BOX TOPS

It had been at least ten years since I'd boxed up the remainder of my collection.  When the first lid came off, I could smell the trouble. Baseball cards do have an aroma all their own, much like books.  I love the scent of both.  (A baseball card Scentsy...there's a brilliant idea!)  Sharing my cards, trading - that's what made it fun in the first place.  Times change, friends move away, drift or sometimes die.  My trading partners were gone. (I'm the one who moved actually, and another passed.)  The Ump wanted to see my cards.  I'm much too polite to say no.  I'm also much too generous.  I started a stack for her, which turned into a 500 count box...  Perhaps an exaggeration, perhaps.  Then I found the Cabrera rookies I never knew I had.  I'd saved all the rookies I'd ever pulled.  Fortunately, I had two and kept one for myself.   I'd sold all my Jeter rookies, wishing now I'd kept just one.  

Off comes the second lid. What the Heckler?  Is that a 93 SP set?  Sleeved and nestled in the top of the set box was Jeter, so young with a long career ahead.  What do you mean he's retiring??  But he wasn't even thirty years old when I boxed him up!   Well thanks a lot Derek.  Now I have to go through everything. 

Another bug

The 90 Leaf set. Too many sets from 1994.  Several years of Topps factory sets, unopened.  Hmm, unopened boxes of cards too.  Nothing special there, unless you're into the 94 Fun Pack, or Triple Play. Yeah, that was worth putting away for a few years.

SLUs: nice Ripkens,  FPs for Jeter, Chipper, Javy Lopez, Manny Ramirez, Cooperstown SLUs and an overly large Mickey Mantle doll. That's a bit overkill - and a bit ugly.

 Box three - lid be gone!  AH yes, the vintage cards. Vintage.  What a funny word. Most often used in place of old.  I've seen listings on eBay describing cards from the 80s/90s as vintage. NOT. Not of a particularly attractive design. Not some of the best issues.  If they're old at all, they're old junk. Junk cards.  What did I consider vintage?  Let's take a peek inside.  Miscellaneous old Topps, picked up cheaply, but beautiful to me:


1956 TOPPS

1956 TOPPS

1953 TOPPS

Grim (d. 1996)  played with the Yanks, KC As, Indians, Cards.  W/L record 61/41 with 3.61 career ERA. He won 20 games for the Yankees his
rookie year. Arm troubles sent him to the bullpen and through several trades.
Groat (b. 1930) played for the Pirates 1952-1962, Cards, Phils and Giants.  Career BA .286 with 2138 hits. 1960 MVP and batting title for .325 average.
 Williams (d. 2011) played with the Dodgers, O's (three different times,)  Indians, KC As, BoSox.  Career BA .260; 70 HRs.   He spent many more years as a manager for several teams with a career W/L record 1571-1451 winning three AL and one NL pennant.

 Oh those beautiful Bowmans!  Here are a few I picked up somewhere along the way.

1951 BOWMAN

1951 BOWMAN

1951 BOWMAN

 
 
 
 








Baker (d. 2004) played for several teams, most notably the White Sox. Batted left, threw right.  Career BA of .251, RBI total of 196.  Great looking card anyway!
Barney (d. 1997) played a handful of years for the Dodgers with a W/L of 35-31 and 4.31 ERA.
He suffered a leg injury which contributed to an early retirement.  He walked 48 batters in 33 innings and thus ended his MLB career.
Eddie Kazak (d. 1999) third base for the Cards and Reds from 1948 - 1952. He enlisted and suffered injuries during the Invasion of Normandy. A bayonet wound in his left arm and a shrapnel shattered right elbow didn't keep  Eddie out of the game.  Career BA of .273 with 165 hits.  A player in the minors til 1960, he left us with this gorgeous Bowman!

I have many more cards from 50s and 60s.  Older, yes.  Vintage??  Not sure. It's a PO - personal opinion.  When looking at my own pictures from the early 60s, I certainly don't think vintage, just youthful!