National? No. Sweet Vintage? Yes!

While some folks were off enjoying the National this past weekend, I was busy at work on a huge project.  In the eight years now since I returned to collecting I've never made a National.  At least I'm able to live it vicariously through the blog posts of others. 

While I do so, I guess I should get something new up here.  Both to reward myself (the project was a success), as well as to clear out some backlog from my scans folder, here are some sweet new vintage cards I've picked up recently...

We'll start off in the early '50s.  This Bowman card was issued in the final year of Buddy Rosar's playing career.  He broke in all the way back in 1939 with the Yankees, and after four seasons in the Bronx made stops in Cleveland and Philadelphia before finishing his career with Boston.  Primarily known for his defense (caught two no-hitters and rarely produced an error), Warren wasn't exactly a liability at the plate either.  He was a five time All-Star and was a member of two World Series Champion New York Yankees teams.

Let's turn back the clock to the previous decade now...

Another card bites the dust in my effort to knock off the 1949 Bowman Red Sox team set!  "Tex" Hughson represents my seventh Red Sox card from this gorgeous set.  One more and I'll be past the halfway point.

Had they been giving out the award back then, Cecil would have been a strong candidate to take home the Cy Young in his career year of 1942.  He led the league in wins, strikeouts, complete games and innings pitched that season!  He even garnered some MVP votes that year, and not for the only time either.  Ultimately, injury/health problems forced his relatively early retirement from the game at age 33.  He never played for any team other than the Red Sox.

As we continue our journey backwards through time, how about one from the 1930s?

1933 Goudey is another pre-war team set I've been chipping away at for some time, and Dale Alexander here puts me within striking distance of finishing it off (two cards to go now!).  I confess that I knew little to nothing about Dale before acquiring this card, but as it turns out despite a relatively short career he swung a pretty mean bat.

In his rookie season (1929) he led the entire league in hits!  In his first two seasons alone he clubbed 45 home runs and over 270 RBI (nope, not a typo).  Alexander was traded to Boston during a batting slump in the middle of the season in 1932, and went on to win the batting title that year, making him the original Willie McGee.  Also, that batting title prevented Jimmie Foxx from capturing the triple crown (by 3 points, ouch!).

Alright, one more for today, let's go back another decade and look at a new addition to my collection from the '20s!

Man I love these 1922 American Caramel cards.  This is the second one I've been able to add to my collection this year, and my third overall.  Not that there are a ton of sets to choose from, but I think this is my favorite of the decade.  I don't know too much about Ben, and he appears to have enjoyed a short, average career, but I do know that that is an awesome old-timey baseball photo.

Well, that's it for tonight.  Four solid cards for my ever-expanding Red Sox collection, from four different decades.  I hope those of you that did make it to the National enjoyed the show, and I look forward to seeing your hauls posted on your blogs...