[ValKehl]

Hollywood42, welcome aboard. As your collecting budget is limited, I suggest you also keep your eyes open for SCG-graded and BVG-graded cards, because one can frequently find nicer condition cards in these slabs for less $$ than PSA-graded cards.

I assume the reason "Killer" doesn't appear in the 1957 Topps set is that he spent almost the entire year at Chattanooga. I believe that Senators' management decided very early, well before spring training began, that this was best for Killebrew

From everything I have ever read about Killebrew, he was one heckuva nice guy. I had the pleasure of meeting him once, at a large card show roughly 25-30 years ago. After his signing session ended, rather than disappearing, he walked the aisles of the show for 1.5-2 hours, chatting with any and all dealers and collectors who cared to chat with him. He couldn't have been more friendly and pleasant, which made me wish I hadn't been so negative about him when he first joined the Senators (my team) as a "big bonus baby." His signing bonus was so large that the MLB rules at that time required the Senators to keep him on their MLB roster for a couple of years as a penalty, rather than letting him get the minor league seasoning he needed. He seldom got to play the first few years, and he struck out a lot. I felt Killebrew would never amount to much, probably because my heroes were the singles hitters who batted .300, probably because my dad considered it a sin to strike out.