Vintage show - Da Braves

ALL RIGHTY THEN! I'm almost done with the Vintage show swag. Let's go back over the goals I set for myself when I walked into that show with thirty minutes and thirty bucks, shall we?

4) IF THERE'S MONEY LEFT, FIND SOMETHING UNIQUE
1952 Wheaties Bob Feller - check

3) PICK A FEW COOL CARDS OUT OF THE NON-SPORTS BIN
World on Wheels & Tiger fighting Alligator - check

2) KNOCK SOME NAMES OFF YOUR '50s TOPPS LISTS IN THIS ORDER:

1. 1953 Topps - check
   
2. 1956 Topps - check
   
3. 1951 Topps
4. 1954 Topps - check
   
5. 1955 Topps
   

1) FIND SOME BRAVES YOU DON'T GOT

You didn't think I'd walk out of that show without some Braves didja?

CHECKEROONI. Here's the haul:

1936 Goudey Widepan Danny MacFayden

Oddly enough, this card has been (and probably still is) on my eBay watchlist for over two years. It was in some guy's vintage store for five bucks and I never got around to pulling the trigger on it. When I scanned over the oddball table, Danny was staring at me from the top of a pile of Widepens. The price: five bucks, NO SHIPPING. Yessssssssssss.

Deacon Danny played for the Boston Braves/Bees from 1935 to 1939, then again in 1943. I like him for those fantastic octogon spectacles. I need to get a new pair soon, I might get me some like those. I made the right choice passing up that eBay card, because I got a rare version...

STATS ON THE BACK! As you can see this set is normally blank backed, but some enterprising young lad took it upon himself to add two years of stats for Danny along with his former team, the Yankees, down at the bottom right corner. This is pretty much the prize of the show as far as I'm concerned.

1950 Bowman Vern Bickford

This was the last card I picked up at the show. I almost didn't notice it, as Roger had some various Braves cards from the 50's laid out on a back table instead of the cases or the bargain box. I looked through them and found this card of Braves pitcher Vernon Bickford that I needed. 1950 Bowman is odd, the scarce cards are actually the low series and not the high series. I needed three cards from that low series including Vern here. Typical '50 Bowman scuff mark notwithstanding, this is a very attractive card. Vern follows through on his delivery on a lovely spring day, with trees galore and a couple of businessmen catching the game up in the bleachers in the background.

I snagged the card not knowing how much it would cost, as it was one of the very few cards in the show without a penny sleeve and price. I asked Roger how much for the card and he looked it over, consulted a tome of magic lore and stated "Well, this is a fifty dollar card right here... I'll let you have it for five."

DO YOU SEE WHY I LOVE THIS SHOW

DO YOU??

The most fantastic part of this entire card is the back. Check out this '50s era copywriting skill. It's like an episode of Dragnet!

In 37 games for the 1949 Braves, Vern had a 16-11 record.
Had lots to do with the Braves' 1948 pennant drive.
Pitched the game that clinched the bunting.
Vern's record that year (his rookie season) was 11-5.
Opened 1947 With Milwaukee in relief roles.
Got a starting assignment.
Won 1-0.
Kept on as starter.
A control pitcher with fine curve ball.
Just the facts, ma'am.
DUN da DUN dun.

Jack Webb totally wrote the copy on the back of that card. I know this to be true.

1955 Topps Chuck Tanner RC

Before the show I needed three cards for my 1955 Topps Braves set:

Warren Spahn

Hank Aaron

Chuck Tanner??

Ok, Chuck was a great manager, and this is his rookie card, but there was no excuse for me not finding this card before now. Ok, maybe there was an excuse... I COULDN'T FIND IT. Walk into a card shop and ask for a Chuck Tanner rookie card and the shopkeep will look at you as if there was a lobster up your nose. It also just never happened on eBay. Hardly any listings and the ones there were got bid too high too quick. When I saw this in the '55 section of the bargain box, I snagged it quick. Price was no object! I think it was four bucks though. Maybe five. I don't think I'll find the Aaron at that price.

Here's the back. You can see the nasty crease on the left by the number that brought the price down to my cheepnis level. Ballplayers with hayfever are featured in the cartoon. And stats lad is back! Updating Chucks' minor league totals to 15 triples, 45 homers (!), 30 RBIs (how'd Chuck pull that off?) and an average of .329. Aww yeah. Chuck rookie, another pocket filled in the Braves binder and I found a '55 card to boot. An excellent day of card shopping! I can't wait for Roger to had back to the ATL, I'll make sure to bring some real money this time.