The Twelve Days of Setsmas: Day 6 - Coolness

Ten years ago yesterday I was happy and carefree and content with my life and then the next day I started a blog about baseball cards and everything's been all downhill since

In honor of this auspicious date where I not only ruined my life but inspired many others to engage in self-destructive behavior as well (remember kids, do drugs, not cards*) here's an achievement I don't think I thought I would ever do 10 years ago when I was squandering my short-lived riches on new product.

1959 Topps Braves Team Set

Now I'm miserable and broke and old and sick and let a once-mildly-successful-in-a-tiny-niche-market blog go to shit without ever really monetizing it but dammit, I finally tracked down one of the three versions of that Warren Spahn card and finished a team set from the 50s. Four Hall of Famers. Four different cards of Hank Aaron. Five high-numbered All-Star cards. AND most of the set is yellow, which is not my preferred border color to say the least. But I strived and endured and now it's done and it's beautiful.

Kinda like this shitty blog. Will the blog last ten more years? Absolutely not. I'll probably purge my entire online presence once The Purges begin sometime next year. Flush! Right down the memory hole while I obliviate myself with Victory Gin. Enjoy the set while it lasts.

 Tomorrow: Nothing! I'm working!

*drugs are way cheaper and less addictive

September Vintage Card Show - Random Crap - Casey

lol it's december and I've barely posted any of these things

GTFO YOU LOOSER

Casey is one of my favorites and I've been subconsciously building a player collection of his without realizing it. His 1940 Play Ball card still eludes me however. This 1959 All Star card is cool and a scarce high number.

It also has drawings on the back! That sly ol' Casey... talking all funny... that couldn't possibly backfire and get him fired after a World Series loss and land him on an expansion team.

Oh.

Damn Yankees.

Traveling box loot

White Sox Cards' post on what he picked up from the Traveling Card Box of Awesomeness reminded me that I haven't done my post on that yet. And I was the first one to get the box! I am a bad blogger. What is the Traveling Box? It's a little project Bad Wax put together. A group of collectors all donate some good cards that they don't need and/or want. All the cards get put in a box and shipped around the country to various collectors who take out cards they want and replace them with cards of equal value. There was a ton of great stuff in the box but I limited myself to 5 cards and I let my son pick out one for himself. Here's my loot:

This is actually my son's loot. I allowed him to choose one for himself and he went with the Orioles' hat logo card of Jim Palmer. He almost snagged Steve's Frank Thomas/Jeff Bagwell/Carlos Delgado triple relic but opted for the Manu-Patch instead. I was relieved because I wasn't entirely sure what I could replace that one with.

First pickup out of the box was a 1969 Joe Niekro card I needed for my 'set'. I'm not really working on the 1969 Topps set and I probably never will, but I attacked the vintage in this box with great ferocity. If I didn't have it before, I had it now.

Next up is a 1971 Topps card of Barry's pop. 1971 Topps I will most likely end up collecting in full force as soon as my 1972 set is complete through at least series 4. I'm actually pretty close to completing Series 1.

1960 Topps is another of my favorite sets so I had to pick up the Ashburn. Richie Ashburn on the Cubs is a tad odd. Also odd is that I picked up more Cubs cards out of the box than Braves cards. Yes, I even left Braves in the box. I tried to replace relic with relic, vintage with vintage, etc. but this one I couldn't find a good match so I snuck in a nice Cub card as a replacement.

Ah, now we're in serious card territory. All cards were ranked in tiers, $5-10, $10-15, $15-20 and so on. I don't remember the exact tier of this card but it was in the next to highest tier worth of cards in the box. I have an accidentally good collection of Al Kaline cards as my mother brought me back a 9-pocket page full of vintage Kalines from a business trip when I was a kid. I did not have the '59 already, so this was good luck.

Ok now the doozy:

Amidst the vintage a 2012 card appears! So. I love Yogi Berra. He's right up there with Kurt Vonnegut, Bill Hicks and Pinkie Pie as far as personal spiritual gurus go for me. I also like old coins, especially silver ones. I saw this and thought I MUST HAZ. So I did. I had to pony up a fairly serious card to get it but I think I left the box in better shape than I found it.

I also snagged this custom card of a 1976 Topps Dale Murphy card. There were three custom cards in there but they weren't on the main card list for the box. I left two sketch cards in the box in exchange for this one. One silly, one mostly not silly.

We were instructed not to give away what cards were added to the box so the suspense would be greater. I scanned all of 'em anyway and I'm going to cheat a bit by showing off a little teaser of the stuff I put in the box. I hope I'm not kicked out of the rotation! Two cards I put in the box were picked up in this haul so at least the peeps like my stuff.

January Vintage Show Top 20 - #12 '59, Dude!

Here's the second-to-last card I need for my 1959 Topps Braves team set, a Sporting News All Star card of Del Crandall. The last card I need for the set is the Warren Spahn which I could have sworn I had already. I can almost see the thing in my hands. I don't know where or how I got it, but I really think I have that card already. However, the depression that would occur if I knew that I had a 1959 Topps Warren Spahn card in my collection but had absolutely no earthly idea where the hell it was would greatly outweigh any joy I had in completing the 1959 team set. So I'mma just say this is the second-to-last card I need and leave it at that. Maybe I should go ahead and buy that Spahn on COMC, the other one will be sure to turn up immediately.

Ok, so it's miscut. That stuff happens in vintage. Judging by the teeny little sliver of color on the bottom of the card it looks like Del's downstairs neighbor on the uncut sheet was also a National League All-Star card. That miscut could actually be 1% of a Hank Aaron All-Star card! There's actually a decent chance that it is at least a Braves card as Fred Haney, Wes Covington, Warren Spahn and Hank all had All-Star cards in '59. That's what you get when you go to the World Series two years in a row.

The best thing about the backs of the All-Star cards (other than the red and black ink that should have been used on the entire set instead of the Christmas colors they went with) are the cartoons. A cartoon covering almost the entire back of a card is something we should see a lot more of in my opinion. I tip my hat to whomever did the lettering on this card. That crazy Crandall font is a joy to behold.

Wait, there's three different versions of the '59 Spahn? Ouch, this team set is going to take longer than I thought to complete.

Here's the complete list of Top 20 posts. See if you can guess what cards are coming up!

#20 - Wantlist Fail Part 1
#19 - Dollar Box Gem
#18 - At Least He's a Hall of Famer Now
#17 - Thurman Inaction
#16 - Cocktail Hour
#15 - Kid Stuff
#14 - Clubbed Cub
#13 - Cheapest High Number I Could Find
#12 - '59, Dude!
#11 - Look at the Whistler
#10 - Heartbreaking Taunt
#9 - '54 Ford With a Beat Up Chassis
#8 - King of the Bums
#7 - Joy of a Completed Page
#6 - HOW THE HELL IS THIS NOT IN THE TOP FIVE?!?!
#5 - Oh, because this one is...
#4 - Awwww, come ON.
#3 - Admit It, You Knew This Was Coming
#2 - Wantlist Fail Part 2
#1 - Feat of Clay

Sketch Card #3 - '59 Coot Veal

Here's the third sketch card I created and sent out. I guess it's technically sketch card #4, but I'm keeping the Hrabosky. We'll refer to that one as sketch card #0. This one went out to Dustin over at Coot Veal and the Vealtones. Somehow I found out that Dustin collected Miguel Cabrera cards and I have a CRAPLOAD of Miguel Cabrera cards that I got in a random lot one time. I sent as many unique ones to him as I could and decided to throw in a sketch card for good measure. What other subject could I possibly choose?

1959 Coot rookie in the hizzouse. Or a reasonable facsimile. I sketched out the border first and then drew Coot. The Tiger logo was fun to draw. The lettering was not. I hate lettering, I'm a casual font geek so trying to hand draw various fonts and not being able to do them perfectly irks me. I was able to pull off the white lettering for the name well enough, but I didn't even attempt it for the team and position name. The letters are way too small. This is the first drawing done on a card from a pack of Artist Trading cards. They have packs of twenty blank cards in Michael's for about two and a half bucks. They are about the weight of a base Topps card, but with a vellum surface for easy sketching. there are also cards with other surfaces including canvas. The vellum is good for pencils, charcoal and pastels which is what I have been working with so far. I could probably use the security inserts inside retail packs or cut my own cards out of some card stock I have but this is way easier and cost less than a pack of Chrome.

I adapted the cartoon on the back of Coot's '59 card for the back. This was more fun to draw than the front! The '59 cartoons with the ridiculous feet are pretty distinctive. As is the lettering. I need to catch up on my cartoon posts so I can get to the '59 set before Opening Day. I told Dustin that there was no need to send anything (I really want all these Miguel Cabrera cards out of my house) but a package arrived containing some random Braves, cards off my want list and a neat 1971 Bazooka card of Orlando Cepeda. Thanks to Dustin and Coot!

1959 Topps Wantlist

This set probably has the smallest photo to design element ratio of all of Topps' set, yet somehow it works really well.

Series 1 -- 11/88
1 Ford Frick.
2 Eddie Yost -- Detroit Tigers
4 Albie Pearson -- Washington Senators
6 Alex Grammas -- St. Louis Cardinals
7 Al Pilarcik -- Baltimore Orioles
8 Phillies Checklist -- Philadelphia Phillies
9 Paul Giel -- San Francisco Giants
10 Mickey Mantle -- New York Yankees
11 Billy Hunter -- Cleveland Indians
12 Vern Law -- Pittsburgh Pirates
13 Dick Gernert -- Boston Red Sox
14 Pete Whisenant -- Cincinnati Reds
15 Dick Drott -- Chicago Cubs
16 Joe Pignatano -- Los Angeles Dodgers
17 Danny's All-Stars -- Kluszewski, Murtaugh, Thomas
18 Jack Urban -- Kansas City Athletics
19 Ed Bressoud -- San Francisco Giants
20 Duke Snider -- Los Angeles Dodgers
21 Connie Johnson -- Baltimore Orioles
23 Murry Dickson -- New York Yankees
24 Red Wilson -- Detroit Tigers
25 Don Hoak -- Cincinnati Reds
26 Chuck Stobbs -- St. Louis Cardinals
27 Andy Pafko -- Milwaukee Braves
28 Red Worthington -- San Francisco Giants
29 Jim Bolger -- Chicago Cubs
31 Ken Lehman -- Philadelphia Phillies
32 Don Buddin -- Boston Red Sox
33 Ed Fitzgerald -- Washington Senators
34 Pitchers Beware -- Kaline, Maxwell -- Detroit Tigers
36 Hank Aguirre -- Detroit Tigers
37 Gene Green -- St. Louis Cardinals
38 Morrie Martin -- Cleveland Indians
40a Warren Spahn (Born 1931) -- Milwaukee Braves
40b Warren Spahn (Born 1931, "3" partially obscured) -- Milwaukee Braves
40c Warren Spahn (Born 1921) -- Milwaukee Braves
42 Murray Wall -- Boston Red Sox
43 Steve Bilko -- Los Angeles Dodgers
44 Vito Valentinetti -- Washington Senators
45 Andy Carey -- New York Yankees
46 Bill Henry -- Chicago Cubs
47 Jim Finigan -- Baltimore Orioles
48 Orioles Checklist -- 1-88 -- Baltimore Orioles
50 Willie Mays -- San Francisco Giants
51 Rip Coleman -- Kansas City Athletics
52 Coot Veal -- Detroit Tigers
53 Stan Williams -- Los Angeles Dodgers
54 Mel Roach -- Milwaukee Braves
55 Tom Brewer -- Boston Red Sox
56 Carl Sawatski -- Philadelphia Phillies
57 Al Cicotte -- Cleveland Indians
58 Eddie Miksis -- Cincinnati Reds
59 Irv Noren -- St. Louis Cardinals
60 Bob Turley -- New York Yankees
61 Dick Brown -- Cleveland Indians
62 Tony Taylor -- Chicago Cubs
63 Jim Hearn -- Philadelphia Phillies
64 Joe DeMaestri -- Kansas City Athletics
65 Frank Torre -- Milwaukee Braves
66 Joe Ginsberg -- Baltimore Orioles
67 Brooks Lawrence -- Cincinnati Reds
69 Giants Checklist -- 89-176 -- San Francisco Giants
70 Harvey Kuenn -- Detroit Tigers
71 Don Bessent -- Los Angeles Dodgers
72 Bill Renna -- Boston Red Sox
73 Ron Jackson -- Chicago White Sox
74 Directing the Power -- Lavagetto, Lemon, Sievers
75 Sam Jones -- St. Louis Cardinals
76 Bobby Richardson -- New York Yankees
78 Pedro Ramos -- Washington Senators
80 Minnie Minoso -- Cleveland Indians
81 Hal Jeffcoat -- Cincinnati Reds
82 Bob Boyd -- Baltimore Orioles
84 Reno Bertoia -- Washington Senators
85 Harry Anderson -- Philadelphia Phillies
86 Bob Keegan -- Chicago White Sox
87 Danny O'Connell -- San Francisco Giants
88 Herb Score -- Cleveland Indians

Series 2 -- 17/88
89 Billy Gardner -- Baltimore Orioles
90 Bill Skowron -- New York Yankees
91 Herb Moford -- Boston Red Sox
92 Dave Philley -- Philadelphia Phillies
93 Julio Becquer -- Washington Senators
94 White Sox Checklist -- Chicago White Sox
95 Carl Willey -- Milwaukee Braves
102 Felipe Alou -- San Francisco Giants
103 Billy Goodman -- Chicago White Sox
104 Del Rice -- Milwaukee Braves
105 Lee Walls -- Chicago Cubs
106 Hal Woodeshick -- Cleveland Indians
107 Norm Larker -- Los Angeles Dodgers
108 Zack Monroe -- New York Yankees
109 Bob Schmidt -- San Francisco Giants
110 George Witt -- Pittsburgh Pirates
111 Redlegs Checklist -- 89-176 -- Cincinnati Reds
112 Billy Consolo -- Boston Red Sox
113 Taylor Phillips -- Chicago Cubs
114 Earl Battey -- Chicago White Sox
115 Mickey Vernon -- Cleveland Indians
116 Bob Allison -- Washington Senators
117 John Blanchard -- New York Yankees
118 John Buzhardt -- Chicago Cubs
119 John Callison -- Chicago White Sox
120 Chuck Coles -- Cincinnati Reds
121 Bob Conley -- Philadelphia Phillies
122 Bennie Daniels -- Pittsburgh Pirates
123 Don Dillard -- Cleveland Indians
124 Dan Dobbek -- Washington Senators
126 Eddie Haas -- Milwaukee Braves
127 Kent Hadley -- Kansas City Athletics
128 Bob Hartman -- Milwaukee Braves
129 Frank Herrera -- Philadelphia Phillies
130 Lou Jackson -- Chicago Cubs
132 Donn Lee -- Detroit Tigers
134 Jim McDaniel -- Pittsburgh Pirates
135 Gene Oliver -- St. Louis Cardinals
136 Jim O'Toole -- Cincinnati Reds
137 Dick Ricketts -- St. Louis Cardinals
138 John Romano -- Chicago White Sox
140 Charlie Secrest -- Kansas City Athletics
141 Joe Shipley -- San Francisco Giants
142 Dick Stigman -- Cleveland Indians
143 Willie Tasby -- Baltimore Orioles
144 Jerry Walker -- Baltimore Orioles
145 Dom Zanni -- San Francisco Giants
147 Cubs' Clubbers -- Banks, Long, Moryn
149 Jim Bunning -- Detroit Tigers
150 Stan Musial -- St. Louis Cardinals
152 Johnny Klippstein -- Los Angeles Dodgers
153 Jim Marshall -- Chicago Cubs
155 Enos Slaughter -- New York Yankees
156 Ace Hurlers -- Pierce, Roberts
157 Felix Mantilla -- Milwaukee Braves
158 Walt Dropo -- Cincinnati Reds
159 Bob Shaw -- Chicago White Sox
160 Dick Groat -- Pittsburgh Pirates
161 Frank Baumann -- Boston Red Sox
162 Bobby G. Smith -- St. Louis Cardinals
163 Sandy Koufax -- Los Angeles Dodgers
164 Johnny Groth -- Detroit Tigers
165 Bill Bruton -- Milwaukee Braves
166 Destruction Crew -- Colavito, Doby, Minoso
168 Carroll Hardy -- Cleveland Indians
169 Ted Abernathy -- Washington Senators
171 Willard Schmidt -- Cincinnati Reds
174 Jim Pendleton -- Pittsburgh Pirates175 Dick Farrell -- Philadelphia Phillies
176 Preston Ward -- Kansas City Athletics

Series 3 -- 14/88
177 Johnny Briggs -- Chicago Cubs
181 Bob Porterfield -- Pittsburgh Pirates
182 Milt Graff -- Kansas City Athletics
183 Stu Miller -- San Francisco Giants
184 Harvey Haddix -- Cincinnati Reds
185 Jim Busby -- Boston Red Sox
186 Mudcat Grant -- Cleveland Indians
187 Bubba Phillips -- Chicago White Sox
188 Juan Pizarro -- Milwaukee Braves
189 Neil Chrisley -- Detroit Tigers
190 Bill Virdon -- Pittsburgh Pirates
191 Russ Kemmerer -- Washington Senators
192 Charley Beamon -- Baltimore Orioles
193 Sammy Taylor -- Chicago Cubs
194 Jim Brosnan -- St. Louis Cardinals
195 Rip Repulski -- Los Angeles Dodgers
196 Billy Moran -- Cleveland Indians
197 Ray Semproch -- Philadelphia Phillies
198 Jim Davenport -- San Francisco Giants
200 Warren Giles -- League President.
201 Tom Acker -- Cincinnati Reds
202 Roger Maris -- Kansas City Athletics
203 Ozzie Virgil -- Detroit Tigers
204 Casey Wise -- Milwaukee Braves
205 Don Larsen -- New York Yankees
206 Carl Furillo -- Los Angeles Dodgers
208 Willie Jones -- Philadelphia Phillies
209 Lenny Green -- Baltimore Orioles
210 Ed Bailey -- Cincinnati Reds
211 Bob Blaylock -- St. Louis Cardinals
212 Fence Busters -- Aaron, Mathews
213 Jim Rivera -- Chicago White Sox
214 Marcelino Solis -- Chicago Cubs
217 Carl Erskine -- Los Angeles Dodgers
218 Roman Mejias -- Pittsburgh Pirates
219 George Zuverink -- Baltimore Orioles
220 Frank Malzone -- Boston Red Sox
221 Bob Bowman -- Philadelphia Phillies
222 Bobby Shantz -- New York Yankees
223 Cards Checklist -- 265-352 -- St. Louis Cardinals
224 Claude Osteen -- Cincinnati Reds
225 Johnny Logan -- Milwaukee Braves
226 Art Ceccarelli -- Chicago Cubs
227 Hal Smith -- Kansas City Athletics
229 Vic Power -- Cleveland Indians230 Bill Fischer -- Washington Senators
231 Ellis Burton -- St. Louis Cardinals
233 Paul Foytack -- Detroit Tigers
234 Chuck Tanner -- Chicago Cubs
235 Valmy Thomas -- Philadelphia Phillies
236 Ted Bowsfield -- Boston Red Sox
239 Bob Trowbridge -- Milwaukee Braves
240 Hank Bauer -- New York Yankees
241 Billy Muffett -- San Francisco Giants
242 Ron Samford -- Washington Senators
243 Marv Grissom -- St. Louis Cardinals
244 Dick Gray -- Los Angeles Dodgers
245 Ned Garver -- Kansas City Athletics
247 Don Ferrarese -- Cleveland Indians
248 Red Sox Checklist -- 177-264 -- Boston Red Sox
249 Bobby Adams -- Chicago Cubs
251 Cletis Boyer -- New York Yankees
252 Ray Boone -- Chicago White Sox
253 Seth Morehead -- Philadelphia Phillies
254 Zeke Bella -- Kansas City Athletics
255 Del Ennis -- Cincinnati Reds
256 Jerry Davie -- Detroit Tigers
257 Leon Wagner -- San Francisco Giants
258 Fred Kipp -- Los Angeles Dodgers
260 Early Wynn -- Chicago White Sox
261 Gene Stephens -- Boston Red Sox
262 Hitters' Foes -- Drysdale, Labine, Podres -- Brooklyn Dodgers
263 Buddy Daley -- Kansas City Athletics
264 Chico Carrasquel -- Baltimore Orioles


Series 4 -- 19/88
265 Ron Kline -- Pittsburgh Pirates
266 Woody Held -- Cleveland Indians
267 John Romonosky -- Washington Senators
268 Tito Francona -- Detroit Tigers
269 Jack Meyer -- Philadelphia Phillies
270 Gil Hodges -- Los Angeles Dodgers
271 Orlando Pena -- Cincinnati Reds
272 Jerry Lumpe -- New York Yankees
273 Joe Jay -- Milwaukee Braves
274 Jerry Kindall -- Chicago Cubs
275 Jack Sanford -- San Francisco Giants
276 Pete Daley -- Boston Red Sox
277 Turk Lown -- Chicago White Sox
278 Chuck Essegian -- St. Louis Cardinals
280 Frank Bolling -- Detroit Tigers 282 R.C. Stevens -- Pittsburgh Pirates
285 Joe Cunningham -- St. Louis Cardinals
286 Dean Stone -- Boston Red Sox
287 Don Zimmer -- Los Angeles Dodgers
289 Johnny Kucks -- New York Yankees
290 Wes Covington -- Milwaukee Braves
291 Pitching Partners -- Pascual, Ramos
293 Ray Moore -- Chicago White Sox294 Hank Foiles -- Pittsburgh Pirates
295 Billy Martin -- Cleveland Indians
296 Ernie Broglio -- St. Louis Cardinals
297 Jackie Brandt -- San Francisco Giants
300 Richie Ashburn -- Philadelphia Phillies
301 Earl Averill -- Chicago Cubs
303 Marty Keough -- Boston Red Sox
304 Cubs Checklist -- 265-352 -- Chicago Cubs
305 Curt Raydon -- Pittsburgh Pirates
306 Jim Gilliam -- Los Angeles Dodgers
307 Curt Barclay -- San Francisco Giants
308 Norm Siebern -- New York Yankees
309 Sal Maglie -- St. Louis Cardinals
312 Don Newcombe -- Cincinnati Reds
314 Don Cardwell -- Philadelphia Phillies
315 Joe Adcock -- Milwaukee Braves
316a Ralph Lumenti (no optioned statement) -- Washington Senators
316b Ralph Lumenti (with optioned statement) -- Washington Senators
317 N.L. Hitting Kings -- Ashburn, Mays
318 Rocky Bridges -- Detroit Tigers
319 Dave Hillman -- Chicago Cubs
320 Bob Skinner -- Pittsburgh Pirates
321a Bob Giallombardo (no optioned statement) -- Los Angeles Dodgers
322a Harry Hanebrink (no trade statement) -- Milwaukee Braves322b Harry Hanebrink (with trade statement) -- Milwaukee Braves
323 Frank Sullivan -- Boston Red Sox
324 Don Demeter -- Los Angeles Dodgers
325 Ken Boyer -- St. Louis Cardinals
327 Gary Bell -- Cleveland Indians
330 Gus Triandos -- Baltimore Orioles
331 Steve Boros -- Detroit Tigers
334 Glen Hobbie -- Chicago Cubs
335 Johnny Temple -- Cincinnati Reds
336a Billy Loes (no trade statement) -- Baltimore Orioles
336b Billy Loes (with trade statement) -- Baltimore Orioles
337 George Crowe -- St. Louis Cardinals
338 George Anderson -- Philadelphia Phillies
339 Roy Face -- Pittsburgh Pirates
340 Roy Sievers -- Washington Senators
341 Tom Qualters -- Chicago White Sox
343 Billy Hoeft -- Detroit Tigers
344 Russ Nixon -- Cleveland Indians
348 Ted Lepcio -- Boston Red Sox
349 Hoyt Wilhelm -- Baltimore Orioles
350 Ernie Banks -- Chicago Cubs
352 Robin Roberts -- Philadelphia Phillies

Series 5 -- 14/77
354 Pete Burnside -- Detroit Tigers
355 Jim Piersall -- Cleveland Indians
357 Dick Stuart -- Pittsburgh Pirates
358 Ralph Terry -- Kansas City Athletics
359 Bill White -- San Francisco Giants
361 Willard Nixon -- Boston Red Sox
362a Dolan Nichols (no optioned statement) -- Chicago Cubs
363 Bobby Avila -- Baltimore Orioles
364 Danny McDevitt -- Los Angeles Dodgers
365 Gus Bell -- Cincinnati Reds
366 Humberto Robinson -- Milwaukee Braves
367 Cal Neeman -- Chicago Cubs
368 Don Mueller -- Chicago White Sox
369 Dick Tomanek -- Kansas City Athletics
370 Pete Runnels -- Boston Red Sox
371 Dick Brodowski -- Cleveland Indians
374 Art Ditmar -- New York Yankees
378 Gail Harris -- Detroit Tigers
379 Bob Miller -- St. Louis Cardinals
380 Hank Aaron -- Milwaukee Braves
381 Mike Baxes -- Kansas City Athletics
384 Dave Sisler -- Boston Red Sox
385 Sherm Lollar -- Chicago White Sox
386 Jim Delsing -- Washington Senators
387 Don Drysdale -- Los Angeles Dodgers
388 Bob Will -- Chicago Cubs
389 Joe Nuxhall -- Cincinnati Reds
391 Milt Pappas -- Baltimore Orioles
392 Whitey Herzog -- Kansas City Athletics
393 Frank Lary -- Detroit Tigers
394 Randy Jackson -- Cleveland Indians
395 Elston Howard -- New York Yankees
396 Bob Rush -- Milwaukee Braves
397 Senators Checklist -- 430-495 -- Washington Senators
398 Wally Post -- Philadelphia Phillies
399 Larry Jackson -- St. Louis Cardinals
400 Jackie Jensen -- Boston Red Sox
401 Ron Blackburn -- Pittsburgh Pirates
402 Hector Lopez -- Kansas City Athletics
404 Hank Sauer -- San Francisco Giants
405 Roy McMillan -- Cincinnati Reds
406 Solly Drake -- Los Angeles Dodgers
407 Moe Drabowsky -- Chicago Cubs
408 Keystone Combo -- Aparicio, Fox
409 Gus Zernial -- Detroit Tigers
411 Whitey Lockman -- Baltimore Orioles
412 Stan Lopata -- Philadelphia Phillies
413 Camillo Pascual -- Washington Senators
414 Dale Long -- Chicago Cubs
415 Bill Mazeroski -- Pittsburgh Pirates
416 Haywood Sullivan -- Boston Red Sox
417 Virgil Trucks -- New York Yankees
418 Gino Cimoli -- St. Louis Cardinals
419 Braves Checklist -- 353-429 -- Milwaukee Braves
420 Rocky Colavito -- Cleveland Indians
421 Herm Wehmeier -- Detroit Tigers
422 Hobie Landrith -- San Francisco Giants
425 Del Crandall -- Milwaukee Braves
426 Jerry Staley -- Chicago White Sox
427 Charlie Neal -- Los Angeles Dodgers
428 Buc Hill Aces -- Kline, Friend, Law, Face
429 Bobby Thomson -- Chicago Cubs

Series 5 -- 13/66
430 Whitey Ford -- New York Yankees
431 Whammy Douglas -- Cincinnati Reds
433 Billy Harrell -- St. Louis Cardinals
435 Frank Robinson -- Cincinnati Reds
436 Granny Hamner -- Philadelphia Phillies
439 Brooks Robinson -- Baltimore Orioles
440 Lou Burdette -- Milwaukee Braves
441 John Roseboro -- Los Angeles Dodgers
442 Ray Narleski -- Detroit Tigers
445 Cal McLish -- Cleveland Indians
446 Rocky Nelson -- Pittsburgh Pirates
447 Bob Anderson -- Chicago Cubs
448 Vada Pinson -- Cincinnati Reds
449 Tom Gorman -- Kansas City Athletics
450 Ed Mathews -- Milwaukee Braves
451 Jimmy Constable -- Washington Senators
452 Chico Fernandez -- Philadelphia Phillies
453 Less Moss -- Chicago White Sox
454 Phil Clark -- St. Louis Cardinals
455 Larry Doby -- Detroit Tigers
456 Jerry Casale -- Boston Red Sox
457 Dodgers Checklist -- Los Angeles Dodgers
458 Gordon Jones -- San Francisco Giants
459 Bill Tuttle -- Kansas City Athletics
460 Bob Friend -- Pittsburgh Pirates
461 Mantle Hits 42nd Hr -- New York Yankees
462 Colavito's Catch -- Cleveland Indians
463 Kaline Young Champ -- Detroit Tigers
464 Mays' Series Catch -- New York Giants
465 Sievers Homer Mark -- Washington Senators
466 Pierce All Star Starter -- Chicago White Sox
467 Aaron Series Homer -- Milwaukee Braves
468 Snider's Victory -- Brooklyn Dodgers
469 Ernie Banks MVP -- Chicago Cubs
470 Musial 3000th Hit -- St. Louis Cardinals
471 Tom Sturdivant -- New York Yankees
472 Gene Freese -- Philadelphia Phillies
473 Mike Fornieles -- Boston Red Sox
474 Moe Thacker -- Chicago Cubs
475 Jack Harshman -- Baltimore Orioles
476 Indians Checklist -- 496-572 -- Cleveland Indians
478 Bob Clemente -- Pittsburgh Pirates
479 Lindy McDaniel -- St. Louis Cardinals
480 Red Schoendienst -- Milwaukee Braves
481 Charley Maxwell -- Detroit Tigers
482 Russ Meyer -- Kansas City Athletics
485 Ryne Duren -- New York Yankees
486 Sammy White -- Boston Red Sox
487 Hal Brown -- Baltimore Orioles
488 Walt Moryn -- Chicago Cubs
492 Gene Conley -- Philadelphia Phillies
494 Don Pavletich -- Cincinnati Reds
495 Johnny Podres -- Los Angeles Dodgers

Series 6 -- 7/77
496 Wayne Terwilliger -- Kansas City Athletics
497 Hal R. Smith -- St. Louis Cardinals
498 Dick Hyde -- Washington Senators
499 Johnny O'Brien -- Milwaukee Braves
500 Vic Wertz -- Boston Red Sox
503 Jim Owens -- Philadelphia Phillies
504 Ossie Alvarez -- Detroit Tigers
505 Tony Kubek -- New York Yankees
506 Bob Purkey -- Cincinnati Reds
507 Bob Hale -- Baltimore Orioles
509 Norm Cash -- Chicago White Sox
510 Yankees Checklist -- New York Yankees
512 George Altman -- Chicago Cubs
513 Tom Carroll -- Kansas City Athletics
514 Bob Gibson -- St. Louis Cardinals
515 Harmon Killebrew -- Washington Senators
517 Joe Koppe -- Philadelphia Phillies
518 Mike Cueller -- Cincinnati Reds
519 Infield Power -- Gernert, Malzone, Runnels
520 Don Elston -- Chicago Cubs
521 Gary Geiger -- Boston Red Sox
522 Gene Snyder -- Los Angeles Dodgers
523 Harry Bright -- Pittsburgh Pirates
524 Larry Osborne -- Detroit Tigers
525 Jim Coates -- New York Yankees
527 Solly Hemus -- St. Louis Cardinals
528 Pirates Checklist -- Pittsburgh Pirates
529 George Bamberger -- Baltimore Orioles
530 Wally Moon -- Los Angeles Dodgers
532 Mark Freeman -- Kansas City Athletics
533 Darrell Johnson -- New York Yankees
534 Faye Throneberry -- Washington Senators
535 Ruben Gomez -- Philadelphia Phillies
536 Dan Kravitz -- Pittsburgh Pirates
537 Rodolfo Arias -- Chicago White Sox
538 Chick King -- Chicago Cubs
539 Gary Blaylock -- St. Louis Cardinals
540 Willy Miranda -- Baltimore Orioles
542 Jim Perry -- Cleveland Indians
543 Corsair Trio -- Clemente, Skinner, Virdon
544 Lee Tate -- St. Louis Cardinals
545 Tom Morgan -- Detroit Tigers
546 Al Schroll -- Philadelphia Phillies
547 Jim Baxes -- Los Angeles Dodgers
548 Elmer Singleton -- Chicago Cubs
549 Howie Nunn -- St. Louis Cardinals
550 Roy Campanella -- Symbol of Courage -- Brooklyn Dodgers
551 All Star -- .Fred Haney
554 All Star -- Bill Skowron -- New York Yankees
555 All Star -- Bill Mazeroski -- Pittsburgh Pirates
556 All Star -- Nellie Fox -- Chicago White Sox
557 All Star -- Ken Boyer -- St. Louis Cardinals
558 All Star -- Frank Malzone -- Boston Red Sox
559 All Star -- Ernie Banks -- Chicago Cubs
560 All Star -- Luis Aparicio -- Chicago White Sox
561 All Star -- Hank Aaron -- Milwaukee Braves
562 All Star -- Al Kaline -- Detroit Tigers
563 All Star -- Willie Mays -- San Francisco Giants
564 All Star -- Mickey Mantle -- New York Yankees
565 All Star -- Wes Covington -- Milwaukee Braves
566 All Star -- Roy Sievers -- Washington Senators
567 All Star -- Del Crandall -- Milwaukee Braves
568 All Star -- Gus Triandos -- Baltimore Orioles
569 All Star -- Bob Friend -- Pittsburgh Pirates
570 All Star -- Bob Turley -- New York Yankees
571 All Star -- Warren Spahn -- Milwaukee Braves
572 All Star -- Billy Pierce -- Chicago White Sox
Elect Your Favorite Rookie Insert -- paper stock, September 29 date on back
Felt Pennants insert -- paper stock

1959 Topps Football

Set size:176
Short printed High Series: First series (1-88) is slightly more scarce than the second series.
Card Size: Standard 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"
Corrected Errors and Variations: none
Best card: Jim Brown second year
Key Rookies: Sam Huff, Alex Karras, Bobby Mitchell, Jerry Kramer, Jim Taylor (UER), Jim Parker, Max McGee
Subsets: Team cards, Team pennant cards
Gimmick: Coin rub trivia
Back ink colors: Black
League: NFL
Team Logos? Yes
Night Owl Style Nickname: The Day-Glo Burlap set
Teams included in the set: Baltimore Colts, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins (Italics indicates first appearance for the team in a Topps set)
Why I chose this card: BUZZ NUTTER




Yep, this series is back. I shall attempt to get up to at least the '70s by the time to season is over, but as you all know, I am a slacker and I have 170 unfinished posts in my draft folder to prove it. If you've forgotten what this is all about, basically when Topps lost their football license last year I vowed to honor their memory by doing a profile on each of their football base sets. Then I got sidetracked, and skipped a few months and in the meantime Topps got the license back, so there's not really a point now. I'mma do it anyway. Here are the first three profiles:

1956 Topps
1957 Topps
1958 Topps

This set was the largest Topps football set to date at 176 cards. I'm not sure if Topps actually went as far as to release the set in two separate series, but cards off the first sheet of 88 cards are slightly more scarce than the ones on the second sheet. The design seems pretty far-out for the stodgy Eisenhower era. The player's photo is superimposed on what appears to be day-glo burlap, with an interesting team logo stuck wherever it would fit. The name of the player is spelled out in alternate red and blue letter that not only foreshadows the 1960 Topps baseball design but is actually more eye-straining than the names on that set. Thankfully the position and team name are in simple clear black type that acts as a palate cleanser after the assault on your eyes.as wacky as the design is, it really seems to work well with all the portraits and posed action photos of the old-school football players.

As flamboyant as the fronts are, the backs are very austere. The backs have a portrait orientation, the only color used is black. The name, position and team are embedded in a solid black strip at the top, with the card number residing inside a football on the left of the bar. Right underneath that is a small block of statistics or a small paragraph for linemen or other players with no stats. Fully two thirds of the back is dominated by a scratch off trivia cartoon puzzle. The amount of space devoted to the instructions for revealing the Magic Answer is equivalent to the footprint of the box of statistics. Apparently scratching the card to reveal the answer is a big no-no among graders, meaning you can find scratched up copies in otherwise good condition cheap.

The set is notable for not only for the large amount of Hall of Famers in the set including a second year Jim Brown and card #1 Johnny U, but for a pretty darn good rookie class. Any set with the rookie card of Mongo is one well worth collecting. The Jim Taylor rookie card is somewhat odd, instead of a picture of the Packers' Jim Taylor, there is instead a photo of the Cardinals' Jim Taylor. Topps made the same mistake in 1960, so Jim Taylor's first card with the right Jim Taylor is from 1961 Topps, technically giving Jim two rookie cards. Along with the team card subset that returned from the previous year, Topps also added a Team Pennant subset. The cards had the goofy burlap background with a nice looking team logo pennant. The team name is on the top in the alternating color style of 1960 Topps baseball. Underneath the pennant is a football themed line drawing and a list of Championships the team won, if any. It's a very unique subset of the original 12 NFL teams. My favorite card in the set - and maybe in all of Topps Football - is this one of Buzz Nutter, who to my surprise has not been mentioned here yet.

1959 Topps Football card Gallery from www.footballcardgallery.com

A very nice article on the set by TS O'Connell.

DUUUUUUUUUUUKE

No reason, just Duke.

Topps Card Numbers - 1955-1959

We'll do the numbers in groups of five years from now on. Topps was very consistent with their numbering in the early years. They found a winning formula and they mostly stuck with it for a couple of decades.

1955 Topps

This here is the standard card number Topps used in the early days. A baseball with the Topps logo on the top of the ball and the card number in between the seams. 1955 has a black number inside red seams. The green TOPPS logo is in an italic font instead of the old timey logo they used in '53 and '54. This is a pretty awesome number, it's large and very easy to read.

Topps also was very consistent about putting the number on the top left corner. Normally it is exactly in the corner but Topps put it underneath the player name in this set.

1956 Topps

Not much to say, baseball, old time Topps logo, number between the seams. The black number between the red seams is very readable.

Card numbers are almost always easier to read on the lighter card stock, but you can still see the number fine on the gray stock.

The card number is slightly smaller than the 1955 numbers but is all the way up in that left corner.

1956 is the first set that had specialty cards including the two league president cards. The back design is vertical instead of horizontal, but the number is exactly the same and in the same left corner.


Team cards also make their debut and they are noted as such just in case you couldn't tell.

1957 Topps

1957 has red numbers inside a blue ball. The entire set is on gray card stock, so the red pops out a little better than black numbers would. The ball is as large as the 1955 set's numbers to make it that much easier to read.

Top left corner again (you'll get sick of me saying this after a while) and the number caps the end of the bar with all the biographical information for the player.

Team cards are marked again, a practice that would unfortunately not be brought back in 1958.

1958 Topps

This probably isn't the best number Topps came up with - the number is kind of small and gets lost inside the busy logo - but it sure is the most fun number they ever made. The smilin' Charlie Brown baseball head numbering system made 1958 Topps one of my favorites ever since I was a little kid.

I thought about saving some typing and just shortening the number location to TLC, but most people would think that was either a female R&B pop group or a formerly educational channel that has devolved into fluff.

'58 Topps also changed the numbering for several of their specialty subsets. The combo cards are essentially the same except the background is solid and the cap's bill is half tone which is opposite the base cards.


All Star cards make their debut and get a star for their numbers. you can't get better contrast than white numbers on a black background.

The team cards don't get similar treatment. Topps used a black number on a red background which is a little tough to read. Dark number on dark background is bad. Since the team cards doubles as checklists, there wasn't a lot of room for a big number but Topps could have done better. Luckily there's only 16 of them to deal with.

1959 Topps

For the first time, Topps completely abandons the baseball motif and goes with a bold white number inside a green box right up in that corner. This is a great number for blind bats like me.

The number is still easily seen on the gray stock. It might actually have more contrast since the green looks darker.

Topps used the tiny number on red again for the team cards. It's actually green ink on red, not black. Of course green and red ink pretty much makes black.

The high numbered cards used actual black ink. You can't get any more readable this side of '53 Topps.

The high series All-Star cards got an elaborate police badge for their card numbers.

Since they are also on the top left corner of the vertically oriented card, they end up being on the bottom left corner when you shuffle through them. Since it's a subset with an extremely different design as the base cards (and is in the scarce high series as well) it's not a big deal.

I'm not sure which one of these I'd consider to be the best. 1958 is my favorite. The '59's are stout. The 1955 number is an archetype. The '59 All-Star number is a work of art. I know one thing though, the '58 and '59 team card numbers are the pits.

Up next: 1960-1964. Bold, boring, and blinding.

August is catch up month

I know it's uncouth to post about what you're going to be posting about in the near future, but when you have 58 posts in your draft folder you kinda have to do something to start clearing out the backlog. See, by announcing that I will be using the upcoming month to focus on flushing out those half written posts and finishing up some long neglected projects I set myself up for ridicule and mockery if I get distracted and decide to dedicate a couple of weeks to a card by card review of 1996 Collector's Choice. Hey, that might actually be some kick ass posts right there... NO! Must. Stay. Focused.

So expect to see some old favorites finished up in the next few weeks. Don't worry, I'll still post random crap, I'll just be posting all the random crap I never finished because I twitted off to some other random crap. I know metaposts suck and you just want to see the cards, but it's just something I gotta do to get myself motivated to get this blog back on the rails. Like the Actual Trading Card History posts, remember them? Where I'd take a card from Topps' Trading card History insert set like this one of Chin Lung Hu,

and post some interesting tidbits about the card set it is based off of? Like this card is based on the 1959 Topps set, which at 572 cards in the set was the the largest set to date from Topps. The cards looked like this:

and the backs were printed in red and green for the low numbered cards and red and black for the scarce high series numbered 507-572. The key rookiecard in the set is of Bob Gibson while the most expensive card as usual is the Mickey Mantle. The set was the first to include a Rookie Stars subset, although the biggest names to be included were minor stars like Bob Allison and Ron Fairly. There is also an All-Star subset in the high series, Several "Baseball Thrills" and multi-player combo cards peppered throughout the set and the famous card of Roy Campanella in his wheelchair.

The set is well known to recent collectors as the basis for the 2008 Topps Heritage design, which can be seen here:

Smaller than the original '59 set at 500 cards, Topps' annual Retro set copies the original it's based on very closely. It keeps the Rookie Stars, Baseball Thrills, combos and All Star subsets while adding modern innovations like short prints, inserts, autographed cards, relic cards, Heritage Chrome, and super short printed cards of Johan Santana and Jon Smoltz designed to suck a true collector's very soul right out of their body and chew it up into tiny little shattered pieces, leaving the loyal fan broken and weeping in despair. It's one of the best sets of the year!

See? It was easy and fun and I knocked the draft folder down to 57 posts. 56 actually, since this post was in draft while I was writing it. Here's looking to a good month.