Mr. Staley...he was a somewhat local or had ties to Washington and my Dad new some of his relatives growing up, so his name were some of my earliest baseball memories as a kid...


https://i.ibb.co/NS06N21/53-Gerry.jpg

Carl Alvin

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...b_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

Carl

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6ef928f7_z.jpg

Received TTM in July 2014. Either him or Bobby Shantz was the first card I got in the set.

#57 Carl Scheib

George Michael

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...h_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

George

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a46f21c2_z.jpg

Karl August

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...s_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

Karl

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...20ef7d05_c.jpg

Wouldn't it be nice if current players signed autographs as legibly as the ones Scott is posting?

Cloyd

Cloyd Victor

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...r_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

The "other" Boyer...

https://i.ibb.co/F8gGW7c/53-Boyer.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b452f586_z.jpg

Received TTM in January 2015.

Early

Jr.

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...n_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

Variations

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

https://i.ibb.co/2vcNg0B/53-Early.jpg


Al...of the black and white bio variations...which one is the tougher of the two to find?

Here's mine.

John— I thought black were a little tougher to run down but did not notice any sizable premiums. I used Levi Bleam to help run down some of them

I recently picked up the different back colors that I didn't already have in my 1953 Topps set. When I first put the set together, I didn't pay any attention to the different color variation, and I was very close to having an even split between the variations. When I worked on buying the ones that I didn't have, I really didn't see much difference in availability between the black and white text.

Thanks AL & Jay...funny, I'm in the same boat...an even amount of each...thus the question. Not sure I'll go after each one but will be looking...my set is still not complete as well...getting close!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e800121d_z.jpg

Print sked spec
 

I can imagine that the second series printing was probably about halfway through when Topps realized the problem with the black ink edge bleeding and simply dropped it from the process. Thus the five numbers shifted from the first series apparently ended up with about the same distribution of each "color" type in the bios as all the other second series cards. So, shouldn't all second series cards be regarded as color variants? Or, is my dyscalculia is acting up again?:rolleyes:

Monte

2 for 1

Monford

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...n_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

Gus

Constantine Gregorovich (guessing)

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...s_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

David Earl

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...y_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

Dave

Out of town for work, need to catch up a little...

https://i.ibb.co/LzmJhjd/53-Monte.jpg


Doubling up...

https://i.ibb.co/KyV8ZHR/53-Gus-Dave.jpg

Earl

Earl (back to back Earls)

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...t_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

This last week I have read the book "Pitchers of Beer, the Seattle Rainiers Story"....AWESOME read around our local minor league team from 1938 to the 60s. Nice to recognize some of the more obscure players who played for the Rainiers that are in the 1953 set! I'd really recommend the book to anyone, not just a Seattle area guy. The team was managed one year by Rogers Hornsby, the Rainiers story is truly a great baseball read for anyone.

That said, I just arrived from a travel work trip where I read this book on the plane rides, and the card for today came from my initial lot obtained by the local person who opened them in packs and wrote on all the cards...todays card has "Seattle" written on the front! Cool, and ironically, he never played for the Rainiers and is from Louisiana so no idea why that would be written...haha. He also never wore the number 26 so...

https://i.ibb.co/QQymSMr/53-Harrist.jpg

Gus the Greek
 

Greek would be Gregoreo. Names suffixed with "-vich" generally Russian or other Slavic.:)

That makes sense. I’ve never been a very good guesser. :o

Orestes

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...70c9d160_z.jpg

Received TTM in November 2014.

Orestes Armas

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...o_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

Black Sox
 

Cartoon Quiz on the back of Minnie's card: Pitcher holding the MLB record in 1953 for consecutive strikeouts in the WS. Answer: Hod Eller of the 1919 Reds. Interesting that three of the six batters Hod struck out were defendants in the federal trial of the "Black Sox." I can still recall watching Moe Drabowsky pitch in the '66 series, where he tied Eller's record...

My Minnie...


https://i.ibb.co/Qm1nZ3t/53-Minnie.jpg

Roy Edward

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...s_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

Roy

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...28ce46c9_z.jpg

Received TTM in August 2014.

Just a little OC...:)


https://i.ibb.co/7pLBcZG/53-Roy.jpg

Del

Delbert, Jr.

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...e_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

Dick

Richard Stanley

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...i_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4ffd854d_z.jpg

Received TTM in September 2014.

Playin' a little catch up...love the Brodowski card and the fact it's a night game pic...super cool.

https://i.ibb.co/GQrKhZz/53-Use.jpg

Ed

John Edward

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...s_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

Tony

Anthony Joseph

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...e_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

Tony...not as exciting as his 52 card...:)


https://i.ibb.co/2qJfzwp/53-Tony.jpg

Fred

Frederick C.

https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...n_original.jpg https://caimages.collectors.com/psai...k_original.jpg

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

Local hero for us PNW'ers...Hutch is a Seattle institution. We see his name still around the city...and I really enjoyed reading recently about his Rainier Days.

https://i.ibb.co/1RpKkR8/53-Hutch.jpg

Eddie

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bd9537ab_z.jpg

Received TTM in December 2014.

Scott...when you mailed out all those cards in 2014, do you have any fun stories to share, or any not get returned? I noticed unfortunately a lot of the the players from this set have passed from 2015 to present...your timing was really good for a lot of them. Sending a card to a player fascinates me, I've never done it!

I started sending out at the tail end of July 2014, but I wish I had started when I first got into the hobby, in 2006. There were a lot of players who passed in the interim who were very willing signers. My records show that I wrote to 44 players, and had a 100% success rate. At the time, there were just over 50 still alive. Some of them had already stopped signing due to health reasons, and there were a couple others who died before I had a chance to write. I sent most of my requests out in the last half of 2014, which ended up being just in time for a lot of them. The card I sent to JW Porter, I had bought from a site that didn't have pictures, it just described the card as Good. When it came in the mail, it was so beat up that it looked more like an oval than a rectangle. I sent it to Mr. Porter, and he included a signed custom card of his own, with a note saying he felt bad my card was so beat up that he threw in the extra to make up for it. Writing to them was my favorite part of working on this project; a lot of them were happy to be remembered 60+ years later.