So Much Oddball Vintage; 2019 National Recap Part #3

If I'm being honest, I forgot about some of my goals for The 2019 National when I walked into the show last Wednesday in Chicago. 

The purpose behind those objectives was to add some structure to what can be a hectic event. I was successful in accomplishing my goals for last year's show in Cleveland, but for some reason, things were different this time around.

The 2019 National was definitely larger than last year's show in Cleveland. The fact that Chicago is such a dynamic sports city certainly helped, but there seemed to be more vendors and a stronger buzz surrounding the convention this time. 

Throughout my 2 1/2 days at the show, one thing remained on my radar nonstop; vintage cards. The shows that I usually attend have a fair amount of vintage, but the prices are often steep and the selection limited.

Because of the sheer scale of The National, you can't walk for 2 minutes without stumbling upon boxes and display cases full of cards from the 1970s and before.

I brought my want list along to make progress with 1961, 1976, and 1979 Topps, but I soon found myself filling in some other holes and venturing out towards oddball cards as well.

My Dad has always told me that his ideal set to complete is 1955 Bowman Baseball (mine's 1953 Topps). Although the checklist consists of just 320 cards, there are a significant number of Hall of Famers in the set, including 2nd-year cards of Ernie Banks and Al Kaline. 

The small set size is something that '55 Bowman has going for it that most vintage sets do not, so it makes sense to begin collecting these beautiful cards. The sole key rookie is Elston Howard (#68), and my Dad was able to track that card down for only $3.

I'm not big on starting a project that I likely won't finish, but I don't necessarily believe that's the case with 1955 Bowman. We may choose to go forward with this product with the understanding that it'll be a challenge, but I far from believe that completing this set is impossible.

Another one of my Dad's mini-projects throughout our time at The National was building a small collection of these Baseball's Famous Feats cards, a set put out by Fleer in 1973. 

Upon seeing these for the first time, I drew comparisons between the oversized cards above and the Fleer World Series sets from the early 1970s (which I'll get to later). 

The bold colors and cartoon design are used to honor significant events in Baseball history, like Hornsby's Triple Crowns and Cobb's batting titles.

These cards aren't quite large enough for vintage penny sleeves, meaning I'll have to buy some individual sheets the next time I'm at the Baseball card show to protect this set.

A couple of weeks ago, I left a comment on The Chronicles of Fuji's post, stating how fond I am of the 1970 Topps Posters. I could go on for hours about them, so I'll keep in brief. They're colorful, the perfect size, and feature some of the greatest players in MLB history.

While I can't say I was actively searching for these throughout my time at The National, I didn't spot any 1970 Topps Posters while I was there. Thankfully, my Dad landed one of Dodgers outfielder Willie Davis for only $2. 

There are just 24 posters in the set, so I might start putting this set together as well now that I'm wrapping up '76 and '79 Topps Flagship.

More old school oddballs, because where else would you be able to find 1983 Milwaukee Police Department cards of Robin Yount and Rollie Fingers? Sometimes this hobby can get pretty strange, and I absolutely love it.

Like the Fleer Famous Feats, these cards are oversized, so I'm not sure where I'm going to store them since they won't be able to fit with the other cards in the Robin Yount and Rollie Fingers PCs. However, these were my Dad's pickups as well, and for $1 each, I can figure something out.

Before I get into the vintage oddballs from a couple of sets, here's one of the coolest things that we picked up during our time at the show; a ticket stub from game #3 of the 1972 NLCS between the Reds and the Pirates at Riverfront Stadium.

I forget where exactly this came from or what my Dad paid for it, but this thing is pretty cool. We don't have all that many old tickets besides a couple of Red Sox ones from the late 70s, so I'm thrilled to add this to our collection of Cincinnati Reds memorabilia.

I stated earlier in this post that I'd talk more about the Fleer World Series cards from the early 1970s. What I didn't mention is that my Dad picked up a huge lot of these cards from the 1970 and 1971 sets, one of his largest pickups of the show.

Last Thursday, he found a vendor who was selling these cards by the page and received a substantial discount when he purchased almost everything the dealer had. We've both taken a liking to these oddballs in the past, and the fact that we barely had any beforehand only inspired my Dad more. 

All the cards above are from the 1970 set, but Fleer did the exact same thing in '71 by creating a cartoon for each Fall Classic. On the back, there's a quick blurb about the series as well as who won and how many games it lasted.

The 1971 design differs slightly from the previous year. The top corner features the MLB logo and the year of the World Series instead of a Baseball. Other than that small difference, there's no real way to tell them apart, for the style of the cartoons is nearly identical. 

Following this significant purchase, our next step regarding these 2 sets is to add them to the want list. Because of how uncommon they are, I assume we'll have to rely on major shows and the internet to complete the respective products.

Last but certainly not least, I'm thrilled to announce that we worked towards completing yet another vintage set in Chicago, the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set. 

Like '55 Bowman and the '70 Topps Posters, the checklist is on the small side (80 cards), and we actually see this set somewhat regularly at the Mansfield show.

However, the price of these cards often gets out of hand, especially when they're in stellar condition. As far as completing sets is concerned, I've never cared too much about the shape that the card is in so long as it's all in 1 piece.

Thus, while searching for cards from the '59 Ted Williams set, neither my Dad nor myself put much emphasis on the condition of the card. As you can see, many have creases, frayed edges, and are slightly miss-cut. 

However, there's no card in horrible shape, and our open-mindedness is what allowed us to purchase as many of these set needs as we did.

If I wanted to build a set in which all the cards were in a certain condition, I'd have to be a bit more careful with what I purchase. However, that's never been and likely never will be the case with the cards that I buy, so I, truthfully, don't care that these cards have creases.