Mike, I always like this thread too, because it's truly amazing to see some of the things that people come up with.
I was fortunate to have a great year for pickups, mostly due to my friends.
Having a terrific network of collector friends nets some great additions to a collection, and I am eternally grateful to all of those that continue to help me build my collection.
Here are some of my favorites in 2014:
Original Cy Young Day ticket stub from 8/13/08. The only one known to exist in the hobby. Many thanks to my close friend of 25 years Ted Sternemann for helping me find this in Milwaukee. It originated from the collection of long-time hobby good guy Mike Rodell's collection. Unfortunately, Mike just passed away in November after a long fight with cancer. RIP Mike!
1938 Johnny Vander Meer Day medal from his hometown of Midland Park, NJ. Many thanks to net54's Chris Gamble for allowing me to scratch this one off my list of wants. Chris is one of the nicest guys in the hobby and Cincinnati Reds collector extraordinaire.
Scored original program/scorebook from Johnny Vander Meer's historic 2nd consecutive no-hitter in 1938. Many thanks to David Maus for locating this for me, also a top want on my want list.
Several other personal items that became available in 2014 from the family estate of Johnny Vander Meer. Amongst them were his
Birth Certificate, Notification of Separation from the Navy at the end of WWII, and a great photo of him pitching in the Army Navy Pan Pacific World Series in 1944.
Finally, on the Nolan Ryan collecting front, the
original dugout lineup card from Nolan's final career win # 324 at Cleveland on 8/15/93.
Many thanks to net54's Randall Hahn for tipping me off about it's availability on eBay.
Yup, it's been a pretty terrific year!!
