Quote:
Originally Posted by commishbob
It's post war but Bob Lemke (RIP) did a couple of versions of the missing Ed Bouchee 1958 Topps. Happy to have them and this one fills the empty slot on that binder for me.
Here's the other version.
The Ed Bouchee story is here although I figure everyone here is likely aware of it. |
I wonder how many of us had the same experience. Bouchee was listed as card #145 on one of the checklists. I was ten years old and I rode my bike all over our little midwestern town, looking to trade with kids from other elementary schools whom I'd met in Little League. I never could find an Eddie Bouchee -- needless to say -- and that missing card was one of the great disappointments of my childhood. (In retrospect, I guess I was pretty lucky.)
Fast forward to 1971. I was one year out of college and I had a decent job. I saw an ad in Street and Smith's (or maybe The Sporting News) from Stan Martucci on Staten Island, advertising baseball cards for sale. I bought a '55 Topps set, the '58 set (which had been my favorite), and the '60. I remember the '55 set cost $35 and that I passed on the '57 because I thought $55 was too much. The sets were most VG-Ex and better and I was thrilled.
Martucci's flier said that card #145 had never been issued. I didn't learn the whole story about Bouchee until much later, but it was odd to realize that this major disappointment was really nothing at all. There never was a Bouchee card.
Here's another fantasy version, blank-backed.