Birthday Gift From Tomie - 1963 Fleer Brooks Robinson

My friend and coworker, Tomie, surprised me at my birthday party with this awesome 1963 Fleer Brooks Robinson.  It was made that much better to learn that Tomie had gotten his card from our mutual friend, Neil.  Since this came out of Neil's personal collection of 1963 Fleer, it means even more.  Neil's first memories of baseball cards were of his dad selling 63 Fleer to convenience stores back then, since his dad was a supplier to those stores.  So, that set and this card have a special connection with him, and that isn't lost on me.

Both Tomie and Neil know how much I love Brooks, and adding this card to my collection is really special!  Thanks to the both of you!

A Couple Pickups From The Card Show

I didn't buy a single card for myself at the card show.  I purchased a few cards for a friend of mine that I thought he would enjoy, however.  I figured I would post them because they aren't ones that would normally end up on this blog.

The first is a 1950 Royal Pudding cutout of Ray Scarborough.  I learned of Ray Scarborough through my friend not too long ago.  He was a pitcher for the Senators, Red Sox, Yankees and Tigers from 1942, 43 and 1946 to 1953.  He had a career record of 80-85 with an ERA of 4.13 and 564 strikeouts.

After his playing career was over, he retired to Mount Olive, NC (which is about an hour or so from where I now live) and opened an oil and supply company.  He also helped to establish the baseball program at Mount Olive College.

My friend knew Mr. Scarborough personally, so anytime I can find something of his, I try to pick it up.

Additionally, I just thought this card looked really cool, so, I think it will be a nice little something to send his way.

I'm also helping my friend work on the 1963 Fleer set and I was able to pick up the short printed Joe Adcock that he needed for his set.

The card is pretty sharp, even though I scanned it crooked.

I had never heard of Adcock, so a little checking on baseball-reference.com showed that he played in the majors from 1950 to 1966 for the Reds, Braves, Indians and Angels.  He was a pretty good power hitter, hitting 336 homers in his career with 1,832 hits and a .277 batting average.

Sometimes it is far more fun to find stuff for others than it is for yourself, and this trip to the card show definitely showed that.  I also got to see some cards that I probably wouldn't have looked twice at otherwise.