May Card Show Top 10 in poetry - #7 Tommie

Nope, haven't forgotten about this. More bad poetry for you!


Aaron at the plate.
We'll see a home run for sure!
Whoops, that ain't Henry.

(eyelash menacing
I need to clean my scanner
Tommie ducks, evades)

Eau Claire, Jacksonville.
Cedar Rapids, Louisville.
Austin, Denver, Bigs!

He led Texas League!
in fielding. A lead is a lead
Have you lead any?

May Card Show top 10 in Poetry - #9 Colt l'Orange

Moar bad haiku today!

1964 Topps Rusty Staub Rookie Cup

Look! it's a pony!
Le Grand Orange as a Colt
Collect every horse.

(I know Colt .45
is a reference to a gun
let me have my fun)

He played for Durham?
not often does one transform
from Bull into Colt

January Vintage Show Top 20 - #2 Wantlist Fail Part 2

Yes I realize it's barely still June. I'm going at my own pace and no one can stop me. Except me and my laziness, I guess.

 Ok WAY the hell back here about 6 months ago I told you all about how I misplaced my wantlists and scribbled 'em out hastily a half hour before the show started and ended up messing up things royally and that's how I paid five bucks for a 1960 Frank Torre card in crappy condition that I already had in probably EX. That was not the only wantlist cock-up of the day. When I frantically wrote out my wantlists, I used my Braves binder as a guide and wrote down the numbers of all the ones I was missing. How do I write down missing numbers, you ask? Well, in this binder every open pocket is filled with something. usually either a slip of paper or a black & white printout of an image of the card I ganked off eBay with the card number written on it. Makes it easier when I fill a slot and I'm trying to figure out where it goes. The printed out cards make the page look nice too. Check out this page from 1964 Topps:

See how good that looks when you can see what all the cards look like? And the missing Tops In NL and Tommie Aaron cards still stick out for reference of which cards I still need. Nice, huh? I've done this in my Vintage Braves and 1953 Topps binder so far. I might do it for my '56 Topps binder too once I hit  60-70% complete. Don't wanna waste too much ink. Keen-eyed readers probably noticed one other odd thing about that page. If you didn't get it yet, I'll give you a couple minutes.

See it? How one of the cards looks a little too minty fresh? And the green is just a touch off? Or maybe you're a font geek like me and are writhing in agony at how incredibly wrong the Braves font is on the Hank Aaron card? Yep, that's not a real '64 Aaron. That's one of the reprints from 199? Topps. Don't remember the year, not gonna figure out the year. Look it up on BaseballCardPedia if you care so much. And don't tell anyone in the comments! Let 'em work for it! So yeah, that's not a real 1964 Topps Hank Aaron. This is:

That's the stuff. Right color green. Right font. Just a little beat up. Just like a real 1964 Topps Hank Aaron should look. So I needed three cards from that particular page in my binder.

I only wrote down two.

Aaron was not one of them.

Well, actually, Aaron was both of the cards I wrote down. Just not Hank Aaron all by his lonesome #300. That one I didn't write down because that 199X card was just so lifelike.

Wantlist fail! Again!

So then I saw this card in the bargain box. I saw two of 'em actually. I don't remember the exact price but it was a single digit odd number greater than 5. I don't know why I remember that when I can't just remember the damn price, but my brain is weird so deal. I looked in my wantlist, to my surprise did not see that I needed #300, looked at the card again, looked at my wantlist, looked at the card, and decided, fuck it, I need it for my 1964 Topps set that I am not technically building right now but oh well I NEED HANK. Turns out I did need Hank after all!

Moral of the story:
Not all failures are fail.
If you see a vintage Aaron for under a tenner buy the damn thing.
GET YOUR WANTLISTS TOGETHER YOU LAZY OAF

And actually I have gotten my wantlists together! I rewrote most of the major sets and series into a small easy to carry notebook that I used at the May show. I also found my red folder full of wantlists. Too late for the May show. I'm freaking loaded for the August show though!

One more card left! Actually more like five because I skipped a bit! But I don't care! I need to put this coutdown to bed already!

#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

May Vintage Show Top 10 - Honorable Mention

I promised I'd finish up the January show top 20 this week, but..... I've been up since 6:30am and have done nothing but work and chase ungrateful kids all day. I've got about 10 minutes to breathe now, which is not long enough to do a decent post, but is enough to whip up something real quick. Here's a card that didn't quite make it into the top 10 from last weekend's show (mainly because I couldn't think of a good angle for a post when I was making the list) but is still quite nice.

So when I got to the card show I had a game plan ready to go. Then I fumbled, and balked, and stuff I was expecting to be there wasn't, and I panicked a bit, and then I sucked it up, and got it together, and made some bold moves and came out of the show with a big win. A lot of the stuff I thought I'd focus on (1954-56, 1960 and 1972 especially) didn't work out at ALL so I improvised. One way I improvised was by deciding to collect three new things that I wasn't focusing on before. That's right! If you can't find something you want at a show, decide you want something different! This card right here is the first official pickup of a new player collection.

'64 Topps Pitching Leader card. No I'm not collecting Whitey Ford. I also remember the 1991 World Series so I ain't collecting no Twin. That's right! I'm hoarding Jim Bouton cards now. I have already accumulated a small stack of Boutons more or less by chance, but now it's Official. So far I've got a small pile of vintage cards, some recent cards from Legends sets, a relic card and 3 of his books. Not looking forward to the '62 High number rookie but a League Leader card is well in my budget. Jim seems a little miffed to be listed after Camilo even though they tied with 21 victories apiece, but it would look kind of odd if he was just staring out into space on the left side of the card. The Chairman of the Board gets the top all to himself. that's what you get with 24 wins, folks.

The nice thing about these '64 Leader cards is that the backs list so many players you have stats for practically half the league on one card. This back is a little disappointing because there's a large blank space on the card that could have been filled if it weren't for the copyright line. There's still plenty of names to gawk over on the back. The card's a little water damaged but still in presentable shape. I think my 'I'm officially snagging every card I can of this player' list now stands at Chipper Jones, Jason Heyward, Yogi Berra, Mark Lemke, Jim Bouton and... well, that's another post.

January Vintage Show Top 20 - #14 Clubbed Cub

Top 20 January Vintage show post... in April. Aww yeah, the blog is a trainwreck. I don't even remember half the cards I bought anymore so each post will be a surprise for us all! If I recall correctly, Roger planned to have another show in Atlanta this Spring, but the website's down so I'll have to wait for the little green postcard to know for sure. I'm slightly broke at the moment since I splurged and dropped a $20 on Check Out My Cards when I found something I'd never seen before so hopefully there will be more vintage next month. Hopefully I'll be in the top 10 by then... Ok, here's #14 out of 26 cards what were picked up at the Vintage showback when the NFL playoffs were still going on.

1964 Topps Ernie Banks in broken in condition. If it weren't for the hideous orangey pink grapefruity looking backs '64 Topps might be my favorite of the '60s. The design is sharp. Big bold team name on top, a bar with the player name an position at the bottom and a big photo in the middle. AND THAT'S IT. Done. Don't need much more than that. Most of the pics are nice big portraits too. I've learned to really appreciate the old style portraits on cards after 15 years of almost nothing but action shots on Topps cards. Oh look, the pitcher is pitching. Oh look, the batter is batting. Oh look, the same pose 98 times in the same set. Oh look, I'm falling asleep. Gimmie a big 'ol portrait like Ernie's here.

353 homers for Ernie by the time this card was printed. Ok, so the card is beat all to hell. Someone even rubbed a coin on the back to get the quiz answer. But it's ERNIE. And this card was dirt cheap too. My memory is fuzzy but I think it was only a couple bucks. You want this card or a retail pack of Topps? Fine, it's in terrible condition. Big crease on the top, big chunk out of the side and the corners aren't anymore. It's ERNIE. I'm a certified Cub hater after an unfortunate chain of events in 2003 and even I can't get enough Ernie.

One thing defined my card show experience and that was that my wantlists were a disaster. I didn't specifically have any '64 wantlists with me so I picked up this one on faith even though I knew I had to already have one already. Can you believe I didn't have this card? I couldn't. To this day I still think I have one of these somewhere but it's probably just an Archives card or one from the Yo Momma Threw Out set. Still worth it even if it was a double. IT'S ERNIE.

Here's the complete list of Top 20 posts. See if you can guess what month I'll post the next one!

#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

Joy of a Completed Page - 1964 Braves Team Set

Special thanks to reader James for making this page possible.  I am so close, yet so far from completing this ream set now.

1964 Topps Wantlist

Just getting organized, please no giant care packages of  '64 Topps...

Series 1 -- 20/88
1 NL E.R.A. Leaders -- Ellsworth, Friend, Koufax
2 AL E.R.A. Leaders -- Pascual, Peters, Pizarro
3 NL Pitching Leaders -- Koufax, Marichal, Spahn
4a AL Pitching Leaders -- Bouton, Ford, Pascual -- apostrophe after "Pitching" on back
5 NL Strikeout Leaders -- Drysdale, Koufax, Maloney
6 AL Strikeout Leaders -- Bunning, Pascual, Stigman
7 NL Batting Leaders -- Aaron, Clemente, Davis, Groat
8 AL Batting Leaders -- Kaline, Rollins, Yastrzemski
9 NL Home Run Leaders -- Aaron, Cepeda, Mays, McCovey
10 AL Home Run Leaders -- Allison, Killebrew, Stuart
11 NL R.B.I. Leaders -- Aaron, Boyer, White
12 AL R.B.I. Leaders -- Kaline, Killebrew, Stuart
14 Dodgers Rookies -- Nen, Willhite -- Los Angeles Dodgers
15 Zoilo Versalles -- Minnesota Twins
16 John Boozer -- Philadelphia Phillies
18 Billy O'Dell -- San Francisco Giants
19 Don Wert -- Detroit Tigers
20 Bob Friend -- Pittsburgh Pirates
21 Yogi Berra -- New York Yankees
22 Jerry Adair -- Baltimore Orioles
25 Bill Monbouquette -- Boston Red Sox
26 Gino Cimoli -- Kansas City Athletics
27 Mets Team -- New York Mets
28 Claude Osteen -- Washington Senators
29 Lou Brock -- Chicago Cubs
30 Ron Perranoski -- Los Angeles Dodgers
31 Dave Nicholson -- Chicago White Sox
33 Reds Rookies -- Ellis, Queen -- Cincinnati Reds
34 Jim Perry -- Minnesota Twins
36 Hal Reniff -- New York Yankees37 Smoky Burgess -- Pittsburgh Pirates
39 Hank Aguirre -- Detroit Tigers
40 Dick Groat -- St. Louis Cardinals
41 Friendly Foes -- McCovey, Wagner
42 Moe Drabowsky -- Kansas City Athletics
43 Roy Sievers -- Philadelphia Phillies
44 Duke Carmel -- New York Mets
45 Milt Pappas -- Baltimore Orioles
46 Ed Brinkman -- Washington Senators
50 Mickey Mantle -- New York Yankees
52 Chuck Hinton -- Washington Senators
53 Denis Menke -- Milwaukee Braves
54 Sam Mele -- Minnesota Twins
57 Tim Harkness -- New York Mets
58 Don Demeter -- Detroit Tigers
59 Ernie Broglio -- St. Louis Cardinals
60 Frank Malzone -- Boston Red Sox
62 Ted Savage -- Pittsburgh Pirates
64 Ted Abernathy -- Cleveland Indians
65 Felipe Alou -- Milwaukee Braves
66 Eddie Fisher -- Chicago White Sox
67 Tigers Team -- Detroit Tigers
68 Willie Davis -- Los Angeles Dodgers
69 Clete Boyer -- New York Yankees
70 Joe Torre -- Milwaukee Braves
71 Jack Spring -- Los Angeles Angels
72 Chico Cardenas -- Cincinnati Reds
73 Jimmie Hall -- Minnesota Twins
75 Wayne Causey -- Kansas City Athletics
79 Bob Heffner -- Boston Red Sox
80 Vada Pinson -- Cincinnati Reds
81 All-Star Vets -- Fox, Killebrew
83 Gus Triandos -- Philadelphia Phillies
84 Carl Willey -- New York Mets
85 Pete Ward -- Chicago White Sox
86 Al Downing -- New York Yankees
87 Cardinals Team -- St. Louis Cardinals
88 John Roseboro -- Los Angeles Dodgers

Series 2 -- 34/88
89 Boog Powell -- Baltimore Orioles
91 Bob Bailey -- Pittsburgh Pirates92 Steve Ridzik -- Washington Senators
94 Braves Rookies -- Britton, Maxie -- Milwaukee Braves
95 George Altman -- New York Mets
96 Bob Buhl -- Chicago Cubs
98 Bill Bruton -- Detroit Tigers
100 Elston Howard -- New York Yankees
101 Walt Alston -- Los Angeles Dodgers
104 Art Mahaffey -- Philadelphia Phillies
106 Joe Nuxhall -- Cincinnati Reds
108 John Wyatt -- Kansas City Athletics
111 Don Elston -- Chicago Cubs
112 Bob Tillman -- Boston Red Sox
114 Don Lock -- Washington Senators
115 Frank Bolling -- Milwaukee Braves
116 Twins Rookies -- Oliva, Ward -- Minnesota Twins
117 Earl Francis -- Pittsburgh Pirates
118 John Blanchard -- New York Yankees
120 Don Drysdale -- Los Angeles Dodgers
124 Orlando Pena -- Kansas City Athletics125 Pete Rose -- Cincinnati Reds
128 Mickey Lolich -- Detroit Tigers
131 Steve Boros -- Chicago Cubs
133 Jim Grant -- Cleveland Indians
136 World Series Game 1 -- Koufax Strikes Out 15
138 World Series Game 3 -- L.A. Takes 3rd Straight
139 World Series Game 4 -- Sealing Yanks' Doom
140 World Series Summary -- The Dodgers Celebrate
141 Danny Murtaugh -- Pittsburgh Pirates
143 Bubba Phillips -- Detroit Tigers
145 Norm Siebern -- Baltimore Orioles
146 Indians Rookies -- Chance, John -- Cleveland Indians
147 Ray Sadecki -- St. Louis Cardinals
150 Willie Mays -- San Francisco Giants
151 Athletics Team -- Kansas City Athletics
152 Denver Lemaster -- Milwaukee Braves
153 Dick Williams -- Boston Red Sox
154 Dick Tracewski -- Los Angeles Dodgers
157 Gene Mauch -- Philadelphia Phillies
160 Ken Boyer -- St. Louis Cardinals
161 Dave McNally -- Baltimore Orioles
162 Hitting Area -- Pinson, Sisler
163 Donn Clendenon -- Pittsburgh Pirates
164 Bud Daley -- New York Yankees
165 Jerry Lumpe -- Detroit Tigers
169 Del Crandall -- San Francisco Giants
171 Ty Cline -- Milwaukee Braves
172 Indians Team -- Cleveland Indians
173 Ryne Duren -- Philadelphia Phillies
175 Billy Williams -- Chicago Cubs

Series 3 -- 26/89
177 Harmon Killebrew -- Minnesota Twins
178 Hank Bauer -- Baltimore Orioles
179 Carl Warwick -- Houston Colt .45’s
180 Tommy Davis -- Los Angeles Dodgers
181 Dave Wickersham -- Detroit Tigers
182 Sox Sockers -- Schilling, Yastrzemski
187 Ed Roebuck -- Washington Senators
190 Bobby Richardson -- New York Yankees
194 John Goryl -- Minnesota Twins
196 Jim Gentile -- Kansas City Athletics
197 Frank Lary -- Detroit Tigers
198 Len Gabrielson -- Milwaukee Braves
199 Joe Azcue -- Cleveland Indians
200 Sandy Koufax -- Los Angeles Dodgers
202 Galen Cisco -- New York Mets
203 John Kennedy -- Washington Senators
204 Matty Alou -- San Francisco Giants
205 Nellie Fox -- Houston Colt .45’s
206 Steve Hamilton -- New York Yankees
207 Fred Hutchinson -- Cincinnati Reds
208 Wes Covington -- Philadelphia Phillies
209 Bob Allen -- Pittsburgh Pirates
210 Carl Yastrzemski -- Boston Red Sox
211 Jim Coker -- St. Louis Cardinals
212 Pete Lovrich -- Kansas City Athletics
213 Angels Team -- Los Angeles Angels
214 Ken McMullen -- Los Angeles Dodgers
216 Mike DeLaHoz -- Cleveland Indians
218 Hank Fischer -- Milwaukee Braves
221 Bob Saverine -- Baltimore Orioles
224 Tommie Sisk -- Pittsburgh Pirates
225 Roger Maris -- New York Yankees
226 Colts Rookies -- Grote, Yellen -- Houston Colt .45’s
227 Barry Latman -- Los Angeles Angels
228 Felix Mantilla -- Boston Red Sox
229 Charley Lau -- Kansas City Athletics
230 Brooks Robinson -- Baltimore Orioles
231 Dick Calmus -- Los Angeles Dodgers
232 Al Lopez -- Chicago White Sox
233 Hal Smith -- Cincinnati Reds
234 Gary Bell -- Cleveland Indians
235 Ron Hunt -- New York Mets
237 Cubs Team -- Chicago Cubs
238 Roy McMillan -- Milwaukee Braves
239 Herm Starrette -- Baltimore Orioles
240 Bill White -- St. Louis Cardinals
243 Phillies Rookies -- Allen, Herrnstein -- Philadelphia Phillies
244 Tony LaRussa -- Kansas City Athletics
245 Dick Stigman -- Minnesota Twins
246 Manny Mota -- Pittsburgh Pirates
247 Dave DeBusschere -- Chicago White Sox
248 Johnny Pesky -- Boston Red Sox
250 Al Kaline -- Detroit Tigers
251 Choo Coleman -- New York Mets
253 Wally Post -- Cleveland Indians
254 Don Hoak -- Philadelphia Phillies
258 Garry Roggenburk -- Minnesota Twins
259 Harry Bright -- New York Yankees
260 Frank Robinson -- Cincinnati Reds
261 Jim Hannan -- Washington Senators
264 Jim Landis -- Chicago White Sox
265 Jim Bunning -- Philadelphia Phillies

Series 4 -- 39/87
266 Gene Freese -- Pittsburgh Pirates
267 Wilbur Wood -- Boston Red Sox
269 Ellis Burton -- Chicago Cubs
270 Rich Rollins -- Minnesota Twins
271 Bob Sadowski -- Milwaukee Braves
272 Jake Wood -- Detroit Tigers
273 Mel Nelson -- Los Angeles Angels
276 Jose Tartabull -- Kansas City Athletics
277 Ken Retzer -- Washington Senators
279 Joe Koppe -- Los Angeles Angels
281 Yankees Rookies -- Gibbs, Metcalf -- New York Yankees
282 Bob Bruce -- Houston Colt .45’s
283 Tommy McCraw -- Chicago White Sox
285 Robin Roberts -- Baltimore Orioles
287 Red Sox Rookies -- Conigliaro, Spanswick -- Boston Red Sox
288 Al Moran -- New York Mets
289 Frank Funk -- Milwaukee Braves
290 Bob Allison -- Minnesota Twins
292 Mike Roarke -- Detroit Tigers
296 Ed Kirkpatrick -- Los Angeles Angels
297 Ken MacKenzie -- San Francisco Giants
298 Harry Craft -- Houston Colt .45’s
300 Hank Aaron -- Milwaukee Braves
304 Bob Johnson -- Baltimore Orioles
306 Giant Gunners -- Cepeda, Mays
309 Paul Toth -- Chicago Cubs
310 Jim Gilliam -- Los Angeles Dodgers
311 Tom Brown -- Washington Senators
316 Gene Oliver -- Milwaukee Braves
317 Al Smith -- Cleveland Indians
320 Rocky Colavito -- Kansas City Athletics
323 John Buzhardt -- Chicago White Sox
324 Casey Stengel -- New York Mets
325 Hector Lopez -- New York Yankees
326 Ron Brand -- Pittsburgh Pirates
328 Bob Shaw -- San Francisco Giants
329 Russ Nixon -- Boston Red Sox
331 AL Bombers -- Cash, Kaline, Mantle, Maris
332 Ray Washburn -- St. Louis Cardinals
334 Lew Krausse -- Kansas City Athletics
338 Jack Kralick -- Cleveland Indians
339 Walt Bond -- Houston Colt .45’s
341 Jim Roland -- Minnesota Twins
345 Frank Thomas -- New York Mets
349 Art Fowler -- Los Angeles Angels
350 Willie McCovey -- San Francisco Giants
351 Dan Schneider -- Milwaukee Braves
352 Eddie Bressoud -- Boston Red Sox

Series 5 -- 36/77
353 Wally Moon -- Los Angeles Dodgers
355 Vic Power -- Minnesota Twins
357 Charley James -- St. Louis Cardinals
359 Jim Schaffer -- Chicago Cubs
360 Joe Pepitone -- New York Yankees
363 Dick McAuliffe -- Detroit Tigers
365 Cal McLish -- Philadelphia Phillies
367 Fred Whitfield -- Cleveland Indians
368 White Sox Rookies -- Ackley, Buford -- Chicago White Sox
369 Jerry Zimmerman -- Minnesota Twins
371 Frank Howard -- Los Angeles Dodgers
373 Pirates Team -- Pittsburgh Pirates
376 Dave Morehead -- Boston Red Sox
377 Bob Skinner -- Cincinnati Reds
378 Braves Rookies -- Smith, Woodward -- Milwaukee Braves
380 Whitey Ford -- New York Yankees
381 Bob Taylor -- New York Mets
384 Ron Hansen -- Chicago White Sox
386 Lenny Green -- Minnesota Twins
389 Jim Umbricht -- Houston Colt .45’s
390 Orlando Cepeda -- San Francisco Giants
393 Casey Teaches -- Kranepool, Stengel
398 Mets Rookies -- Haas, Smith -- New York Mets
399 Jackie Brandt -- Baltimore Orioles
400 Warren Spahn -- Milwaukee Braves
401 Charlie Maxwell -- Chicago White Sox
403 Reds Team -- Cincinnati Reds
404 Tony Martinez -- Cleveland Indians
405 Ken McBride -- Los Angeles Angels
410 Dick Stuart -- Boston Red Sox
411 Lee Walls -- Los Angeles Dodgers
415 Tony Kubek -- New York Yankees
416 Lee Maye -- Milwaukee Braves
417 Don Cardwell -- Pittsburgh Pirates
419 Ken Harrelson -- Kansas City Athletics
422 Jack Fisher -- New York Mets
423 Tops in NL -- Aaron, Mays
424 Dick Bertell -- Chicago Cubs
425 Norm Cash -- Detroit Tigers
428 Red Sox Rookies -- Skeen, Smith -- Boston Red Sox
429 Tim McCarver -- St. Louis Cardinals

Series 6 -- 39/77
430 Juan Pizarro -- Chicago White Sox
431 George Alusik -- Kansas City Athletics
433 Yankees Team -- New York Yankees
435 Vic Davalillo -- Cleveland Indians
437 Ed Bailey -- Milwaukee Braves
438 Checklist 430-506
439 Harvey Haddix -- Baltimore Orioles
440 Bob Clemente -- Pittsburgh Pirates
441 Bob Duliba -- Los Angeles Angels
446 Julian Javier -- St. Louis Cardinals
447 Ted Bowsfield -- Kansas City Athletics
448 Cookie Rojas -- Philadelphia Phillies
449 Deron Johnson -- Cincinnati Reds
454 Tommie Aaron -- Milwaukee Braves
459 Red Sox Rookies -- Charton, Jones -- Boston Red Sox
460 Bob Gibson -- St. Louis Cardinals
465 Mike Hershberger -- Chicago White Sox
467 Bob Aspromonte -- Houston Colt .45’s
468 Gaylord Perry -- San Francisco Giants
469 Cubs Rookies -- Norman, Slaughter -- Chicago Cubs
472 Vern Law -- Pittsburgh Pirates
473 Orioles Team -- Baltimore Orioles
476 Braves Rookies -- Carty, Kelley -- Milwaukee Braves
477 Mike Joyce -- New York Mets
479 Cardinals Rookies -- Bakenhaster, Lewis -- St. Louis Cardinals
480 Bob Purkey -- Cincinnati Reds
481 Chuck Schilling -- Boston Red Sox
483 Fred Valentine -- Washington Senators
485 Tom Haller -- San Francisco Giants
488 Yankees Rookies -- Meyer, Mikkelsen -- New York Yankees
490 Ron Fairly -- Los Angeles Dodgers
491 Ed Rakow -- Detroit Tigers
494 Al Jackson -- New York Mets
495 Bill Virdon -- Pittsburgh Pirates
501 Bob Veale -- Pittsburgh Pirates
504 Claude Raymond -- Houston Colt .45’s
505 Stan Williams -- New York Yankees
506 Bobby Bragan -- Milwaukee Braves

Series 7 -- 26/81
507 John Edwards -- Cincinnati Reds
509 Pirates Rookies -- Alley, McFarlane -- Pittsburgh Pirates
510 Lindy McDaniel -- Chicago Cubs
512 Tigers Rookies -- Horton, Sparma -- Detroit Tigers
513 Don Larsen -- San Francisco Giants
514 Jim Hickman -- New York Mets
515 Johnny Romano -- Cleveland Indians
516 Twins Rookies -- Arrigo, Siebler -- Minnesota Twins
517a Checklist -- 507-587wrong numbering on back
517b Checklist -- 507-587correct numbering on back
522 Bobby Tiefenauer -- Milwaukee Braves
523 Lou Burdette -- St. Louis Cardinals
524 Reds Rookies -- Dickson, Klaus -- Cincinnati Reds
526 Lou Clinton -- Boston Red Sox
528 Athletics Rookies -- Duncan, Reynolds -- Kansas City Athletics
529 Al Dark -- San Francisco Giants
530 Leon Wagner -- Cleveland Indians
531 Dodgers Team -- Los Angeles Dodgers
532 Twins Rookies -- Bloomfield, Nossek -- Minnesota Twins
533 Johnny Klippstein -- Philadelphia Phillies
534 Gus Bell -- Milwaukee Braves
535 Phil Regan -- Detroit Tigers
537 Dan Osinski -- Los Angeles Angels
538 Minnie Minoso -- Chicago White Sox
539 Roy Face -- Pittsburgh Pirates
540 Luis Aparicio -- Baltimore Orioles
541 Braves Rookies -- Niekro, Roof -- Milwaukee Braves
543 Bob Uecker -- St. Louis Cardinals
545 Max Alvis -- Cleveland Indians
546 Joe Christopher -- New York Mets
547 Gil Hodges -- Washington Senators
549 Joe Moeller -- Los Angeles Dodgers
550 Ken Hubbs -- Chicago Cubs
551 Billy Hoeft -- Milwaukee Braves
554 Hank Foiles -- Los Angeles Angels
555 Lee Stange -- Minnesota Twins
557 Leo Burke -- Chicago Cubs
559 Dick Phillips -- Washington Senators
561 Phillies Rookies -- Bennett, Wise -- Philadelphia Phillies
562 Pedro Ramos -- Cleveland Indians
564 American League Rookies -- McCabe, McNertney
565 Stu Miller -- Baltimore Orioles
567 Jim Kaat -- Minnesota Twins
568 National League Rookies -- Gagliano, Peterson
569 Fred Newman -- Los Angeles Angels
570 Bill Mazeroski -- Pittsburgh Pirates
571 Gene Conley -- Cleveland Indians
572 American League Rookies -- Egan, Gray
573 Jim Duffalo -- San Francisco Giants
575 Tony Cloninger -- Milwaukee Braves
576 Mets Rookies -- Hinsley, Wakefield -- New York Mets
579 Red Sox Team -- Boston Red Sox
580 Johnny Podres -- Los Angeles Dodgers
583 Tito Francona -- Cleveland Indians
584 Joel Horlen -- Chicago White Sox
585 Tony Taylor -- Philadelphia Phillies
586 Jim Piersall -- Los Angeles Angels

Random Vintage Brave #1

Since baseball is finally here (Well, ESPN baseball at least) but the Braves aren't playing today, here's a random vintage Bravo to get us through the night.

Well, not completely random. Nothing is completely random. Even if I closed my eyes and pulled a card out of a box without looking, I still put all those cards in that box for a reason sometime. The is only random because I haven't posted it before and it was on top of a pile on my desk.

Got it from Collective Troll in that package he sent before things got all sucky. I already had the card for my Braves team set, but this one will go live with the rest of my 1964 cards. Weird thing about me and '64s, I initially didn't like them when I first discovered them as a kid. Mainly because of those atrocious pink backs. Why would you do that to a baseball card? The fronts look good though, and when the 1986 Topps set came out that had the similar team name on top motif I became a fan and picked up a bunch of them. I still have more cards from this set than any other set from the '60s.

Yankees from the Dollar Box

I still have some neet stuff left over from the Atlanta Sports Cards run to show off. They have a pretty cool row of dollar boxes there with a good mix of new and old, base and inserts. I've even found autographs in the dollar box before! I like scrounging through for oldies, which means poring though the "original 16" teams. Red Sox are good for oldies. So are the Phillies. I guess the Cubs are too, but I'll try the Cards or Dodgers or Indians first, thankyouverymuch. However, there is no dollar box oldies team like the New York Mickyficking Yankees.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I HATE the New York Yankees. A-Fraud, Cap'n Cheezburger and Tei$eira can all take a flying leap into the Hudson wearing cement bathing suits for all I care and I'm glad the Halos finally took one in the series yesterday. However, the Old York Yankees I love. The cut off point is somewhere around Mattingly but I can't pinpoint it exactly. '20s? '30's? Hells yes! '60s? '70s? Alllll Riiiiiight! '50s? NIRVANA! So I scrounged the dollar Yankee box looking for one old card and found three.

1964 Topps Young Aces

This is the Holy Grail of Infamous Pitcher cards. Al Downing? He gave up a certain home run that is somewhat well known. Jim Bouton? Well, if a baseball fan don't know Jim Bouton, then Dayf's gonna do some shoutin'. This also a pretty good demarcation line between the great Yankee Teams of the '50s and early '60s and the Bllleeeaaaargghhh Yankee teams of the late '60s and early '70s.

1969 Topps Mickey Mantle Checkist

If you have a chance... to get a vintage Mickey Mantle card... ANY vintage Mickey Mantle card... for a BUCK... YOU FREAKING DO IT.

Anyone else who wants to "just do it" ASC had two or three more of these in various stages of mouse nibblings in that box as well. Get to 'em!

1950 Bowman

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO GET A 1950 BOWMAN CARD FOR A BUCK?? Ok, so the corners are rounder than a mint 1951 Topps card and it's got a double cross crease going right through the dude's face, but 1950! Bowman! So who is this guy?

Fred Sanford

The "G" stands for "Gamer". Or "goat" perhaps, as the Yankee pitcher was mercilessly booed by Yankee fans who expected more from the righty after that $100,000 trade mentioned on the card back. Did you know Redd Foxx's real last name was Sanford? Did you also know that both Fred and Redd's first name was also John? Now ya do!

The Lost Box of Total Awesomeness - ¿Qué?

Ok, after long last we have truly stepped in the realm of TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME. This is the part of the movie where Danny putts, the Sta-Puft Marshmallow man shows up, Han Solo swoops in and shoots Vader's ship and the evil nazi dude opens the ark. We have now reached the portion of the box with...

OLD TOPPS CARDS

Yeaaaaaaaah boooooooooy! You thought I was blowing smoke up yer arse with all this awesome talk eh? See, I told you this box was awesome. There are no less than 53 cards in the box from the years 1959 to 1968. Finding just that right there, without all the other stuff in there too, is undeniably grade-A certified Total Awesome.

Here's how I got all the cards in this post. Back in 1987, I got a birthday gift from my aunt. The gift was two tapes; The Joshua Tree by U2, and Elton John's Greatest Hits. She got the U2 because the guy at the store said that's what teenage boys were listening to then, and Elton John was her favorite artist. Let's just say I was not entirely interested in these musical choices. I didn't start liking U2 until college and Elton, um, I wasn't really into the "Sad Songs Say So Much" era of Elton. I took them back to the mall to trade them in for some Weird Al or maybe a George Carlin tape and lo and behold, there was a card show that day! Forget music, I wanted cards. I return them both and get 25 bucks in my greedy little hands. I go out to check out the tables and this guy comes up out of nowhere and offers me a 1953 Jackie Robinson card for 25 bucks. I turned him down and he want away, never to be seen again. This is one of the great regrets in my life. In my defense, he wasn't a seller at the show, just some guy. For all I knew he had just pilfered the card off a table and if I had bought it I could have been thrown in the pokey for being a card thief. Besides, I only had three bucks in my pocket and I wanted to check out all the tables. Really, scrounging around the cards at every single table is the true joy of going to a card show. So I turned him down. I missed out on a 1953 Jackie Robinson card. I am such an idiot.

Anyway, ennui aside, I now had free reign to look around at all the tables. One guy had 100 count plastic boxes filled with cards for a couple of bucks each. This is my kind of deal. I looked at every one of them, most were filled with cards from the '80s but there was one Dodgers box that had an older card on top. I recognized it was from the '60s and there apopeared to be more of them in the box. I grabbed it along with a couple more of those boxes and paid the man. I also found a few cards here and there, maybe even some packs and blew threw my birthday money at the show. A big pile of cards was much better than one Jackie Robinson card* which was a hell of a lot better than a couple of tapes. Here are the old cards from that box.

Six 1962 Topps cards

#11 Tom Morgan - This is the only LA Angel in this post. I'm not sure how he was able to sneak into the Dodgers box.

#32 John Roseboro - Al all-Star cather for the Dodgers, he's best remembered nowadays for his fight with Juan Marichal.


#108 Willie Davis - Longtime Dodger center fielder who had speed and power.

#175 Frank Howard - He is remembered more for being the Washington Senators' slugging All-Star, but Frank started his career with the Dodgers.

#190 Wally Moon - A charter member of the National Eyebrows Hall of Fame. Oh, he could hit a ton, too.

The 1962 sets is one of the great ones and these are some really solid Dodger players from that set. Let's check out the cartoon on the back of Wally's card:

Sera.. Sera... SE FUE!

Wait, what???

That's Spanish! These cards are in Spanish! What the hell is going on around here?

Did you know that in 1959, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1967 and 1968 Topps made cards for sale in Venezuela?

Well you do now. All the old cards from the '60s in that grab box were Venezuelan issues. I guess the dealer thought he was pulling a fast one by fooling me with these oddball cards instead of the real things. Boy, was I a dope! Of course nowadays these cards are much much harder to find than the regular 1962s and they book for about 10 times more than a common card. Here's another back:

Aww, these cards were owned by Oswaldo. Thanks Ozzie, I've taken good care of your cards. Except for the whole "losing them in the basement for 10 years" thing. Here's some more Venezuelan cards:

Fourteen 1964 Topps Venezuela cards

#14 Dick Nen & Nick Willhite Rookie stars - Nen played 6 seasons for a .224 career batting average, Willhite pitched 4 years and ended up with a 6-12 record.

#51 Pete Richert - Pete hung around the league as a reliever long enough to win a World Series with Baltimore in 1970.

#101 Walt Alston - Hall of Fame manager for Dem Bums won 4 World Series including the only one in Brooklyn.

#137 - 1963 World Series Game 2 - Willie Davis hits a 2 run double in the first inning at Yankee Stadium, which is all the Dodgers needed that day.

#138 - 1963 World Series Game 3 - Jim Bouton and Don Drysdale have an epic pitching battle as the Dodgers win 1-0.

#140 World Series Champs - A recap of the Dodgers' sweep of the Yanks.

#214 Ken McMullen - Ken wasn't a great third baseman, but he was good enough to play for 16 years.

#291 Phil Ortega - The Dodgers must have had a special one way flight from LA to Washington, because this is the third or fourth player in this group who played for both the Dodgers and the Senators.

#353 Wally Moon - Just. Look. At. Those. Beautiful. EYEBROWS!!! They're like Groucho Marx, Frank Zappa and Brooke Shields all rolled into one!

The 1962 set was the only Venezuelan product that was printed in Spanish. 1964 Venezuela is easily differentiated from the American set by the back:

Instead of having a pink back, the cards are printed in black and white. Instead of a scratch off answer to a trivia question, the answers are printed in red:

Oddly enough it still has instructions to rub a coin over the answer to reveal. This is a neat way to see the answers to the questions without scratching up all your old '64 cards. These were the cards that really freaked me out when I opened the grab box. I didn't even notice the Spanish at first but it's impossible to mistake black the black backs. I thought I had gotten robbed at first and had gotten counterfeit cards, but the Spanish on the '62s tipped me off that these were some oddball issue. There's one more set of Venezuelan cards to show off:

Two 1962 Topps Venezuela cards

#13 Lou Johnson - I only got Lou from the '66 set. This set is really tricky. Check out the back:

This is the big difference between the 1966 American and Venezuelan sets: No gloss on the front and the ink on the back is a little bit darker. That's it. Other than that they are identical other than the 15x book prices. If I hadn't gotten the other ones in the box that were obviously not normal I would never have noticed these. So of you have any weird looking '66 cards that are dark with no gloss you might have a Venezuelan card.

If there are any hard core Dodger collectors or aficionados of Venezuelan cards out there I do have a few doubles I could trade. If you offer me something I need from here, I'll be all ears. I'm probably never going to see another one of these cards as long as I live though, so super serious collectors only.

So was that Awesome enough for you? Was that the Awesomest? YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET! I have something coming up for you that will amaze and astound you. But first, a few cards to warm you up. Up Next - SIXTIES ODDBALLS.

* OH I AM SUCH A FOOL

More '64 Topps Beauties

While looking through my 1964 Topps cards for the Harvey Haddix card to post to Flikr, I found these gems. I really need to go through this set every so often to remind me what a truly wonderful set it is.

#143 Bubba Phillips
This card has so much of what is great about old Topps cards. The ubiquitous Yankee Stadium background. The airbrushed batting helmet. The wad of tobacco big enough to choke a mule. The journeyman utility player staring down the end of his career and smiling in defiance. Plus the dude's name is Bubba. Bubba Bubba Bubba Bubba!

#341 Jim Roland
Whoa. Like, um, hey. Whooooa. Oh well, what the heck, it's the 60's. You have to expect these things from lefty relievers.
I was so certain I had unconsciously stolen this line from The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book I had to pull out my copy to make sure. Amazingly, Jim's not in there. Of course the "Bubba Bubba Bubba" thing is swiped from there, but I consciously stole that.

#353 Wally Moon
Wally Moon's unibrow beat out both Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks for the Rookie of the Year award in 1954. 10 years later, the skills have diminished, but the eyebrows flourish. Wally is featured prominently in the lyrics to Rockin' Ritchie Ray's Baseball Card Lover song. This however is not a good thing, as Rockin' Richie is apparently trying to get in bed with either the real or cardboard version of Wally. I'm not sure which option is more horrifying.

#430 Juan Pizarro
Thanks to Sealab 2021, I can no longer look at a card of Juan Pizzaro without hearing Turtleface screaming "Pizzaro! I love you, Pizarro!"Juan's got more chaw squirreled away in his cheek than Bubba, if that's even possible.

#448 Cookie Rojas
True story: during one of Cookie's first spring training games for Philadelphia, his hat and glove turned sentient and ganged up on the young infielder. If not for his quick thinking and an act of selfless bravery by his glasses, he would have surely been eaten and the world would have been deprived of the five time all star, manager and broadcaster.

#488 Yankees Rookie Stars
Speaking of Turtleface, poor Pete Mikkelsen was an effective relief pitcher in the late 60's and early 70's who threw a forkball. Unfortunately one of those forkballs was deposited in the bleachers by Tim McCarver to win game 5 of the '64 World Series. Every time you see a smug McCarver watch yet another replay of the homer during a Fox broadcast, remember Pete paid for this sin with one of the most ridiculous looking rookie cards ever.