A Few Set Need Pickups From The National

The National wasn't all autographs.  I also knocked out a few set needs from two of the vintage sets I have been slowly working on.  I've been chipping away at the 1955 Bowman and 1962 Topps sets.  I didn't get any 1964 or 1967 Topps while I was there, mainly because it was so hard to get into any of the tables.

Still, I added around 10 cards, each to the 1955 Bowman and 1962 Topps sets.

I didn't add any huge stars to the sets, but there were a bunch of Yankees in thr 1962 pile like the above Elston Howard, a Bobby Richardson, a Whitey Ford in action, etc.

I have updated my needs list, so they are finally accurate, for now.

Vintage Card Pickups From The Card Shop

One of the things I miss the most from my time helping out at the card shop in Winston-Salem was when folks would bring in their cards that they wanted to sell.  Lots of times, the cards they were dumping were garbage, but every now and then someone would come in with a shoebox full of vintage and I would enjoy countless hours of sorting and pricing the cards, and sometimes I would have the opportunity to buy the cards for myself, depending on the price that the person wanted.

Well, that shop is closed, has been for 3 and a half years now, and I live clear across the state.  The shop owner here in Winterville knows I am a huge fan of vintage, so when I walked in there yesterday, he handed me a stack of cards that he had just purchased off of someone.  The top card was a 1958 Mantle, so I knew he scored big.  There ended up being 3 or 4 Mantles, 3 or 4 Willie Mays, a '62 Clemente, a '63 Ford, several of the '62 Babe Ruth Story cards, and some other nice early to mid 60s cards.

I decided that I really liked the above 1963 Topps Warren Spahn, just because, and I picked it up for $25.00.  The card is in great shape, as you can see from the scan.

Since Windell (the shop owner) made me a good deal, I also picked up a couple 1967 Topps cards, even though I haven't officially started my set.  I got this Whitey Ford and the below Elston Howard for really good prices ($8 for Ford, $5 for Howard) and can add them to my set.

I really wish they carried more vintage cards at my local shop, but they don't.  I have to wait til September 27 and 28 before I can go to my next card show, so I'll just bide my time until I can get some good steals on nice vintage.  I also have my birthday coming up, so maybe someone will help me with some set needs, as well.

Amazing Mail From the Commish

Amazing.  I got an email the other day from Commish Bob saying he had some 1959 Topps cards for my want list.  I thought, cool, he will help me knock off two or three cards.  Heh.  I got more than two or three cards.  Try 45.

There weren't any huge stars, but there were some big names.  Like the above Elston Howard.  This is a really awesome card, even thought I am definitely not a Yankee fan.  I do appreciate their history and I know Howard was a key component of their history.

 Here is one of another really good player, Rocky (Rocco) Colavito.  Power hitting Colavito played from 1955 to 1968 and hit 374 home runs over his career.  Not too bad!

Finally, here is one from a great TTM signer, Bob Turley.  Turley is also a former Yankee (blehh) but he is also a former Oriole (Yaaay!), and he signed a bell for me TTM a while back, so he is alright in my book.

I really don't know what to say, Commish Bob really came through for me and I really wasn't expecting it.  All of the cards he sent me were ones that had been upgraded in his set, but they fit right into mine, condition-wise.  I think there might be 2 out of the whole stack that I will end up changing out in the end.

Thanks, Commish!  I'm going to have to hook you up with some Orioles stuff, if I can part with any of it.  Thanks again!  Check out the Commish's blog, '59 Topps: one f/g card at a time.