What I Bought Instead of Allen & Ginter - Post #6

Alright, most of the 2010 Allen & Ginter box rips are done and bloggers are moving on to other things, so I really need to wrap up this series of posts. When we last left off I spent a whopping $3 on a lot of 1993-94 Upper Deck SP hockey cards. Today's post consists of only two cards, but gets me much closer to my final total. These are the other two cards I won recently via Sirius Sports Auctions, a couple of 1960s Red Sox All-Star Rookie (second year) cards:

First up is legendary Sox shortstop Rico Petrocelli. My 1966 Topps collection has recently ballooned thanks to a healthy stack of them in the dollar box at the local hobby shop, and I'm happy to add this graded Petrocelli to the mix.

The backs of the '66 cards aren't exactly spectacular. The other card is...

1965 Topps Tony Conigliaro! This was the card in the auction that I wanted to win more than any other. In fact, if I ranked all the 50s/60s cards on my want list this would easily be in the top 20. Conigliaro's tale is a tragic one. I'm sure anyone reading this already knows the story, but Tony looked like he was becoming one of the next big stars in the game when, in 1967, he was hit in the face by a pitch from Angels pitcher Jack Hamilton. He was gone from the game for nearly a year and a half. Ultimately he made a pretty dramatic comeback but he never really regained his pre-injury level of play.

After his retirement, he was visiting Boston (he was born and raised in Massachusetts) when he suffered a heart attack at the young age of 36 years old, and slipped into a vegetative state. He remained that way for over 8 years until his death in 1990.

I'm very pleased to add both of these cards to my growing vintage Red Sox collection. They are two of the most famous and well-recognized Red Sox players from their era, along with Carl Yastrzemski.

The Conigliaro cost me $11 and the Petrocelli $7.

Cost: $18
Running Total: $76