Five stars from 1955 Bowman

Many of my posts lately have focused on my 1955 Bowman set project.  That's because it's my main collecting focus now.  I've accomplished most of my collecting goals for this, my renewed interest in collecting which started two years ago.  When I finish my 1972 Topps set and my 1955 Bowman set, I plan to be done. 

Roy Campanella.

So, let me show a few of the stars I picked up lately.  This is my second good Campanella card, after the 1957 Topps card I showed recently.  One unanswered question I have for my collection goals is whether I'll also pick up a nice PSA-graded card of Campanella.  It probably depends on how much room I have in the box I store the graded cards in.

Hoyt Wilhelm.

This is my only good card of Hall-of-Fame reliever Hoyt Wilhelm.  I always heard that the reason Lee Smith wasn't in the Hall was that the criteria for relievers wasn't clear, but somehow that didn't stop guys like Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, and even Bruce Sutter.  I'm really glad they finally saw fit to induct Lee Smith.

Phil Rizzuto.

I've never been a fan of Phil Rizzuto, who I mainly know of from his 1980s commercials for The Money Store.  It seems clear to me that the only reason Rizzuto is in the Hall is that he was a Yankee when the Yankees were great.  So I didn't insist on condition on the Rizzuto card, accepting a huge crease down the front so that I didn't have to pay as much.

Minnie Minoso.

Then we have Orestes "Minnie" Minoso, the only non-Hall-of-Famer in this post, but who has been a credible candidate for enshrinement.  Minoso started out in the Negro Leagues and then became the first black player for the White Sox in 1949.  Minoso racked up 1963 MLB hits.  Of course there's no telling what stats he might have racked up had he had a fair shot at playing in the bigs the whole time.

Whitey Ford.

Then we have Whitey Ford; I featured my other good Whitey Ford cards and autograph in a previous post.  I was disappointed when I found out that Ford was a cheater, as he admitted in his autobiography, cutting balls at least towards the end of his career.  But I do have a good memory at least, which is that when Dad and I got the autograph of Whitey Ford, I could tell that Dad was really happy to see and him and talk to him for that brief moment.  Ford would have been one of the dominant pitchers of Dad's childhood.

Thanks for reading!