365 Days of Roberto Clemente

[Empty77]

I came of collecting age in the grand ol' year of 1988 and remember getting as a holiday gift that season the complete pre-built factory set of Topps baseball, straight from the toy section of the JCPenney catalogue, for $25 if memory serves. Good times.

It wasn't long before I discovered monthly price guides on the newstand and the joy of fixating on those little up/down arrows of who was up this month from $0.50 to $0.75. Wow! Good times again.

Anyway, I soon used my own savings on an annual subscription to Beckett BBC Monthly so it would come right to the front door, and I'm sure could hardly believe it when one of the first issues after activating my subscription would have been the one below, their 50th anniversary issue that you may recall (near 30 yrs ago now!):

[docpatlv]

Lol...those damn up & down arrows. I remember, when something would move up $5-10, thinking I was sitting on some gold mine. And conversely how pissed I would get when something I owned had a down arrow.

[Empty77]

Originally Posted by docpatlv

Lol...those damn up & down arrows. I remember, when something would move up $5-10, thinking I was sitting on some gold mine. And conversely how pissed I would get when something I owned had a down arrow.

Yeah, and how they knew that a 1989 Donruss Mark Lemke rookie card went down from $0.20-something the prior month to precisely $0.17 cents the next will remain a hobby mystery for all time. (an actual example; for old times sake I flipped through it a bit when I made that scan above.)

and FYI in that issue:
-the Clemente rookie was "up" to $800 in NM condition [at least I think that's what the right hand most column was meant to be indicative of for vintage, but I couldn't find a key in that issue confirming that, not that NM meant the same then as it does now in the era of professional TPG]
-the '52 Mantle was holding steady at $6600
-and on the monthly "Hot-Cold" list, Mike Greenwell and Greg Jefferies were holding strong in the top 5, having traded each other for the second and third spots from the prior month (Canseco held at #1 of 30); meanwhile, some new kid named Griffey Jr cracked in at #20 from previously 'not-ranked'....I recall that he was very favorably scouted at the time and with a lot of optimism as well, but still no one could have known exactly how that was going to eventually play out...

[Empty77]

I picked this up recently. Not sure whether they are often seen in other circles? vs. I wonder how many were thrown out by stores or the manufacturer when the sell-by date passed on the primary product...

1972 Kellogg's single card pack

[hcv123]

The PSA pop report ranges from 2 copies graded (1970 cello, 1971), 3 copies graded (1970 1 card pack) to 6 graded (1972). I have seen the 1972 pop up from time to time, less often the 1970 single - almost never the 1970 cello and 1971 single! I believe I already posted pics of one of the boxes they came in with a pic of the Clemente card and an uncut sheet of the 1970 cards with Clemente. I clearly remember telling mom to get Kelloggs cereal to get the cards in the mid 70's - I don't think it was as early as these - more likely 1973-1976. I was starting to save things already, but never thought to keep these in tehir packs - couldn't wait to open the cereal box and dig through to get the cards!! Boy did I eat a lot of cereal when the cards were there!

[71buc]

Those are beautiful Howard and Empty77. Not a crack or curl in sight

[Empty77]

Originally Posted by 71buc

Those are beautiful Howard and Empty77. Not a crack or curl in sight

Yeah, mine's actually a 10, but I cropped that out b/c I didn't want to seem too much of a braggart...oh, oops.

But I don't have any of the others at all and actually never seen them, so I'm quite handicapped in quantity and diversity. I guess I take my role here to post what I may have so as to coax others like Howard to 1-up it (or in this case, to 4-up it!)