Elvin Hayes: Some cards

I have often said I'm not really into basketball especially now-a-days. I hardly follow it anymore. I used to follow it some as a kid when the Washington team was called the Bullets not Wizards and the uniforms were better fitting. The jerseys didn't hang down too low, and the shorts weren't super baggy like gaucho skirt-pants. The days before Michael Jordan and before star athletes had the attitudes they all seem to have now.

Anyway one of the Washington Bullets from when I was really a fan (as apposed to the collector "fan" that I am now) is Elvin Hayes. Here is a card of his I have already mentioned when I talked about having the completed 1975-76 Topps Bullets Team Set (link to the post Elvin is mentioned in at bottom)

1975-75 Topps Basketball - 60 Elvin Hayes

These next two cards are "Tall Boys". I used to get confused as to which one was in better (or worse) condition.  There is already a guy who blogs about Poor Old Baseball Cards and Football Cards he mainly collects just baseball but has a handful of football cards. Poor Old Basketball cards and Poor Old Hockey Cards need collector's love too.

I used to think this first of the two was in worse shape because it was older and had a rough life in my family's house over 30some years. It spent many years abandoned in dresser drawers, shoe boxes and the basement utility/storage room. Ironically it's the newer of the two cards that is in the poorer shape.

For the first Tall Boy (from when Elvin was on the San Diego Rockets) the corners are dinged and slightly rounded, there is light creasing especially near the bottom, the centering if off left/right by about 20/80? The centering on the back is a little better but still a tiny bit off. At first glance the card is not that bad looking.

1970-71 Topps Basketball - 70 Elvin Hayes - Rockets

The centering on the back as I said is a bit better. The only reason I wanted to show the back is because of the cartoon. Oh I love the days when the backs of cards had some useful stats AND a cartoon about the player on the back.

1970-71 Topps Basketball - 70 Elvin Hayes - Rockets (back)

Now this next card. The corners are very rounded and fraying, there are several creases most seem to be mild to severe creases with the biggest one a vertical crease almost through the entire length. It almost looks like Elvin is being struck by lightening.

1976-77 Topps Basketball - 133 Elvin Hayes AS - Bullets

1976-77 Topps Basketball - 133 Elvin Hayes AS - Bullets (back)

For nostalgic reasons (after composing this post) I started getting back into 1970s Bullets cards (and earlier) and maybe some of the key star players from other teams but only Pre-1980. That is partly why I've decided to talk about those Elvin Hayes cards and not get rid of them. The only basketball cards I will get from after 1980 are Bullets and maybe Wizards in their Washington Uniforms.

Previous Bullets Link:
Bullets 1975-76 Topps: Chenier to Kozelco

'68 Killebrew All-Star

Not really a "filler" post, but rather a "spread them out" post due to an onslaught of auction wins from sportlots.com. This one came all on it's lonesome on 03 February 2012. The only bummer (which fortunately didn't matter much in this case) was it came in a PWE (Plain White Envelope) in just a cardsaver. I've ranted many times about these things and how they are not good for shipping cards in. They are OK for storing cards in or for displaying cards in but they suck for shipping. A few days later I received some cards (ironically some other 1968 cards) that were also in a PWE but they were first wrapped in plastic wrap and the plastic wrap taped to a piece of cardboard and then sandwiched between that piece of card board and another piece of cardboard. The two pieces of cardboard were taped together and then put in the PWE. That is a little bit safer. Anyway the card I got is this:

 1968 Topps Baseball - 361 Harmon Killebrew AS - Twins

1968 Topps Baseball - 361 Harmon Killebrew AS - Twins (puzzle back)

I'm not sure but I think this is the first 1968 Topps All-Star card I've had. I may have had a few as a kid but I don't recall and since my pre-teen/teen years when I really got back into the hobby seriously I don't recall having one, at one point I didn't like their look. As a kid I loved the puzzle backed cards, unfortunately I rarely had a full puzzle to enjoy, but putting the pieces I had together to see which ones I needed was fun. All the '68 All-Star cards had a puzzle piece on the back from one of two puzzles. This blog here 1968 Topps Baseball explains and shows the completed puzzles. Oddly enough at one time I was "anti-puzzle" probably because of the frustration of not having a complete puzzle to enjoy.

ON a different somewhat related to this card note: I am toying with the idea of making a Senators/Nationals specific card blog in the near future. Harmon "Killer" Killebrew was one of the Washington Senators who transitioned into an original Minnesota Twin when the team moved in '61. Most fans seem to remember him as a Twin rather than a Senator. I need to remind myself to link this post to that new blog whenever I get around to making it.

Previous Posts:
Pretty Good '68 Dodgers Poker Hand
1968 Topps Baseball
2010 Topps Baseball Million Card Giveaway

Vintage Ramskins 3 Feb - Part 2 Philadelphia

OK so here is part 2 of my sportlots card onslaught for 03 February 2012. The Philadelphia Cards. I don't have much to say about these cards other than I like them and I don't want to go into the whole contract thing about Philadelphia Cards vs. Topps and the NFL vs. AFL and then the merge later on thing. Other blogs and card websites tell the story much better than I ever could. So just enjoy the cards.

First up is the only Redskin in this batch of four cards.EEK this card is as old as I am.

1965 Philadelphia 194 Vince Promuto - Redskins

 Next up a trio 1966 Philadelphia's. I like this particular year of Philly cards probably because the yellow banner at the top looks kind of like the vintage magazine covers from that era Like Sports Illustrated. OK so maybe not exactly, I'm not sure if any magazines from that era had a yellow (or some other color) banner at the top, but it looks like it should be on a magazine. One of my first cards from this set is Merlin Olsen's Card #102 (which I feature in my blog logo at top - or one of my blog logos if it currently is not featured)

 1966 Philadelphia 98 Marlin McKeever Rams

The odd and slightly annoying thing about these 1960s era Philadelphia cards is the "Guess Who?" questions on the back, the answers given are to a question on another card. I'm not sure how they determined which answer to put on which card they appear to be totally random. For instance this card's back (card 98) gives the answer for card number 42's question and the answer for this card's question is found on card number 154. A better way to do it is to put the answer on the next card, then that will leave one card without a question? Another way it has been done is to put the answer at the bottom of the card and upside down.

1966 Philadelphia 98 Marlin McKeever Rams (back)

So here is is QB from the 1965 Los Angeles Rams team. Bill Munson played on the Rams from 1964-67, his played on a few other teams until 1979. Tragically Bill died at age 58 found drown in his swimming pool on 10 July 2000.

1966 Philadelphia 101 Bill Munson - Rams

This next card is one of the Team Play cards which even though there are Rams in the picture, the card and the play is actually for the Minnesota Vikings. That year the card set was organized alphabetically by The Teams city, the card order was the Team card usually a team photo (1966 was the Atlanta Falcons first season so their team card featured the team logo), the featured players and an In Action Play card (again a team logo card for Atlanta). That is part of why I like many of the vintage years the cards were well organized. Now who knows what their reasons for the particular order they put the cards in is? The play on this card (from the game played 03 October 1965) gained a first down for Fullback Bill Brown despite Merlin Olsen's efforts spoiled by Larry Bowie.

1966 Philadelphia 117 Minnesota Vikings Team Play Card

1966 Philadelphia 117 Minnesota Vikings Team Play Card (back)

Vintage Ramskins 3 Feb - Part 1 Topps

This is part one of two posts of some Vintage RamSkins (Rams + Redskins = RamSkins) I got nine cards on 03 February 2012 from one sportlots seller I have dealt with before OK lets get on with the roll call.

First Up Here's Johnny! John Carson, not the late late-night talk show host but rather the Washington Redskin End.

1958 Topps 47 John Carson - Redskins

The cartoon on the back is hard to read. The answer to the question: "What is John Carson's nick-name?" - "Long John because he uses his height to catch passes". The cartoon shows a pirate reaching for a football pass.

1958 Topps 47 John Carson - Redskins (back)

Next up: 1959 Topps 15 Del Shofner - Rams Don't know what to say about this one.

1959 Topps 15 Del Shofner - Rams

The back's scratch off "Magic Answer" looks to be incomplete or it's an order for a Chinese restaurant.

1959 Topps 15 Del Shofner - Rams (back)

OK so at first this card doesn't seem to fit because the player is in a previous team's uniform The Pittsburgh Steelers. 1969 Topps 111 Roy Jefferson - Steelers. Roy became a Redskin in 1971.

1969 Topps 111 Roy Jefferson - Steelers

This next player has a solid strong name for a Tackle Rock.

1969 Topps 146 Walter Rock - Redskins

It's Rookie Time. From 1975 a player who would have his career cut short by a horrible leg injury Joe Theismann. Joe started his pro career in the CFL (Canadian Football League) on the Toronto Argonauts. Although this is Joe's Rookie Topps Card and Rookie NFL card it is not his TRUE Rookie card because he had a 1971 O-Pee-Chee Rookie Card when he debuted with the Argonauts. So Canadians are laughing at us silly American's thinking this is Joe's RC!

1975 Topps 416 Joe Theismann RC- Redskins

That does it for part one. The next post part two the conclusion is the Philadelphia Cards will be posted "tomorrow" in about two hours. Gotta love scheduled posting.

1967 Rams Logo

This is a quicky "filler" post about just a single card. This one is growing to be my fave generic Los Angeles Rams card. I got this card from sportlots.com on 25 January 2011, from the same dealer I got a couple of 1960 Topps Football Redskins from my replacement Ralph Guglielmi card and "The Other Ralph" Ralph Felton (as mentioned in the previous post from yesterday).

 1967 Philadelphia - 96 Los Angeles Rams Team Card

This single color line-drawing logo was the Rams logo from 1950 - 1972 (according to sportslogos.net a pretty reliable source). They slightly changed the logo in 1973 by coloring in the horns a golden yellow that was their primary logo until 1980.

1967 Philadelphia 0 96 Los Angeles Rams Team Card Back

Previous Posts:

Upgrade Update or Two Ralphs (Make that 3)

Upgrade Update or Two Ralphs (Make that 3)

Set the wayback machine for 1960 or 2010, when I made this post on 1960 Topps cards which included my Ralph Guglielmi "filler" card, whichever you prefer. For some reason I used to think his name was Steve something. Well since my post in 2010 I got an upgrade of this card on 25 January 2011. The upgrade is a pretty nice card, the corners are sharp and there are no creases like my original, it has some small centering issues front and back that is more noticeable on the back. The only drawback is a very very common one for this particular year. The cartoon on the back does not show up it has been worn out over time or had gunk on it that made scratching it impossible. There is some minor flaking to indicate scratching attempts and there is a hint of some of the light ink they used for the cartoons. Here is the Before and After:

1960 Topps - 123 Ralph Guglielmi -Redskins - Filler card

1960 Topps - 123 Ralph Guglielmi -Redskins - Replacement card

1960 Topps - 123 Ralph Guglielmi -Redskins - Replacement card (back)

Now this next Ralph card you can see the cartoon on the back. OK so this is a different Ralph, Ralph Felton also of the Redskins.

1960 Topps - 129 Ralph Felton - Redskins

1960 Topps - 129 Ralph Felton - Redskins (back)

The cartoon reads:

"I just had a fight with a big bully."

"Who won?"

"I don't know I left in the middle"

 
Here are side by side comparisons front and back of Mr. Guglielmi's card. The original filler is on the left and the replacement upgrade is on the right.

Oh and since that original posting there has been a blog made for "Poor Old Football Cards" by the guy who has the "Poor Old Baseball Cards" Blog (surprise, surprise). He collects mostly baseball but has a handful of football cards. So someone else will have to make a "Poor Old Hockey Cards" blog for me to follow and a "Poor Old Basketball Cards" blog for fans of that sport to follow.

Previous Posts:
Ralph Guglielmi (tag)
1960 Topps Les Richter Rams among others

2007-08 Hockey Goal-d

Got this current Washington Capital on 03 February 2012 from sportlots.com along with a bunch of other cards from three dealers. I decided to break up by dealer/grouping to keep from having one huge post. I hate when I surf the internet and have to read a webpage that would be 20 or more printed pages. Now on to the card:

2007-08 Fleer Hot Prospects 157 Tomas Vokoun - Panthers

This is a 2007-08 Fleer Hockey Hot Prospects Hot Commodities 157 Tomas Vokoun - Panthers it is serial numbered on the front #199/999. Since Vokoun was traded to the Florida Panthers from the Nashville Predators on the day of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft this would be one of his first cards as a Panther.

Pretty Good '68 Dodgers Poker Hand

On Saturday 04 February 2012 the sportlots onslaught continued (Oh it is not over yet, far from it). Due to the amount of stuff I have backlogged and the amount that is coming in I won't 'splain I'll just show. I got five 1968 Topps Baseball Los Angeles Dodgers, one of which I already had but they were a set lot so no picking.

1968 Topps Baseball 15 Ron Hunt

1968 Topps Baseball 249 Bill Singer

1968 Topps Baseball 298 Jim Brewer

1968 Topps Baseball 398 Jim Grant

1968 Topps Baseball 472 Walt Alston

 I mentioned that one of the cards I had previously. That would be the Jim Brewer. Here is a side by side comparison. As you can see they both seem to be in pretty good condition, except the one on the right (the newer one) has a light vertical crease that runs about 2/3 of the card (near the center from the bottom edge to roughly Jim's left shoulder) in the scan it looks like a very long loose string or cord hanging from Jim's waist.

Previous Posts:

Jim Brewer (tag for Jim Brewer)

1968 Topps Baseball (Includes previous mention of card #298 Jim Brewer)

Kirk's Knook: Super Bowl 46

CONGRATULATIONS New York Giants

I posted my reactions/comments of this year's Super Bowl on my regular blog, I'm too lazy to make any additional changes and I wanted to see how blogger's "link to this post" actually worked between your own blogs Kirk's Knook: Super Bowl 46

Before There Was Tebow

For those who thought Tim Tebow and his "Tebow" ritual was something brand spanking new. Well it wasn't that sort of thing has been going on for years. Players have been going down on one knee for many years. Here is a 20 year old (OK 21 now) example of "Tebowing" before it was known as that.

1991 Score 220 Keith Byars - Eagles

OK so Keith there isn't exactly praying there, it looks more like he is crying. Bad Example but the thought is there. Sheesh I can't believe I even wasted time posting on this subject, but when I noticed this card in my collection I thought I just had to mention it. Maybe when I have more copious free time I will show more "Before There Was Tebow" cards if I have any.