Some Chuck Klein pickups

I have a lot of good cards I've received in my past few COMC shipments that I still haven't featured on this blog.  Their Spring Cleaning sale is about to start I think, and I think some of these I may have picked up in last year's Spring Cleaning sale.  Whenever I got them, though, I might as well show them now.  So here we have three of Phillies great Chuck Klein.

1960 Fleer Chuck Klein.

1960 Fleer Chuck Klein card back.

When I was a kid, there were four Phillies retired numbers, and we saw them in the outfield all the time at all the games Dad and I went to at the Vet.  I should say they were retired "numbers," though.  Two of them were really retired numbers, Robin Roberts and Richie Ashburn.  The other two, Chuck Klein and Grover Cleveland Alexander, were just their names really; they say players didn't wear numbers a long time ago, so they didn't have a number to properly retire.  Klein actually did play partially in the period that players had numbers, but they weren't too consistent about it and he wore a bunch of different numbers so they didn't choose one in particular.  Dad and I went to the games where they retired Schmidt's number and Carlton's number, making the total six at the time.

1961 Fleer Chuck Klein.

1961 Fleer Chuck Klein card back.

I never knew much about these 1960 and 1961 Fleer sets.  They go to show how long Fleer wanted to break into the baseball card business.  I'm glad that both the 1960 Fleer and 1961 Fleer are finally represented in my collection.  In addition to these 1960 and 1961 Fleer Chuck Klein cards, I also got the Grover Cleveland Alexander cards from the two sets, and will show them soon.

1976 ISCA Hoosier Hot-Stove All-Stars Chuck Klein.

Chuck Klein card back.

For each of Klein and Alexander, in addition to the 1960 and 1961 Fleer cards, I also got what I might call a Midwestern oddball.  This one for Klein was issued by the Indiana Sports Collectors Association in 1976.  Everything about this card is awesome, from the fact that the Indiana Sports Collectors Association existed and made cards, to the front photo framed in the shape of Indiana, the picture including the vintage Phillies uniform, and the font on the ISCA logo.  The card back notes that Klein died in 1958, and in 1976 was still "a likely Hall of Fame candidate."  Sure enough, the Veterans Committee enshrined him in 1980.

Thanks for reading!

1990 Topps Minis #42: Tony Fernandez

I say somewhere on this blog that I post cards from the 1990 Topps Mini League Leaders set on Mondays and Wednesdays.  That doesn't mean I do it every Monday and every Wednesday, but if I post one, then it is on a Monday or Wednesday.  I'm traveling now but where I am, it's still Wednesday for another 20 minutes.  So here we are, with card #42, Tony Fernandez of Toronto.

#42, Tony Fernandez.

The Blue Jays had a lot of talent back then, which I guess is why they eventually won back-to-back World Series in 1992 and 1993.  Fernandez left Toronto after 1990, and played two years with the Padres.  He then started 1993 with the Mets but returned to the Jays in time to help them repeat as champions, with 9 RBI in the 1993 Series.  Fernandez was excellent defensively, winning four Gold Gloves at shortstop.  He amassed 2,276 hits in his career.

Tony Fernandez card back.

To earn his way into this league leaders set, Fernandez tied for fourth in the AL in triples with 9.

Thanks for reading!  We're almost through the AL, and we're almost halfway through the set.

Another 1955 Bowman card: Billy Loes

When I posted my newly-acquired 1955 Bowman Mickey Mantle in my last post, I got a few comments that the high numbers in the set can be tough.  So I looked through COMC to see, of the first few dozen of the high numbers, what seemed the toughest, at least as far as COMC is concerned.

Billy Loes.

The worst I saw, of the ones I looked at, was card #240, Billy Loes of the Brooklyn Dodgers.  The current situation is that there are 3 cards, one for $165, one for $82, and one for $52.  I think this has changed from when I first looked, though -- I think there were only two, and they were both around $150 then.  These are all listed from Dean's Cards, which I'm aware can be a bit expensive.  But it was worrying that Dean's was the only one listing this card on COMC.  So I head over to eBay.  There was one cheap listing for the card, with no Buy It Now option.  I bid on the auction, and did win it after three and a half days, for $7.51 plus shipping.  Sure beats paying over $100.

Billy Loes card back.

So, this one particular high number is marked off my list.  A bunch more to go.  For the whole set, I'm now at 85 cards out of 320.

Let's say something now about our subject, Billy Loes.  He pitched for Brooklyn from 1950 through 1956, going 0-1 in their 1955 World Series win.  He then went to Baltimore from 1956 through 1959, and was an All-Star in 1957.  He closed out his career with San Francisco in 1960 and 1961.  Loes put together a career 80-63 record with a 3.89 ERA.

Thanks for reading!  Work continues to be busy, but I do hope to be able to post from time to time.

A big one: 1955 Bowman Mickey Mantle

A few months ago I decided to start working on a 1955 Bowman set; I love the classic design which commemorates the television becoming a major factor in American life.  According to Wikipedia, "Half of all U.S. households had television sets by 1955, though color was a premium feature for many years."  One nice feature of the 1955 Bowman set, other than the classic design, is the small set size: only 320 cards, as compared to the giant 787-card 1972 Topps set I'm also working on.

1955 Bowman Mickey Mantle.

A downside, though, is that there are a few rather expensive cards, as would be expected with a set from the 1950s.  Looking through COMC, the Trading Card Database, and eBay, I determined that it seemed the most expensive card was Mickey Mantle, followed by Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Willie Mays.  Of course there are a number of other moderately expensive cards, including the popular umpire cards.  So as to not feel too daunted by these high-value cards, I decided to get the biggest one out of the way.  So this Mickey Mantle becomes my first good card of him, and becomes the third most expensive card I've ever bought, behind my 1954 Topps Jackie Robinson and my 1940 Play Ball Jimmie Foxx, both of which I've blogged about before.  The card has a crease all the way down, which I think you can see in the picture between him and his name, and some other smaller defects; despite that I'm really very happy with the condition, and it did make it more affordable.

Mickey Mantle card back.

The back has an uncorrected error, getting his birth date wrong.

I'm at 84 out of 320 of these 1955 Bowman; I find that many of them go for about $2, so it's easy to get a bunch of commons, and other than Mantle I've picked up a few of the moderately priced cards as well.  I'm hoping to finish my 1972 Topps set this year; I'm at 600 out of 787 on that, including about half of the high numbers.  When that's done this 1955 set will be my main focus for collecting.

Thanks for reading!

1990 Topps Minis #41: George Bell

We have another of the 1990 Topps Mini League Leaders set, today with #41, George Bell.  The teams are alphabetical by geographic location, with the AL teams first, then the checklist, then the NL teams.  So today we begin the last of the AL teams, Toronto.  Soon we'll move on to Atlanta.

#41, George Bell.

George Bell was in the AL, so I didn't know too much about him, other than that he was the 1987 AL MVP.  The Blue Jays had a lot of talent back then but it seemed hard for them to put it all together for a few years.  Bell was with the Jays until 1990, and it wasn't until 1992 that they had the first of their back-to-back World Series wins.  Bell played with the Cubs in 1991, and then with the White Sox in 1992 and 1993 before retiring.  Bell is a member of the Carribean Baseball Hall of Fame and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

George Bell card back.

Bell earned his way into this set by finishing 4th in the AL in doubles in 1989, with 41.  His home run production had declined significantly from his 1987 AL MVP year, but his RBI numbers were still solid, finishing sixth in the AL with 104.  He also tied for sixth in runs and placed tenth in hits.

Thanks for reading!  Next up are a few more Blue Jays.

1990 Topps Minis #40: Ruben Sierra

We have another from the 1990 Topps Mini League Leaders set, today with card #40, Ruben Sierra of the Texas Rangers.

#40, Ruben Sierra.

I liked Sierra back in the day, largely because he was one of the many great rookies from the 1987 Topps set.  And he didn't just have his rookie card there, he also had a Record Breaker, as youngest player to switch-hit home runs in a game.  I never saw much of the Rangers, though, being an NL fan and living on the east coast.

Ruben Sierra card back.

Sierra had a solid 1989 to earn his way into this league leaders set, leading the AL in RBI with 119 and in triples with 14.  He also tied for 3rd in runs and tied for 5th in hits.  The small print says that he finished 6th in home runs with 29.  It was a different time; last year and in 2017, it took 38 home runs to be tied for 6th place in the AL, and the two years before that it was 40.

Thanks for reading!  Next cards in the set are Toronto Blue Jays, and then we're done with the AL.

Thanks, Night Owl!

A while ago, Night Owl put up his wantlist for 1982 Fleer.  I had opened a few packs in the early days of this blog, and had some from my original collection as well, and sent a few dozen cards his way.  He returned the favor, and here are the Phillies and one Pirate I got in exchange.
When he asked what I wanted in return, I first thought about the overwhelming bulk of my collection, and said that I'd like any pre-1994 Phillies and Pirates oddballs he might have to spare.  But then I thought about what complements my collection, and asked for some modern cards, since I have almost no modern cards.  I asked in particular for whatever he could send to commemorate the 2008 Phillies World Series winning team in my collection.  And here we have them: Hamels, Victorino, Rollins, Howard.
And another Rollins, and Utley, Ruiz, and Burrell.  I grew up in the Philadelphia region, in Delaware, which could be considered far suburbs of Philly.  I went to college in Pittsburgh, grad school in North Carolina, and then worked in New York and then South Carolina.  Then I took a job in Philly starting in fall 2008.  I moved back home just in time to see these guys win it all.  It was a great time, and I'm glad I have them in my collection now.
Night Owl took care of both of my requests, as this TCMA Wes Covington and SSPC Johnny Oates show.  Interestingly, I posted a different TCMA Wes Covington not long ago, of him with the Braves.  The main things I know about Johnny Oates are that he was the Orioles manager when I was in high school, and that he is one of the several players and managers that died of a similar brain cancer, including some other Phillies (Darren Daulton and Tug McGraw).
The lone Pirate in the haul is this Topps Big of Jose Lind.  I really liked those Topps Big sets back in the day, and I didn't have this one of Lind.
Then we have two Kellogg's cards, in various stages of beat-up condition, Dick Selma and Willie Montanez.  I think the Montanez is my favorite of all the cards Night Owl sent; I'm a sucker for Kellogg's.  The 1982-style Ryan Howard is probably the runner-up.  And the Ruiz with the rookie cup is awesome.
Finally, there were a handful more.  I don't have the stamina to write about all these guys, but I sure appreciate the cards.  So, thanks Night Owl!  And thanks, everyone, for reading!