Christmas Gift From Nate - 1969 Topps Set Needs

My buddy, Nate, sent me a few 1969 cards for my set over the course of a couple weeks.  Apparently, he ordered a few and had them all shipped to me directly.  They were some pretty notable cards, starting with the above Denny McLain.

He also picked up two of the World Series Highlights cards and the Charlie Smith card on the right.

Nate has done more this year in helping me with this set than I have.  I really haven't done a whole lot, and I really want to close it out sometime soon and concentrate on other sets.  I just haven't had the time to sit down and search for some of the missing cards.  Maybe at the 2018 National.  Who knows.

Thank you so much for the cards, Nate!  I appreciate it, and they are about to be filed away into my set box.

1969 Topps Set Pickups From The Antique Shop

When I wasn't buying high-value vintage cards or stuff for friends at the Columbia antique shop, I was knocking cards off of my 1969 Topps set wishlist.

I picked up 41 cards that I needed for the set.  After this trip, I need 178 cards to complete the set.  I couldn't believe that I still needed this Brooks Robinson for the set.  I thought I had added it a while ago.

There were a bunch of stars that I picked up,  This Don Drysdale was a nice pickup.  It is far from mint, but it is still a nice addition.  This is actually Drysdale's last Topps card, as he would retire due to chronically sore shoulder during the 1969 season.

This Bob Gibson is nice, but will probably be upgraded at some point.  I didn't notice that it had a big crease near the bottom right corner.  I know not to expect my vintage sets to be mint, so I may ot even upgrade it at all.

I picked up several of the All Star cards that I was missing.  I added this Brooks (again, I thought I had an extra of this from my PC), Willie McCovey, the below Ron Santo and a Bob Gibson.

So, I made a nice dent in the 1969 set.  I am happy with what I spent, and I hope to keep chipping away at this set this year.  It would be really nice to close it out BEFORE the National, that way I can pick up other stuff, but I don't know.  Events are piling up already for me this year, and budgeting is going to be tough.

Ebay Pickup - 1959 Topps Bob Gibson RC

I knocked off a huge part of the 1959 set today when the 1959 Topps Bob Gibson RC came in the mail.  I had gotten the card after I got some money from a trade.  It is obviously not mint, but I really don't care.  I finally have Gibson's RC, and that is a really big RC to knock off.

The back is in a bit better shape than the front.  I find it funny to look at the minor league numbers of a pitcher of Gibson's caliber.  Like I said in my last post about the '59 set, I have a long ways to go, but crossing off Mantle and Gibson have definitely helped me to a foot forward in getting this taken care of.  I'm not sure when my next major purchase from the set will be.  I'm thinking I have my eyes on Clemente or Aaron, but we'll have to see when that will be.

Some More Sportlots Pickups

I was bored the other night, so I checked out Sportlots and knocked a few more cards off of my want list for 1970 and 1971 Topps...

I knocked 4 high numbers off of my 1970 Topps set.  One of which is the above Frank Lucchesi.  I'm winding down on this set, but all that are left are high numbers.  This is still going to take a while, but it is nice to begin seeing a light at the end of the tunnel...

I knocked off 10 more 1971 Topps.  A few were the leaders cards like the NL Batting leaders card above featuring Rico Carty, Joe Torre and Manny Sanguillen.

Spaceman, spin the black circle...  Ahhh, Bill "Spaceman" Lee's crazy a$$.  Have you ever seen him on Ken Burns' Baseball?  Yeah, I think he is completely nuts, but he is always fun to listen to when he gives interviews.

3 Hall of Famers on this NL Strikeout Leaders card.  Not too bad, if you ask me.

Ooh, look, 3 more Hall of Famers, I did pretty well, plus I also knocked off 7 1963 Fleer for a friend of mine who is completing that set, so all in all, it was a good mail day for me.

Hall of Fame Baseball Ebay Success - Bob Gibson

My 36th Hall of Fame signed baseball is of one of (in my mind) the greatest pitchers to ever toe the rubber, Bob Gibson. I have been wanting his autograph for a good while now and I finally got it (along with the aforementioned Sutter and Schoendienst baseballs) at a ridiculously low price. It is JSA authenticated, so I don't have to sweat over the signature. I think it looks amazing.

Gibson played in the majors from 1959 to 1975 (all for the Cardinals). He was the Cy Young Award winner in 1968 and 1970. His 1968 season was so good, not only did he win the Cy Young, but he was also the NL MVP and in the following season, the mound was lowered due to his sheer dominance over the league.

Some surprising statistics I'd like to share:

• He only led the league in wins one time (1970 - 23)
• He only led the league in ERA one time (1968 - 1.12)
• He only led the league in strikeouts one time (1968 - 268)
  

I thought he had to have led the league in those categories art least more than once. Wow. He also only had 5 seasons with 20 or more wins. None of this matters. Ask a Hall of Famer who played in that era and they'll tell you that Gibson was probably the scariest pitcher that they could have faced.

He retired in 1975 at the age of 39 with a career record of 251-174, a 2.91 ERA and 3,117 strikeouts. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981 (his first ballot) with 84.0% of the vote. I would have thought he would have had a higher percentage. I guess that doesn't matter. He's in, of course.

I don't think any of this should cheapen Gibson's legacy at all. In my mind, he is one of the legendary pitchers of all time. If I wanted to pick a pitcher to start game 7 of the World Series, Gibson would be right at the top of my list.

Hidden in my Collection - 2005 UD HOF Bob Gibson

I've been pretty busy lately because I am preparing a bunch of stuff to take to the December 17-19 card show in Raleigh. This will be my first attempt to set up a table at a show and sell stuff. We'll see how it goes. This is the next logical step in my goal to start up some kind of card shop. Wish me luck.
I missed doing one of these posts last week due to how busy I've been, so I wanted to make sure this week's 'Hidden' post was a good one.
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I have already posted on the Upper Deck Hall of Fame set of 2005 when I talked about the Harmon Killebrew that I pulled. I bought the tin from a now-closed shop in Statesville, NC. I remember, it was a Stan Musial tin (which I still have... somewhere). I'm pretty sure I only bought one of them because they were $100 each. I got the Killebrew as a redemption and got this Bob Gibson relic/auto out of the pack. So, technically, this was my first auto of a Hall of Famer. It is a really awesome card, I especially love Gibson's sideburns.
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Gibson was AWESOME in his day, he won 2 Cy Young awards, an MVP, 2 World Series... He is also the reason the pitcher's mound was lowered starting in the 1969 season.