Helping a Friend- Mickey Mantle For Sale!

Hey everyone, Drew back here. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine contacted me to see if I was interested in his 1969 Topps Mickey Mantle card. I can't spot the cash right now personally, but I was curious if anyone would be interested in it! He's looking for around $100 for the card, but he's willing to listen to offers! If you have interest in it, feel free to leave a comment below and we can see if we can work something out!

Thanks guys, I'll be back soon by the way.

See Ya!

Trade with James!

Hey everyone, Drew back here. Boy has it been a while. Getting back to the old form though, here is some mail I've been meaning to post for a while, courtesy of a loyal reader of mine named James. James contacted me recently asking about a possible trade, and I loved the offer and he sent me the cards a few weeks ago! Check them out:

We start with a few of the 1980 Topps Yankees cards he sent me. I've always liked the 1980 Topps set. Why? Absolutely no idea. But some of the photos, like on the Guidry, Randolph, and White cards, are very nice. It's a set that I probably will do at some point or another, but you know how slow and lazy I am. 

Next were a few more mixed 80's cards. I like the 1980 Guidry/J.R. Richard League Leaders card a lot. I read up on Richard one time, because he was on almost every league leader card for pitchers for a certain time span, yet nobody ever talks about him. He was unbelievable for a few years in the 1970's, but after that he had a stroke which basically caused his career to end. Following that he invested in unsuccessful businesses, got divorced multiple times, and went completely broke. He was actually homeless at one point. He now is a minister and has rose up from nothing again. His story is really interesting. 

Next were a whole bunch of 70's goodness! Oh, and the 1964 Topps Yankees "Young Aces" card featuring Al Downing and Jim Bouton! Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the 1974 Bucky Dent is a rookie card, and I also really like the Goose Gossage card from that year. And nothing is better than a few Hall of Famers in Kaline, Frank Robinson, and Bob Gibson!

Getting more modern; here are a few cards from the recent years. My favorite is definitely the Heritage card celebrating Ruth hitting 60 home runs. To me, besides Maris' 61 home run season, that season for Ruth is definitely the 2nd best year ever for a power hitter. 

The final card is pretty darn sweet, and was the main part of our trade. Out of 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee, here is a triple relic of Derek Jeter; Robinson Cano; and Jorge Posada! Three of my favorite Yankees on one card? How sweet is that? The Jeter piece has a pinstripe, while the other two relics are from away jerseys. This is a card that isn't seen often, and when it's been on eBay it has held a little bit of value. Overall, I'm really glad to add this card not only to the growing Cano collection, but for the Yankees collection in general!

So thanks so much for the trade James, I really appreciate it! Alright everyone, in case I don't have anything up tomorrow I just want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! See Ya!

Vintage Bowman eBay Pickup!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Well, sorry for the long delay in getting a post up; I actually just got back from a vacation up in the Adirondack Mountains with my friend Mike, and the day prior to leaving I layed in bed sick all day and was unable to notify you all that I wouldn't be here. School starts Thursday, but hopefully tomorrow I can get some posts lined up for the rest of the week. Continuing with where we left off, heres a card I got a while back:

Yeah, I sure did catch an old one off of the bay of e! It was a 1955 Bowman Yogi Berra card, which is now the oldest Berra in my collection! Sure, it isn't in mint condition, but I'm not the kind of collector who really would care. I understand the people in it for the condition, but the reason I'm in this hobby is just to get myself some of the cards I've "ooed" and "aaahed" over, no matter what it looks like. Its got a few rough corners, and some surfacing damage, but it's presentable and I'm more than happy about it, especially with the price I paid for it. 

I've always really been a fan of the 1955 Bowman set, commonly referred to as the TV Set. It's a classic design, and one that has been one of the more commonly used designs in Bowman's recent sets. The only card I'd rather have in this set is of course, the Mantle card, but I'll happily settle for Berra. 

Through my recent vintage splurge I've decided that some day I want to try to collect most/if not all of Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford's vintage cards. It would be a fun little goal for sure. 

What do you all think of the card? See Ya!

Revealing the Rest of the Mysterious Binder...

Hey guys, Drew back here. I figured, with the rest of the day with nothing to do, why not finish off this binder series with a bang? I scanned the rest of the bigger cards, and while I would've scanned them all, I figured you would all prefer to see some of the other ones I didn't get to show yet.

Well, why not start with the Babe? Sure, it's 27 years after his retirement, but still, it's my oldest Ruth card in my collection. It's part of the Babe Ruth Special that Topps threw into the 1962 set, honoring him. This card shows him and Hall of Fame manager Miller Huggins, which is perhaps my first card of his. Pretty sweet for sure.  

From my 1961 Topps set I'm trying to build, here are 3 of the cards in the "Baseball Thrills" subset. I already posted the card highlighting Mantle's 565 foot home run, which is also part of the subset, but these are awesome too. My favorite of these 3 is the card that dedicates Rogers Hornsby's .424 batting average in the 1924 season! Just thinking of how impossible it sounds to hit for that good of an average in the major leagues makes me think even better of Hornsby and the card. 

Next were some of the base I needed in the 1961 set, from left to right: (top) Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek, Batter Bafflers (Cardwell/Hobbie), Bobby Shantz MVP, (bottom) Eddie Yost, Billy Martin, Brother Battery (Norm/Larry Sherry), & Dodger Southpaws (Koufax/Podres). Most of the cards are in awesome shape, and I love the player selection. Glad to have these ones knocked off the set list. 

Also from 1961, I got 5 of the 8 World Series highlights cards. It's cool, because even though the Yankees wound up losing the series, I got a chance to watch the game that Mazeroski hit the winning home run on an MLB Network special, and it was really fun to watch. I have a lot of the Pirates autos from TTM's, and I'd say it's safe to say they are my new favorite National League team, as tough to watch as they normally are. The Game 1 "Virdon Saves Game" card isn't in great shape, but it will still join me in the pursuit of the set.

The final card from 1961 to show is this NL Home Run Leaders card, featuring Ernie Banks; Hank Aaron; Eddie Mathews; and Ken Boyer, all pictured on the front. Banks led with 41, while Aaron trailed by 1 and Mathews trailed by 2. Sounded like a close race to the Home Run crown for sure!

Next are some cards that probably should have deserved their own post, and I forgot to give him that post. None other than "The Chairman of the Board", Mr. Whitey Ford! In the binder, I found his 1959 Topps, 1961 Topps, 1962 Topps Postseason Highlight, and his 1965 Topps! All 4 are absolutely beautiful cards of perhaps the greatest Yankee to ever take the mound. 

Here are some of the other Yankees I found too, ranging from 1959 Topps to 1967 Topps. One set I could try to build following 1961 Topps is 1967 Topps, because there were plenty of them in the binder. A thing I picked up on recently that I love about vintage is the colors and just the way players stick out on the cards. The cards have a 'pop' to them that most modern day cards don't seem to carry.

Here's a scan of all Orioles, for William and all my other Orioles fans out there! I've always had a soft spot for the Orioles, as they probably would be my second favorite team in the AL East. They've had some great history and great players come through, such as the Robinsons, Brooks and Frank! Both of them were unbelievably talented, Brooks more with the glove and Frank with the bat. But you all know that. These are some great looking cards for sure!

Well, here are some more of the best cards I found in the binder. Many Hall of Famers and 1 should be Hall of Famer (Hodges) are on this scan, my favorite being the 1959 Topps Ernie Banks, but I also love the 1962 Topps Al Kaline! I would love to try the 1959 set one day, because I think it's one of the greatest sets of all time, without question. That Banks card really pops in person, and it's probably one of my favorite vintage cards. Also, did I mention I like the Pirates uniforms? And Willie Stargell? Well, now I did.

I guess this card is a good way to finish off the series. Nothing like a 1958 Topps "Sluggers Supreme" card of Ted Kluszewski and Ted Williams! I make a few exceptions to Red Sox players in terms of likeability. I like Ted Williams, David Ortiz (what a fantasy helper), and Jon Lester (since he's a warrior and beat cancer, I respect him a lot). This is my first vintage Williams card, of hopefully a few more to come. As for Kluszewski, he seemed like a pretty cool player, cutting off his sleeves to show off his muscles to the fans every game. 

I think if I had to pick one word to describe this binder, it was just simply unbelievable. It was full of firsts for me, including giving me my first vintage cards of Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, and many, many more. Other than their dollar value, these cards are certainly special, and they tell a story better than many manufactured patch or any gimmick short print card can do today. The hobby has really changed in the past 40-50 years, for the worse? Maybe. Topps will never be able to create a nostalgic feel to their sets like they did back in the 1950's and 1960's. That's for sure. 

I hope all of you guys can some day find an opportunity this amazing to add these cards to your own collection. I think in every lifelong collector's journey through the baseball card world, they'll have at least one big moment like this that they'll never forget. Unless I find a 52 Mantle rookie laying on the streets one day, I doubt dad and I could ever do this well again! I'm happy to share this collection with you, and I feel bad for the poor people we took the cards off of for a whopping $20, but I'm gonna hang on to these for the rest of my life.

Thanks again Dad for your magic touch! See Ya!

Ancient Baseball Card eBay Pickup! Yankee Stud!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Well, I tried making a big comeback, but so far with so many plans and camp and stuff in the way, looks like it's not gonna work too well. Well, I guess its the thought that counts. I've definitely got a sweet post coming soon based off of tomorrow, but otherwise there's a lot to post in not a whole lot of free time. Guess that's never a big problem, its better than having nothing to write about. Anyways, check out this awesome card I just bought!

Out of the 1934 National Chicle/Diamond Stars set, I got card #12, of former Yankees outfielder Fred "Dixie" Walker. While Walker was known mostly for his days with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he also began his career in 1931 for the Yankees! To be honest, I knew absolutely nothing about this guy until after I won the card, but immediately researched him. Dodgers fans gave him the nickname "The People's Cherce", cherce basically meaning choice in the "Brooklynese" language. He won the batting title in 1944 with a .357 batting average, and also made 5 All Star teams in his 18 year career. 

Walker is especially famous for being the only player in baseball history to be teammates with both Babe Ruth, and Jackie Robinson. An interesting story to relate with Robinson, was that when Jackie was about to be called up by Brooklyn, many Alabama natives pressured him to make a statement by asking to be traded. Having negro league players being called up in the Majors was obviously a new thing, and at the time many players didn't want to associate themselves with Robinson. After never being traded, Walker was forced to play with Robinson, and for Jackie to avoid being embarrassed he would not look in his eyes when they shook hands and what not. Eventually he gained a lot of respect for Jackie, saying that Branch Rickey was 100% correct with the idea to sign him. He went on to coach in International Leagues with players of many races!

I found that to be a really interesting story, and it's definitely neat to own a card of his. He retired with a .305 lifetime batting average, over 100 home runs, and was often considered for several MVP awards. 

The card certainly is not in tip top condition, but it almost looks weird to own a mint condition card from this time. Its got a few decent creases, but I spent under $10 on it so it'll definitely be something I want to hang on to, and get in a nice screwdown. This is now my oldest card by about 19-20 years, and I hope to find stuff for good prices even older than this! They're definitely pretty cool to own!

What is your oldest card and how did you get it?

See Ya! 

Inheriting A Collection: Part 2

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, I've had this stuff sitting here for literally months, and I've never gotten around to getting it all sorted it out, scanned, and posted. But I finally have managed to scan the highlights of the "continuation" of my holy grail. As most of you know, back in March, my dad bought me a huge lot off of Craigslist, which was once the collection of a now deceased local guy, which was sold by his kids. This lot contained the "mysterious binder", that I've posted out of occasionally over the past couple months, showing off all sorts of very valuable and beautiful vintage cards!

Well, there was more. A lot more at that. Just a few weeks later, Dad found another Craigslist ad, and he went to check it out. While the location and people were different, the cards and autographs were clearly both from the same guy, so each of his kids must've sold different parts of it. After the ridiculous rush that went through me in the first tub, you could imagine how I must've felt when he walked home with 3 more tubs of the same size. While a lot of the stuff was junk wax from the late 80's and early 90's that all of you have seen hundreds of thousands of times, there were some big highlights as well to show off. I guess for every good thing you get 2 or 3 bad things, but its always worth it for the good thing! Take a look:

While there wasn't necessarily a vintage binder in this lot, there were a few scattered vintage cards, such as these 5 early 60's baseball cards. The highlight of these 5 is most definitely the 1961 Topps Eddie Mathews card, which knocks off another star off my quest for the entire 1961 set. Also the other 2 Milwaukee Braves cards of Chuck Dressen and Don McMahon were needed for the set. Not too shabby.

In this lot, we found all sorts of vintage, including these 1967 Philadelphia cards of Charley Taylor, Sam Baker and Bobby Mitchell. Also we found 2 1966 Topps cards of Wayne Hawkins and George Blanda. These are my oldest football cards now, and I'm glad to add them to the collection, especially of such good players like Blanda, Taylor, and Mitchell!

There was also some basketball vintage in there too! I barely know any basketball players, but these are from the 1971-1972 season. The Carolina Cougars, Baltimore Bullets, and Texas Chaparrals really stuck out to me, because I've never heard of those teams. Guess that's what happens when you don't follow basketball all that well.

Also, we found some "pin ups" from 1967 Topps, two of the bigger names being Harmon Killebrew and Roberto Clemente, but there were many other great Hall of Famers as well. These are pretty neat, but I have to find out what exactly to do with them. 

There were also some football pin ups as well, the two highlights being Jets Hall of Famer Don Maynard and Bears HOF'er Gale Sayers. Always awesome to get some Maynard stuff!

Folded up and hidden beneath the books and what not were these 2 1968 Topps posters of Frank Robinson and Ron Santo. These are absolutely huge compared to the size of a regular card, and flattened out I bet they would look really cool hung up on the wall. 

There was also this 1970 Topps poster of Willie Davis, also inserted into packs that year. Definitely a neat concept Topps used back in the day. 

Next were a few 1964 "Topps Giants" cards, basically a different set involving larger cards. They're not worth as much as the flagship Topps set that year, but they look extremely nice in person. Of course, I'm super happy and thrilled to land the one in the top left corner, the card of Mickey Mantle. Just add that to the growing list of Mantle cards I own!

I'm not really sure what these were, but there were many nice color photos of several former Yankees and Mets. I chose one from each team for the picture, but there probably 25-30 of them to choose from.

Again, I'm not sure what these are either, but there was a set of photos, many of them being either Cleveland Indians or St. Louis Cardinals. I'm sure these would look great for autographs, even in the black and white. 

Also we found an envelope stuffed with these 1966 Topps Rub-Off Stickers, including these 10 Hall of Famers. Sorry guys, but I consider Pete Rose a Hall of Famer, gambling or not. I pretty much found one of every great player from that time period, as well as many team stickers, which was really cool!

Another cool odd ball part to the tubs was that they were overflowing with these parts of Coke caps from 1967 of Yankees and Mets players. Apparently you could buy a Coke then and collect all sorts of players, even Mickey Mantle, who I found one of on this page full of them. Again, no idea what to do with them, but they're definitely neat.

Continuing in the New York sports spirits, here are a few actual newspapers from many of New York sport's bigger events in the past, such as Willie Mays' 600th career home run, the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup, a preview to the year the Jets won the Super Bowl, and a headline from a Mickey Mantle injury, one of many. Kinda cool to have the stories with me about some great things, when they were fresh and exciting stories!

Obviously this guy was a pretty big Don Mattingly fan, as this was just some of the stuff he had of his. It's pretty cool to have his old Starting Lineup figure, as well as some old posters and cards. Always nice adds to my own personal collection of Mattingly. 

Sitting underneath everything were these 2 baseballs, first, the stamped baseball from the 2001 World Series Yankees team. The story of that team was incredible, and while Arizona got the last laugh, it was a memorable event in Yankees history, as they brought the entire country back up from the 9/11 disaster. Next is a baseball dedicating Nolan Ryan's 300th career win and his achievements. Definitely keeping these two balls.

The final thing in this post, the first of 3 in this mini series, was a new binder I found. Most of the players never made the big leagues, or even if they did, they didn't make much of an impact, but there was one player in there that I found that really made my day!

The binder was filled with Hudson Valley Renegades cards, my local minor league team. A few team sets from the late 90's were included, and many of the cards were signed.  Most of them aren't worth noting, but there were a few notables.

The first notable was Jorge Cantu, who has been a bit of a journeyman since his early days with the Renegades. He's played 8 seasons with 5 different teams, and has a lifetime average of .271. This next player absolutely trumped him though...

Before I flip out on here, here was my initial reaction when I found this binder:

Drew: (opens binders) Oh ok, its just Renegades cards. They're signed but pretty useless unless they're actually good players. 

Dad: Yeah, well look through it anyway.

Drew: (looks through binder) OH MY GOD JOSH HAMILTON! 

(Drew and Dad flip out)

Anyways, yeah, this guy was lucky enough to get 2 signed cards by the then troubled Josh Hamilton. Hamilton was drafted by the Devil Rays in 1999 and after playing 56 games in Princeton that year, he joined the Gades' for 16 games, and batted .194 in that stretch. This was during the time that he started to get in trouble with the law and hurt himself in many ways with his drug addictions. Of course, most baseball fans know that his story has so far been a success story, as he's won an MVP award and is an All Star. 

Words cannot describe my face when I saw these sitting in the binder, and I definitely am planning on keeping them. Hamilton was already one of my favorite players in baseball so it was so sweet to land these 2 cards.

What do you all think of these new additions to my collection? There's more to come! 

See Ya!

Vintage Cards From Pop Popps

Hey guys, Drew back here. It's been a while, but we have another edition of the "Vintage Cards from Pop Popps" series. As you all know, my Pop Popps has been a great helper to me in building up a well rounded vintage collection, and has gotten me cards from all sorts of former greats, including some Hall of Fame rookie cards! The last time I did post a stack of cards from him I wrote that it may have been the final stack I'd ever receive from him, yet I was surprised to receive one more stack just a few days ago. Take a look and see what was in it:

There wasn't one card that could lead the pack, but a few solid Hall of Famers can certainly make me a happy camper! With 1972 Topps cards of Steve Carlton and Catfish Hunter, along with "Boyhood Photos of the Stars" cards of Lou Piniella and Brooks Robinson, this group of cards was fun to flip through. The best card in my opinion was the 1975 Topps Victory Leaders featuring Hunter, Ferguson Jenkins, Andy Messersmith, and Phil Niekro. If Messersmith is the worst pitcher on the card then it sure can be worse! Most of the cards ranged from 1971 to 1975, as they do in most other stacks he's given me, which is really cool. I'm sure if I counted up the amount of 1973 and 1975 Topps cards I have I could attempt to build those sets.

Thanks so much Pop Popps! See Ya!

Revealing the Mysterious Binder... A Little at a Time... Sandy Koufax & The LA Dodgers Edition

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, as I've been doing lately, I've been showing off a few cards at a time from my holy grail of collecting, the binder of brilliance! This time I'm paying tribute to Sandy Koufax and some of his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates! Let's see what the binder of brilliance has to share of this pitching legend:

First, we have two cards from the 1964 set, from the 1963 World Series Highlights subset! They show Koufax and his famous powerful windup, with the headline above proclaiming his 15 strikeouts in Game 1 of that series against the Yankees. This is an unfortunate card for Yankees fans, because following this game they managed to get swept by the Dodgers. Oh well, you can't win them all, and it's always nice to see different teams win outside of the Red Sox.

These final two cards of Sandy Koufax feature some of his great pitching teammates, Don Drysdale and Johnny Padres. The card to the left is a 1965 Topps NL ERA leaders, and I find the card to be really cool. Two teammates on the same leader card really shows the dominance of their pitching staff at the time. Koufax won the Cy Young award in 1965 after going 26-8 with a 2.04 ERA and 382 strikeouts. Nobody can even come close to those numbers nowadays, because they are completely unheard of! On the right card, Koufax and former pitching great Johnny Padres are displayed as "Dodger Southpaws". This card is really knicked up, but I still really like it, because anything with Sandy on it is a great one.

Sandy Koufax won only 165 games in his career, mainly due to the fact that he only played 12 seasons because of an arthritis condition that ended his career. His career ERA is 2.76, and he struck out 2396 batters. He made 7 All Star teams, won 3 Cy Youngs, 4 World Series championships, and 3 pitching Triple Crowns. Wow. Had he pitched longer, you can make more of a case that he is the greatest pitcher to ever take the mound.

These cards from this binder so far have been unreal. You could only imagine the look on my face when I uncovered this from the ruins of 1989 Topps and 1990 Donruss! Thanks so much again to the nice lady who gave me the cards! And for the rest of you, stay tuned for the next installment of the series!

"There are two times in my life the hair on my arms has stood up: The first time I saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the first time I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball."- Dodgers Scout Al Campanis

See Ya!

Revealing the Mysterious Binder... A Little at a Time... Yogi Edition!

Hey guys, Drew back here. As I promised, you guys will get an occasional glance into the binder of brilliance, which is by far now the greatest piece of my entire collection! It may take months, years, or even millenniums to get this binder done and showed off, but I want to tribute all of the fantastic players that took part in building the holy grail of my collection. First, we showed Stan the Man, and now, it's on to one of my all time favorite players, Yogi Berra!

The binder contained 2 cards of Yogi from his playing days, becoming the 1st 2 vintage cards I ever owned of his. The first card is from 1961 Topps, an SP for that matter, that dedicates his MVP awards in 1951, 1954, and 1955, and on the back it mentions that he held the record for most home runs by a catcher. He since has been surpassed by Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, and Mike Piazza in that category. It also states that he is a great clutch hitter. In his 14 World Series he's played in, he hit 12 home runs, including 3 in the 1956 Fall Classic.

The second card is card number 340 in the 1963 Topps set, a set that I don't a whole lot of. 1963 was Yogi's final season as a Yankee. He was 38 years old that year, and only played in 64 games, but I think the card does a great job in honoring one of arguably the greatest catcher to ever step behind the plate. It also says that he was a coach that year, and he took over as Yankees manager the next season. In 1964, he led the Yankees all the way to the 7th game of the World Series until the Cardinals beat them in the final game, which led to Yogi's firing.

Yogi is by far the most revered Yankee alive to this day, and god bless him. Eighty five years old, falling on his butt, but still managing to get by.

"It ain't over til' it's over" - Yogi Berra

See Ya!