963 card caught my eye, but I got a few from 1964. Note that the Harmon Killebrew LL was not from the 25¢ but rather I from another dealer's $2 box...

I'm over 72% complete with 1964 Topps now.

I pretty much ignored all 1965 Topps in the box since I've already completed it and didn't want to take the time to check for upgrades for me. Nice trio of '66 Topps.

I ended up with several '67 Topps cards. Vintage Willie Mays marked checklist card for a quarter! A couple big rookie trophies, too. I first picked up a poor condition Bobby Murcer rookie, and later dug up a better condition one but forgot to take the worse one out of my stack.

More '67s. I already had that Richie Allen, and probably didn't need to grab this water-damaged one, but couldn't pass it up.

Some from 1968. I put Ed in my stack because it was a somewhat high number (#552). Many of these pickups are intended as trade fodder, but some will find a place in my collection. The only set I'm working on out of these is '64 Topps.

The '68 Brooks Robinson All-Star might have been the card I was most surprised to see in the quarter boxes.. it's in pretty good condition, too!-- for that price, I'd expect there to be a kid's name scribbled on the back, but no! Accidentally picked up 2 of the '67 ERA Leaders card, but not a bad one to have a dupe of.

A cool thing about picking up Pirates team cards from the 60s is you're also getting a playing-days Clemente!

We close out the decade with five cards from 1969. Al Oliver rookie-- I already had one, but couldn't resist grabbing another, even if it's creased in the middle. And I think I might already have the strikeout leaders card in both my Bob Gibson and Fergie Jenkins PCs, but I'm not going to pass up a third copy for a quarter. Pilots cards are always fun. I might have to start a PC for the great No Neck Williams. As for John Donaldson, I think this is one '69 Topps card that went to Woodstock. Whoa.. far out, man!

Thank you for reading and all the best to you.

'57 Willie Mays

Told you guys I was serious about finishing 1957 Topps in the not too distant future. Mr. Willie Mays was the biggest name I was missing. Even ponied up for a PSA 5 specimen at a decent deal.

All-time great, inner circle HOFer, etc. Very happy to check this one off.

I've got my big annual company party tonight and I'm stressing out a bit. (I'm pretty annoying when I'm stressing out. Bless my wife for putting up with it [she is equally annoying when she is stressed.]) Nah, it'll be fun. The forecast is calling for snow overnight, and sadly the monthly card show is tomorrow, so I probably won't trek out to it. Even if I made it there fine, I gotta think there will be less dealers showing up. Plus with the party tonight, I'll likely be a bit hungover in the morning anyways. So that's a bit of a bummer, especially since I missed last month's show too. Oh well.. March's show will be a triumphant return.
Well, I gotta go get dressed for the party.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

1957 Topps Willie Mays

Say hey! Here's the sister-pickup to the '57 Koufax from the other day.

Nice!

Only 3 "big cards"* left for me with this set (*cards I expect to pay over a blaster for): Yankees' Power Hitters (Mantle/Berra), Drysdale RC, and the set's big boy: Brooks Robinson (high number) RC.

1965 Willie Mays + finally getting some 2017 Topps

The esteemed Mr. gcrl knocked another huge name off my 1965 Topps needs with this glorious Willie Mays.

The Say Hey Kid also bookends the big boppers on this pair of league leaders.

And gcrl supplied me with my very first in-hand examples of 2017 Topps. Some great players here. As I mention at every opportunity (sorry), I'm not really feeling flagship this year (not that I ever rip much of it or try to build the set), so I'll just rely on the kindness of traders to hook me up with guys I collect. So these are very appreciated.

Thanks a lot, Jim!
Still a few more cards from him left to show off tomorrow.

Vintage strides

Typically when I hit the monthly card show, I go in simply looking for any cool cards / good deals that would fit under the wide umbrella that is my collection. But at last weekend's card show, I was on a specific mission to do some damage to my vintage set needs. Armed with a fresh needs printout, I spent some quality time digging through the 25¢ and 50¢ boxes of a certain vintage-specializing dealer. I think his name's Lyle.

That checklist wasn't a need, but it's hard for me to pass up unmarked vintage checklists.. it's likely an upgrade for me. Dick Billings sounds like a subdepartment of Accounts Receivable, and a career path I would not be interested in. The Swoboda looks like the corners have been touched up with black marker, but whatever. I was excited to come across the Sparky Lyle high number for cheap. (I'll get to the other pair of 71s I picked up-- not from the discount bins-- later in the post.)

With 1971 Topps, I'm now at 93% complete in-hand, and 94% complete if you factor in a handful of cards sitting in my COMC inventory, which I'm patiently trying to wait to have shipped until Black Friday weekend to take advantage of free shipping, assuming they keep with the tradition of offering that perk. I used the site to pick off the few cards I needed under #600, so I could save time at the card show by knowing if the card number was under 600, I didn't need it. But yeah, factoring in those cards waiting for me, I've now checked off the first 5 series of 1971, with only the elusive sixth/final series still having holes. Sparky Anderson and Luis Aparicio are among the bigger names on my list, though it's mostly just commons left for me, though high numbers can still be expensive even for no-name guys.

Let's move on to 1965 now. Lyle's discount boxes aren't really organized at all. As I thumbed through them, I made stacks of the sets I'm working on, and then checked them against my needs at the end. I was surprised at how much of the 65s I already had. I came home with 10 cards I needed from the set.

The Jose Cardenal RC is the highlight, even with a rough lower left corner. The Casey Stengel was a great find too, though it's miscut enough to the point that I'd like to upgrade it someday if possible. Bob Friend and Ron Hunt are a couple other names that ring a bell for me.
Crap; I see I accidentally bought two Ed Charles cards. Perhaps I should be better about checking off cards as I go.
These 9 cards take me to 69.5% complete with the set.

I came up with a fat stack of 1964 needs, with close to 50 cards. Inadvertently grabbed 3 dupes, grr.. again, I need to be better about marking off what's already in my stack.

The Old Perfessor makes another appearance. Another unmarked checklist, though this one has some dirty corners, so it's not perfect. And a nice crop of dual rookies, highlighted by Tony Conigliaro.

And here are a few more of the other notable 64s I grabbed, including a holler card (gotta love old photos of managers hollering), an All-Star Rookie trophy, a pair of stalwarts of Detroit's infield.
This haul got me over the one-third complete mark, sitting at almost 36% complete now. I can tell the high numbers will be a pain for me, seeing as I only have 3 cards from the set's final 100 cards, with one of them being the Lee Stange up there.

There were slim pickins for the other vintage set I had an eye out for, with only one sorry 1957 Topps card popping up in the discount bins, this creased-to-heck Redleg. I grabbed it anyways. I'm not going to be picky about condition for this setbuild. All are welcomed if the price is right.

This dealer also had a dollar box which I expected to have more desirable cards (high numbers, bigger names, etc), but from a curious quick flip through, the contents seemed to mirror that of the cheaper boxes, so I just left it as it was about time to me to head home. But I might go through it next show to see if there's any high numbers in there I need. He also has some sorted vintage boxes, but I don't think he prices those cards as competitively, rather knocking a percentage off book value. Still though, I might take a look and see if I can make a deal. Not to put myself under the gun, but I'd love to pick up the final 44 cards I need to complete 1971 Topps by the end of the year.

Anyways, yeah, Lyle gave me a good deal with what I pulled out of the discount bins, and I countered with a couple bucks less because that's all I had left in my pocket allocated for cards, which he kindly agreed to. I still had a $20 of emergency/walking-around money in my wallet, though. As I was walking away, I asked if he happened to have a 1971 Mays among his stacks of top loaders under glass. He said maybe, but if so, it probably wasn't in great condition. That was fine with me and we each took a stack of 71s to flip through. I found the Mays and kept going, soon coming to the Dusty Baylor (as I'm calling it). They were both in off-condition (Mays has a couple pinholes), but he let me have the pair for $15 combined, which while not a steal, is probably the best I can hope for with these cards. They were the two biggest cards left that I needed, so it was nice to get them out of the way. I had gone after a few copies of the Mays on eBay in the past month, coming up short each time. And the Dusty Baker, Tom "Wimpy" Paciorek, and Don Baylor grouping is likely the set's top rookie card (at least right up there with the Blyleven and Garvey cards), made even more in demand due to being a high number. It's a rare instance of a 3-player RC where each guy went on to make a name for himself with a long career in the game.

So yeah, good vintage haul from the card show this month. As always, my wantlists are linked on the right sidebar, so if you can help with needs from these sets, please get in touch.
Thanks for reading!