What happens when you mix great beer and EBay?

The other day I was having a few Founder's Porters-which is a brewery out of Grand Rapids, Michigan (we can now get their beer in the SF Bay area). I visited this brewery back in 2001 and  I am excited to get it here. So what happens when you mix excellent beer and EBay? This is what happens.

Nine 1969 Topps Decals for less than $14.00 delivered All of which are in excellent condition.

What gives with the 1964 Topps' Curt Flood?

I have been trying to pick off vintage cards, more commons than anything-or minor stars, from our Redbirds' Topps needs list. I started noticing that Curt Flood's 1964 Topps #103 was more expensive than other lower series cards.

Yes, Curt was a pioneer in Baseball for helping rid baseball of the reserve clause. However, he wasn't a superstar. So I couldn't figure out why this card would, eventually when I do pick it up, cost nearly $20. So the last couple of evenings while watching the Birds play I have been scrolling through stories on Sports Collectors Daily and came across not one but two articles on this same issue. Here, is the most relevant of the two articles Curt Flood. Well this article led me to this article on Espn's website Cornering the market. I am not going to rewrite the article but I think the picture below sums it up best. Yes, he has 4,000 of these f&%#@&$ cards!

TriStar Recap Part Tre

Continuing on with vintage pickups I was able to upgrade my 1966 Tracy Stallard. Mr. Haverkamp was kind enough to help out with my 1966 needs with a copy last year but this marks an upgrade.

Next up the greatest year the world has ever known-yep the year of my birth-1967. All of these were picked up at the $1 table. Since I have several Ray Sadeki cards he shows up here as a, gasp, Giant. #41 Joe Hoerner, 1#95 Al Jackson, #304 Phil Gagliano, #404 Nelson Briles, #409 aforementioned Sadeki, and #421 Dal Maxville (this one I have but this could be an upgrade).

I am not a huge fan of the next set but I was able to pick up a coule of 1971s including a high number. My check list indicated I have the Gibby-but honestly I don’t remember-which is weird for me. But for $6 in excellent condition it became mine.  #450 Bob Gibson and #571 Ted Sizemore.

Wrapping up the vintage-not sure if the 70s count has vintage because if it does that means I am vintage too? I came across the guy I bought a few Bowmans last year and he had a binder with 1972 High #s. All in EX/NM condition. I picked up #645 Jim Maloney, #671 Donn Clendenon, #775 Jerry Reuss, and #779 Tony Cloninger.  I also picked up two other 1972 Hi #s from the same guy his was the last table I hit as I walked out and it was on the dark side so I didn’t notice that one had gum residue and the team card, real bummer had a small spot on the front a stain and not a printing issue. So what a freaking bummer-the price I paid I thought at the time was high but have since found they were reasonable considering what I am seeing on the Bay. The gentleman said he got these all from a vending box and even showed me a picture-alas, do vending boxes come with gum?

 

Well that does it for the vintage pickups. I think I will reflect more on the vintage when I write a wrap up post.

TriStar Recap Part Due

One of my goals was to pick up some Redbird vintage cards to work towards completing team sets.

As I indicated in the previous post the $1 stacks had some nice baseball cards. I was able to add a few to our collection. I didn’t take the time to look at my needs list since a bargain is a bargain and if I already had the card perhaps I could upgrade.

 I also visited a dealer that I had at the previous TriStar show-he had solid vintage Topps at reasonable prices from $2 to $20. I stuck to the $2 and $5 cards.  I visited another guy who had some nice cards but not much of what I was looking for. I was able to bargain a little on three cards which probably got me to the price I would otherwise be willing to pay for them. I thought it would be best to show the cards by year and not by dealer-

1959 Topps- #59 Irv Noren, #278 Chuck Essegian (White Back), #285 Joe Cunningham (White Back), and #539 Gary Blaylock.

1960 Topps #101 Bob Miller.

From the $1 stacks 1961 Topps #91 Walt Moryn and #420 Ernie Broglio “Brock for Broglio”-I already had these cards and when I process these purchases I will hopefully be able to upgrade,

1963 Topps #206 Ray Washburn set me back $2 and is nice condition.

I know there are some debates among collectors which Topps set of the1960s is the most attractive and perhaps I will do my own ranking someday. But regardless I have to place the 1964 issue close to the top of the heap. I really appreciate the vivid color, the simple but impactful fronts and the decent backs. Some day when I win the lottery I will buy the complete set.

For $1 I added the following 1964 cards. Carl Sawatski, Ernie Broglio, Photo Team, Gary Kolb, Ray Sadecki, Ron Taylor, Ray Washburn, and Jeoff Long. Had some of these as well-but they are in fantastic condition.

 

Next post will pick up with 1965 and finish up with the vintage. Then a review of some dime box and other finds, then a recap and a review of the show.

TriStar Recap Part Un

A couple of weekends ago was the annual TriStar show at the Cow Palace in South San Francisco which is about a hour twenty minutes north of where I live. As usual, I left early filled up the car and my belly and was an hour early, I wish I could have taken a picture but when you drive in South San Francisco the Cow Palace is impressive and really does take my breath away. It was built in an era when bigger was better and progress was determined by the amount of concrete you used to build these. Unfortunately, it was a misty day-and I got in line about 20 minutes early. I was about 5^th in line and chatted with a guy whom I met last time and always wears a Cardinals' jersey but isn't a fan-says he likes the colors.

The doors open I head in-to the left is PSA but dead ahead is a table. Now I have many years of Flea Market experience and I can scan a table and ascertain whether it is worth stopping by or not within seconds.  I spy about 12-17 stacks of football and baseball cards by year-each about 5 inches tall and all $1 according to the sign. WTH! I am in-the football cards were 1959-1965 or so-I am really not familiar with them. The baseball were 1959-1969 Topps. All of which were, in my not so educated opinion in EX/Near Mint condition perhaps better. Booya!

Again, I really don’t collect football cards but there is something from an aesthetic view that I really enjoy-so after going through the baseball stacks I did the same with the football cards and as a result I picked up all of these for $1-a little less because the guy rounded down.

First up, 1960 Topps #104 Mal Hammack & #108  Don Gillis.

Now we have 1964 Philadelphia Gum  #171 Bob De Marco, #172 Ken Gray,  #175 Ernie McMillian, #176 Dave Meinert, #179 Joe Robb, #180 Bill Stacy, and # 182 Cards Play of Year.

 

 

Finally 1965 Philadelphia Gum   #154 Cardinals Team, #156 Jim Bakken the only player I am familiar with.

 An interesting note about Philadelphia Gum is that was the exclusive rights holder to NLF cards and proudly placed the NFL logo on their cards in 1965 to show Topps who was boss. 1960 Topps Football consisted of 132 cards , 1964 Philadelphia Gum consisted of 198 cards, and 1965 Philadelphia had 198 cards.

I could see myself trying to finish off the team sets but it will be a slow process as these aren't a focus. Next up will be the baseball cards I gleaned from the stacks.