Sunday Edition

Vintage Binge Buying

I've shown it before, but that's my homemade checklist book done in the style of a 1971 checklist. A few years back I wasted an incredible amount of time handwriting everyone of my set needs from 1952 to 1991 in here using a tiny black sharpie.  Since then, whenever I pick up a need, I find the card in my book and cross it off with a red "x."  When a set is completed, I mark it off on the cover.  (Like a checklist,...subtle, I know)

I've been on a huge vintage buying kick lately.  That may sound expensive, but anyone that knows my vintage buying habits, knows that I'm not the sort to dwell on minor irrelevant details such as the condition of the card.  While I haven't been able to cross any sets off on the cover recently,  I have been putting a lot of red ink inside the book, and the act of marking those little red "x's" has been addictive.  As I write this, I already have more sportlots and ebay orders in route to my mailbox for a future post.  I make a point of not taking ink to the book until the card is actually in hand, so I'm not mentioning any of those cards at this time.  But here's a look at some of the low grade vintage treasures I've splurged on and already have in hand:

Other than the 53's, none of these are necessarily from sets I'm actively building, beyond in the sense that I'm ultimately trying to build every Topps set.  The '57 Colavito rookie isn't even a need, Rocky has just always been one of my favorite historical players (due to cards I liked in my father's collection and home run derby re-runs) and I'm not one to turn down additional Colavitio rookies when they fall my way for less than the price of a beer at Buffalo Wild Wings.

I'm actually pretty stoked about all of these beyond the 53's, which is the set I'm actually working on at the moment.  The Cepeda is his rookie, that '59 Campy has been one I've wanted to add to my collection for years, and Koufax is player that has long eluded me on cardboard.  In fact that '61 is now the closest thing to a Koufax card I own (I have some of those multi-faced league leaders, but no regular base set cards).  The Fox isn't a rookie or anything, but I'm one of those simple collector's that still gets excited about cards from the 1950's that feature Hall of Famers.  

That photo of card backs above may not pop to modern collector's who like their cards to give off an oil spill shiny glow, be marked with an illegible signature in sharpie and hermetically sealed inside a case so that they can never experience the simple pleasure of holding a card with their own hand, but to those that know, it's a pretty awesome sight.  That's a group of 19 high numbers from the 1972 set, including #686 Steve Garvey.  I was extremely relieved to pick up the Garvey for the price I did.  Sure, it's shape is a little bit rough, but nothing terrible (there's a photo of the front further down in this post).  I was worried it was going to set me back a really ugly number to own, like an entire Syracuse Basketball game worth of beers for myself and a table of friends at Wild Wings.  But it came out to more a split ticket during a Syracuse Game at Wild Wings.  Sleeving this many high numbers at once made me irrationally happy.  It may not look like it, but that's my happy face below, completing a page of high numbers (didn't realize I was being photographed at the time).

Here's where I currently sit with the 1972 set.  I've got a good number of cards to track down still, but the finish line is within sight (448 is in hand, but my copy is missing it's back):

1972: (4th Ser.) 408, 423, 428, 434, 435, 439, 448, 454, 455, 476, 489, 502, 503, 513, 520, 522 (5th Ser.) 530, 533, 535, 536, 537, 539, 540, 544, 545, 546, 550, 552, 553, 555, 556, 559, 560, 562, 564, 567, 569, 570, 572, 573, 574, 575, 576, 577, 579, 580, 582, 583, 584, 588, 589, 590, 593, 594, 596, 597, 598, 599, 600, 607, 619, 620, 621, 624, 625,  629, 632, 633, 635, 636, 637, 640, 643, 644, 645, 648, 650, 651, 653, 654, 655 (High #'s) 660, 663, 666, 669, 670, 673, 678, 688, 690, 692, 699, 700, 702, 704, 705, 706, 708, 709, 710, 711, 714, 715, 719, 720, 721, 722, 724, 726, 729, 730, 733, 738, 739, 742, 751, 753, 755, 757, 758, 761, 764, 768, 770, 771, 779, 783

Here are the rest of the 1970's set needs I picked up.  I'm not sure if you can tell, but that Garvey in the upper left has a good amount of wear around the edges, but like I mentioned above, is still completely acceptable.  I've debated for awhile whether I want to take on 1971 or 1973 after I finish '72, and I'm leaning strongly towards '71 at the moment.  But all of that could change.  Here's a look at what I still need as far as the single series 1970's sets (I think I'm becoming a bit of a snob in that I find myself dismissing the single series sets as challenges unworthy of my attention):

1977: 6, 8, 10, 74, 100, 113, 183, 208, 231, 234, 265, 277, 285, 327, 355, 387, 390, 412, 430, 434, 450, 467, 473, 476, 494, 518, 546, 547, 560, 580, 615, 621, 650, 655, 656

1976: 17, 55, 73, 104, 118, 119, 128, 150, 160, 192, 202, 205, 230, 300, 330, 341, 344, 345, 347, 420, 435, 480, 550, 581, 590, 596, 643, 650

1974: 3, 29, 50, 53, 80, 95, 130, 179, 280, 331, 470, 473, 582, 598, 600, 604, 605, 637

And not withstanding my "snobby multi-series vintage elitism," it still feels very nice to polish off a page in these binders for the single series sets as well.  

I hope all of you have safe and pleasant Thanksgiving Week and are able to find some positive moments with friends and loved ones, as it's almost to cliche to say it at this point, but they've been far too hard to come by this year.  And just by way of Public Service announcement, The Peanuts Thanksgiving Special will be airing on PBS on November 22 at 7:30 est/6:30 cen.