Black Friday '59s

Aside from my buyback franken-set, completing the 1959 Topps set continues to be the baseball project that I'm most devoted to at the moment.  As with any vintage set from the '50s, this one's going to be a bear to complete, and I don't envision finishing it any time soon.  I don't mind though, I'm just picking up cards here or there as my budget allows and enjoying the journey.

Along those lines I've got a batch of ten to show today that I picked up over the Black Friday promotional sale on COMC last year.  Gino Cimoli, who was an All-Star in 1957, and won a World Series with the Pirates in 1960, was had for 61 cents.

Harry Anderson finished top 25 in MVP voting in each of his first two seasons in Major League Baseball, but his career rapidly declined after that and he was done after just five seasons.  My cost?  Once again, 61 cents.

Murray Dickson is an interesting pitcher.  His career began all the way back at the tail end of the 1939 season, and thanks to his inventiveness on the mound he was able to last a full 20 years in Major League Baseball.  He was a member of two World Series winning pitching staffs, the 1946 Cardinals and the 1958 Yankees.  The giant crease across this one is an eye-sore for sure, but for 60 cents I'm over it already.

Always nice to add a new Red Sox card to the binder.  Frank led the AL in wins in 1955, was a 2x All-Star, and is a member of the Boston Red Sox HOF.  59 cents for this one!

Like Frank Sullivan, Joe Jay was also named an All-Star twice, once led his league in wins, and is a member of a HOF (the Cincinnati Reds in this case).  I like that he's pictured swinging a bat.  Once again my cost was 61 cents, there were some real deals to be had during the Black Friday promotion.

Next up, the man who gave up Bill Mazeroski's walk-off World Series home run in 1960, but then redeemed himself the following two seasons winning it all with the Yankees in '61 and '62.  1962 was definitely his career year, as he paced the AL in wins and was named World Series MVP.  61 cents again for this one, not too shabby for a World Series MVP!

Harry Chiti of the KC Athletics represents another 61-cent pick-up.  I love a good old school catcher card.

Bob Rush was nearing the end of his career here (1960 would be his final season), but was a 2x All-Star earlier in the decade.  Like most of these, Bob here is in "I'll never need to upgrade" condition.  60 cents!

The last two cards for today are my favorites from this grouping, as I love the multi-player combo cards.  I had to pony up a whole buck-twenty-five for this one, but it was totally worth it to be able to slide this card into the binder.

Last card today, and as usual I saved the best for last.  Some big names on this one for sure, and I love the photo that Topps went with.  Probably one of the most satisfying sub-$2.00 pick-ups in my entire set quest so far.

These ten bring me to 242 cards in the binder now, out of 572 in the complete set, so I'm sitting at 42% complete.  In total these set me back $7.62, just the latest example of why COMC continues to be my absolute favorite hobby site on the internet!