Jan. 2011 Pick-up thread...

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

Wow, 2011 really started off with a bang!

sayhey24 Greg listed some really cool 1973 All Star game locker tags on the BST section yesterday morning. One of these was for one of my primary collecting focuses, HOFer Nolan Ryan. Growing up an Angels fan in So Cal, Nolan Ryan was always my favorite player. The Angels era portion of my advanced Ryan collection has always been my pride and joy with special emphasis on the year 1973, which IMHO, was Ryan's best year. The site of the 1973 All Star game, KC Royals Stadium, was significant for Nolan because it had been the place that he threw his 1st of 7 career no-hitters just 2 months prior on 5/15/73.

The 1973 All Star game was noteworthy for Ryan because it was the 1st time that he actually pitched in the mid-summer classic. He was added to the 1972 AL All Star roster as a special write in vote, but did not play. Ironically, in the year that Nolan Ryan dominated baseball, he got lit up at the 1973 All Star game. I believe that he called his and Angels teammate Bill Singers' appearance in the AS game "like throwing gasoline on a fire!"

In an interesting side note, these 1973 locker tags first appeared on eBay several years ago. I've been bummed that I didn't get the Ryan 1973 All Star locker tag the 1st time around, but sometimes in this hobby you get lucky and get a second crack at a special item. Thanks to Greg I added this one yesterday!

Happy 2011 to all of you on net54!

Damn Scott! That is a tremendous piece to add to your legendary Ryan collection! Greg is a stand up guy with very high character, not to mention his fantastic collection.

Have you decided how you're going to display it? When you do, please post photos of it.

All good things, Jimmy