October Pickups

[mintacular]

Picked up this '65 Clemente as an upgrade for my collection. Always reassuring when you get the card in hand and it looks as good as the scan...which is why I prefer and will a little more when I buy cards in person....

[Jcfowler6]

Originally Posted by mintacular

Picked up this '65 Clemente as an upgrade for my collection. Always reassuring when you get the card in hand and it looks as good as the scan...which is why I prefer and will a little more when I buy cards in person....



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Nice card!


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[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Thx, my friend. They all popped up on ebay in the last 24 hrs or so; the Ted was an auction. The Bench was listed by BBCExchange; I called them to buy direct and they worked with me on price. Always perfect customer service there and reasonable prices, too.

That's great. It's cool that BBC Exchange worked with ya on the price. I'm also not surprised. I've not had the pleasure of doing business with Steve yet, but I will be soon. I didn't know until a few weeks ago that he even dealt in individual cards. I stumbled across a 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson PSA 8.5, and I must have look at the card front for 30 minutes. I don't know if it sold or not, it was a real beauty. The left to right centering was about 45/55 from memory, and that was the only thing I could find that would warrant a sub 9 grade. The price was pretty good, too.

Originally Posted by Yossarian

MattyC and Bill - thanks for the comments/pointers on a suitable scanner. I will add one to my short list.

Speaking of which, now that I have completed my Eddie Mathews basic run, I am thinking of turning to that other criminally undervalued/non-appreciated teammate of his - Warren Spahn. Don't believe me? Check his career stats - yikes! I already have his '52 Topps, so the heaviest lifting is already behind me. Any other Spahn collectors out there? Any particularly difficult cards?

Those '76s (Eck and Brett) are both smoking. Interesting set with some oddly tough cards (Johnny Briggs comes to mind - supposedly one of the absolute hardest cards of the '70s. Anyone confirm? Anyone have in high grade?)

You're welcome

I was born in Milwaukee, and lived in Waukesha until I was 18. I'm one of the biggest Milwaukee Braves/Brewers fans you'll find. Spahn is criminally undervalued in the hobby, imho. That's a good thing for now, as I haven't started buying his cards yet. If they could hold off for another year or so, it would be appreciated. Why that is, I don't know. I mean, look at his career stats. 363 wins and a career 3.09 ERA. That's spectacular, especially when you consider that he pitched in 750 games, starting 665 of them. He won only one Cy Young Award, even though he led the league in strikeouts four times, ERA three times, and wins a whopping eight times. He was a 20 game winner thirteen times! In 1963 at age 42, he won 23 games with a 2.60 ERA. Unfortunately, when the Cy Young Award came around in 1956, Spahn only had ten seasons left. And there was only one award for all of baseball until 1966, the year after he retired. Knowing that, and knowing, too, that he was 35 years old when the award was introduced, he finished in the Cy Young top 5 voting five times. He also finished in the MVP top 5 four times.

Have you uploaded your Mathews run yet? Did you go with strictly Topps cards, or did you include Bowman, too? I only have the one Eddie thus far, a nice mid grade '61 Topps.



Spahn spearheaded one hell of a rotation with Lew Burdette and Bob Buhl. That trio won 56 games in 1957 when we beat the Yankees for Milwaukee's only World Series win. The next season, we lost the Series. They really missed Buhl. He'd won 18 games in both 1956 and 1957 as our #3 starter, and in 1959 and 1960 he won 16 and 15. But he only started 11 games in 1958, going 5-2. I don't remember what happened. He didn't pitch in the post season, unfortunately. It was hard enough beating the Yankees. Losing a starter that would end up going 85-46 with a 3.07 ERA between 1955 and 1960. Without him, and a slight drop in power numbers from the season before (the Braves hit 199 home runs in 1957), we just couldn't drop them again.

Originally Posted by mintacular

Picked up this '65 Clemente as an upgrade for my collection. Always reassuring when you get the card in hand and it looks as good as the scan...which is why I prefer and will a little more when I buy cards in person....

That's a beautiful Clemente, Patrick! I'm reinstalling Windows on my desktop computer, and looking at you card on my 22 inch screen, which is a rare thing for me, as I'm usually in bed because of my back. Great pick up!

[Yossarian]

Bill - all trenchant points. Glad to know Spahn has some other collecting fans out there. Spahn's durability and longevity are simply unmatched in the modern era. That '57 team had an outstanding roster. Other than his early Bowmans and that '52 Topps, his cards are extremely reasonable. I will be uploading as I go. As usual, I will just be shooting for a mid-grade set.

Re: Mathews - I will get him uploaded once I actually purchase a scanner.
I did both his Topps (except the '52) and all his Bowmans (only 3 of those). The run ranges in grade from PSA 5-PSA 8 (later year cards). I think I paid the most for his '53 Bowman, which is fine - it is just about my favorite of the entire run.

I will definitely share when I get uploaded.