BLACK FRIDAY COMC PICKUPS - PART 21: DEL PART 1

♪ ME AND DEL WERE SINGIN', LITTLE RUNAWAY, I WAS FLYIN' 𝅘𝅥𝅯

1961 TOPPS DEL CRANDALL

IT'S TIME TO STOP FOOLING AROUND AND GET SOME WORK DONE. NO CIGARETTE CARDS, ENGLISH SOCCER CARDS OR RANDOM NON-SPORTS TODAY. HERE'S A CARD I NEEDED FOR A TEAM SET I'VE BEEN WORKING ON FOR DECADES. FROM THE MOST BORING UTILITARIAN DESIGN EVER. DEL CRANDALL FROM 1961 TOPPS. THIS CARD ISN'T BORING AT ALL, IT'S QUITE ELEGANT IN ITS SIMPLICITY. RECTANGLE BORDER, RECTANGLE NAMEPLATE, RECTANGLE TEAM BOX, BIG BEEFY CATCHER HAULING LUMBER WITH A BASEBALL DIAMOND AND STANDS IN THE BACKGROUND. A VERY WORKMANLIKE CARD FOR SERIOUS TEAM SET COLLECTING. DEL IS A VERY UNDERRATED PLAYER TOO, HE HAS A SERIOUS ARGUMENT FOR BEING THE BEST CATCHER IN BRAVES HISTORY

THE 1961 SET IS ONE OF THOSE SETS THAT HAS GROWN ON ME OVER THE YEARS NOW THAT I AM OLDER AND MORE BITTER AND RUINED AND NOT AS DAZZED BY THE BRIGHT COLORS OF 1960 AND 1963 AND 1965 AND 1972 BECAUSE MY EYESIGHT IS RAPIDLY DETERIORATING. IT'S SLIGHTLY LESS BLAND THAN 1957 TOPPS AND WAY FUCKING CHEAPER. UNFORTUNATELY I DIDN'T FEEL THIS WAY BACK WHEN I HAD A LOT OF MONEY TO WASTE ON CARDBOARD AND MY 61 TEAM SET IS BY FAR MY MOST NEGLECTED SET OTHER THAN THE 1952 SET THAT I'M BARELY EVEN THINKING ABOUT ANYMORE. SO NEGLECTED I'M JUST NOW REALIZING I NEVER TOOK CRANDALL OFF MY WANTLIST. OOPS. BUT NOT THAT NEGLECTED, I DO HAVE 31 CARDS FROM THE TEAM SET* INCLUDING THE AARON BASE CARD. BUT I HAVE HIT THAT AWKWARD PHASE OF TEAM COLLECTING WHERE JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING I NEED IS A HALL OF FAMER OR HIGH NUMBER OR BOTH. I GOTTA PICK OFF THESE ATTAINABLE CARDS WHILE I CAN

*I'M A LUNATIC AND INCLUDE LEADERS CARDS, HIGHLIGHTS CARDS AND EVEN A CHECKLIST WITH A RANDOM BRAVES PLAYER ON IT IN THE TEAM SET. I HAVE MY FUN THO