Some vintage Baseball

I bought 3 cards from another member at TCC and he added 2 bonus cards plus some wax packs (I'll make another post for the wax packs, I've gone over my limit on labeling to include all the years of everything and the other 2 brands.)

OK so I bought:

 1964 Topps 260 Frank Robinson Reds

 1964 Topps 306 "Giant Gunners"

Willie Mays & Orlando Cepeda

1973 Topps 90 Brook Robinson Orioles

And Got BONUS CARDS:

1979 Topps 417 All-Time Record Holders

STRIKEOUTS Nolan Ryan (Season) & Walter Johnson (Career)

 1982 Topps 636 Philadelphia Phillies Team Leaders

 '81 Batting & Pitching Leaders

 Pete Rose & Steve Carlton

 

In the same package I also got some BONUS unopened wax packs 1990 Donruss & 1990 Upper Deck, Plus a 1989 Topps Wax Pack with a wrapper that is majorly miscut (and a piece of stale gum which is in at least two pieces now). I will post pics of those packs in another post sometime.

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Nick Johnson Framed

In a recent purchase from the Bay I got a Red Framed 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings 139 Nick Johnson Expos/Nationals. 2005 was the first year the relocated Montreal Expos played as The Washington Nationals in DC. Many cards from this time like this one will picture the player in their Expos uniform, but the card will say they play for the Nationals. This is the Red Framed version. The card has a glued-on maroon colored frame border and the Diamond Kings logo at the bottom is in a shiny metallic Red lettering. I think these framed versions are less common than the standard version. I have one of those I just haven't scanned it yet, when I do I'll probably do a side-by-side comparison, or just repost this scan with the standard one. They missed out by not serial numbering these, I would have liked if they had done that with this set.

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings

139 Nick Johnson  Expos Red Framed

Now the Ebay seller that I got this card from also included some "Bonus" cards (six total). Here are the six cards that were sent as a Bonus all six are for trade:

1990 Upper Deck 684  Jack Armstrong Reds
1990 Fleer 151 Andy Benes Padres
1990 Fleer 429 Jeff Reed Reds
 1992 Topps Stadium Club 684 Phil Stephenson Padres
1998 Topps Chrome (Yuck) 77 Greg Vaughn Padres
1998 Topps Chrome 212 Gerald Williams Brewers

The 1992 Topps Stadium Club Phil Stephenson card has no stats charts because and I quote "Insufficient Major League data available for an accurate analysis of batting strengths and weaknesses". Wait two years playing and NO STATS? This card is his 1992 card, they are just showing his rookie card on the back. And the Stadium Club series was Topps High-End Products in the 1990s.

At one point I liked the 1990 Fleer Baseball set, but got sick of it back in the day because I had so much of it and didn't have a complete set. Now it just reminds me of many of the reasons that era of card collecting is tarnished.

I really don't mind bonus cards, but these made no sense except for the fact that they were at least Baseball cards. None of them were even from Donruss, 2005 edition or Diamond Kings. None of them were Nationals (or Expos), Nick Johnson, or even one of the teams he played on. They are 1990s junk.I would think if you are going to send bonus cards try to match them up to what the person bought. I mentioned earlier a vintage '50s card of a Chicago Bears player I bought and the seller sent a couple of bonus more modern Bears. Although they were  prime 1990s junk cards one of which I already had. The point is they were at least of the same dang team of the original card I bought. End of RANT.

OK getting back to the Diamond Kings sets. I recall when Donruss began the Diamond Kings as a subset of the main 1982 set. That year they were the first 26 cards in the set. The following year 1983 they they had more DKs cards. They were a similar design and it is a little confusing because the 1983 cards are copyrighted 1982. I don't any of those scanned right now, but I do have some other 2005 and even a couple of 2004 DKs scanned to show right now:

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings

139 Nick Johnson Expos Silver #d-14/50

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings

250 Ryan Church Expos Red Framed

 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings

250 Ryan Church Expos

2004 Donruss Diamond Kings

85 Ryan Church Indians

2004 Donruss Diamond Kings

85 Ryan Church Indians Bronze Framed

Stephen Strasburg 2010 Topps Number 661

 

The Number One Draft Pick Rookie Phenom who made his MLB debut on 08 June, 2010 throwing 14 strikeouts  for the Washington Nationals, Stephen Strasburg gets his rookie card in the 2010 Topps Update set with several variations. The card was first available only as a giveaway for Topps "Million Card Giveway". Card Number 661 in the set has at least three different versions. The first being the MCG card I just mentioned, then version A which I think I have. This card has the same photo as the MCG card with the exception of the RC logo being on the left instead of on the right. The second version the "B" version has a different picture. A 4th variation is the "Pie In The Face" with Stephen wearing a shaving cream face pie and the infamous Silver Elvis Wig that the Nationals use for this occasion. I think a 5th variation is in the Factory set, but that I think is stamped "factory set" on the card and has yet another different picture. Then things get more confusing because the Topps Chrome set has more variations. I think those cards have different numbers though and I am not concerning myself with the Chrome junk.

661A Stephen Strasburg Nationals

 

US-274 Merry Stras-Mas

Stephen Strasburg & Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez

  

MTOG-14 Stephen Strasburg

 

I will refer to this post in the future if I have to update any of my info on the Infamous card number 661 and it's Million Variations.

1974 Topps Redskins Team Set

With the help of Ebay I finally got the rest of the 1974 Topps Redskins that I needed for my collection. Some of the cards I had from way back when (Kilmer, Bass?, Jefferson, Hauss, Houston?, Brundige, Wilber, Pottios, Taylor?) A couple of the players I have duplicates and/or triplicates of. I have always liked the '74 Topps football, and Baseball cards. That year all around in just about every sport I really enjoy the sets. For the football set the goal post design is what grabbed me back in the day. The Team name is in a colored "field" block at the bottom. The color pattern is different for each team. For the redskins it looks even better since the block color is green giving the goal post design even more of a shine.

I don't have a Team Checklist card yet, but I'm working on getting that. Anyway the card roster is as follows (In order by card number):

    6 Jerry Smith
  33 Curt Knight
  58 Bill Kilmer
  84 Mike Bass
119 Roy Jefferson
156 Brig Owens
182 Len Hauss
208 Verlon Biggs
235 Ken Houston
260 Larry Brown
287 Bill Brundige
313 Dave Robinson
345 Chris Hanburger
371 Mike Bragg
398 John Wilber
422 Charlie Harraway
445 Pat Fischer
484 Myron Pottios
510 Charlie Taylor

Here are a few of my faves from this set, either because of the player, the picture, or both.

 

119 Roy Jefferson - Checkout those sideburns.

  235 Ken Houston - Ditto with the burns

 182 Len Hauss - Classic pose it may have been used for most of his cards.

 345 Chris Hanburger

"Park the car over there... OVER THERE!"

 58 Bill "Billy" Kilmer - Airbrushed Helmets. 

As a kid I thought they were scrimmage/preseason helmets.

I didn't know about the lack of licensing Topps had (or didn't have).

BTW I think Billy boy is tripping here.

 260 Larry Brown

I've always digged sidelines photos, and those with the helmet half-on-half-off.

 33 Curt Knight - Can you tell he's a kicker?

I like these "posed" action shots.

371 Mike Bragg - Let me guess... Punter?

287 Bill Brundige - He has that "Whatt Tha?" Look that the other guys should have for the cards I didn't choose to highlight here.

 398 John Wilber - Here we have the classic posed "three point stand" for football cards.

The second version shown of this card is a very miscut one (the back is miscut as well). It was part of one of the Ebay lots I got to get some of the other cards since I already had this one (Now I have at least 3).

Good Old Sonny J.

One of my fave QBs of all time especially growing up was Sonny Jurgensen of the Washington Redskins. My Homie Team. here is a card I recently got for a decent price at Ebay. It is serial numbered and that was one of the selling points to it because of the connection I could make with the number.

2007 Donruss Gridiron Gear

Performers Gold P-30 Sonny Jurgensen

244/500

The serial number is 244 of 500. Of course the number 44 is Riggo's jersey number (John Riggins).

Sometime earlier I had gotten this other 2007 Jurgensen card from a group break. It is also serial numbered Bronze Spotlight card it is 32/32 an Ebay 1/1. Then it's companion common version.

2007 Donruss Leaf Limited Bronze Spotlight
189 Sonny Jurgensen

32/32

2007 Donruss Leaf Limited

 189 Sonny Jurgensen 

 

 100/249

 2008 Donruss Leaf Limited

181 Sonny Jurgensen

 064/499

 Another grab from the Bay was a special version of the 1994 Ted Williams  61 Sonny Jurgensen Card. Notice that the picture of Sonny on this card is the same exact photo as the previous 2008 Leaf Limited card. Also the faded background picture is a 1970s picture where the main picture is from the '60s.

1994 Ted Williams 61 Sonny Jurgensen

 

 1994 Ted Williams 61 Sonny Jurgensen

AUTOGRAPHED

  

 As I said I got that one from the Bay and at a good price only $5.74 +$3.00 shipping. It's not authenticated but it does seem to be consistent with Sonny's signature. The exception though is it doesn't have "HOF 83" this worried me a little, but there have been some authenticated autographs of his by PSA without the extra Hall of Fame line. I know that for every legit autograph out there there are about 1,000 forgeries. This card might not be an authentic autograph, but I don't mind. There have been cases of people getting legit autographs from celebs and then an "expert" tells them that their signature is a "fake". I have no intentions of selling or trading this card. If I ever do I guess I'll say out front that I don't for sure if the signature is authentic or not. I've gotten autographs of celebs before; Weird Al Yankovic, James Belushi, Peter Noone & Harry Chapin to name a few and those signatures are not "authenticated' maybe someday I'll get then looked at. The Belushi & Noone autos are on a program from 1982 when they performed in The Pirates of Penzance, and the Chapin auto is in a concert program, so those should be easier for an authenticator to give the thumbs up on.

'76 Trombones er 1976 Topps Baseball

From a sportlots.com 1-2-3 Auction. 1976 Topps Baseball. What I like about this 1970s set is the color combination and the general design is the little baseball character by the players name. Each position has a different little character, but since these four cards are 3 pitchers and an All-Star (One of my fave 1970s players Steve Garvey) this teeny lot only has the one little guy. It also looks like I don't have any other cards from this year scanned yet so it maybe a while til I get some of the other characters up here.

55 Gaylord Perry - Rangers

 150 Steve Garvey - Dodgers

235 Bert Blyleven - Twins

Another Fave 1970s Player (Blame Match-Game)
530 Don Sutton - Dodgers

1960 Topps Les Richter Rams among others.

I recall the first time I saw a 1960 Topps Football card was an old Redskins card I've got. It was not the first card I recall ever owning, that might have been my 1965 Topps Baseball Ernie Banks (not sure though). I don't recall where it was dug up from, probably my oldest brother had it and I found it in our basement laundry room that doubled as a storage room for almost half (or more) of the 44 years my family owned the house I grew up in.

That first 1960 Football card was number 123 Ralph Guglielmi  in horrible shape with loads of creasing and rounded corners, it has some tape holding it together at one of the creases. The very epitome of a poor grade card it barely serves as a filler card in my collection. It apparently is also an uncorrected error card as the front has his last name misspelled as Gugliemi. I will probably never get rid of it though. I always remember it as being in horrible shape. I think at one time it was taped to a notebook or inside a binder. As a kid I did that frequently to some cards. I even marked my cards with a huge "K" sometimes on the front sometimes on the back. So this one might have had the "tape to the notebook cover" treatment.

The blogger at pooroldbaseballcards would be proud of this specimen. I wonder if someone is doing a Poor Old Football Cards blog? If so let me know so I can follow, I'd follow a Hockey one too I guess. For many years it served as the oldest card in my entire trading card collection (sports and non-sports). I am not sure what is the oldest card in my collection now.

123 Ralph Guglielmi Redskins
My Original card (front then back)

 

 

This copy of the card I do not own.

(Image from Checkoutmycards.com)

I like the 1960 Topps football for the simple colored football nameplate, and the "Football Funnies" cartoons on the back that Topps used to do back then. The downside to the cartoons though is they were coin scratch-off things that were only revealed when you rubbed the area with a coin. This made the picture appear but did damage to the back of the card.

68 les Richter Rams

30 Bob Gain Browns

 

1954 Bowman Redskin

From the bay $6.75 delivered:

1954 BOWMAN 110 Steve Meilinger Redskins

Where some of my Rams cards from this set look like colorized photos this card looks like a watercolor painting of sorts.

Dang It! Opportunity missed.

I just now noticed I missed celebrating my One Year Anniversary of this Blog back in October. OH Well. Yay Me!

Edit: Addendum - I did have a six month hiatus from blogging here from April to September so it doesn't seem as long.

1959 Team Card Washington Senators

One of the fun types of cards to collect are the ordinary team cards. Here is one of my older ones from the 1950s barely.

1959 Topps 397 Washington Senators Team Card

I didn't scan the back but this card has the Sixth Series Checklist for cards #230-495. Sometimes the team cards have the recent team stats on the back, other times a team specific checklist. The team checklist cards come in handy when trying to finish off a team set.

1954 Bowman Football (Mostly Rams)

I got a few 1954 Bowman Football Cards from the Bay (Ebay) for $5.00/each on average. The lowest was $3.00 and $5.00 was the high. The Los Angeles Rams cards I got from the same dealer so I saved on shipping.

I think part of the appeal to me on these cards is the early color photos. They seem to be hand colored from black & white photos, maybe early machine colored. I'm not a photo expert so I don't know exactly and don't really care other than I enjoy them. I also like them for the team logos.

8 Norm Van Brocklin Rams

 

20 Tom Fears Rams

32 Elroy Hirsch Rams

127 Joe Koch Bears

The dealer that I got the Joe Koch from also sent me a couple of  "bonus" cards. He at least was keeping with a theme as the cards he sent were Chicago Bears, although more modern ones. Some dealers send bonus cards that make no sense other than the fact that they are sometimes the same sport (I'll get into that with another post soon hopefully). The "Bonus Bears" I got were a 1990 Fleer Neal Anderson #288 (a player I collect since he has a similar name to my brother but spelled different) and a 1991 Pro Set Brad Muster #105. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to collect the rest of the 1991 Pro Set. Back in the day I had collected quite a few, but over the last few years of being a member of various trading card forums I have traded a few away. As for the 1990 Fleer. A few months back I bought a full set of them along with the All-Pros Sub-Set. So I have at least one dupe of this Neal Anderson card.

1990 Fleer 288 Neal Anderson Bears