December Pick ups

[VintageBucs]

Really nice eye appeal for a 4, so happy to add this

[WillBBC]

Originally Posted by VintageBucs

Really nice eye appeal for a 4, so happy to add this

Killer centering on that. I love the '59 set, the colors really pop when they're clean, great looking cards.

Finally nailed down a Koufax rookie!

[jason.1969]

In my narrow view, a great baseball card should have a cool picture or two--photo or artistic, name/position/team on the front, and ideally even stats on the back. That's a bias I had for a really long time, and it pushed me away from a lot of the older sets.

When I finally decided it was time to own a DiMaggio earlier this year, the voice of the pocketbook out-screamed my biases, and I "settled" for the 1939 Play Ball--with no name, no team, and no stats. To my pleasant surprise, I ended up really, really liking the simplicity of the card, and of course Joe D's face is so familiar and distinct that one hardly needs to see a name.

Well, I can now add to the Joe D. his teammate and a key card for my Top 100 display in progress. And even with no name, team, or stats, I am thinking 1939 PB is THE coolest Dickey of them all.

73 down...27 to go!

Dickey_1939.jpg

[jb67]

Originally Posted by jason.1969

In my narrow view, a great baseball card should have a cool picture or two--photo or artistic, name/position/team on the front, and ideally even stats on the back. That's a bias I had for a really long time, and it pushed me away from a lot of the older sets.

When I finally decided it was time to own a DiMaggio earlier this year, the voice of the pocketbook out-screamed my biases, and I "settled" for the 1939 Play Ball--with no name, no team, and no stats. To my pleasant surprise, I ended up really, really liking the simplicity of the card, and of course Joe D's face is so familiar and distinct that one hardly needs to see a name.

Well, I can now add to the Joe D. his teammate and a key card for my Top 100 display in progress. And even with no name, team, or stats, I am thinking 1939 PB is THE coolest Dickey of them all.

73 down...27 to go!

Attachment 213646

Jason, that Dickey is another beauty. You are on real hot streak picking up some outstanding pre-war cards that look great. Keep it going.

[Shoebox]

I just acquired my first Mantle card from his playing career. This was also the last card I needed to complete my 58 All-Star subset.

[Samsdaddy]

Originally Posted by Shoebox

I just acquired my first Mantle card from his playing career. This was also the last card I needed to complete my 58 All-Star subset.

Jason and Dustin, I am in agreement that the 1958 Topps All Star Sub Set is the best. I have the complete sub set as well and though there were times I sold many of my cards that is one group I never parted with and am so glad, especially now being back into collecting.

What started me in on it was seeing Stan Musial's card on a 1982 episode Hart to Hart. Jonathon Hart (Robert Wagner) was flipping cards and that was one card shown and right away I was drawn to the colors and design.

Congrats on the pick up Dustin!

[Shoebox]

Originally Posted by Samsdaddy

Congrats on the pick up Dustin!

Thank you Erik!

[Samsdaddy]

Originally Posted by Shoebox

Thank you Erik!

Also meant to say congrats on completing the 1958 All Star sub set.

In my small collection, I don't think there is anything I am more fond of than the 58 All Star cards.

[gemmint77]

Very Nice Koufax RC.

[KingFisk]

Finally snared one of these....my HOF rookie card collection nears completion....still some big tickets to snare but really happy to cross this one off, especially without too much of the print weirdness you often see.

[jason.1969]

Originally Posted by KingFisk

Finally snared one of these....my HOF rookie card collection nears completion....still some big tickets to snare but really happy to cross this one off, especially without too much of the print weirdness you often see.

Okay, that's a decent enough card, but I'm waiting on you to show us the elusive Pendleton RC.

[KingFisk]

Originally Posted by jason.1969

Okay, that's a decent enough card, but I'm waiting on you to show us the elusive Pendleton RC.

Give me time, my friend. I am working on it.

[gemmint77]

Also working on a PSA 7 Clemente Run.

[pawpawdiv9]

I have not bought anything since JUNE, and eager to show off my 2 new additions:

This technically was done last week, and a HUGE thanks to board member Kmas55 for a great transaction. Was wonderful to negotiate a deal to work for both of us.
Here it is, the modern day white whale:





And this new COBB bat off to go with my red & green.
Will be looking for a nice 'bat on' to complete my 4 Cobb run here.

[Jdoggs]

Cool Cobb.

[Bestdj777]

Great stuff Chris! That Cobb is one of my favorites.

[KCRfan1]

Originally Posted by gemmint77

Also working on a PSA 7 Clemente Run.

Nice cards James!!!! Do you have that '55 Clemente in a 7 yet? If so, let's have a look!

[pokerplyr80]

Nice card Chris. I had talked to Chris as he was thinking about picking that one up and decided to get one for myself. Along with the less rare blue version. I thought the picture would be better but have been having computer issues.

[pawpawdiv9]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

Nice card Chris. I had talked to Chris as he was thinking about picking that one up and decided to get one for myself. Along with the less rare blue version. I thought the picture would be better but have been having computer issues.

Thanks guys, This orange cal is something else. From what i understand theres only 16 graded by PSA (1=8, 1=7, 4=6, 3=5, 2=4, 3=3, 1=2, 1=1) so i did get the lowest graded, most affordable one.
from a July,2,2013 source, there was only 21 TOTAL (14 psa, 4 sgc, 3 bgs)

BTW Jesse: I saw those, and those were a STEAL!!!
Here is a better pic image for ya bro:

[gemmint77]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

Nice cards James!!!! Do you have that '55 Clemente in a 7 yet? If so, let's have a look!

Will be a while before I can add that one. Will keep updating as I add new PSA 7's to the collection. Thanks

[gemmint77]

My very first Cobb. Enjoying this card a lot!!

[pawpawdiv9]

@Gemmint: Nice Cobb you got there! Any plans on a greenie? or bat version
I know its pre-war, but man you goota love it. I noticed in my slections, i did not like the peidmont backs, i just dont know why.

[sbfinley]

Received these Sadaharu OH and Shigeo Nagashima Japanese HOF RC's to complete my 1959 Menko Doyusha Team Back Set courtesy of Rob Fitts.

[gemmint77]

Originally Posted by pawpawdiv9

@Gemmint: Nice Cobb you got there! Any plans on a greenie? or bat version
I know its pre-war, but man you goota love it. I noticed in my slections, i did not like the peidmont backs, i just dont know why.

@pawpawdiv9 I would love to add a Green Cobb to the collection!! Wouldn't we all?? But that will have to wait. I am slowly working on the T206 set, basic Mantle run & PSA 7 Clemente collection. Thanks for the comments.

Have been after this one for a while. Little OC but was able to use my 10% off ebay coupon so got it at a fair price

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Gobucsmagic74

Have been after this one for a while. Little OC but was able to use my 10% off ebay coupon so got it at a fair price

Nice card. Finding that one centered well is quite a chore, I've learned after nearly 30 years of collecting. I once had an example that was a solid NM or better, but centered L-R probably a tad worse than yours. Mainly because of that, I didn't hang on to it. Years later, I kind of wish I had because the color on it was really beautiful, and in my old age I'm trying to be a bit more tolerant with things like centering for my personal collection. (It's staggering this day in age when you can quickly look at many different examples of a single card for sale on eBay just how damn many of them are centered poorly - in some cases it's like 80% of the cards for sale outside of PSA 8's and above...and anymore those aren't always even centered that nicely unqualified for some issues). Anyhow - always thought the '57 Mick was one of the neater looking ones - but they are indeed a bear to find centered (and diamond cuts are pretty common too...) or without at least some type of moderate print damage.

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

Nice card. Finding that one centered well is quite a chore, I've learned after nearly 30 years of collecting. I once had an example that was a solid NM or better, but centered L-R probably a tad worse than yours. Mainly because of that, I didn't hang on to it. Years later, I kind of wish I had because the color on it was really beautiful, and in my old age I'm trying to be a bit more tolerant with things like centering for my personal collection. (It's staggering this day in age when you can quickly look at many different examples of a single card for sale on eBay just how damn many of them are centered poorly - in some cases it's like 80% of the cards for sale outside of PSA 8's and above...and anymore those aren't always even centered that nicely unqualified for some issues). Anyhow - always thought the '57 Mick was one of the neater looking ones - but they are indeed a bear to find centered (and diamond cuts are pretty common too...) or without at least some type of moderate print damage.

Great analysis of the 57 Mick, and jives with my experience as well. As someone who's been collecting pretty much only Mantle basic cards for a year now, I'm continually amazed by how his cards across the board are so often poorly centered, or with specific print defects, making nice ones very hard to find-- in any grade.

For every ten examples I see of a given Mick...sometimes zero are centered. For the 57, few are focused with crisp print, for that 1960 card, whew, a slew of print issues alongside centering, the 67 has that red dot on almost every example above the 'S' in YANKEES, the 53B and 54B cards feel like they show up centered .00000001% of the time, LOL, we've discussed the 51B here, which is infamously hard, the others all have their similar issues-- it all makes assembling a nice run quite the challenge.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Matt is a perfectionist, but for me I can live with centering like this with the right color and print quality.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Matt is a perfectionist, but for me I can live with centering like this with the right color and print quality.

Yep! The greenish blue hue of the stands behind Mantle is what I was talking about. The nice ones have blue in them, but all too often this card even in high grade has the green and then blackish-brown due to the difference in print variation. My '57 Mantle that I sold probably a decade ago looked like your PSA 7, Peter. Though centering considerations on mine may have rendered it only a 6, if graded.

[jason.1969]

Originally Posted by MattyC

...the others all have their similar issues-- it all makes assembling a nice run quite the challenge.

And here I thought the biggest challenge in assembling a nice Mantle run was how freaking expensive all his cards are!

[MattyC]

That specific PSA 7 of the '57 Mantle pictured up there is pretty much as good as it gets for that card, in my experience, in terms of the centering and print combo.

For comparison, there are a few PSA 8s and even a PSA 9 pictured on the PSA Registry Basic Mantle site, and in my opinion none of those higher graded examples with pictures are superior to that 7-- in terms of overall eye appeal.

It seems sharp corners carry that card to a high technical grade to the graders, but its centering and print woes remain-- for my money, corners take a back seat on that card in favor of print clarity, crisp focus, and centering. Great example, Peter!

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Great analysis of the 57 Mick, and jives with my experience as well. As someone who's been collecting pretty much only Mantle basic cards for a year now, I'm continually amazed by how his cards across the board are so often poorly centered...

Thanks. Equally good analysis of the run as a whole being difficult, with each set and card having its own particular quirks and idiosyncrasies. My centering score (though I didn't know it at the time; I didn't care about centering as a kid...) was the '56 Mantle gray back I picked-up and have had since I was about 14 years old (about 1990). It's only about a VG-ish card (corner wear, including some paper loss) - but besides being about 0.00002% diamond cut left to right if you look very closely - it is centered perfectly. It is a good example of a mid-grade card that retains a ton of eye appeal because even though it certainly has it's fair share of issues from the technical grading perspective - the color remains bright and that 50/50 centering all the way around just really sets it off. The one Mantle I have held onto since I was a kid because of what it means to me...

[gemmint77]

Got a few more!!

[gemmint77]

Last two for the year.