Weird Packaging: But Still Pretty Safe

On Thursday 26 March 2015 I had a three package mailday. Someday I might blog about the other two packages especially the second one that was a lot of 15 hand-cut mid 1970s Hostess cards many of them poorly cut from their product boxes. This post is not about them but about the third package which was very strangely packaged for what it actually contained. This is the story of this overpacked package:

This last package was a work of art. Very strange packaging. Without giving away what the item was yet I will mention I purchased it from Ebay an auction with the winning bid of $4.99 + $2.32 shipping. OK nothing out of the ordinary here. Reasonable final price for the item and shipping costs also reasonable.

Now the odd thing the packaging job: (Image blurred on purpose)

The envelope was 9" x 12" yellow clasp envelope. Super taped with clear shipping tape that I had to cut an opening at the top to get it open.

Inside that a piece of cardboard (white sort of odd triangular piece not sure what it originally boxed).

Next to that, I forget if it was taped or not, a clear ziplock plastic bag 6" x 11" has red lettering printed on it "AdoptaPlatoon www.adoptaplatoon.org" strange.

Stranger still in the clear plastic bag a paper bag that was folded and taped some. The paper bag from Burger King "Bags of Flavor"

with hand scribbled "yogi berra" barely legible. OK the cat is almost out of the bag.

Inside that a small plain white PWE (4x6) with one fold and surprisingly not sealed or taped. Then the card safe in a toploader with penny sleeve.

Yogi peaks his head out over the edge of the envelope to see if it is safe to come out.

Yes it is a 1961 Topps Baseball: 472 Yogi Berra Yankees MVP Card.

I left positive feedback because other than the strange overly excessive packaging it was a smooth transaction with safely delivered card. My feedback reads "Good Service. Strange packaging for one card but everything is good"

Strive For '65: Hammerin' Hank In DA House!

Once again I scored a homer, well at least some extra bases, on a high profile player for my Strive For '65 set build. I can now add "Hammerin" Hank Aaron (still the true Home Run King to many a fan) to my list of super players from '65 that I got for much less than expected or what some would say is average. Past "steals toward the set" include Yogi Berra and Harmon "Killer" Killebrew. There are still a few other big names out there that I hope to get for much less such as Mickey Mantle and fellow Yankee Roger Maris.

Hank here I got from Ebay for a bit more than Yogi and Harmon combined before the shipping (after shipping the duo is a little more). Like a few other must haves for this set I sniped this one. I bid my highest of $20 ($20.75?) with 8 minutes to go, and won it for $17 w/ the Free Shipping. It was fortunate that I did aim for a bit higher because at first I was only going to go as high as $15 since within a day to go it had 6 bids at about $6.50. This roll of the dice came up lucky for me not all rolls are that nice. I could have easily spent over $20 for Mr. Aaron's '65 card. In fact I was watching one or two in pretty decent condition at $25 BIN.

1965 Topps Baseball 170 Hank Aaron Braves

(Front and Back)

This brings the total up to 163/599 and gives page 19 two cards out of nine. Oh I also got some Unmarked Checklists 2nd - 5th Series cards 104, 189,  273, 361 for $11.45 Free Shipping. I already had 3 of them but a couple of them were marked. So the total is now 164/599.

A Berra Full of Yogis

For as long as I can remember Yogi Berra has been an icon of Major League Baseball. He is one of the classic vintage players that I keep a lookout for to find a deal on his cards. Most of the cards issued during his playing years and somewhat his managing years are bloody expensive. Anyway I thought it would be fun to show some of his cards that I have. So I will just show some of them mostly because I don't have all of them scanned (and I noticed one of these I didn't have the back scanned silly me)

First here is a card from when he turned coat from New York Yankee to New York Met. It is his 1965 Topps card. This is also a fortunate but sneaky way to mention my "Strive for '65" Goal to have that entire set by April of 2015. I got it from Ebay for a steal back in 2012 for $7.95 + $2.25 shipping. (here is my mention of the card on the TCC forum Steals board. The thread lies because it has been scanned since then).

 1965 Topps Baseball 470 Yogi Berra Mets

(Front and Back)

Next up: From 2005 Donruss Signature Series. I forget if this was a purchase or a trade. Purchase I think along with a handful of other HOF cards. I might have overpaid but I don't recall.

2005 Donruss Signature Series HOF-32 Yogi Berra Yankees

(Front and Back)

Now one of those modern retro cards from 2009 Goodwin Champions made by Upper Deck. I have two of these I think one I had bought and the other I either pulled from a pack or traded for it. I think at one time I might have had 3 of these. Anyway I was lazy a few years back when I scanned it. I had scanned it in the toploader and never got around to scanning the back so the back image appears "Courtesy of COMC.com"
 

2009 UD Goodwin Champions 62 Yogi Berra Yankees

(Front and Back)

Ooh this next one is pretty darn cool. I got this one back in the day from the original source of how you normally got them. It is a food product card. It is card number one from a five card gimmick "pop-up"card set of Hall of Fame players. The idea was to pull the tab on the top up and the card "pops" open. I never to my best recollection "popped" mine. I took it out of the original plastic wrapping. Maybe a bad move there. To think at one time in the late 90s I was tempted to sell it, but NOT NOW. I plan on keeping it I was insane then and didn't remember who was on the card. The number is on the front "1 of 5" but it is not a serial number 1 of 5. I want to get the other four cards some time (hmm I noticed a full set on the bay I started watching it). In 1995 Stouffer's food included these "Legends of Baseball" cards in some of their frozen dinner products. Hmmm back in '95 they might have still made "TV Dinners" for standard ovens with the aluminum foil with special instructions on if you wanted to microwave the meal. I forget exactly what product it came in. Was it meat loaf, or turkey w/ gravy?

 1995 Stouffer's Legends of Baseball Pop-Ups 1 Yogi Berra Yankees

(Front and Back)

Yogi has three sons two of which went into professional sports like dad. Dale followed dad's footsteps into baseball. Here is a father/son card from Topps 1985.

 1985 Topps Baseball 132 Father Yogi Berra Yankees Son Dale Berra Pirates

(Front and Back)

While son Tim decided to go into Football:

 1975 Topps Football 301 Tim Berra Baltimore Colts

(Front and Back)

Strive For 65 Set Build

 

Updated 30 Jan 2024

Note: As I build this set I will update this post. I have now 377/598 63% (379/600 63.2%)

I don't usually set to many goals, and usually not very lofty ones at that. I don't do New Year's Resolutions either. I also don't like to mention my age much but... well next year 2015 will be the 50th Anniversary of the 1965 Topps Baseball set. One of my favorite sets of all-time.

And OH, it also happens to be my birth year. So yeah next year in April I will turn the BIG Five-0. Not really looking forward to that. I had the sudden realization that it would be very very cool to finally complete the flagship set for my birth year by My 50th and the 50th anniversary of said yadda yadda.

 This "card" of me is not a real card.

It is just a digital mock-up I photoshopped,

well MSPaint(ed) (or MS Photo Editor or both) a few years ago.

I used the Jim Hannan card as a key.

So maybe the blogiverse can help me out here by sending me some '65 Mojo preferably by trade or gift or some small $$ sales. Some of those big named Yankees and Dodgers and various other stars will probably be stumbling blocks. I hope not this is a very special achievement.

Believe it or not I've had this '65 Ernie Banks for as long as I can remember, actually I think it was originally my brother's and I traded something for it (a 1970 Fergie Jenkins or 1958 Willie Mays maybe?) Still one of my all-time fave cards in my collection.

Of course I would like to get them in as best condition as possible but I will accept the sort of poor conditioned ones to. One of the big criteria is the backs need to be relatively clean and all the info readable. They can have some off-centering but not too drastic and not any miscuts (unless an upgraded copy is with the said miscut). Checklist cards I'd prefer to be unmarked but will accept ones that are marked a bit. I just hope they aren't the super messed up ones. LOL. Even with some of the duds if I at least get one of each card in the set (even some very poor old beat up ones that went through the mud bath with the bike spokes it was attached to) my goal will have been met. Then I can upgrade later, but of course I would prefer not to have to do much upgrading.

Out of the 598 (well 600 with 2 checklist variants) cards in the set I only have a measly little 94. Not quite a sixth or a fifth even, I might need one of those soon. I have a LONG way to go.

Here are the ones I need:
1965 Topps:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 57, 58, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79a, 79b, 80, 81, 82, 83, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 104, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 119, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 130, 131, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 178, 179, 180, 182, 183, 185, 186, 187, 188, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 196, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 213, 214, 216, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 248, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 256, 257, 258, 259, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 307, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 318, 319, 320, 322, 323, 324, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 389, 390, 392, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 414, 415, 416, 418, 419, 420, 421, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 228, 429, 430, 431, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 442, 443, 444, 446, 447, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 468, 469, 471, 472, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496, 498, 499, 500, 501, 503, 504, 506, 507, 508, 509, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 519, 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527, 528, 530, 531, 532, 534, 535, 536, 537, 538, 539, 540, 541, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546, 547, 548, 550, 551, 552, 553, 554, 555, 556, 557, 558, 559, 560, 561, 562, 563, 564, 565, 566, 567, 568, 569, 570, 571, 572, 573, 575, 579,  580, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586, 587, 588, 589, 590, 591, 592, 594, 596, 597, 598

Checklist 79 Variation:
79a Checklist cards 1-88 - 61 is Cannizzaro
79b Checklist cards 1-88 - 61 is C.Cannizzaro

Card #21 Don Blasingame Senators - the copy I got (long story short) was in worse condition than the sportlots seller had originally stated they refunded me the .18¢ for it and sent it anyway the problem is the back has some paper glued to it (the opposite of paper loss). You can read some of the stuff but not all of it, and removing the extra paper and glue residue if even possible would ruin the card further than it is. So I need an Upgrade which is why it is still on the list and blue. I picked up a copy of this one at my LCS for $2 it is way off center almost a misscut. The front is off-center down and to the right. The back way off-center to the bottom, on the bottom the last of the white box is on the very edge of the card a hair's-width of blue is at the bottom in places.

Hmmm apparently there is a slight variation with card #508 7th Series Checklist Cards 507-598. There is an ever so slight font size variation a Large and a small. Not sure if I'm going to try for this variation or not. I am currently watching an Ebay listing that is selling the pair for about $20.

Notes:
26 Jan 2016: Card #10 NL Pitching Leaders.
23 Jan 2016: SF'65SS: Been Sportlotin'.
22 Jan 2016: 7 more cards including Tommy Harper
20 Jan 2016: Just Jim O'Toole
19 Jan 2016: Wow! Mega Mail Day! 13 Packages ties my all-time record for most packages in a single mailday. Not all PWEs/Bubble Mailers had '65 cards. I did get 13 new ones including League Leaders cards 4 and 9, and Team Cards of Braves, Phillies, Pirates and Tigers.
16 Jan 2016: Three cards came in two team cards plus 61 Chris Cannizzaro from checklist number one card 79. Started Saturday status update "Strive for '65 Status: Mid-January 2016".
13 Jan 2016: Updating from some cards received back in Oct or Nov last year.
07 May 2015: Recently got in 3 cards from another collector as a bonus with some cards from a group box break of newer cards and got #390 Bill Freehan from a Sportslot Auction.
27 Mar 2015: Got card #100 in a 3 card lot of Cardinals cards from an Ebay auction.
21 Mar 2015: Two more cards 200 Joe Torre and 415 Curt Flood
13 Mar 2015: One more card came in from sportlots #127
12 Mar 2015: Playing catch up with this post. In the last month or two I got about a dozen new cards for the set, a few from some auctions I think, a couple from another blogger sent in a PWE with that three pocket (cut from a 9 pocket sheet) filled with cards about 3 to 4 cards per pocket whatever comfortably fits, and some (including a dupe plus one graded) from a sale from a member on the SCF forum.
04 Aug 2014: Got 17 cards for this set from a Secret Santa in July package on Friday 01 Aug 2014. The cards fill up my first complete page, and had the final World Series card I needed for that subset.
18 May 2014: This past week I got about a dozen cards in including the Checklist variations I needed so now I have a full checklist sub-set. So actually the total number is 600 cards not just 598 or 599
25 Apr 2014: Got #170 Hank Aaron and Unmarked Checklists 104, 189, 273, 361
17 Apr 2014: From the Bay #400 Harmon Killebrew ($5.95 +$2 shipping)
31 Mar 2014: Got 4 "damn" Yankees for $25 from TCF forum sale.
29 Mar 2014: Picked up a replacement for card #21 as mentioned above.
24 Mar 2014: I put in an order at "Just Commons" for a bunch of the ones I need,  Not a huge amount aprox. 42 cards in total in either VG or EX/MT for $61.45 most in the $1 to $2 range, one I didn't notice until after I had placed the order that it was a whopping $7.50 one of the EX/MT ones (#559 Ed Bailey SP).

A Six Pack of Sports Books

When getting ready to do a review on a book I read now about 2 years ago (OK so I'm really behind in lots of things) for my personal non-card blog I realized I had a couple of old sports related books, then I thought of a couple of other sports books I had read within the last year or so. I decided to at least mention and show the books. OK so it's not card related but Its a fun sports thing.

The list started growing and next thing I know I had six sports related books I wanted to talk about. Then I realized that three of them were on Baseball and three of them Football. 3 of them are vintage books and 3 are more modern or new. One of the vintage ones I haven't read yet but the others I have read. I just haven't reviewed them yet.
Onto the books first the "Veterans":

The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant

by Douglas Wallop

 The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant covers

In the above picture Top: Original Dust Jacket and actual spine/front cover of book. Bottom: various paperback covers over the years. Includes the more recent "Damn Yankees" cover (blue with kissed baseball from the 1994 revival).

The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant was written in the mid 1950s when the New York Yankees were all but unstoppable and were the Kings of the baseball diamond. It was first published in 1954. The story is the typical "Faustian bargain" of making a deal with the devil. In this case a diehard Washington Senators fan Joe Boyd meets a Mr. Applegate (aka: the Devil) and makes a deal with him to get the Senators into the pennant race Applegate turns frumpy middle-aged Joe Boyd into young studly Joe Hardy the super player that the Senators need to pull them from the division cellar and put them on top of those "Damn Yankees".  Yes this is the book that inspired the Broadway musical "Damn Yankees".  Some of the later printings (Like the one with Gwen Verdon on the cover) have updated the year the story takes place from 1958 to 1964. 



 Original Dust Jacket for Year Yankees Lost Pennant

Very rare (and super duper too damn expensive) dust jacket

advertising the Broadway musical "Damn Yankees"

In 1955 when the musical "Damn Yankees" opened a special flyer was inserted onto (or a sticker put on) the book's dust jacket. I think these were only produced in May 1955 for the musical's opening (I haven't found any good info on this rare gem). Due to the rarity of this advertisement on the dustcover (which in themselves are somewhat of a rarity now) the copies with it on the cover are very expensive. I would love to get a copy of it, but I don't think I ever will due to the price.

The Jim Thorpe Story: America's Greatest Athlete

by Gene Schoor

The Jim Thorpe Story: America's Greatest Athlete by Gene Schoor. Is a truly fascinating biography of one of the greatest if not THE GREATEST all-around athletes of the 20th Century. Originally published in 1951 when Thorpe was still very much alive it ends on a happy note. He died in 1953. The copy I read and have pictured here is the 4th printing from 1969 but still maintains the original text so there is no mention of his death.

My Greatest Day in Football

by Murray Goodman and Leonard Lewin

My Greatest Day in Football by Murray Goodman and Leonard Lewin. Of the books I'm mentioning in this post this one I have not read yet. Originally printed in 1949 the copy I have at the back says it is a reprint that faithfully reprints the original 1949, but I have no idea when it actually was reprinted by Bantam Books my guess is about mid '50s up to maybe mid '60s. My copy is in pretty rough shape as you can see by the scan. The condition of the cover and the golden brown yellowing of the pages leads me to believe my copy is closer to the '50s than '60s. I am worried about trying to read it, just as I was worried when I read my copies of the two books above (The Jim Thorpe Story and The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant)

Next The "Rookies":

Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee

by Allan Barra

Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee by Allan Barra. I have never been a New York Yankees fan, but I have almost always had a soft spot for Yogi. This biography makes him even more likable and tells a lot of the Yogi stories that led to a famous Yogiisms. A "Yogiism" is a strange quote that is credited to Yogi as being something he said at one time. Like "It ain't over till it's over". As many baseball historian/fans know many of the sayings that have become a Yogiism are not necessarily what Yogi really said. "I didn't really say everything I said". Some of them he remembers saying and can verify others he said maybe likely that he said it or something similar that was twisted to become a Yogiism. I think there are more of the latter than the former. After reading this book I have more respect for the man and realize that his neanderthal image was just that. He really is quite an intelligent guy and over the years made some wise investments.

The Book of Deacon: The Wit and Wisdom of Deacon Jones

by Deacon Jones and John Klawitter

The Book of Deacon by Deacon Jones and John Klawitter. This book is a super quick read as it is just basically a book of collected quotes and zen-like sayings. No doubt many of the things in there are things that Decon Jones has said over the years, but a few are so common sense and logical that I have a feeling anybody could write them down in a collection like this and say they originally said them. It is a very enjoyable book.

Safe At Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic

by Alyssa Milano

Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic by Alyssa Milano. This book doubles as an autobiography and a guide to baseball history and slang for becoming a well versed baseball "fanatic". If you thought Alyssa was just a pretty face you are only half right. She may have same silly ideas and occasionally come off as being a California Air-Headed Girl she really knows her Baseball.

Bonus book: Tug McGraw's Scroogie

A Scroogie comic strip clipped from the Washington Post (or maybe the Washington Star)

 Scroogie by Tug McGraw and Mike White. In 1975 a fun comic strip hit the newspapers. I was going to make a separate post about this comic strip and book but when I started this post it seemed like a cool thing to add. Scroogie was written by baseball's Tug McGraw based on his career with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies thus the name for the fictional team depicted in the strips the Pets.

Two books were published of the strips in 1976 and 1977. It seems that the second book is the rarer of the two rare books.

 

Front of "Scroogie" book 1976

Back of "Scroogie" book 1976

There is a second Scroogie book titled "Scroogie 2: Hello There, Ball!"  I don't have a copy but I would love to get one.

Cover of Scroogie 2: Hello There, Ball! 1977

The image of the second Scroogie book I found on the webpage The Comic Treadmill. I have seen several sites make reference to it but they don't have a cover image.