February pickups
 

With the addition of the '71 Ryan, I now have all of his Mets base cards in EX or better. I actually have the whole Ryan base card run up through at least 1978, but will need to do some upgrades on the later 70's cards. I inherited a few that were well loved by their original owners!

Mazeroski (chaw and all...lol) and Hunter join Messers. Denehy / Seaver, Ron Santo, and a few others in my fledgling '67 set:

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Just got these in. I don't normally buy MC's, but this one looked nice on the front so I went for it.

Made a great trade with a wonderful N54 member, and landed a whale. I don't think I'll ever be able to afford to upgrade this one, and I'm fine with that.

Sorry for the glare on his chin, it's a phone pic and not a scan.
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Upgrade, rub it in why don’t you.

Upgrade? It’s a 7! I would hope you are fine with a 7. Then, again, money may not be an issue for you. It’s all relative. Great card.

Good call. Only MC on the back. Sometimes even if it's close on the front, it can be hard to tell with '53 Topps because many of the backgrounds have similar colors as the borders.

Wow, that's an insanely nice card.

Very happy with this purchase, (still in the mail then off to PSA for grading).

Thanks, it's nice to have someone agree that I made the right call. I thought it over for a long time before I bought it.

Thank you. And I apologize if that came off as pompous, as this is (without a doubt) now the finest card I own. I’m a low-roller who usually dabbles at the PSA 1-2 end of the spectrum, so there is normally nowhere to go but up.

That’s one of the best looking cards ever made, IMO. Congrats, Bradley!

I'm happy to pick up this 1967 Laughlin World Series (with address) Walter Johnson card...

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...to add to my slowly growing graded set. The SGC holders are suh-weet!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, Jarrod. I also think this card is aesthetically pleasing. Once graded this card will be going into the vault until an upgrade is found...

Picked this up in the recent Sterling Sports auction. It's my highest graded vintage card now even with the qualifier.

I probably overpaid but I always wanted to have a nice copy of this card. Very happy with it.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...eea5179e_c.jpg1953_Paige_1 by boosandpearl, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b9fed644_c.jpg1953_Paige_2 by boosandpearl, on Flickr

No need to apologize. I was just busting your chops. As you know, there are people from all walks of life on here, with different budgets. I'm happy to be able to converse with guys that can afford the T-206 Honus Wagner just as much as the guys that can only afford the T206 Heine Wagner. I'm closer to the latter group than the former. :D

These purchases were in honor of King Henry. Rest in Peace, Sir.


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Wow, some amazing cards...the Clemente 7 is unreal...congrats!!

I too was hit hard by Mr. Aaron's passing and on the day while watching MLB network made several purchases. These two were raw upgrades for my sets...also bought several AS cards and finished out ANY Aarons I needed for my sets. I wanted to make sure I had the memory that I finished any and all Aaron's for my 60's collection and had my 50's Aaron cards on the desk next to me. I may or may not have paid a little extra that day like all the rest, and didn't care. Worth the memory to me. RIP Hank!


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These two arrived on same mail day...

Matthew, that Satchel Paige is outstanding. DEAD FREAKING CENTERED, and in really nice shape. Whatever you paid was worth it.

And John O, regarding Aaron... the night before he passed I made an ebay offer on a nice looking PSA 2 '54 Aaron, but it was declined. The odd thing is I'd never tried to buy a graded Aaron, ever. I had a raw one I got here years ago that I eventually traded, but I just had a "hank-ering" to own a nice, graded example. Wish I'd gone the extra $200 and just bought it. I did ended up getting a raw one the next day, and it's a great looking card, but boy-oh-boy did I have to pay for it, since they'd just announced his passing.

Thanks, that's very kind of you to say. I think that the 1953 Satch card is definitely his nicest looking (among the 3!) and also the cheapest. I just wanted one with great eye appeal (and missed out on a few) so I resigned myself to paying more than I wanted to get this example. I am glad you appreciate it. I am moving my collecting direction towards former NLB players that were lucky enough to make to the majors and appear on MLB cards. After getting some nice Jackie's I felt this would be a fun collection direction, and this Satch is a foundational piece for that direction.

Wow, that's an all-time fantastic card in great shape.

-Matthew

If you like the way a card looks, don't overthink it. Most of the detailed fretting collectors get into over something like centering is the result of collective bias. Nobody anywhere ever said that a particular card has to be perfectly centered to be beautiful.

The 53 Paige above and the Clemente rookie are both, off the charts!
Congrats guys.
RayB

Somebody tell me I’m not crazy for having started this set…[emoji15]

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That Paige looks great! Makes me wanna upgrade mine.

Been an active few weeks. Got a bunch of 52 highs, and started goin after 48 Leafs. Here’s my biggest 52 as of late.

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I'm in the middle of the 67s (again!) and know how you feel...:) Although if your buying cards of that caliber I doubt we are competing right now! :) Nice crease free EX raw cards are tough enough...

That's a ROCKIN' card!!!

We may compete more than you think. I wanted a nice slabbed high number, but I doubt I'll be able to afford more like this. I want to put together an EX-ish set on the whole, and most of the commons will be raw. I would imagine with some of the high numbers I will be settling for VG range though given the price tags.

This Clyde Wright puts me over the 1/4 completed threshold of the 1971 Topps Greatest Moments set, and the beautiful Bob Lemon (whose centering doesn't sour me much...get it?) is my first graded 1956 card from that magical set. I think it was a smart grab at a mere $30, especially with the way prices are skyrocketing...

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Wow, nice Campy!

No kidding!

What a sweet card!

Congrats on a great pick up! :)

More of the True Home Run King.

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After reading ESPN's story on Drew Robinson, I had to read up on one Whammy Douglas, whose name rang a bell from the days when I was piecing sets together.

What a story! At age ELEVEN, Douglas lost his right eye. And he STILL made it to the SHOW!!

It's impossible to imagine how hard it must have been to accomplish that without the depth perception that ONLY comes with TWO eyes!

Whammy Douglas won 27 games in his second professional season and was 3-3 with a 3.26 ERA for the 1957 Pittsburgh Pirates, his sole season in the bigs.

He passed away in 2014- I regret waiting this long before discovering his story.

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Often it seems like raw VG '67 highs cost barely less than Ex/Ex+ ones. Much more demand for bottom cost set completion than for paying a little more for something clearly nicer.

Similar to how it is with the '52 highs, but the '67s naturally hurt the pocket book a lot less to pay the difference (especially with how cheap the '67 high DPs are)

Just received this beauty from an eBay seller. It has what looks like a print defect (that kind of resembles paper loss, but I don't think it is) running up from Willie's right elbow to his bat, which you can see in the photo.

I have seen others with a similar patch, and a bunch that make it look like he's wearing an armband just below his right elbow. Is this a known thing?

While the wind howls, the snow falls and the temperature drops, I poured a nice glass of red wine and settled in to open the day's card mail...pretty fun haul, if you don't care about PSA mintiness. (Sorry about the glare, but you get the idea.) Not a bad way to make the best of a winter's night.

Hi Andrew,

Yes, that print line is very common on that card. Regardless, that’s a very nice example. Enjoy!

Great point, and one I had not fully considered - thank you. I think this also plays into the stars, if you look at the price of say a G-VG Seaver compared to an EX or better one. The EX card is going to be more expensive, but not necessarily by a ton, or even on par with how much nicer it is. There are likely more people who want even just a filler to complete their set. (I of course had to go for the EX+ one...)

I will agree with you on the high number DP's. Before I really understood how that worked, I thought I had gotten a deal on cards like #582 Jim Owens only paying a couple bucks. Er, maybe not...

Thanks guys, was excited to get this Campy. Fits my set much better than what it replaced.

Print line or not, that’s an awesome card! Very bold coloring

Love those 71T Greatest Moments cards!
Need to get myself one of those.
RayB

Thanks! Yeah, as long as it's not paper loss, I'm fine with it.

I picked this beauty up locally from an older gentleman who'd had it since he was a kid.

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Man. You get all the good cards. How do you do it??

This one was luck. It wasn't a steal, but a fair price for both of us. I just try to be nice to people, deal fairly and unaggressively, and hope the right cards find me. Often they do.

I have another raw example of this card that isn't quite as nice that I'll probably get graded and trade it towards something on my want list.

I try to be nice and fair to people too - I just apparently don't encounter the people who have a 1949 Bowman Paige laying around. I need to find better people to be nice to.

Ha!!! Did I mention "spending too much time looking for stuff on the internet"? Because that's probably a bigger part of it. ;)

Oh, that part I have down. No problem there.

Goodness! What a beautiful card!!

Agreed. Great card!


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Picked up a nice Mantle for my 1954 Red Heart set.

Always loved the energy jumping off this card.

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That is outstanding. I’ve been looking for a nice, centered, lower grade example lately. Yours is head and shoulders above that! Great snag!

It's an SGC 4 that I was very happy to pick up. Centering is a little off, but not as bad as a lot of cards in this set.

Beautiful cards, guys!

My favorite card ever of my favorite player ever.


Congratulations! I wish I could afford a '9', but that would just be 'chasing the flip'- and I'll never do that.
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Thanks. I wanted a nice one, but with this card it's really the picture that matters. You could pick up a beater and still get the same sense of Sandy coming down hill at you.

February pickups
 

An “Excellent plus” kinda day at the mailbox.

I decided I was not going to let the centering on this Aaron bother me, and I’m quite pleased with my decision. Doing this set in any kind of “near perfectly centered” is a challenge I’m simply not up for, and I have decided there are more important things to me in terms of picture clarity and color that I would rather focus on. The card still retains a lot of "pack fresh" attributes.

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Nice Yaz from Greg Morris and an excellent Frankie Frisch that I got here from Howard.

This is another elevator grab (shameless plug: if you don't know what an 'elevator grab' is, check out #140 in my "The New Directory of Collectorisms..." thread), as I was able to jump on it for $50 less than what a PSA 6 had just sold for, not to even mention what the listing prices of the two (much more OC) ones on ebay are...

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Nice card. I am also working on this set and have about 1/4 of it so far. Looks like I need to start riding in the same elevators that you do. :)

I'm now at 16/55, so right in the same neighborhood as you. In the BST section, I posted two I have for trade, Gibson and Petrocelli.

Picked up recently.

I met back up with the older gentleman I got the '49 Paige from and purchased these two beauties. The Gehrig was one he was given from his cousin, but the Mantle is one he pulled from a pack himself as a kid. The gloss on the front of the card is unreal.

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Hi Jarrod, Wow, what a beautiful raw Mick! Great centering. Nice Gehrig too. Solid buys!

Great looking cards Jarrod! It would be great to find someone with those kind of raw cards to sell.

All right, that’s it. I know there are definitely old guys who live in my neighborhood. I’ve seen ‘em. Time to go knock on some doors.

Oh man, those are awesome!


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Beautiful cards Jarrod. There's something different about cards that have been hidden in collections for 30+ years. They have an unspoken dignity to them.

Thanks, all. He was a nice guy that I paid a very fair price to for these. I probably even overpaid for raw cards, but I agree with what you said Casey...These aren’t slabbed cards that have been bought and sold a dozen times just in the past year. These are memories from his childhood that have been in a box for 60 years. He has a couple more Mantles and I educated him on the best way to sell them if he so chooses. I even offered to post them here on his behalf, but I think he’s going another route. A very nice man, and I enjoyed meeting up and talking with him these past couple of times.

Jarrod, super nice vintage Yankees. If you "overpaid" for those cards raw, my guess is you will not feel that way for long in this market. Huge score, congrats!

I had the picture blown up and framed. I wish I had asked to have the card title included. There are such things out on the 'bay, but they are expensive.

Special to me in particular because it was the first MLB game I can remember seeing on TV.

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Veered a little off track from my 60s set quest...fun to do every once in a while -


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Sharp Mick there, John. Great color on that one.

Picked these up between mid-December and late January when it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to find representative cards of these players as easily as I’d thought while I was putting it off to work on a pre-war project over the last few years. All were brazen FOMO overpays. A couple already seem like reasonable buys, even bargains.

Wow Lucas, beautiful centering on every single one of those. Great pickups!

Thank you, Jarrod!

You suck. :rolleyes:

You’re right. Just excited to share. And watching other cards slip away like everyone else. Cheers.

I finally picked one of these up. I likely over paid for a BVG slabbed card but the card is pretty and it was much cheaper than a comparable PSA 6 so I’m happy.