RIP Chris Stufflestreet of the Vintage Sportscards blog

Big blow to the collecting world this month, as we lost expert blogger Chris Stufflestreet last week at the far-too-soon age of 39. His regular writing included The Vintage Sportscards and 1973 Topps Photography, along with an unending supply of helpful answers to questions posed by collectors of all eras and interests.

Chris spent most of his life around cards, as evinced by the above black-and-white photo, snapped by a local reporter at a card show in the mid-1980s. Chris's friend Tom Housley of OldBaseball.com (aka, OBC) composed this fitting tribute card, modeled after 1973 Topps "Boyhood Photos" subset.

1973 Topps #341

Due to his prolific writing and forethought, new (pre-scheduled) articles have continued to appear on both blogs following his passing. Thanks again Chris, I'll be reading each and every one.

• The Vintage Sportscards blog
• 1973 Topps Photography

1967 Topps Baseball Stand-Ups #5, Ron Swoboda

Who's ready for more Topps test issues? Finally found a proof scan for this obscure and pricy Stand-Ups set on eBay last week and its #5 type card features a guy New York fans know best as a member of the 1969 Miracle Mets.

Proof card front, no die-cut (blank back)

Stand-Ups rank as the rarest non-standard 1967 Topps issue, behind comparatively plentiful 5"x7" Pin-Ups (set profile) and peel-off stickers for two teams (Pirates and Red Sox set profiles). It's hard to find much info about their production process, as it's almost certain they never saw life outside of a Topps print shop.

Robert Edwards Auctions sold a few 1967 Stand-Ups over the years, both of uncut proofs like the scan above and some thicker, rarer die-cuts. Their $41K auction for 12 die-cut versions included this set commentary.

"Rarer and more desirable [are the] thick die-cut variety, which is the form in which the cards were actually intended to be issued (as opposed to thin proof cards cut from sheets). 1967 Topps Stand-Ups are one of the rarest and most intriguing of all 1960s Topps issues. It is almost certain that these cards were never issued to the public, and their astounding rarity is consistent with this speculation...the cards were produced on one-quarter inch thick cardboard stock which has been die-cut punched. The design allows the player's head to be punched out of the black background. Additional small punched-out pieces along the bottom of the card, when properly used, were intended to allow the player's head to stand for display."

In other words, pick die-cut over "plain" proofs when you're sifting through those 25-cent "test issues" boxes at card shows!

This group scan from the auction illustrates the die-cutting, punch-out "head stands," and some amazing teeth on Don Drysdale. Its full checklist includes 24 floating heads.

UPDATE: Here's how the stand separates from the frame. You then insert a player plaque into its center notch for creepy, floating head display.

Value: eBay seller Irishhosta listed the #5 proof for $2500 on eBay, the first time I've seen it outside of an auction house. (Their lot went unsold.) Choice quote from its listing: "No major grading company has ever professionally encapsulated a single specimen of Ron Swoboda." I vote we keep Mr. Swoboda in one piece, thanks.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any fakes in the market, but they're so valuable and simple in design it's possible they exist. I recommend buying from dealers who are willing to guarantee the purchase price.

New Kids On The Bench Contest Winners

Lots of great submissions in last Friday's freshman name contest. Let's catch them in a rundown.

• Didi Gregorius, Reds SS (Greg Z)
• Brian Omogrosso, White Sox P (gcrl)
• Jeurys Familia, Mets P (Don)
• Adeiny Hechavarria, Blue Jays INF (Buckstorecards)
• Rougned Odor, Rangers minor league INF (Angels In Order)
• Miguel Socolovich, Cubs P (Nick)
• Adron Chambers, Cardinals OF (Madding)
• Jurickson Profar, Rangers INF (Night Owl) -- a man of in-game strategy!
• Xavier Avery, Orioles LF (Jeff)
• Brock Holt, Pirates 2B (Robert) 
• Chuck Fick, Astros P (The Dimwit)
• Yusmeiro Petit, 6'1", 250-pound Diamondbacks P (Chunter)
• Al Alburquerque, Tigers P (High-Five Man)
• Tanner Scheppers, Rangers P (Mad Guru)

Every one of these entries meets or exceeds my personal baseball name standard-bearer, Biff Schlitzer.

In awarding prizes, I disqualified three (in italics) for being either not rookies (Petit and Alburquerque) or not in the bigs (Odor). They're still winners in My Book of Winners, just not winners in My Book of This Contest. :-(

Top 5 Winners in My Book of This Contest

• Didi Gregorious, which multiple people (deservedly) wanted to choose
• Adieny Hechavarria, which got bonus points for the lineup backstory
• Adron Chambers, who sounds like a Victorian-era action hero
• Jurickson Profar, who I've nicknamed "Jurickson Profar Blondes" (tm) (lol)
• Tanner Scheppers, which should also be a beer

Greg Z, Buckstorecards, Madding, Night Owl, Mad Guru: send your preferred vintage team and mailing address to glidden period matthew at gmail! Thanks to all for reading and kicking in so many great names.

New Kids On the Bench (aka, Roster Expansion Giveaway)

Now that we're safely into September, it's time to discuss one of my favorite baseball things, player names.

Each new roster expansion means tons of new players in MLB uniforms. Long-term fans probably remember guys like Chili Davis, Bump Wills, and Biff Pocoroba. More recently, there's this guy.

And this guy.

So who are your favorite fresh-faced freshmen?

WHAT TO DO: Nominate your favorite baseball name from 2012 rookies or September call-ups in the comments. I'll accept nom-de-plume-inations through Sunday and pick five Best New Name winners from all players mentioned.

WHAT YOU WIN: Pre-1980 cards (team of your choice), as selected from my dupes box. Good Lucky Lohrke to all!

1969 Topps Super Baseball #5, Carl Yastrzemski

This week in 1983, Carl Yastrzemski hit his final career homer, a 2-run shot off Cleveland's Rick Sutcliffe. The Red Sox chased Sutcliffe from the game early, but--as with so many of that year's contests--let their lead slip away and lost 8-6. Boston finished a mediocre 6th in the division, as Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray powered Baltimore to both AL East and World Series titles.

Thanks to 23 years (!) in Boston, Yaz holds the games record for one-franchise players (3308) and is second all-time to Pete Rose (3562).

Today's post has special relevance to modern sets as the progenitor of glossy, high-quality photos on thicker, better-than-cardboard stock. Topps turned 1960s printing technology advances into a multitude of limited-run "test issues," creations similar to those published as inserts and parallels today. (More about these "tests" at OldBaseball.com.) My own #5 lost some paper from the front--I buy affordable--but still stands out as a sharp picture and distinctive design for its era.

Topps editors pulled out all the stops in 1969, shipping 8 different sets to some part of North America.

• Topps 4-in-1 Stickers (unnumbered)
• Topps baseball #5, 1968 AL HR Leaders
• Topps Decals (aka Rub-Ons, unnumbered)
• Topps Deckle-Edge (aka Deckles) #5, Jim Fregosi
• Topps Stamps & Stamp Albums #5, Atlanta Braves
• Topps Super (this post) #5, Yaz
• Topps Team Posters #5, Baltimore Orioles
• O-Pee-Chee #5, Ken Harrelson (shows most of the above in one post)

Looking to catch all 66 Super cards? It's possible for patient collectors who can invest $1000+ in a set. I've been working on a low-grade version for 8+ years and need about 10 more, mostly HOFers. Set your sights on the star-filled checklist, if you feel lucky.

Value: Super Baseball's sharp look and limited availability make it pricy to modern collectors. This Yaz was $50, even with paper missing. Lesser-known players run $10-20 in low grade, but superstars like Clemente and Mantle cost hundreds more.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace, in part because many dealers slab all of their Supers, which would (hopefully) catch the bad ones.

Type collection count: This post marks #700 on the blog; thanks to all who've read this far. Only 14 away from Babe Ruth!

1970 Topps Teamates (Grow Power) #5, Credit Department

It's easy to imagine creators of your childhood as working in ivory towers and possessing supernatural abilities. Aren't they what made walking to the store, plunking down 25 cents, and taking home a fresh pack of cards so exciting? If we'd seen the mighty and powerful TOPPS COMPANY as a small collection of NY and PA offices, would we have believed it?

This "widescreen" set (note the longer left-to-right length) offers a rare glimpse inside Topps itself and covers 18 groups or individuals that turned ideas into products, products into cardboard, and cardboard into childhood memories. It seems they only printed sets for employees, explaining their extreme rarity today. I'd never seen a Teamates card until their appearance on Topps Archives in 2010 as Team Building Exercise.

"They're quick to give credit where credit is due--but not past due!" That's the kind of slogan I would take credit for coming up with.

Thanks to the Topps Archives blog for its series of posts breaking down the "Teamates" [sic] set and key employees pictured therein, including Woody Gelman on #15 Product Development and Bill Haber on (probably) #17 Sports Department. See all known cards in Growing a Checklist and all Archives posts under the tag 1970 Topps Grow Power.

Value: Robert Edwards Auctions sold a near-set of 17 NM cards for $6518 in 2012, confirming there's enough interest in Topps rarities to pull big price tags. You might never see an individual card for sale outside of an auction. If you do, $100 or more looks likely.

Fake / reprints: Don't know of any fake cards in the marketplace. It's possible someone would try it given their current value, but super-rare counterfeits are a Catch-22. When you fake something that's going to auction, it'll also be inspected more than something sold at a show, so it's more likely to be detected.

How Far Do You Have To Go

Back from a European vacation and "The Continent" is exactly like you've heard.

Saturated with American stuff.

Here's a short list of non-soccer teams I saw on hats, jerseys, coats, t-shirts, and various furniture spread across Scandinavia.

• Miami Dolphins
• New York Giants
• Miami Heat
• SF Giants
• Oakland A's
• LA Dodgers
• Boston Red Sox
• New York Yankees
• New York Yankees
• New York Yankees

How Yankees is Europe? You can buy these fine items just off Oslo's main square at a respectable-looking optometrist.

Other functional glassware also exists in non-medical stores.

I see the Red Sox everywhere living in Boston, but thought we'd be clear of them in Iceland and Norway. Then we found this hat on a pier, looking new-but-abandoned.

Europe has so much American sports stuff, people just leave it lying around!

Next trip, we'll try to escape America by heading to...Northern Siberia? They probably wear Derek Jeter jerseys.

1955 Robert Gould All Stars Baseball #5, Jim Hegan

Today's profile features more than just a card, easily sorted and stored. You'll need a modern baseball cube to hold this 3" x 3" statue of Cleveland catcher Jim Hegan and the green-and-white card his statue came rubber-banded to in its original product box.

The rare Robert Gould set features 28 players from both leagues, all well-known if not strictly "All Stars" from 1954. (Hegan, for example, last played for the AL squad in 1952.) Each appears as a solid white line sketch and statue, even African-American stars like Willie Mays. As implied by this scan, statue poses match what you see on the card.

The NY Giants won that year's World Series and Mays picked up the 1954 NL MVP, so he deserved spot #1 on the Gould checklist. His basket grab of Vic Wertz's 420-foot drive remains the definitive baseball "Catch." (Video at YouTube.)

Those notches and small holes held each statue to the card with a rubber-band, so aren't considered "damage." (I've never seen a card without them, so would suspect a fake if they were missing.)

UPDATE: Gould also published this album of all players, front/back cover and two interior scans below.

Interesting that you could get them in both singles and sets! Haven't heard of a special "set box" or the like before--anyone know of anything like that?

Value: So few reach the market that it's hard to set a price, though collectors do pay more for cards over statues. That said, eBay dealers who ask hundreds for singles are dreaming; $75 for non-star card + statue is more likely.

Fakes / reprints: Only advanced collectors know much about these statues, making it hard to find an audience for fakes of what's honestly a bland set.

RIP Johnny Pesky

Heavy-hearted farewell to Johnny "The Needle" Pesky, who passed away today at age 92.

Pesky continued to make public appearances and sign for fans whenever his health allowed. I like the Fenway Park shots and bat barrel on this one.

In addition to being the namesake of Pesky's Pole and "Mr. Red Sox" to pretty much everyone in New England, Johnny was one of two living players from David Frishberg's song "Van Lingle Mungo." See my January 2012 post for more on his connection to that unusual piece of Americana.

2000 Upper Deck Gold Reserve Baseball #5, Troy Percival

Born on August 9, Troy Percival, who holds the record for birthday saves with four.

Troy closed this quartet of August 9 games.

• 1997 vs. Baltimore: 1IP, 2R, save #19
• 2001 vs. Chicago: 1IP, 1R, save #31
• 2004 at Kansas City: 1IP, 0R, save #21
• 2008 at Seattle (11 innings): 1IP, 0R, save #26

He wore an Angels cap for the first three, as shown on this 2000 Upper Deck Gold Reserve #5. His 2008 save came as closer for Tampa Bay, the final stop in a 14-year, 358 save career (career stats).

Troy Percival started just once in his career and it was a doozy. Anyone remember the final STL game of 2007? St. Louis and Pittsburgh combined to use 18 pitchers, five different Cardinal relievers logged holds, and the box score is a nightmare of crossed-out names. Full credit, by the way, to Tony LaRussa's ability to find gold in Percival's rehabbed arm--he didn't log any saves that year, but posted a phenomenal 246 OPS+ in situational work.

Upper Deck's "Gold Reserve" is a 300-card parallel to their 2000 standard set, with a double-handful of serial-numbered inserts and relics; Baseballcardpedia breaks them down for you.

Happy birthday to one of baseball's all-time closers!