1972 Laughlin Great Feats of Baseball #5, George Sisler

For a team with rare on-field success (a handful of winning seasons and 1 pennant in half a century), the old St. Louis Browns fielded plenty of HOF-caliber players. "Gorgeous George" Sisler proved one of their best, batting over .400 twice, winning the AL's first MVP award in 1922, and setting a single-season hits record that stood for 80 years. (Full stats at Baseball-Reference.)

Card front (blank back)

Artist Bob Laughlin turned this clean, nostalgic art style into two lines of business during the 1970s. At the candy counter, Fleer published his World Series cards (1971 #5 profile here) for several years, possibly until 1980. They also planned to collaborate on these "Great Feats" cards until Topps printed their own 1971 "Greatest Moments" set. Fleer ultimately backed out of the plan, so Laughlin sold it by mail order and continued to self-publish oddball sets throughout the decade. ("Long Ago Black Stars" is my favorite.)

Mail order ad for 1972 Great Feats 

For more info on Laughlin's sets and overall excellent card research, read "How Topps Foiled Fleer's Plans" at the superlative Fleer Sticker Project. (It also provided the ad scan above.)

Value: Most of the set features well-known players, so singles can run up to $10.

Fakes / reprints: While not technically a reprint, Laughlin produced versions with both red and blue borders. A year further removed from the Topps set, Fleer decided in 1973 to go ahead with a "Famous Feats" set that reuses some pictures from this set.

2017 National Sports Collectors Convention recap

2017 set my new high water mark for hours on the National floor. Most years, I duck out for city sights at least one day, even at shows in Atlantic City. I skipped that tradition this year, as my "Chicago brother" moved west to Seattle earlier this year and I no longer have that connection to his Wrigley Field side of town. To keep a long story short, more hours on the National floor meant more cards came home with me!

Each National show occupies a full week, Monday to Sunday. Monday's "set up day" for most dealers, as they bring trucks and cases full of products onto the floor through massive loading docks. Dealers spend a lot of Tuesday deep in buy/sell/trade negotiations with each other and I'm sure the corporate sponsors like Topps and PSA do a bunch of face-to-face business. Wednesday afternoon's the first day open to the public and I flew in midday from Boston to start shopping and catch up with fellow OBC collectors. Early highlights included these $1 box finds.

National show floors comprise hundreds of tables and millions of things to throw money at. Single-minded collectors stick to their planned wantlists and budgets, despite temptations galore from all sports and eras. I am not that single-minded and wander within The Rules. I did OK this year.

The Rules (...are more what you call, 'guidelines')

1. Buy more cards for yourself than to trade with other collectors - MOSTLY YES
2. Take the show row-by-row and table-by-table - SORTA YES
3. Don't yield to the haze of shiny baubles, buying stuff you don't want - MOSTLY YES

Number two's a problem because you need to stop for restrooms every now and then. (Heh heh, "number two" heh heh.) Despite my bladder's best wishes, there are not restrooms neatly placed at the end of every row.

Number three's a problem when you see tables with OMG is that a great deal prices on them. Those $1 cards were great deals, BUT not on my wantlists, violating number one. (They're all in the hands of other OBC collectors now, so friends did benefit.)

Show surprise #1: Cheap 1952 Topps

Not sure why, but you could find commons for under $5 at a bunch of tables. Over the past few years, eBay tilted closer to $7+ per card, so this was a pleasant surprise and enough reason to start a low-number 1952 set. I swung a pair of larger deals and bought 100+ cards for ~$3/card.

1952 Topps #5 black and red backs

Show surprise #2: Unreasonable 1930s prices

Banged up 1930s appear to have jumped from $8/card to $12-20/card when I wasn't looking. Would've come up well short of my National goals if I hadn't been willing to pay more. Landed about two dozen hits in that "new price range" during the week. Biggest hit, 1933 World Wide Gum #84 of backup catcher & occasional spy Moe Berg for $70.

Show surprise #3: I bought football cards

A football-only dealer sold me a near-set (20/24) of the 1933 Sport Kings Varsity Football game for $400, $20/card.

The card-flipping Varsity Football game remains hard to find at any show anywhere. Now I only need four cards to complete the game card set. Unfortunately, playing the game also required "score charts" I've never, ever seen. They'd bring to life the game situations described on card backs, probably by tracking down, distance, and time remaining. I'll make one up from scratch, if the authentic score chart search continues to prove futile.

Show surprise #4: Boy Scouts

As exception to my 1930s woes, I made five hits to this 1933 Goudey 48-card set about the Scouts themselves and a variety of nature topics. Love the art style.

Show goal success: stocked up on 1970s Laughlin sets in earnest, including World Series, Famous Feats, and Wildest Days & Plays. Robert Laughlin's standout art almost defines "oddball baseball" in its breadth of subject matter and card stock size. Happy to find his cards for 50c and $1 throughout the show. (See my past Laughlin posts for details.)

1970s Laughlin/Fleer Famous Feats & World Series cards

Show non-surprise: Price-grousing

If there's one enduring complaint I have about the National, it's that many dealers do most of their business buying & selling large lots with other National dealers, so grading and pricing for collectors becomes an afterthought. Other than Varsity Football, a $400 lot buy, my prewar sets saw limited action because things under EX had 30-50% NM book asking prices, even if tradition anchors poor ~5% and VG ~20%. I found myself back on eBay a few times during the show itself, buying cards on "real" condition pricing after seeing cloud-level show prices.

This poor-fair 1951 Topps Teams card proved an exception at $10. (I saw several other fair-good examples at the show for $30+.)

There's not a true solution to my complaint, other than being willing to shop online instead of the booths in front of you. I assume that's why sponsors bring so many autograph guests to the show: you can't replicate that in-person experience online the way you can for cards, so you don't lose those buyers to eBay.

Back to the bargain boxes

$1 box Laughlin World Series with Babe Ruth

$1 box 1971 Willie Mays

50c trimmed 1963 Topps with 2892 career HRs

Speaking of 50c/$1 finds like the three above, watch for a bargain box themed blog giveaway later this week! It's been too long since I held one. Anyone else make it to the National and have finds to share?

1978 Laughlin Long Ago Black Stars Baseball #5, Leon Day

This is a card with real art, something that stands apart from "dude wearing hat" or "guy holding bat." Bob Laughlin puts Mr. Day at the ready, a whip ready to crack. Shadows obscure much of his face and right arm, but highlight the gripped ball. (Looks like a curve, and apparently Leon threw a good one.)

The Negro League Baseball Players Association site profiles most of its players. Day's includes this quote from multi-league star Monte Irvin.

"People don't know what a great pitcher Leon Day was. He was as good or better than Bob Gibson. He was a better fielder, a better hitter, could run like a deer. When he pitched against Satchel, Satchel didn't have an edge. You thought Don Newcombe could pitch. You should have seen Day! One of the best complete athletes I've ever seen."

Check out the full profile list, tagged for MLBers and HOFers: Negro League Baseball Players.

Leon remained active into the 1950s, well after Jackie Robinson took the field in Brooklyn, but couldn't catch "it" (meaning baseball integration). In other words, young bucks grabbed major league attention, but catch-all players like Day didn't get offers to fill what were probably very few MLB roster spots.

Value: Bob Laughlin printed a wide variety of oddball issues and sold them directly to collectors. Many current dealers only carry full sets, but I found this NM single for $10. That's about the most you'd pay for one card; Leon Day ranks as a "star" from this set, since he reached the HOF in 1995.

Fake / Reprints: Haven't seen any Laughlin reprints in the market and assume the demand's too low to be worthwhile.

1974 Fleer Baseball Wildest Days and Plays #5, Most Tied Game Ever

This post's a chance to return to one of my favorite baseball card eras, the growth of 1970s oddball publishing. In collecting terms, "oddball" typically refers to sets with short print runs or unusual subjects, often sold directly to collectors instead of wax-wrapped for stores. Baseball artist Bob Laughlin created many such sets over the decades, doing both self-published work and sets like this one for Fleer, itself a company that spent many years jousting with Topps over the right to make "real" (non-oddball) player cards.

If you haven't read much about Laughlin's work, start with the 1st Issue of Inside Pitch over at The Fleer Sticker Project. It's a great profile of Bob's sets, advertising, and the 1970s Topps and Fleer zeitgeist. (It also notes that Laughlin first sold this set to collectors in 1974, but it's often misdated 1973 by catalogs.)

Each card from Fleer's Wildest Days and Plays is like an unusual fact you'd find sprinkled into a sports almanac, but on cardboard. The set's #5 highlights a statistical oddity from Saturday, August 13, 1910, the second game of a Pittsburgh-Brooklyn doubleheader.

Thanks to Google news archives, you can read original coverage of this doubleheader game from the Pittsburg Press.

Pittsburgh Press game headline, August 14, 1910

While searching Pittsburg Press archives for game info, I also came across this comic of the Pirates on a late-season chase after Chicago for the NL crown. Unfortunately for the hometown faithful, Chicago went on to win the pennant easily and Pittsburgh finished a distant third, 17.5 games back.

"To The Pennant" (Pittsburg Press, 1910)

If you ever need to find old baseball coverage, Google's news archive provides a wide range of cities and papers back to the early 1900s and is especially handy for those willing to page through scanned original newspapers, microfiche-style. If you've got an hour or two to kill, that's an easy way to do it.

UPDATE: Some of my favorite Laughlin art appears in this set; to wit:

According to eBay dealer Columbia City Collectibles, Fleer also issued this (scarcer) two-card version in wax packs.

Wildest Days and Play two-card panel

These larger panels purportedly came with Fleer's team logo patches and gum, so might've be a special version issued to help clear out back stock. Their eBay listing's the first time I've seen one.

Value: Not many cards in this set represent "stars," so most (like this #5) cost a few dollars. The cards that refer to Babe Ruth run somewhat more.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace and they'd be a tough set to profit by faking.

1974 Laughlin Baseball Sportslang #5, Mascot

Artist Robert G. Laughlin created a number of 1970s baseball sets, from all-time highlights (1974 Famous Feats #5 profile) to Negro League player portraits (1978 Long Ago Black Stars #5 profile). His most readily available, the World Series issues, came in partnership with Fleer, but many others went out under Bob's own name, advertised via his popular newsletter, "Inside Pitch." Laughlin's style, alternately cartoonish and evocative, works well with cards and Mascot is about the cutest thing you'll see on baseball cardboard.

Card front

Prior to their successful challenge to Topps' hegemony and their 1981 set, Fleer wandered somewhat in the baseball card forest. (They printed lots of stickers, lots of team logos, and lots stickers with team logos.) Laughlin's issues seem more like labors of love and 1974 Sportslang comes from this mold, giving history to a bunch of sport phrases.

Card back

People who jump into suit and cavort around the field are common to baseball, though not universal. The Yankees, for one, have no mascot and the Red Sox only added "Wally, the Green Monster" a few years ago. In the olde tymes, a "mascot" was more like today's bat boys, with some teams hosting a kid in the dugout for good luck or amusement. They'd wear a Gaedel-sized uniform, pose for team photos, and occasionally appear on a card. The Chicken (FamousChicken.com) modernized wearing furry suits and acting out against umpires, which continues to this day in both his act and dozens of imitators.

Value: Singles from this 40-card set cost a dollar or so, with no real stars to speak of.

Fakes / reprints: Doubt any reprints or fakes exist for this set, given its low profile and lack of real players.

1976 Laughlin Indianapolis Clowns Baseball #5, Richard King

Baseball artist Bob Laughlin stepped away from his usual stylized drawings for this 42-card retrospective of a shifting squad of Negro League-era ballplayers and entertainers, the Indianapolis Clowns. From 1929 through their last games in 1988, various rosters played in both barnstorming tours and Negro League games, winning the title in 1950. This set's a mix of solo and multi-player photos, including one 1952 photo of young shortstop Hank Aaron, who the Clowns sold to Milwaukee for $10,000 after the season.

Unlike Aaron's one-and-done time in uniform, Richard King ("King Tut") spent three decades with the Clowns and sports an oversized prop mitt as one element of his on-field mix of exaggerated costumes and baseball skills. The card back goes on to praise King's personality, which no doubt helped as both entertainer and teammate.

#34 shows Hank Aaron in Clowns cap and jersey, just two years before Bobby Thomson's broken ankle in spring training opened an everyday playing opportunity.

30 years of entertaining gave King Tut plenty of time to build out a stunt repertoire and he appears in jacket and tails as part of the juggling sequence from this Clowns highlight film. (The clip itself focuses mostly on teammate and future Globetrotter Reece Tatum.)

40 numbered cards feature players and Laughlin added unnumbered title and "laff book" cards to round out his set. Find its full checklist at OpenChecklist and Laughlin's art sets in my type archives.

Value: The top PSA graded set auctioned for $237 in 2009. Non-star singles cost a few dollars and #21 Satchel Paige and #34 Hank Aaron run $10-20 in nice shape.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace.

Update to 1976 Laughlin Jubilee Baseball #5, Frank Robinson

Back in 2008, I wrote up one of Bob Laughlin's most colorful sets, a 32-player "Diamond Jubilee" collection honoring the American League's 75th anniversary. Card number five commemorates Frank Robinson's debut as player/manager for Cleveland, which he topped off with career homer #575.

My original write-up claimed Diamond Jubilees came with blank backs, which proved wrong wrong wrong. Laughlin actually included a note about each AL honoree, "Diamond Cards" sketch logo, and card number. (Hard to be #5 without it, right?) With all apologies to Mr. Robinson, the updated post now includes both scans and an updated description: 1976 Laughlin Diamond Jubilee #5.

Here's my favorite modern Robinson card.

Nice auto and good close-up--that's some smoooooth card action.

1971 Fleer Baseball World Series #5, 1907 (Cubs vs. Tigers)

This set covers all baseball title match-ups from 1903 to 1980. Originally released in 1971, Fleer continued to sell it off and on through the decade, updating with new champions as the years passed. 1907 saw the first of back-to-back titles for Chicago, but the Cubs remain winless in the World Series since. (At Wrigley last year, one of the bittersweet fan-made t-shirts said, "any team can have a bad century.")

Card front

Is this the only card to feature two different players sliding? It might very well be. 25 steals is already impressive, but consider they came in a 5-game series. These days, teams are lucky to take 10 extra bases combined.

Card back

Baseball and cartoon artist Bob Laughlin first self-published a black-and-white World Series set in 1968. (This blog profiled its #5 in early 2009.) When Fleer contracted with him to republish a color version, they replaced active MLBPA union members--including 1967 series hero Bob Gibson--with non-player images.

There's a ton of great World Series set info out there, but these 2 articles also talk about Laughlin's influence on collecting, publishing, and cards in general.

• Look back at 1st issue of Laughlin's Inside Pitch newsletter (The Fleer Sticker Project)
• "Fleer World Series Cards Worth a Laugh" (SCD in 2009)

Value: They run a couple dollars each, perhaps more for cards picturing legends like Babe Ruth.

Fakes / reprints: This is a fairly popular re-issue set, but I haven't seen any reprints in the market.

1980 Laughlin Famous Feats #5, Dizzy Dean

Prior to their big 660-card 1981 set, Fleer published a variety of smaller, baseball-themed issues in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Today's guest comes from a "sequel" to their 1972 Famous Feats, as artist Robert Laughlin reprised his earlier work with a 1980 "Second Series" update of 40 cards. He used a more refined style this time, with deeper backgrounds and less exaggerated features. Some catalogs list the set as "1980 Laughlin Famous Feats" and others attribute it to Fleer. They look very polished in either case, and worthy of collecting just for the art.

Card front (blank back)

The set's "feats" range from career years (like Dean) to past masters (Connie Mack manages A's for 50 years). My favorite's number 10, Lou Gehrig, shown in the field and half-shadowed. That kind of artistic touch for a classically tragic figure would be almost impossible to communicate on a normal photographic card.

Would HOFer Dizzy Dean be left out in a Hall run by Sabermetricians? His haystack of on-field bravado and later career as baseball broadcaster made "fame" a prominent reason for induction. He was truly marvelous for a handful of seasons--few pitchers won an MVP and finished second twice--but a functional starter for just 6 total, earning 150 career wins. Pedro Martinez, who's at least Dizzy's equal, if less brash, will look to players like Dean for voting comparison.

1973 Fleer Baseball's Famous Feats #5, Lou Gehrig

Artist Bob Laughlin self-published a Great Feats of Baseball set in 1972, after an agreement with Fleer fell through due to Topps own 1971 highlight set. (Catch those details in my Great Feats #5 profile.) They thought better of things a year later and reused many of Laughlin's pictures--now colorized--as the 40-card Baseball's Famous Feats.

Fleer owned an official MLB license--prominently featured above--but they left out any living players to avoid paying royalties. That also meant a shorter checklist than Great Feats, with no Koufax, Mantle, or DiMaggio.

Some 70 years after his untimely death, Gehrig remains the all-time leader in grand slams, with Manny Ramirez (21) and Alex Rodriguez (18) his closest active competition. One lucky year could include 3 such homers, so both have decent chances to pass Larrupin' Lou.

Either Laughlin or Fleer added these back biographies, since Great Feats sported blank backs. Many folks assume the 1972 date meant a release that same year, but I trust blog The Fleer Sticker Project's assertion they reached stores in 1973. (Roll call of their releases, 1969-1976.)

Value: Gehrig's a superstar, so runs up to $10. (Find many of its cards at CheckOutMyCards.com, where most cost under 2 dollars.)

Fakes / reprints: This set's sort of a reprint, but I haven't seen any fakes in the market.

1975 Laughlin Batty Baseball #5, Milwaukee Boozers

Not every self-produced set by artist Bob Laughlin showed reverence to our National pastime and its players. Sometimes he broke out the pen and had a little fun.

Card front (blank back)

Baseball stadiums and TV broadcasts feature plenty of beer advertising, but folks don't joke much about "boozing it up" anymore, at least for modern-era players. We do see things like "BABE RUTH HIT HOMERS ON HOT DOGS AND BEER" and acknowledgement of past excesses, but calling the Brewers "Boozers" falls pretty flat today.

In fairness to Laughlin, Batty Baseball throws change-ups, not bean balls. Most team get inoffensive names like "New York Mitts," "Baltimore Oreos," or "Minnesota Wins." Find a nice collection of scans (11 of the full 25-card set) at this Legendary Auctions lot.

Speaking of Milwaukee, Brewers fans should check out Ride of the Ancient Mariner, a research series from blogger Mariner1. Its first two detailed posts shed light on Seattle's lengthy baseball past and amazingly inept team management surrounding the Pilots' one-year stopover on their way to Wisconsin.

• Seattle baseball history, Part 1 - 1894 to 1968
• Seattle baseball history, Part 2 - The Pilots (1969)

Value: The complete Batty Baseball set failed to get a $100 minimum bid at Legendary Auctions, hinting that individual cards go for $5 and under. I bought the Boozers for $2 at a show.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any reprints in the market.

Cross-post: What if Robert Laughlin made 300/400/500 today?

SABR's baseball card blog posted my second article for their site not long ago. Check it out!

300/400/500 update : Crime Dog McGriff

"What if Robert Laughlin made his 300/400/500 set today?"

And there's a non-zero chance I will indeed print an update to Laughlin's 300/400/500 in my lifetime. Just need the free time and digital art skills. ;-)

(And if you're interested in writing for them as well, I believe any interested SABR member can contribute articles -- visit SABR.org to learn more about membership.)

1980 Laughlin 300 / 400 / 500 #5, Christy Mathewson

Today's guest, a mighty hurler from baseball's deadball era, won 373 games in a comparatively brief 17 seasons, averaging nearly 22 wins per year. This included 30+ wins 4 times and 20+ for 12 years in a row. Mathewson made Cooperstown's "first cut" of 5 Hall of Fame inductees in 1936, joining fellow non-paraliel legends Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and Honus Wagner. Including 2009 inductees Rickey Henderson, Jim Rice, and Joe Gordon, the Hall now honors a total of 231 players.

Card front

Credit baseball artist Robert Laughlin for this interestingly canted set that affixed photo craniums to hand-drawn bodies. It hearkens back to Goudey's 1938 set design, which many collectors call the "Heads Up" set. (As a long-time fan and font of card knowledge, I'm sure that's intentional on his part.)

Every player in this 30-card set (full checklist here) reached one of three hallowed marks.

• 300 wins
• .400 batting average
• 500 homers

In 1980, only a select few players qualified for that elite list and this issue presents them on glossy, superwhite card stock reminiscent of Upper Deck's early work.

As blogged by SCD "big book" editor Bob Lemke on July 20, 2009, this set was curiously reprinted sometime after the original release. We can hope Mr. Laughlin himself did the work to satisfy a need for more orders--otherwise, why go to the trouble for an oddball release with fairly low current demand? Perhaps we all live in Glenn Hubbard's world, where some things have no explanation.

1976 Laughlin Diamond Jubilee #5, Frank Robinson

I think Frank Robinson loves baseball more than Cheez-Its love orange food coloring. Already one of the all-time best players, he took over as player-manager for Cleveland in 1975, helmed four different franchises prior to retirement in 2006, and continued to work as an MLB executive. If any man deserves a special subset of career highlights, it's Frank.

Today's card highlights Robinson's debut as Cleveland's manager on April 8, 1975. Slotting himself at DH, Frank homered off Doc Medich in the first inning, a game Cleveland won 5-3 over the Yankees. (Gaylord Perry pitched the complete game win; he and older brother Jim Perry both started the year as Indians, but departed by mid-season trades to Texas and Oakland, respectively.)

Card front

This oddball set's another self-published effort by baseball artist Bob Laughlin. It celebrated the 75th American League and 100th National League Anniversaries with a 32-card profile of significant moments in each team's history. (The set includes two 1975 achievements, Frank's debut and Nolan Ryan's fourth no-hitter.) Player poses come from familiar photos, re-drawn and cast into primary colors reminiscent of the 1948 Leaf sets.

Card back

Value: I've seen this set on oddball tables for ~$80 at shows. It includes lots of Hall-of-Fame players and individual cards run $1 to $10.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any fakes in the marketplace and it seems unlikely, given the set's low profile.

Fourth round from the 2011 National in Chicago

Yesterday, I said that National show dealers divide along the modern and vintage line, with relatively little overlap; new stuff looks white and shiny, older stuff looks grey. Booths that sell those old cards and memorabilia further subdivide into the walled castle (look but don't touch), general store (c'mon in and look around), and rec room (wow, what a mess), with communication styles to match. Most of today's scans came from the last group, a bunch of messy tables I sifted through with good success. 99.9% of their low-grade boxes will be junk, but that just makes the hits feel twice as good.

1909 T205 Polar Bear tobacco, Tony Smith (Brooklyn Superbas) ($8)

Just about everyone knows the Dodgers moved to L.A. from Brooklyn. Their shortened version of "trolley dodger" was just one of several early team nicknames, though; Superbas also showed up regularly and that's what they're called on this 1909 T205 card, which came in pouches of Polar Bear, a brand of loose tobacco. (Scans of all 208 players at the Virtual Card Collection.)

1963 Topps #25, Al Kaline ($3)

Top-notch career achievements and HOF enshrinement don't mandate that your cards will cost a mint. Low-grade Al Kaline cards, for example, popped up all over for small money: 1960 and 1962 Topps for $5, this 1963 for $3, 1969 and 1971 for $1, and 1973 for 50 cents. I expect to find bargains in low-grade, but this bordered on a bonanza.

1968 Venezuelan #102, Jose Cardenal (50 cents)

Topps added a 25-card "Venezuelan" insert set with Spanish text to their 2011 Lineage product. (Checklist at Baseballcardpedia.) They're based on 1960s cards like this Jose Cardenal, when Caracas-based publishers reprinted several sets for South American fans. Most local collectors glued their baseball treasures into albums like this one, which pulled away paper on later removal.

Card stock's pretty close to our American version, but backs look darker and those printed by C. A. Litoven include this HECHO EN VENEZUELA tag line.

I don't expect to complete a vintage Venezuelan set without hitting the lottery, but will always pay 50 cents for a single.

1976 Shakey's Pizza West Coast Greats #12, Duke Snider (50 cents)

L.A.-native Duke Snider always takes a nice picture; find more set info in my profile of #5, Ernie Lombardi.

1977-84 TCMA/Galasso, Gil Hodges (50 cents)

Check out those guns! Hodges knocked plenty of baseballs out of Ebbets Field onto Flatbush Avenue and now we know why. (See fellow Dodgers Campanella and Furillo at the 1977 TCMA/Galasso set profile.)

1950s Exhibit card, Hank Sauer (50 cents)

These purple-tinted 4" x 6" Exhibits come on thick, postcard-sized stock and cover both sport and non-sport celebrities. Hank Sauer wasn't the prettiest ballplayer, but slugged 288 career homers and won the 1952 NL MVP with Chicago, which is probably when this card came out.

1970s Seahawks team issue, Jim Zorn (50 cents)

Being a Seattle semi-native, I pick up oddball cards of former Seahawk quarterbacks. Jim Zorn couldn't win many games as Redskins head coach, but did plenty under center for my favorite team in their expansion era.

1990 Donruss Aqueous Test #102, Spike Owen (free)

Spike Owen's my favorite player from Seattle's other 1970s expansion team and this came to me courtesy of a trading partner. (I've used "Spike" as a collector nickname and he's the reason why.)

1980 Laughlin 300/400/500 #29, Lou Gehrig (50 cents)

Cool oddball card of the Iron Horse for half a dollar? Yes, please! The set itself celebrates player milestones like 300 wins, .400 average, and 500 homers. I like the choice by artist and publisher Bob Laughlin to include Lou's World Series dingers and help Lou crest the 500 milestone. (Set profile of #5, Christy Mathewson.)

This week's scans covered my favorite pick-ups of the 2011 National in Chicago, with one or two more set aside for tomorrow's vintage giveaway. Start thinking about your favorite team's best sluggers now!