Year-in and year-out, card dealers at the National divide more or less along "modern" and "vintage" lines. New, UV-coated booths shine with an aura of clean, vibrant action, often protected by plastic slabs and grades with high numbers. Comparatively, vintage booths at the show look...grayer. Less uniform. More "assorted" than "organized." Faint smell of "office supply aisle."
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1934-36 Batter-Up #54, Si Johnson ($8) |
So why collect pictures of guys who've long since retired and (often) shuffled off this mortal coil, knowing you'll never root for them to strike someone out or slug a game-winning homer? Introspection says it's the hunt for buried treasure, those artifacts that trap a sense of time and place otherwise lost to family albums and history books. Si Johnson, in long-sleeve undershirt and high socks, showing off his curve ball grip. (
1934 Batter-Up set profile.)
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1940 Play Ball #163, Spud Davis ($5) |
Cards with quote-unquote nicknames of guys who are just happy to be here. (
1940 Play Ball set profile.)
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1951 Topps Blue Back #42, Bruce Edwards (free) |
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1951 Topps Blue Back #8, Dick Sisler (free) |
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1951 Topps Blue Back |
Fellow vintage enthusiasts from my trading group
OBC gifted both of these blue backs from Topps' first big year of baseball cards. Thanks guys, much appreciated! If you enjoy old cards and don't care about condition, consider joining up. 20+ OBC members made it to the 2011 National; our annual swap session's a cardboard experience of its own.
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1959 Topps #408, Keystone Combo (50 cents) |
I'm including prices to show that the vintage treasure hunt remains affordable, even for 1950s cards featuring two HOFers! (Despite the National being in their backyard, Chicago White Sox and Cubs carried no obvious price premium; find another White Sox player on
1959 Topps #5.)
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1961 Topps #380, Minnie Minoso ($1) |
Fan favorite and five-decade player Minoso also appears on
1952 Bowman #5, one of my favorite cards ever. (
1961 Topps set profile.)
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1962 Post Cereal Canadian #6, Roger Maris ($2) |
A paltry $2 to learn "his 61 homers set a new major league record season record for 162 games" in French?
Oui, s'il vous plais. (
1962 Post Canadian set profile, featuring runner-up Mickey Mantle.)
Thanks for reading thus far. Still more National cards to come on Thursday and then a three-player giveaway on Friday!
4 comments:
Great post.
By the way,. I ran the picture you sent me in a post on Monday.
Thanks and feel free to send any ones in the future.
Very nice !!
I continue to be in awe with not just how many great cards you have, but what a great deal you're getting on them. I know that if I attended the National I'd need about a grand in cash - I'd easily spend a good bit on vintage oddballs like you've shown and cheap boxes from the '90s.
Thanks, all! Glad you like these cards, I'll try to make the rest just as interesting.
Johngy: Great! I'll check it out and add some details (as I meant to earlier. :-)
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