[ls7plus]

With respect to the initial question posed by this thread, I have a 1947 Tip Top Bread Johnnie Mize that fits that bill. I am a Mize fan, and a lot of baseball fans don't realize how truly good he was. I personally consider Bill James' stat of runs created per 27 outs, compared to league average, on a career basis to be the best yardstick to measure a player's offensive ability. By my recollection, only seven or eight pre-steroid era players have produced more than 200% of the league average runs created for their entire careers: Williams, Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig, Cobb, Jackson, and Hornsby are the ones I recall. I believe Musial to be next at 193%, then followed by Mize at 188%. In addition, had he not missed 3 years of his prime due to service in WWII, he would have likely ended up with somewhere around 450-480 career HR's, and a .315-.320 batting average (as it was, he ended up at .312). Also, his OPS+ was 156 (equal, I believe, to Willie Mays), and his lifetime on-base percentage was .398. I wanted the '47 Tip Top badly, because it represents his best power season: 51 HR, 138 RBI, and 137 runs scored, with a .302 average.

However, the card is in poor condition, with a couple of wrinkles and vertical lines (not quite creases) where the paperboard has begun to separate (perhaps due to prolonged sunlight exposure?). Although the ebay scan accurately depicted the condition of the card, I pulled the trigger anyway, as I had had a saved search for more than one year for it, and this was the only one that had shown up. I really wanted one in graded VG or better, but PSA has only graded a total of 5, and just 4 of those were in that category. Not knowing how long it would take for a more suitable example to appear, I bought it. Since it truly appears to be a tough card, at times I decide to just appreciate it for that and the achievements it represents with respect to Mize's career, but at other times, the decided lack of eye appeal really gets to me, even to the point where I consider it an embarassment to my collection. Sometimes I rationalize that I am giving it a good home, a la Brad above, but at others, really would like to simply get rid of it. It has, however, solidified my approach to collecting with regard to rare "beaters"--don't buy them unless they are really, really rare!

Interesting post,

Larry