June Vintage Show Top Ten #2

Two to go in the top 10 vintage countdown. This one is pretty self-explanatory.

1972 Topps # 309 Roberto Clemente

Just a player tossing a ball around at the ballpark.

There were a few beat up superstar vintage cards I thought about getting. Once was a 1960 Topps Ernie Banks that was kind of painful to put back. I couldn't pass up on Clemente in the '72 set though. If this one is #2, can ya imagine what the #1 card could be?

CRAP CRAP CRAAAAAAAAAAAAP

All Star Voting Ends TODAY!!!

I haven't voted for Brian McCann yet!

VOTE FOR BRIAN MCCANN YOU SLACKERS!!!

DO IT!!!

NOOOOOOOW!!!!111

did i really forget the link? yeah i forgot the link.

VOOOOOOOTE

(yeah, I do this every year...)

My totally unbiased ballot if you even care:

AMERICANS:
1B Paul Konerko
2B Ben Zobrist
2 1/2B Asdrubal Cabrera
3B Adrian Beltre
Catcher Alex Avila
DH Adam Dunn because screw the DH
OF Jose Bautista
OF Adam Jones
OF Matt Joyce

NATIONALS:

1B Joey Votto

2B Rickie Weeks

2 1/2B Jose Reyes

3B Chipper Jones (you'd really rather see Placido Polanco??)

Catcher BRIAN PIMP DADDY MAC 

DH Ain't no DH in the NL, fool! 

OF Matt Kemp

OF Ryan Braun

OF Jason Heyward - shut up this is not your ballot

Joy of a Completed Series

Taking the Joy of a Complete Page theme to the next level tonight. One of the collecting epiphanies I've had recently is that while trying to complete a set that is older than I am is an enormously daunting task, attempting to build a complete series from the same set is far more manageable and less intimidating. Back before Topps went to a single 660 card set that was released all at once in 1974, Topps sold their cards in multiple series throughout the year. Each series was usually between 66 and 132 cards in size and would be released steadily as the season progressed. The set would consist of about 6 or 7 series and inevitably one or two would end up harder to find than the rest because they didn't sell very well or was released very early or very late in the year when demand wasn't high. Anyone who has tried to track down a scarce high numbered card for their team set knows how big of a pain these cards can be. Set collectors - especially of sets with ridiculously tough high numbers like 1952, 1961 and 1972 Topps - can pretty much forget about it when commons in the high series are pricier than Hall of Famers in the low series. But the low series... well those cards can be downright easy to find.

Once I came to the realization that a set collector did not necessarily have to collect the entire set, I decided on a plan of action. Step 1: get together wantlists for every Topps set of the Vintage Series Era. Step 2: break the wantlists down by series for each year. Step 3: Figure out which of the card series I was closest to finishing. Step 4: pick out three of  the ones where I was close and focus on completing those series. The three I picked out were from two of my favorite sets: 1965 Topps Series 1, 1972 Topps Series 1 and 1972 Topps Series 2. I would have also picked a series from 1960 Topps, but I do not yet have at least 50% of any series in that set, which was one of the guidelines I placed on myself. 1960 Topps Series 1 is dang close though and I'll probably add that to the binder soon. actually I just realized that if I include the cards in my Braves team set I have about 55% of 1960 Series 1 so it's going in the binder. The binder now has a little more the same amount of room in it now, because with the acquisition of a 1972 Denny McLain card, my '72 Topps Series 2 series is complete. Out of the unfinished binder and into the completed binder with a brief detour through my scanner. If your fondest wish has always been to see a completed series of 1972 Topps, well guess what chief? You can die happy now!

Behold: 1972 Topps Series Two #133-264

Eagle eyed vintage freaks may have noticed a couple of very strange printing errors in there. A couple of you may have gotten overly excited upon seeing them. Note that they are 1) not for trade period and 2) I will gladly scan them for you at whatever resolution you want if you wish. I got those weirdos back in the mid-eighties in some common bricks back when they were worthless printing errors and not worthless rare printing errors and I have a soft spot for the weirdos.

If you've read this far please choose what will be the 4th series to go in the series binder by voting at the poll up top. Choose as many sets as you wish. I've got my own favorites but I wouldn't mind some input from the readers.

June Vintage Show Top Ten #3

All righty then. back to the countdown. Today we have a card from a pre-war set about Indians featuring a white dude who founded Texas.

1933 Goudey Indian Gum No. 61 Sam Houston

The groundbreaking 1933 Goudey baseball card set had a sister non-sports set featuring Indian Chiefs. If you look on the back of a '33 Goudey card you'll see an ad at the bottom "Made by the originators of INDIAN GUM". Well, these cards were the inserts in those Indian Gum packs. There are 216 cards in the set, but the set was issued in a gigantic number of different series so there are 432 cards in the master set when you account for all the variations. The cards are even more colorful than the baseball series, and if you find the '33 baseball cards to be too pricey, you can find copies of the Indian set really cheap instead. While the early cards in the set focused on Indian Chiefs, somewhere along the line it devolved into a Wild West theme and cards were produced of distinctly non-Indian subjects such as General Custer, Billy the Kid and The Pony Express. Sam Houston was at least an adopted member of the Cherokee Tribe and fought for Indian rights while in the US senate.

There is absolutely nothing I can say about Sam Houston that isn't better said on the back of this card.

This adventurous daring pioneer when a mere boy left home and joined the Cherokee Indian tribe. At the age of 21 he was fighting the Creeks in Alabama receiving wounds from which he never fully recovered. In 1836 with 783 men, he surprised the Chief, Santa Anna, and in fifteen minutes killed and captured all of the 1300 Indians including Santa Anna himself. Always the good Indians' friend, while a Texas Senator at Washington, he arrayed himself in full Indian costume and pleaded the cause of the Redman.

They just don't write card backs like that anymore. Things I learned from this card:

• Sam Houston was a member of the Cherokee tribe.
• Sam fought people from Alabama, which is perfectly reasonable for anyone from Tennessee.
• General Santa Anna was an Indian Chief of the Mexico tribe. Wait.. what??
• Sam was a member of the Washington Senators, and helped engineer their move to Texas by wearing a Cleveland Indians uniform. 
• Sam is a great fan of Redman, which means he probably also loves the movie How High.

Makes you wonder how ridiculous all these blog posts will be 80 years from now.

I checked them out

No one is going to believe this next statement and both BS and shenanigans shall likely be called, but it's the truth. Before last week, I had never bought anything from CheckOutMyCards. No, really. I used to drop ridiculous amounts on Yahoo! and eBay auctions all the time, but once eBay stopped being an auction site and turned into a PayPal extortion racket I pretty much gave up on online card shopping. I had opened up an account at COMC, and had used it as a reference tool to look up images of cards, but I never actually got around to buying anything. Then last weekend, I was up too late as usual, started searching around for some J-Hey cards and got caught up in a frenzy and bought a few.

You see, as a Jason Heyward fan in Atlanta, there are basically three prices for Jason Heyward cards at the local shops. Base cards, you're looking at about 3-5 bucks a pop. Now that more and more Heyward cards are coming out, that number is dropping a bit but for most bases card or a low-end rookie you better pull out a foldy Lincoln. If you're looking for an insert or a mini, expect to pay about 10 bucks. I got an A&G mini for 8 and about fainted with joy. The third tier is Chrome rookies, autos and such. These cards don't have prices on them. If you have to ask you can't afford them. Just hand the shopkeep your credit card and close your eyes as you sign the receipt. It's easier and far less painful that way.

Then I looked on COMC and searched for some Heyward cards. After changing my underwear I tried to reconcile how all these beautiful Heyward cards were selling so damn cheap. These prices don't fit the Atlanta retail market model! Nothing made sense anymore! Then it hit me... the people selling these cards weren't from Atlanta. They know not of the wonderfulness and glory that is The J-Hey Kid. They look at his .220-something batting average and chortle disparagingly not knowing the blasphemies of their thoughts. They wrongly surmise that he is but another flopped prospect not knowing this belief shall only bring them tears and regret in the future. They may even read this blog and think that I should really give it a rest with all the bro-crushing on Jason and that I should really go back to mooning over Chipper already. Ok that last one I can understand. At any rate, there were cheap Heywards on teh interwebs! And I must has them. And so I do. Were those even a sentence?

Honestly, if you're a Jason Heyward collector now is a pretty good time to be snapping up cards on the cheap. Jason is flying well under the radar right now what with his bum shoulder and Mendozaish batting average. Thank goodness Uggla is completely sucking wind right now and drawing all the heat off Jason. I've seen this kid play and Brad Komminsk he ain't. Believe me or not, I've gone all in on Heyward and I'm not wavering. Even if the unthinkable happens and he does turn into Joe Charboneau, my pile of Heywards will still never be as big an albatross as the massive box of Michael Vick cards I've got stashed away. No, I choose to be optimistic. Heyward will always be a star to me. Here's my inaugural pickup from COMC. Eight cards, total with shipping was well under the price of a blaster.

2010 Topps Jason Heyward RC Gold parallel #602/2010

Rookie cards are always nice, but there's a certain special oomph to a parallel of a rookie card. Sure it's nice to have a 1993 Topps Jeter, but if you have a 1993 Topps Gold Jeter? Now you're looking classy. It doesn't hurt that the newfangled Gold cards are pretty attractive.

2010 Turkey Red Jason Heyward Insert

Thiis one of those sets that I'm sort of half-assedly collecting. If I see 'em in a cheapo box I'll snap 'em up, but I'm not going to put together a want list or anything. The Heyward is pretty spiffy though, Jason's not afraid to get his uniform dirty.

2010 Topps Peak Performance Jason Heyward

I don't care for this insert set at all, but it's a Heyward and the price was something like 39 cents. Can't beat that with a dead cat. Is it just me or does the dirt stain on his knee match the one in the Turkey Red card?

2010 Topps Chrome Jason Heyward RC Refractor

Not just the Chrome... the Refractor. This card would be in the pricey case down here in the ATL. Luckily, it's not all curly potato chipped, but it is noticably off center. I might pick up one or two more if they stay the price I paid.

2011 Bowman Jason Heyward Blue Parallel #169/500

I'm on the record as despising Bowman and all it stands for. I'm not above picking up the Braves from the set though, especially the parallels. The blue borders are usually nice but this year's bikini top design looks pretty awkward with the blue. And what the heck is up with that outfield wall? Marlins fans, does it actually look all folded up like that? That's just plain odd.

2011 Bowman's Best Jason Heyward Insert

I hate Bowman but when I saw this card on the sell sheet I... well, you know. In person the card is a little odd. It's on Chrome stock like the original Bowman's Best set, but there's none of the etching that gives the card dimension. Topps has been skimping on the etching in several Chrome sets lately and it's disturbing. Still a nice card, but it could have been perfect.

2011 Bowman Jason Heyward Finest Futures

Why the hell is a set called Finest Futures in Bowman? Shouldn't it be in Finest? Is there even going to be a Finest, or is Topps going to kill every decent set they ever made and replace it with more Bowman and Tribute garbage? It's a pretty decent looking card though. If it had Buster Posey on it, then it would be creap ugly crap, but it's got J-Hey on the front so it's perfect. Plus: I don't even have to think about ripping a pack of 2011 Bowman ever again. Hooray!

2011 Topps Jason Heyward 1952 Wrapper Redemption Shiny Thingy

THIS card is why I pulled out my wallet. I wanted one of these very badly, but I wasn't about to rip a box of Hobby Topps for a chance at getting one in a redemption pack. Local card shops don't have this one either, unless they're holding out on me. When I saw it on COMC for less than a retail rack of Topps there was no turning back. I picked out a few cards, paid and waited for shipping. Yes, I refreshed the Stamps.com page about 100 times. Don't act like you don't do it too. The cards came quickly and well packaged. It was really easy.

TOO DAMN EASY

I don't have enough money for this to be this easy. I'm going to have to forget my password or something to dissuade me from going crazy online. If any of y'all have accounts there, hook me up with your ID so I can buy from you guys next time. And let me know how the selling works, if it's as easy as the buying I may need to get in on that action.

Bowman Beaters - Dem Bums

Here's the last of the Bowman Beaters. In the box of ruined 1955 Bowman cards there were three tiers of pricyness.  The crummy ones were a quarter a pop and were segregated in a stack outside the box of Bowmans lest they infect the rest with their awfulness. All the ones I got were from this stack. The ones in somewhat better shape were in a box and sold for a dollar each. I checked out the dollar box for the couple of Braves cards I needed for my team set, but alas - there were no high numbers in the dollar box. There was one other price tier of two bucks a card.

Yankees and Dodgers.

This drives me crazy about vintage cards and it's been going on for decades. Yankees and Dodgers always have a premium added to the price. Without fail, if there is a pile of crummy old cards the Yankees and Dodgers will cost twice as much for no reason. Doesn't matter if it's Billy Cox and Charlie Silvera, you are paying star prices for them. I ended up amassing a rather large New York Giants collection out of sheer spite because of this. It's not Los Angeles Dodgers though... as soon as O'Malley broke the hearts of a borough, Dodgers became commoners again. Brooklyn Dodgers are the only ones to get the premium. So when I was once again reminded at the card show of the outrage of pricing 7/8ths of the league like they were second class citizens there was only one thing I could do.

CLEAN OUT THE CHEAP DODGERS.

I picked up eight - count 'em! - eight Brooklyn Dodgers out of that scrungy box for the same price as one elitist card in the normal box. HA! I have foiled the vintage card sellers little scheme. Brooklyn Dodgers are mine, all mine!! MUAHAHA! I didn't get any Yankees for a quarter because eff the Yankees. Here's my crummy bums.

NEWK! I always thought it was strange that a baseball pitcher would have a nickname that referenced the most lethal and destructive weapon known to man, but then I remembered that they only had atom bombs back then so that was ok. Nuke LaLoosh has no excuse. Well, other than the fact that he is fictional. Don Newcombe is one of several Negro League stars that is inexplicably not in the Hall of Fame. (See also: O'Neil, Buck and Minoso, Minnie) Eyeball his stats and be amazed. "But... his career wasn't long enough, he didn't accumulate enough stats..." Yeah, never mind that he was not even allowed on the field because he had too much melanin in his skin for the first few years of his career. Forget the fact that he lost two prime years to military service. Dude was utterly dominant for a few seasons. Plus the guy was a helluva hitter. He'd probably bat 3rd on the Dodger's current lineup. PUT HIM IN ALREADY. Man I wish I could be Commish for a day.

Carl Furillo SHOULD BE IN THE HALL OF FAME DAMMIT - oh wait. Nevermind. Still in torches and pitchforks mode. Maybe in the Dodger Hall of Fame. Carl was a pretty good player. Carl looks introspective on this card as half of another card clings to the front of his TV set looking like The Blob about to gobble up the rest of Carl's card.

Here's a card of Somebody Hughes. Mr. Hughes' first name peeled off the back of the card onto someone else's card and I'm too tired to go looking him up in the Wikipedias right now. The rest of his name might just be on Furillo's card. The lost paper matches pretty well on both cards.

Pitcher Russ Meyer. Sadly not that Russ Meyer. Don't click on that link unless cleavage and violence is acceptable wherever you happen to be reading this. Unfortunately I have nothing more to say about the baseball Russ Meyer because all I can think about is cleavage and violence right now.

And now, Don Hoak with the light colored first series border and light colored paper from a 1955 Topps card stuck to that border. The upper corner of the paper is sort of loose and I can see that the first three letters of the name on the other card is DON. It's very possible that Don Hoak was stuck to Don Hoak. Other possibilities are Don Mossi, Don Zimmer, Don Johnson or Don Ferrarese. The main thing I remember about Don Hoak is the scene in City Slickers. You know the one. "I like baseball. I just don't memorize who played third base for Pittsburgh in 1960." I'd link it but I can't seem to find it anywhere. I was watching that movie with my girlfriend back in college and she was all "You knew who that was, didn't you" and I'm all like "Uhhhh, yeah sure I did". NOPE. NO CLUE. I didn't then but I do now.

Jim Gilliam. Hall of Fame. Now. (This is why the Veteran's committee won't let anyone in anymore - they know I'll just bitch about someone else who isn't in) Ok, maybe not. Jim was actually a pretty solid second baseman. He took over for Jackie, that should tell you something. Jim's rookie card is in the High Series of the 1953 Topps set I'm collecting. It's one of the tough short prints too. I have a sinking feeling that I'll find a Jackie Robinson #1 card in my price range before I find Junior's rookie for my set.

Johnny Podres. On a 1955 baseball card. Yep.

And we finish off with Don Zimmer. Hall of Famer. Boxing Hall of Fame. Seriously though, there should be a baseball character Hall of Fame, because Zim is one of the greatest characters of all time. He'd be a charter member. AND HE'S STILL COACHING. Induct this man into something right now. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Women's Lacrosse Hall of Fame. The Army. Induct Zim somewhere. The man deserves it.

Bowman Beaters - Milwaukee Braves

Here's the second to last edition of the Bowman Beaters. I got five cards from this team out of the quarter pile, more than all other teams but one. I bet you think the team I got the most cards of is the Braves, don't you. WRONG. You didn't even bother to read the title of this post! Nope, The Milwaukee Braves are the penultimate team in this series.

Shot heard 'round the world! Bobby Thomson became a Brave after he stole the sign in that 1951 playoff game. I declined to wipe out the seller on all his quarter Braves. Firstly because there were none that I needed. I'm down to only needing Hank and a couple of High Numbers to complete the '55 Braves Team set.  Secondly because most of the Braves were in horrible condition. Worse than this. I had to pick this one up though because 1) Bobby Thomson is awesome and 2) this card appears to be haunted. Several zombies appear to be lurching their way towards the stands filled with tasty brains while the ghosts of their previous victims patrol the outfield.

Del Crandall is equally - if not more awesome - and also had to come home with me. Before Javy Lopez and Brian McCann came along Del was arguably the greatest catcher in Braves history. There were a few Hall of Fame catchers that played for the Braves before him like King Kelly, Al Lopez and Ernie Lombardi, but none of them came close to playing 1300 games behind the plate like Del. 2011 NL All-Star starting catcher Brian McCann has only caught 782 games so far. Fun Fact: Mac will pass Joe Torre for 5th all time in games caught by a Brave sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Here's good ol' Ernie Johnson. If you were a Braves fan in the '80s you know Ernie. He's the most underrated announcer ever in the history of baseball. Overshadowd by Skip and Pete, but an absolute joy to listen to when he's on the mic. This is a pretty neat card in that it appears that the light standards are on. You dont' see that in cards from the '50s often. This might be a bona-fide Night Card. I might need to put this in a certain bird's pile. Hoot if you need this one, buddy.

Here's Andy Pafko, the only Brave in the bunch that isn't completely mangled. If this was his 1952 Topps card, in this condition it would probably cost about seventeen thousand dollars. Three years later and a different manufacturer, and it's a quarter. Ah, the joys of vintage cards. Andy's typical 'bat on shoulder' pose works well in this horizontal set.  I snagged this one pretty much because another blogger seems to be a big fan. If I passed up this card and he happened to need it it would be Heartbreaking.

This one here I actually picked up, then put back about three times before I finally decided to take it home. This was the typical condition for most of the Braves I left behind. I don't mind a little paper on the border, but when it almost completely cover's the player's hat, that's a bit much. In the end I couldn't resist the man who almost single-handedly beat the Damn Yankees in 1957.

Enjoy 'em while they last, I'll be posting the last team early tomorrow morning.

Bowman Beaters - Chicago White Sox

I got five minutes to type this one out. Here's some beat up old White Sox cards.

Minnie Minoso! Should be in the Hall of Fame. Probably will eventually get in once it's too late for him to appear at the induction ceremony. I've been over all that before so I'll skip the bitterness today. The condition of this card is terrible, massive paper loss on the back and front. But who cares? It's Minnie! I have no idea what Minnie is doing with that bat.

Chico Carrasquel, the original Venezuelan shortstop. Pee-Wee Reese blocked Chico in Brooklyn so the White Sox got his All-Starry abilities. This card also has a lot of paper loss on the front. These were two players I had to snag for a quarter regardless of condition. Chico and Minnie for four bits? Gotta take that.

Bowman Beaters - New York Giants

Let's post one of these at two in the morning, shall we? Because my sleep schedule is all screwed and I've clicked on everything in my bookmark folder already. Here's a couple of mangled New York Giants.

 Longtime Giants player and future manager Alvin Dark. Al started his career as a Brave, winning the Rookie of the Year award in 1948. He got traded to the Giants in 1950 and went on to several All-Star appearances and a World Series championship in 1954. He later took the Giants to the World Series again as manager in 1962, and won it all as manager in 1974 with the Oakland A's. Like Vern Law from the last post, this card is not in the terrible shape most of the quarter cards were. No parer stuck to the front and no paper loss on the back. Just a very large water mark on the top and right side of the card, and a crease going across the top that looks like the card got caught in something. Not a terrible looking card, although I am not a fan of the light wood borders from the first series.

Ah, now this is much better. Hank Thompson is one of those players that were terribly important to the history of baseball but no one knows about. You know who Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby are, right? Well Hank here is the third black player to play in the majors after integration. He integrated the St. Louis Browns in 1947 along with Negro League star Willard Brown, then he did the same thing for the Giants two years later along with Monte Irvin. Hank didn't get a chance to integrate another team as he finished out his career with 8 solid seasons with the Giants playing third, second and the outfield. Hank Thompson has firsts all over the place and his cards are cheaper than Jackie's. Actually Jackie Robinson doesn't have a 1955 Bowman card due to the contract fights they were having with Topps. Larry Doby doesn't have a 1955 card at ALL. If you want a groundbreaker in 1955 Bowman, Hank's your man.

Bowman Beaters - Pittsburgh Pirates

Here's a couple of Pirates from the quarter stack. I don't even know what these two were doing in there, they are in better shape than most of my '55 Bowmans even with the water damage. Oh yeah I know, they're Pirates. You know how bad the Pirates have been for the past twenty years? in the early '50s they were worse. MUCH worse. The 1952 Pirate team is one of the worst of all time. By 1955, they were better but not much.

Sid Gordon was an All-Star for the New York Giants, played a few solid season for the Boston Braves and was traded to the Pirates when Hank Aaron was ready to take over in the outfield. Sid would get traded back to New York in '55. Check out the helmet on 'ol Sid. The Pirates were the first team to wear batting helmets in 1952. They were actually ordered by Team GM Branch Rickey to wear them on the field as well as when batting which is why Pirates cards from the mid-50s usually show the player in a helmet.

Vern Law is another All-Star who played his entire career for the Pirates. Vern was the ace of the champion 1960 Pirates and won the Cy Young award that year. Other than the bit of water damage on the right side, this card is damn near perfect as far as I'm concerned. No paper stuck to the front, none lost from the back. No creases. The gloss is glossy. The corners aren't perfect but they're all square which is more than I can say for most of my '55 collection. How did this card get into a quarter stack? Oh yeah, Pirates. If Vern was the third string catcher for the Yankees this is a twenty dollar card.

June Vintage Show Top Ten #4

Every time I his a card show that has any decent vintage sellers at all, I do not allow myself to leave the premises without knocking out at least one card on my 1953 Topps Wantlist.  Right now I am still at the point where I can usually find a card I need for under 20 bucks. That window is shrinking rapidly. Eight out of the 14 low numbers I need are Hall of Famers. Several of those are HALL OF FAMERS with bold, italic, underlined large red font. Thankfully there are still a lot of commons I can pick up out of the high series numbers. This high series card is not a common, it's a Hall of Famer.

1953 Topps #228 Hal Newhouser

Lefty "Prince" Hal Newhouser absolutely ruined the American League from 1944 to 1946. His totals for those years: 80 wins, 27 losses, five saves. 20 shutouts. 674 Strikeouts. 1/99 ERA. 2 MVPs. One World Championship. Hal relied on good control and a ridiculous curve ball to get batters out. Hal's number was retired by the Tigers in 1997, five years after he was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's committee. Miserable spoilsports will point to the fact that Hal's best years were in wartime and that he only had 207 wins and he was a Detroit Tiger and not a New York Yankee, and that the only players that should be allowed into the hall of Fame are the ones who have bold, italic, underlined large red font by their names, but to those spoilsports, I say fie. Fie and phooey. Harold Newhouser beat the Cubs in the seventh game of the 1945 World Series and for that alone, he is a Hall of Famer to me.

The career stat line on this card shows that Hal got his 200th win in 1952. His arm was pretty much kaputt after that one. He won no games in 1953 and his final year in 1955. In '54 he had a comeback as a reliever for the Cleveland Indians and got in one last World Series. At the show there were a handful of '53 short prints I needed. Hal was the only Hall of Famer in the bunch so I opted for this one to add the the collection for this trip.

There was one other Hall of Famer I could have picked up at the show. In the off-grade expensive card case there was a '53 Topps card I needed. It had a $50 price tag on it and with the show discount I could have picked it up for $44. In order to buy it I would have had to run to the bank and get out more cash which I probably could have gotten away with but really shouldn't have done. In the end, I decided to sleep on it, and if I really had to have it I could hit the show real quick on my lunch break on Sunday. As it turned out, that Sunday, my water heater sprung a leak which eventually turned into a flooded basement and about a grand on the Lowe's credit card. So I certainly didn't have the time to go get it and when all was said and done, really didn't have the money. I will end up regretting it however. I know this now and honestly I knew it as I walked out that door on that Saturday.

I left a 1953 Topps Yogi Berra on the table for $44.

A few years from now when the only cards I need for this set are HALL OF FAMERS and I look at the price tags for a '53 Yogi, I will regret it. Just as much as I regret not getting that '53 Jackie Robinson for $25 at a card show back in 1990. I'll regret it and then go take a hot shower.

Bowman Beaters - Cincinnati Redlegs

Even More Uggla Bowman Cards. When I blow out a series of posts, I really blow. These two are from the Cincinnati Redlegs. Because in the '50s you couldn't just call yourself the same name you had since the 1860s because someone might mistake a baseball team for the Soviet Russian Army.

You might think Andy Seminick is doing the standard "Catcher ripping his mask off to catch a pop-up" baseball card pose, but actually Senator Joe McCarthy is pointing a shotgun at poor Andy and demanding he recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Andy recited it almost perfectly, but forgot the "Under God" line that was added in 1954. The Cincinnati brass, not wanting to be associated with anyone who might be considered UnAmerican, traded Seminick to the Phillies in April of '55. Because, really, the Phillies don't care. That entire organization is just filled up with commies, hippies, Democrats and other unpatriotic reprobates. I mean, Chase Utley. Perfect example.

Joe Nuxhall is not a known communist (And neither is Andy Semenick, I made all that crap up*), he's one of the most beloved players in Reds history. And also the poster child for why high schoolers should not be playing major league baseball. A damn good broadcaster too, from what I understand. The front of this card is just about perfect (or perfect for a beat up old card that is), The only reason this was in the quarter stack was a little bit of paper loss on the back. Hooray for paper loss!

*Chase Utley I'm not too sure about.