My Second Crack at Topps' First Baseball Set

As we approach the halfway point, it's been a good year for me so far in terms of adding significant vintage Red Sox pieces to my collection, and today's post features one of my more recent pick-ups:

I'm really becoming a fan of these '51 Topps cards.  I know '52 is the set according to many, and I agree that these predecessors aren't baseball cards in the traditional sense.  They are Topps' first foray into baseball cards though, and I think they're cool in that sense.  Aside from that, they're insanely cheap compared to the '52 set.  The first one of these I picked up earlier in the year seemed like a bargain at $12.50, but Ray Scarborough here set me back even less than that at $11.10.  Unreal.

Here's Ray's counterpart in my collection, and as luck would have it the very next card on the checklist.  There are another half dozen Red Sox in this set between the red and blue backs.  I'm in no particular hurry to track them down, but snagging these two for under $30 shipped is certainly a great start...