A Huge Haul of Vintage Pickups; Card Show Recap #20

With all the Baseball card box purchases that I've been making this year, both retail and hobby, I haven't been making all that many trips to the Baseball card show through the first 4 months of 2019.

Excluding an abbreviated visit towards the end of March which was designed for supplies, dime cards, and a box of Gypsy Queen, I haven't attended a card show since the middle of February. I can't really give a reason as to why I've been absent from them for so long, especially the weekly Woburn show which is just 25 minutes away from my house.

I've been attending Baseball card shows since I first started collecting cards, and they've become a vital part of my collecting habits. Without them, I'd struggle, immensely, to collect cards the way I d. I'd most certainly have to change ways of collecting Baseball cards without trips to the card show every now and again.

I try to visit the Woburn and Mansfield shows as much as I can, but there's another card show near me that only runs 2 times a year. Located at the Shriners Auditorium, you may recall that I visited this show towards the end of last April as well. 

Other than The 2018 National in Cleveland, Ohio, this is the largest card show that I've ever attended. With hundreds of vendors present and legends like Juan Marichal signing autographs, this isn't a show that I'd ever want to miss out on. I really couldn't think of any better way to ease back into going to card shows more regularly than going to the Shriner's show for the 2nd straight year. 

Of course, there are a million different directions and options for collectors at this show but setting goals for myself is not something that I typically do. Instead, I'd rather just walk into the room, look around for a bit, and see what happens. 

However, I didn't purchase any of the cards featured in this post. They were all my Dad's choices as he loves to boost our vintage card collection totals, whether we collect the player or not. While I'm more focused on adding to our various player collections, my Dad's main objective, usually, at card shows is to acquire as many well-priced vintage cards as possible.

I'm fairly sure that I don't have either of these 2 cards in my respective Cubs and Red Sox team collections, so I'm still pleased to pick both of them up. I often find myself taking old cards for granted nowadays with all the focus being around autographs and low-numbered parallels. 

Sure, it can be a blast to open new packs of cards and chase after autographs and low-numbered rookie cards, but there's something about the simplicity of vintage cards that cannot be beaten.

Even so, I'll almost always choose cards of players that I collect above all others, especially with the development of my player collection tiers. At 142 total cards, the Reggie Jackson player collection is 21st largest among guys that I collect, and Sunday's show boosted that total by at least 2 cards. 

There's a very good chance that I picked up some Jackson cards in the dime bins yesterday as well, but even if I didn't, I'm more than happy with the 2 cards from 1978 Topps. Seeing the record breaker and World Series highlights cards remind me of how dominant of a player Reggie Jackson was. 

He may hold the all-time record for most career strikeouts, but at the time in which he played, very few players could hit as well as Mr. October.

Although Topps was the only major Baseball card producer for over 2 decades, they made sure to keep their Flagship sets interesting with subsets within the product, including boyhood photos of the stars and big league brothers cards from 1973 and 1977 Topps respectively.

While I've seen the childhood photos cards in 1972 Topps, I don't recall seeing big league brothers in any other Topps Flagship set. We've seen father and son a couple of times, but I'm fairly certain that 1977 Topps was the only set to feature siblings. 

In addition to Ken and George Brett, I recall seeing this same card of Rick and Paul Reuschel. 

Upon seeing the backs of these (I believe) 1962 Post Baseball cards, it makes sense why these were available for only $1-$2 each. 

On the bright side, as if the fronts weren't informative enough, I'll at least be able to know who the player is based on the writing on the back along with a weird shape near the checkmark on Don Zimmer's card.

At last April's Shriner's Show, I remember purchasing my first-ever Post Baseball card of Yogi Berra for $5. Come to think of it, a $5 card from this set of a Hall of Famer is a far better deal than paying $1-2 for a Don Zimmer card with a ton of writing on the back.

I rarely get the opportunity, especially at my regular Baseball card show, to buy cards from the 1962 Post set, so, if nothing else, I appreciate the fact that they were at this show. 

With the exception of The National, I doubt I'll get another chance to buy these oddballs at a Baseball card show for the rest of the year.

Truth be told, it's hard to have a conversation about vintage oddballs without mentioning the 1969 Topps Deckle Edge set. One of the first true insert sets of all-time, these cards were brilliantly recreated as a part of the 2018 Topps Heritage product. However, as is usually the case, nothing can beat the originals.

At the 2018 National, I scooped up a ton of these cards for my player collections for a very reasonable price. That list includes legends like Willie McCovey and Rod Carew, but I was never able to find Bob Gibson, for whatever reason.

Now, almost 9 months after returning home from Cleveland, I have the Bob Gibson Deckle Edge card for my collection.

One of Bob Gibson's teammates from the 1960s, Curt Flood, is one of the most difficult player collections to maintain, for it can be impossible to add new cards to this PC. Every so often, when one of them comes along, I take it as a huge victory.

As you can tell, it's not every day that I add a new card of Curt Flood to that respective player collection. Not only are his vintage cards scarce, but there are virtually zero reproduction cards of his.  

It's likely that, given his lawsuit against MLB, that Topps is forbidden from producing cards of the 3-time All-Star

Given that Flood refused to play a game for the Philadelphia Phillies, I don't quite know what to think of this card. Truthfully, I didn't completely connect the dots until just now. Rather, I'm just pleased to add another card to the Curt Flood player collection.

As far as cards of guys I don't collect are concerned, I'm far more lenient with 3D cards, particularly those from the 1970s Kellogg's set. I currently have 2 binders dedicated solely to my 3D cards, so there's automatically a place set aside for these oddballs which cost my dad roughly $1 each.

I'm familiar with basically every Kellogg's 3D card design, but I had never seen the 1976 set until yesterday's show. The yellow banners and bright colors quickly made this set one of my favorites of all-time, especially given the players featured in this product.

1976 Topps is one of my favorite Topps sets ever produced for a lot of the same reasons, so I'm not surprised with how fond I've become of the '76 Kellogg's product in such a short period of time.

To my knowledge, the 1970 Kellogg's 3D cards are some of, if not the oldest 3D cards ever produced. Going into yesterday's trip to the Shriner's show, I had just one card from that set. Now, that number has grown to 3 and includes a Cubs player as well as the first 3D card in my collection that features a member of the Seattle Pilots.

I don't recall ever seeing a Pilots 3D card before in my life, and it may be quite some time before I see another one, if it even exists. Other than a Jim Bouton card from 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game, this Don Mincher 3D card is the only non-Flagship Pilots card in my collection.

Now that I've completed the 1969 and 1970 Topps base sets for the Seattle Pilots, it's time to move onto any available oddballs. Evidently, Kellogg's is a fantastic place to start.

As I've mentioned before on the blog and to other collectors at Baseball card shows, there comes a point, for me personally, when a card's condition is no longer a huge factor. Yes, you want your cards, especially the valuable ones, to be as close to mint condition as possible, but it doesn't always work out that way.

After all, if this 1968 Topps card of Juan Marichal had been in better condition, I doubt that it would be in my collection right now. Somebody else might've purchased it before my Dad got the chance, or the price for this card without the crease could've been too high.

Yes, a noticeable crease across the entire card isn't exactly ideal, but this card is so classic looking, a near-perfect embodiment of 1960s Baseball cards. 1968 Topps is one of my favorite vintage sets, and Marichal is one of my favorite HOF players to collect as well.

Nothing for nothing, but I'll take this card over a pack of some over-priced modern product any day.