Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Willie McCovey

Hey everyone! I know, you're probably shocked that I've posted three days in a row. And you probably also think that in a week I won't post again for another three months. If so, I totally get that, and there's definitely a likelihood that will be the case. For now, we're going to let the good times roll.

In order to properly put a bow on the Bronx Baseball Bonanza show I went to last Saturday, I have to show off my other new prize. At the show, my vendor friend Joe I mentioned in yesterday's post was really helpful with some non-hobby related ventures of mine, and my Dad and I thought it would be best to buy something from him as a "thank you". And now that you're caught up, voila...

My 24th Hall of Fame signed baseball is of Willie McCovey! This ball is in mint condition, and is certified by Steiner. When compared to the other McCovey balls he had, I felt as though this was the one to have because it appears that the signature had the best chance of lasting long-term. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it. I've been wanting a ball of the Giants slugger for some time now, and have come to the conclusion that I probably won't ever get to meet him considering his declining health.

Ultimately, I think a big reason I don't often go after Hall of Fame signed baseballs is because I plan to try to meet as many of them as possible. But when I know the chances are slim, I'm more likely to pounce on one. Dad paid for a majority of the ball, so thank you so much for the great gift. This one is already in my Hall of Fame baseball display, and will stay there for the foreseeable future.

Alright, I'll talk to you guys tomorrow (hopefully)!

Revealing the Mysterious Binder... A Little At A Time... Say Hey Willie Edition!

Hey guys, Drew back here! I'm back to continue the mini-series I recently started, having to do with an incredible binder of cards that my dad got from a lady on Craigslist. She couldn't have found a more responsible and caring collector to pass her deceased father's collection down to than me, and I really appreciate all that she did for my collection! This time, we honor one of the/if not the greatest player to EVER play baseball, Mr. Willie Mays!

Mays played 22 seasons in his MLB career, spanning from 1951 to 1973, with a brief break in 1952 and all of 1953 when the Army drafted him for the Korean War. He spent over 20 seasons of his career with the New York/San Francisco Giants, and played the remainder of his games for the Mets. Of course, his 660 career home runs ranks him 4th of all time, behind Barry Bonds(*), Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth, and his 3,283 hits ranks him 11th all time. He made 24 All Star teams, won 12 Gold Glove awards, 2 MVP Awards, a World Series Championship in 1954, and made some of the greatest plays of all time! To say that the "Say Hey Kid" is the greatest all around player baseball has ever seen can easily be backed up and agreed with!

We begin with Willie's 1961 Topps card! First off, this is a very good card for me to have, as it fills one of the biggest holes in my huge 1961 Topps set wantlist, but second, its a great card. Maybe had Mays been wearing a hat or looked a little more awake this card could have been nicer, but its still a card of Willie Mays! The card isn't in mint condition but it looks presentable, so that's fine with me. As long as it's not absolutely destroyed, I'm more than happy to add any vintage card.

Next are 2 cards that feature the exact same photo, Mays' 1968 and 1965 Topps cards. What a dumb move by Topps to use the same photo, especially one that he's not even looking in. It does make it easier to compare designs, and in this case, 1965 Topps obviously is my favorite of the 2. The scan cut off part of the right hand side of the 65 card, and both of the cards are in nice shape.

Lastly, here are 2 amazing cards from the 1967 Topps set. On the left is a beautiful base card of Mays, by far my favorite of the Mays cards I own. Everything is done perfectly on the card and its in great condition. On the right is a "Fence Busters" card featuring Mays and his slugging partner Willie McCovey! McCovey may not have been as legendary as Mays, but he also hit 521 homers in his career, and to say the two players are "Fence Busters" when they combined for 1,181 home runs in their careers makes 100% perfect sense!

"I was very blessed with a good body. Never got hurt. Never was in the hospital. The only time I was in the hospital was when I would get exhausted a little bit, and go in for a check-up or something." - Willie Mays

I actually recently watched an interview with Mays on the MLB Network. The "bitter and mean" person that many collectors make him out to be disappeared for a nice interview with Bob Costas, and it was really great to watch. God bless Willie Mays, now at 79 years young, The "Say Hey Kid" will always be remembered!

See Ya!

White Plains Card Show Recap 3/27/11! Part 3!

Hey guys, Drew back here with part 3 of the March card show series! In every card show so far, I've went out of my way to at LEAST buy 1 vintage card. However, after the addition of the mysterious binder, (which you still will have to wait to find out what hides inside of it), I decided to take a shot at the 1961 Topps set. Dad and I decided to do a little chipping away at the 587 card challenge awaiting my collection!

What a better way to start working on an enormous set by getting the first card! Dick Groat got the honors of first in the set, and he sure did deserve it! The season before, in 1960, Groat won the National League MVP and won the World Series! Talk about a season! Groat's got every reason to be smiling here, and in 1961 he hit .275 with 6 homers and 55 RBI.

I went on to pick up some cards of some former stars, in Bob Turley, Jim Kaat, Don Larsen, and Richie Ashburn. Turley won the Cy Young only a few years prior in 1958, but he struggled in 1961, going 3-5 with a 5.75 ERA. Jim Kaat was only in his third season, with a very mediocre Twins team, and he went 9-17 that year with a 3.90 ERA. Don Larsen went 8-2 with a 4.13 ERA with the Kansas City Athletics, and Richie Ashburn, in one of his final seasons, only batted .257 in 109 games. So, basically, for a lot of these old veterans, 1961 was an off year.

Next were a few League Leaders cards, all for the National League. While the two bottom cards have Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax on them, the top card stands out by a lot. Dick Groat tops the group, but the 3rd and 4th place guys, maybe you've heard of them? Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente? I think I know those guys!

Next we have the former keystone combination from the Chicago White Sox, Hall of Famers Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio. I never really knew much about these guys (I didn't even know that Fox was in the HOF), but I did some research on them and I can see why they're in. Fox, famous for his tobacco chewing, was the 1959 AL MVP, and he made 15 all star teams. Wow, can't believe I never knew much about him! Luis was also a 13 time All Star and 9 time gold glover, and he retired with great statistics.

Also, we got some Hall of Fame pitchers to go along with the rest of the cards. Don Drysdale was an outstanding pitcher for the Dodgers, with a 209-166 record and a 2.95 ERA. He was often overshadowed by Sandy Koufax but he ended up winning the Cy Young the year after this card came out in 1962. Robin Roberts also was a very successful pitcher at the time, even though in 1961 his career was slowly on the decline. He made 7 All Star teams and ended up pitching with the Orioles, Cubs, and Astros before his retirement in 1966. He recently passed away early last year at the age of 83.

To go along with the other Hall of Famers, we picked up cards of two of the most dangerous hitters in the game at the time! Willie McCovey just started his career in 1959, so here in his 3rd year, he was warming up to eventually become a Hall of Fame slugger. Five hundred twenty one home runs later and the man has a plaque resting in Cooperstown. Frank Robinson was even better though, as he was an all around legend. Here right in the beginning of his prime, Frank is shown poised to continue his incredible success. When he joined the Orioles in 1966, he made an immediate impact, winning the Triple Crown! Not many players have that opportunity anymore, only done by Carl Yastrzemski after Robinson accomplished the feat. He retired with 586 home runs, 2,943 hits and a lifetime batting average of .294.

The final card we bought is definitely one of the/if not the best rookie card in the entire set. The set consists of rookie cards of Juan Marichal, Ron Santo, Carl Yastrzemski (although his real RC is in 1960 Topps), and a few other not as notable players, except for this guy. It's the 1961 Topps rookie card of Billy Williams! Billy, who was inducted into Cooperstown in 1987, was a great hitter. His career stats show off a .290 lifetime average, 420 home runs, and 2,711 hits, but the one part that is coolest about this card is that it shows a young Williams who was eager to succeed. And boy he did. In his first full season he hit .278 with 25 home runs and 86 RBI's, good enough to win him the 1961 National League Rookie of the Year!

I'm very happy to be able to add this big card to the set, and I can't wait to begin the chase! I'll have more details in a future post, but for now..

See Ya!

Outstanding Gift from a Craigslist Dealer!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Dad has been on an awesome roll lately with Craigslist, and this is just the next installment of what we've found now. A month or so ago I posted some of the highlights from a large box of cards given to me by my dad. A little while later, that same seller decided to ask my dad if I would be interested in more of her now deceased father's collection! Dad was shocked from the offer and told me about it, and I was really excited! He came home just a few days ago with an enormous tub full of binders and various bits and pieces from the man's collection. It's going to be so hard to put all of it in one post, so for your sake I'll just post a few of the pictures from the binders:

One of the binders contained most of if not all of the 1990 Upper Deck set. Early Upper Deck was very nice, and some of the top rookies from this set are Tino Martinez, Juan Gonzalez, Sammy Sosa, Deion Sanders, and Robin Ventura. I wish the binder could've been 1989 Upper Deck so I would have a chance at landing my 2nd Griffey Jr. rookie from the historical set, but hey, you can't be mad when you got the cards as almost a gift!

The next binder contained a variety of some sorts. It started with some 1992 McDonalds cards, the best being a rookie card of Jeff Bagwell. Next were some 1992 Pinnacle, followed by the shown Pacific card set of Tom Seaver.

After some 1991 Upper Deck, I found these sweet painting cards from 1990 Pro Set football! Boy do I love that Namath card!

I never saw these 1991 Score football cards on the right side of the binder, and I was pretty impressed. They certainly looked pretty cool! The binder ended with more various baseball cards from that time, my favorite being a 1989 Topps Griffey rookie card. I could never have enough of those!

In the following binder, we discovered a lot more football, including the Collect a Books above. However, my favorite card on the page is definitely the Daryl Strawberry book card, the lone baseball player on the page.

After the flip book cards came a ton of the stylish and mind blowing 1991 Pro Line portraits cards. Those cards definitely describe how awful the fashion statement was back in the early 90's, with basic sweatshirts, sweet shades, short shorts, jump suits, and zebra pants. Some basketball cards followed, as well as some more baseball as always.

Binder #4 had pretty much the entire 1989 Topps set, featuring the best of the junk wax era, with rookies of Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., John Smoltz, Craig Biggio, Jim Abbott, and of course, the big bust, Gregg Jeffries. I'm not sure if I own this set but I probably do.

The next binder contained mostly all 1990's basketball cards, but among the Michael Jordan's and Larry Birds were these 8 1971-1972 Topps basketball cards. None of the players were incredible from my understanding with the exception of Billy Cunningham, but they are by far the oldest basketball cards I own so that's pretty cool.

As the binders continued, more and more baseball arose. In this one we found cards from 1991 Line Drive, a minor league brand, early 1980's Topps cards, 1988 Bowman, the 1988 Topps Super Star mini cards shown above, 1985 Topps, 1986 Topps, 1987 K-Mart cards, 1988 KayBee, and 1989 Ames. It was a mix of all of them and it's pretty cool. I bet I'm close to having every 1980's set existing.

The last big binder was pretty much the entire 1989 Donruss set including the famous Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card, and pretty much the entire 1989 Bowman set as well, again featuring Griffey's rookie card. But there was more than just binders stock piled with 80's cards.

Also assorted below the binders at the bottom of the tub were these 1989 Topps big cards. I'ved never seen them before but they're pretty nice I have to say. The problem as always with these, though, is the challenge of finding ways to store them.

Along with the big 1989 cards, we found 2 framed cards hiding below it all in the box. One was an Orlando Cepeda card from some time in the 1960's, and also a huge Denny McLain card. McLain of course as you know had an enormous year in 1968, becoming the last pitcher in MLB History to win more than 3o games in a single season!

Laying on top of the tub was this Kelloggs Corn Flakes Baseball Greats poster thing, featuring cards from their Baseball Greats sets. This is a really cool piece and has some very impressive names on it!

Next was a Nabisco 1989 poster of Don Mattingly! I'm pretty sure the photos surrounding the close up shot of the Hitman are cards, but I'm not cutting them out. I think the poster looks great as is, and i want to hang it up sometime.

There was also a mini binder filled up with page after page of Don Mattingly cards. As you may know I collect him so it was really cool to have a bunch of his cards show up in the tub. One of these days I'll put together a list of what I have of Mattingly so that you guys can help me achieve my future goal of getting most of his older cards as well as a lot of his newer cards as well.

There were also some very assorted stuff. Ticket stubs from old Mets games, pins, and stamps were the coolest in my opinion of the various non-card items found. I don't know a lot about vintage stamps but I must say they're pretty cool to own. The pin commemorates Willie McCovey's induction into the Hall of Fame, becoming the first Padre to make it in. Real cool.

But that was just the beginning of amazing things to come! You'll see in an upcoming post!

Unfortunately, I might not have much time this week to post, because after school each day there will be JV/Varsity school tryouts. As you may know I've gotten cut from school ball 2 straight years and I really deserved to make it each year, and the same coach from those teams is moving up to coach JV. I'm going to have to prove myself and play to the best of my ability in order to make this team, and I feel like I can definitely make it if I play my heart out. Wish me luck everyone!

Thanks guys, and See Ya!

Today It's My Birthday!

Hey guys, Drew back here, and if you didn't know already...

I'm going on 14 today, which means it feels better than it does worse to be older! Well, I got an awesome few gifts from my parents, one was the usual dad junk wax yard sale craze that was a hit yet again, and the other was these 3 beauties...

Here we have 2010 Allen & Ginter, 2008 Upper Masterpieces, and 2007 Sweet Spot Classic! And I haven't opened them yet, but I am soon! There's a lot of good potential in this break, and probably some trade bait too, and I can't wait to rip them open! Wish me luck!

And lastly, thanks to Mike Pelfrey Collectibles for the immediate shipping of the one card he forgot to send me, this awesome 2006 UD Epic Willie McCovey jersey for the Hall of Fame PC. What a cool orange swatch, it's so nice! Thanks!

See Ya!