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 - 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.

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.

Bowman Beaters - Cleveland Indians

 More Ugly Bowmans for your viewing pleasure. If you need some eye bleach, I'm sure there's twenty posts about Topps Series Two over on the sidebar. Now let's look at some Indians.

Hall of Famer Early Wynn for a quarter! This is an odd picture. Early looks like he's scrunching down in order to fit in the tiny TV screen. There weren't no 90 inch plasma screens in the '50s folks, these suckers were actual size.

Outfielder Dave Pope was the other Indian I picked up. Dave is not as scrunched up as Early, but is a fellow Alabamanian. Alabamaninin. Albanian Bananarama. A fellow guy from Alabama. These pics were taken in the same stadium as the Res Sox cards I showed off earlier. Even better there are tiny little people in the background of both pictures. I like the tiny little people, especially the ones cowering under Early Wynn's gigantic hulking form.

Bowman Beaters - Boston Red Sox

Gonna try to blow the beaters out pretty quick. Don't have a lot of time to post right now so some eye candy is the way to go. Except these cards aren't really candy, they're more like eye Limburger cheese or pickled herring. Good, but an acquired taste. Here are the two Red Sox cards I snagged from the quarter box.

Pitcher Tom Brewer here. I'm digging the scoreboard in the background. Anyone know what stadium this is? The interesting part of this card is the bit that is stuck onto the top right corner. The bottom bit folds back to show that the card that it came from is actually 1955 Topps and not Bowman.

Outfielder Sam Mele is in a little better shape,  it just has a water mark instead of paper glues to its top corner. I like the flag in the background. This photo was taken in the same stadium as Brewer's card and if you put them side by side it looks like one big panoramic photo. With all the old cards I've looked at over the years you'd think I could pick out individual stadiums by now...

Bowman Beaters - Baltimore Orioles

Here's a couple of cards from the twenty-five cent '55 Bowman stack. Today's team is the Orioles, with two cards out of the stack.

Preacher Roe! Full disclosure: I thought this was a Dodger card until I got it home.

Fellow pitcher Bob Kuzava. His "Most exciting game" blurb on the back tells of the day Bob Boyd broke up his no-hit bid in the top of the ninth with a double.

The odd thing with these two are the backs are perfect. Most of the cards out of that lot were missing large chunks of paper off the back. What else would the stuff stuck to on the front be? These two are pretty nice though. On the back. The fronts are a mess. look closely on the right side of the card and you'll see the text from the card that was once in front imprinted silly putty style on the TV cabinet border. I wonder if I can decipher the text to figure out what card got stuck to them?

Vintage Show June - My Bowman Beaters

I just put the old card show to bed, that means you're going to have to deal with the stuff from the new card show. Don't worry, It's cool. Just good old-fashioned baseball cards. There's only one card in the bunch that is not a true baseball card, but it's tied in with one of the top five sets of all time so you'll probably like it. I went to this show with a plan. You gotta have a plan. Run into a card show half-cocked and you'll end up walking out with bent 1974 Topps Dock Ellis card and three boxes of 1990 Upper Deck. Here was my plan:

1) Hit the Braves team set needs
2) Find a 1953 Topps card I don't have
3) Hit these sets hard:

• 1960 Topps
• 1963 Topps Series 1
• 1965 Topps Series 1
• 1972 Topps 

4) get some cheap stuff for the 1954-1956 sets
5) find a really cool non-sport card

I hit all my goals except for 1963 Topps. I just didn't find anything that jumped out at me. I'm also alyways prepared for the unexpected and something really unexpected jumped out at me at the show. 1955 Bowman. Here's an example:

Hall of Famer Robin Roberts. With paper stuck all over the front of the card. I didn't bother to scan the back but there's paper missing from there too. Basically what appears to have happened is that a box filled with a bunch of '55 Bowmans got some severe water damage, which caused the cards to stick together. In the process of pulling them apart, many of the backs of some cards ended up on the fronts of other cards. This was mostly around the edges however, so the picture of the player was in most cases unobscured. I'm guessing Roger either purchased these cards in a collection or had one of his own boxes fall into the toilet. at any rate, there was about 400 poor abused Bowman cards at the show for sale. Dodgers and Yankees were $2.00 each, Everyone else was a buck a pop. Except for a stack of really awful looking cards like this one. These Bowmans were a quarter each. How could I pass up '55 Bowmans for a quarter? I couldn't. that's what. I snagged 28 of the quarter Bowman beaters. If you would have bet me that I would come back from the show with over two dozen 1955 Bowman cards you would have made a lot of money.

Picking out the Bowmans was pretty much the last thing I did before cashing out at the show. I had already been shuffling through cards for over an hour at that point and in retrospect I probably could have done a better job. My basic criteria while picking out cards was to pull any Hall of Famers like Robin here, pull anyone who I thought should be in the Hall of Fame, pull cards of players I liked, and then grab a few that weren't all that beat up. Looking back on it now I wish I had gotten a few dollars more worth of the beaters and I also regret not picking up a player from each team. I got no cards of the Cubs, Cardinals, Tigers, A's, Senators or Yankees. I don't think there were any quarter Yankees in the pile though. At the very least I should have picked up all the Cardinals, Cubs and Tigers just to trade off to bloggers. Oh well, what's done is done.

I'm going to show off all my horribly abused Bowmans over the next couple of weeks (or months if I get lazy). I'll post them by team to make things easy for me. I betcha can't guess from which team I got the most Bowmans!