Card Show part 6 - The '53s

Ok, time to wrap up the card show. These are the first and the last cards I bought at the show. When I prepared to go to the show I thought about printing out my want lists. I ultimately decided to just bring my '53 Topps list because I didn't want to spend several hours looking through box after box for commons at the first card show I'd been to in ages. The '53s I wanted though, especially now that I've all but abandoned eBay due to their new PayPal policy. 1953 Topps cards are hard to find in hobby shops and when you do find them, they are usually pricey. I wanted to find some affordable cards to fill out my collection and I was successful. Here's what I found:

#119 Johnny Sain

This was the first card I picked out from Uncle Nutzy. When I was looking at his stuff I drooled over the Satchel Paige in the case, went through his '53 Topps binder to see what he had and ended up pulling some cards out of the bargain bin. This Sain was the first one that I had to have. It's a card of a prominant ex-Brave and any Yankee is fairly difficult to get. It ain't perfect as you can see a water stain on the right side of the card but otherwise it's in good shape.

Well, except for the M R written on the back for some reason. But other than that it's a good looking card. No creases, corners are mostly square. Not too shabby. I find it amusing that one half of "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain" has a cartoon of a game played in a blinding rainstorm.

1953 Topps World On Wheels
#89 '53 Chevy Bel Air

Ha, threw you a curveball, didn't I? I just said I bought some 1953 Topps cards, I didn't specify they all had to be baseball. This set has fascinated me for a while now, I would see lots of listings for them while searching "1953 Topps" in eBay. I never actually broke down and bid on any since I was looking to spend money on cards for my baseball set, but I still really liked them nonetheless. They've got a really clean design, are colorful and flat out look great. There are 160 cards in the original set, and twenty more in a "High series" that was actually the entire set reprinted with 20 extra cards a year ot two later. It's a fascinating set full of old cars, but the high series is super scarce. The '53 Chevy is an insanely cool looking car, and I had to get it (although Topps really should have gotten a red one).

The backs are similar to the baseball set in that they have the same red and black ink and feature a trivia cartoon. The features on this 'brand new' Chevy Bel Air incluse power steering, a new and improved automatic transmission and a phototube that switches headlights from high to low beams automatically! The Card Museum Guy had a ton of these in his bargain box and I picked out three for a buck each. I got on his mailing list so the next time he comes into town I'll pick up a few more.

#113 Jerry Priddy

Priddy was a Yankee phenom at second base that came up through the system with Phil Rizzuto but he never became the star many thought he would be. Bill James examined his career in Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame and compares him to Bill Mazeroski. Jerry ended up in prison after his playing days were over for supposedly threatening to blow up a riverboat. I agree with Scooter on that one... why the hell would an ex-baseball player blow up a riverboat??

World on Wheels #66 Jaguar XK

Oddly enough the back of this card has a cartoon of a ferry boat, the "Brinkerhoff", on the back. I don't know what a boat has to do with the World on Wheels and I know for a fact Jerry didn't try to blow it up. Isn't this a slick looking car?? Wouldn't you like to have one of them? Perhaps you'd like a more modern version instead.

#98 Cal Abrams

This card has been a pain in my ass for YEARS. Cal had an 8 year career in the bigs and his biggest moment was when Richie Ashburn threw him out at the plate in the ninth to preserve a tie in the game that decided the 1950 NL Pennant. He served in World War Two, was elected to the Jewish American Sports Hall of Fame and was buried in his Brooklyn Dodger uniform. A good player with a colorful history, but the card is not especially scarce or hard to find. So why have I lost several eBay auctions for this card over the years?? I must have bid on this card over a dozen times and every single time I'd lose by a quarter. I had become convinced I'd get the Mantle long before I tracked down Cal at one point. But, here it was... in the bargain box for 2 bucks. You don't know how good it feels to slip that card into my '53 Topps binder.

World on Wheels #30 Alfa Romeo

I left the coolest card for last. This sucker looks like a spaceship. My uncle had a souped up Alfa when I was a little kid and I always feel nostalgic for them. Not a racing car of course, a small blue convertable. It ended up rusting in the pasture behind my granparents' house after my uncle burned out the engine and I would play on the thing occasionally. Alfa Romeo also has the coolest freaking logo for a car company. I wish I had swiped the logo on my uncle's car when I had the chance now. The cartoon on the back is ridiculous. On the card of a high powered racing car, Topps put a cartoon of a buffalo cart on the back. What the hell, Topps?

That ends the card show purchases, although you'll see a couple more packs on A Pack A Day, a few more autographs on Auto-Matic and I'm going to show off that 20 vintage basketball cards grab bag somewhere, I'm just not sure yet. I hope you enjoyed the rundown of the show, go out and check one out for yourself the next time one's in town!