I Sold My 1953 Topps Cards! Part V - Even More '53s!

A little over a year ago now, I broke down and sold off the majority of my graded 1953 Topps set attempt.  I saved more than 50% of my proceeds from the sale in my rainy day fund, but set aside a hefty $750 of the proceeds for funding new cards for my collection.

In the first post in this series I covered the sale itself.  In the second post, I started sharing my pick-ups with the resulting windfall in the form of 16 1953 Topps cards from COMC to re-initiate my set build in raw format.  In the third post in the series, I picked up another 33 raw '53 Topps cards courtesy of eBay.  Then, in the fourth post this past May we looked at a batch of graded '71 HOFers that I landed.

Today I cover the next purchase, which was 22 more 1953 Topps singles towards my revamped set build!  I picked these up off of eBay at a price point that worked out to $2 and change per card on average ($54 for the entire lot).

I won't provide commentary for all 22 of these, but generally speaking you'll see that they're all in similar condition to this first card of White Sox pitcher Tommy Byrne (who was nicknamed "Wild Man" due to his control issues).  

I don't expect my cards for this set to be anywhere near perfect.  Certainly don't mind a dinged corner or a faint surface crease.  I'm just concerned with good overall visual appeal.

I won't show the backs for all 22 cards either, in the interest of preventing this post from getting entirely too long.  Since they're some of the greatest card backs in history though, I had to show off at least one.

Wayne Terwilliger, who played Major League Baseball between 1949 and 1960, is still alive and kicking today at age 95!

I've mentioned it numerous times throughout the long life of this blog, but I'm very fond of the St. Louis Browns logo used in this set.

Ken Heintzelman's lower left corner is particularly dinged compared to most of my others, but I'll have to get used to those types of things if I ever hope to acquire guys like Willie Mays from this set.  Like I said up top, all good here condition-wise.

One thing I forgot to touch on was centering.  To me as a vintage collector, it's a bigger deal than corners, or even mild surface creasing.  For that reason, this Ebba St. Claire is maybe the only card in today's post that I could see myself upgrading someday.  For now, this copy was like $2, so more than happy to have it as a placeholder.

Safe to say that you won't see Topps using a logo like this on a modern-day baseball card ever again.

In these earlier-series cards, the Braves are referenced as the Boston Braves.  That would change later on in the year.

I like the image on this Frank Smith, the shading on his face from his cap looks pretty good to me.

Little bit of outfield advertising visible on Harry Dorish's card.

"Jungle" Jim Rivera!  This is one that I'd sold my graded copy of, so happy to have it back in my raw set build now.

A nice look at the Philadelphia Athletics elephant.  To me, those two signs at right almost look like the same two featured on Harry Dorish's painting a few cards back, no?

Chuck Stobbs was actually the first graded '53 that I picked up as an adult and featured here on this blog.  All the way back in January of 2008!  Crazy to think that post is coming up on 13 years old now.

Most of the paintings in this iconic set are more the close-up head shot style, so when you get one like Jim Waugh's here it really stands out.  Love the Pittsburgh jersey, that Pirates logo, and that wooden fence in the background.

Here's a later-series card (though not the tough high-number series) that shows the transition from Boston Braves to Milwaukee Braves.  I always thought it was cool that you could see that progression within this one set, just another reason to like '53 Topps I guess.

Great Senators logo in this set, too!

Here's another one with a painting that stands out, nearly a full body shot of Athletics hurler Marion Fricano.

That's a wrap on this latest batch of 22 singles.  Really happy to have these in hand, as my version 2.0 1953 Topps set build is now up to 92 cards out of 274.  Pretty significant, as this lot pushes me past the 1/3 complete mark!

I plan to continue to work on my '53 Topps set in 2021, but it feels good to finish the year above 33% complete anyway.  Below is the current running total for how I spent the proceeds of my graded '53 Topps sale.  I can't wait to show you what I spent the remaining $480 and change on!

Until next time though, thanks as always for stopping by, and stay safe out there!

1953 Topps Sale Breakdown

$1,000.00 - Invested/Saved
$192.20 - 71 1953 Topps Singles
$75.36 - 6 1971 Topps PSA-graded Singles

Remaining Funds:  $482.44

COMC Blaster - Touching the Five Major Sports

Today's "COMC Blaster" post will touch on all five major North American sports; baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and even soccer.  Let's dive right in and see what $20 of store credit netted me this time around...

We'll start off with what might be the star of the show today, aesthetically speaking.  I rag on Topps every so often for their generally uninspired inserts over the last number of years, so I have to give credit where credit is due with respect to this Turkey Red insert from about a decade ago.

This Yogi Berra is so visually stunning that I knew I wanted a copy the moment I saw it, even though it's not a strict fit for my collection generally speaking.  Between this card and the fantastic vintage Berra that I recently scored, my small collection of Yogi is looking pretty good these days.  Maybe the smartest 75 cents spent in today's post!

Moving on, here's a Young Guns hockey rookie card of a player that casual fans of the game may not be familiar with, Noel Acciari.  This one cost me just 40 cents, since modern day Upper Deck cards are so prevalent on COMC.  Aside from being a Bruins rookie I didn't have, what was my interest in this card?  Well, we'll have to flip it over to see...

To the right of the Bruins logo we see that Noel Acciari was born in Johnston, RI, which just so happens to be the town where I live and have owned a home for about 12 years now!  Noel grew up right here in Johnston, and as the back of the card indicates played his college hockey in my small state as well.

Primarily a fourth line scrapper with Boston, Noel did show flashes of goal-scoring capability.  He signed with the Florida Panthers for the 2019-20 season and really blossomed.  In fact, he had reached the 20-goal plateau for Florida before the damn coronavirus shut the NHL season down.

A nice personal connection to this card made it a no-brainer for 40 cents...

Surprise, surprise, 1954 Bowman.  I feel like I've been featuring this set a ton on my blog lately.  Two more nice singles bite the dust here, with Sid Gordon setting me back $1.15...

...and Al Robertson and his glorious catcher's mitt just 92 cents.  How on earth does a card this old and beautiful cost less than a dollar?  I'd also like to note what fantastic penmanship both of these '54 Bowman subjects had.

Let's transition to basketball briefly, with the "I'm not collecting them, yet they somehow keep appearing" 1970-71 Topps tallboy set.  I don't know the first thing about center Darrall Imhoff, but I know these cards just fascinate me.  While this card won't be sent off to PSA for grading any time soon, it's in pretty good condition given that it set me back just 59 cents!

I always show the backs of these too.  Did Imhoff really head the 76ers' season ticket staff?

We covered baseball, basketball and hockey so far, let's finish things off with the two versions of football.  First, the global "football" with this Donruss Optic Holo Antoine Griezmann.  Antoine is one of the top few dozen football players in the world, and was a big part of France's 2018 World Cup-winning national team.  A cool, obscure single for my steadily growing soccer collection for a mere 60 cents.

Then we have a card from the North American football front, a buyback of Patriots wideout Stanley Morgan!  I don't have more than a few of these Topps football buybacks, they're not as much a collecting interest for me and also seem far less prevalent than the baseball ones.  For $1.39 I've now acquired my fourth one.

I love Atomic Refractors, which is basically what these 2019 Topps Chrome Sapphire cards are.  Long-term I'd love to complete a Red Sox team set, but for now I'm content just plucking low hanging fruit from time to time.  Can't go wrong for 48 cents.

While we're on the shiny card theme, how about a few more of these 2014 Finest X-Fractors?  In this latest blaster we have Ryan Braun at 75 cents...

...and Braves star Freddie Freeman at a whopping $2.27.  I have to say, Freeman certainly has some dedicated collectors and fans out there, as his cards seem to demand a premium on the rare occasion when I need to acquire one for a project like this.  As much as I was hoping I could score this card for less than a dollar some day, it just wasn't happening, so I pulled the trigger at $2 and change.

One more X-Fractor, again 75 cents.  This trio has me at 60 out of 100 of these in hand (or, in binder).  When shipping from COMC becomes a thing again I've really got to try to put this project to bed once and for all.

The best bargain of today's post is this card, by a long shot.  I picked up this blue holofoil parallel of Xander Bogaerts' 2014 Topps Opening Day RC back in 2015, for just $2.38.  Nowadays this is more like a $20 card when you stumble across it.  The crazy thing is that I had one on my eBay watch list and had nearly pulled the trigger before pulling this from my COMC backlog for today's post.  Forgot that I'd already purchased it, that was a close one!

Here's the back, though it's difficult to make out this is serial-numbered to /2014 in the upper right there.  Awesome to land yet another variation of Xander's Topps rookie card!

I've been a fan of Rick Wise's since learning of his two-home-run no-hit performance in the early '70s.  Doesn't hurt that he was the winning pitcher for the Red Sox in what some consider the greatest World Series game ever played, either.  Somehow I'd yet to acquire his 1970 Topps card, a beauty at that, until now.  For 67 cents that wrong has been righted!

Hey now!  Here's something you don't see too often in these COMC posts.  My decision to sell my graded 1953 Topps commons last year really liberated me in a sense, and I've been having a blast collecting the set in much cheaper, raw format.  I'm not looking to pay a premium for mint cards, as long as they look visually appealing and don't suffer any major damage like holes, missing pieces, etc.

Joe Rossi was a single I needed, available for the very reasonable price (in this condition) of $2.45.

One of the greatest card back designs of all-time.  This card is significant as it now puts me over the 25% complete mark as far as my second run at this set goes!

Just so happened to pluck a trio of Red Sox cards from my "to be posted" stash next, starting off with this Black Refractor (#'d /100) of Clay Buchholz.  Any numbered Topps Chrome Refractor of a Red Sox player from the 2010-2015 sets that can be had for less than a dollar is probably going into my inventory.  Clay was 85 cents, and is just my second Black Refractor from the 2012 set.

I actually paid 90 cents for this Bryce Brentz Sepia Refractor from 2015 Topps Chrome.  Between this card and the Rusney Castillo that was in my last COMC blaster, I'm getting really close to a complete team set of these.  I believe I have just two more to track down, one being Dustin Pedroia.

Closing out today's proceedings is yet another '53 Topps card!  This one does double duty towards my set build and my Red Sox team collection.  This was purchased from the same seller as the Joe Rossi above, and for the same price ($2.45).  Just awesome.

This is actually also a significant card in my '53 set build, as it's the 70th card to enter my second iteration of the set!  While I don't consider myself a set builder at all when it comes to modern products, it's an awful lot of fun to pick an older set to go for casually, without being too worried about condition.  The pair of '53s in today's post has really motivated me to keep going in this quest.

That brings our running total to $19.75, so we'll call it there for today.  Certainly a random mix of cardboard in today's blaster, hopefully you saw at least a card or two that you found interesting.

Sheltering in place has resulted in more free time for me, which has benefited me in many ways.  One of those ways is increased posting here on the blog.  This is the 12th consecutive day that I've posted now, which I think is the longest streak for me in well over a year.  I've got plenty of other great cards to get to and hope to keep extending this streak.  Upcoming posts include my first purchase direct from Topps in years, another amazing eBay flip of a soccer card for a playing-era HOFer, and much more.

I hope you'll continue to check in and read along, and thanks as always for stopping by!

One Card Post - '53 Minner

What:  1953 Topps #92 - Paul Minner
Where:  COMC
How Much?:  $1.60

Why?:  I plan to keep making good progress on my '53 Topps set in 2020, so time to get this cheap COMC pick-up inventoried and featured.  The lower right corner's a little rough, but I can't believe the deal I got on this one at $1.60.  One card closer, another one bites the dust!

COMC Black Friday 2019 Countdown - Part 2 - The Top 25!

Not counting buybacks, I plucked 55 singles for myself during this year's Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotion at COMC.  I thought it would be fun to feature my cards in a countdown fashion.  A week ago I featured cards 55 through 26, and today I've got my top 25 purchases to show off.

Let's get right to it and see what kind of randomness I discovered and promptly added to my collection over the course of that weekend...

#25 - 1985 Leaf Rollie Fingers - $.51

Recently I was reminded just how much I enjoy the 1985 Leaf baseball set, specifically that green Leaf logo.  I decided to grab at least one new HOFer from the set during the sale, and Rollie Fingers here was the lowest hanging fruit in mint condition at 51 cents.  That mustache is worth 51 cents alone!  A great card to kick off today's proceedings.

#24 - 1971 O-Pee-Chee Lee May - $.56

Next up we have the second and final '71 O-Pee-Chee card from the order.  Again, not much of an explanation here other than I really enjoy this set and this card was available cheaply.  Lee was a legit offensive threat during this era, and could be counted on to swat 30-40 home runs and drive in roughly 100 a year.  Of course, with this O-Pee-Chee set...

...it's all about the backs.  Look at that floating head smile!  I actually wish I'd grabbed more from this set in retrospect.  Maybe in my next order...

#23 - 2007 Goudey Jim Rice - $1.88

See comments in previous post about how brutal this 2007 Goudey set from Upper Deck has been.  I got so fed up with waiting literally years to find a copy of this short print for a buck or less before finally deciding this year that I was probably never going to locate it for less than the $1.88 it was available for during the sale.  A prime example of why I don't consider myself a set collector these days, yet in this case I'm so close I can't give up now after all these years.

#22 - 1953 Topps Ed Yuhas - $2.65

On the other hand, and just to be a contrarian, I'm loving taking another stab at 1953 Topps!  If you look closely you can see that this Ed Yuhas has a crease straight across the card at about the bill of Ed's cap.  A beautiful looking card despite this flaw, and one I'm happy to add to my set build for the paltry sum of $2.65.  65 cards and counting now as far as that pursuit goes!

You can see the crease again here, but otherwise a clean back!

#21 - 2018 Topps Chrome Prism Refractor Rafael Devers RC - $5.44

I'll warn you now, this isn't the last you'll see of young Red Sox star Rafael Devers in today's post.  I've really been looking to build a nice starter collection of his cards over the past year.  Given that he just recorded a .311/ 32 HR/ 115 RBI stat line in 2019, leading the American League in doubles and total bases while receiving some MVP votes in just his age 22 season, I don't expect prices to remain reasonable for long.

His Topps Chrome rookie card, and it's various parallels, are great targets in the $5 to $10 price range, and I happily snagged my first one with this Prism Refractor.

#20 - 1954 Topps Sid Hudson - $1.44

Just cracking the top 20 is this 1954 Topps Sid Hudson.  I think I placed this one so high on the list mostly because I'm sorely lacking good 1954 Topps representation in my collection.  Since vintage baseball sort of ended up being the unofficial theme of this blog in 2019 it felt great to make at least a small bit of progress on a set I otherwise virtually ignored all year.

Great back too, like so many '50s cards.

#19 - 1994 Topps Pre-Production Nolan Ryan - $.65

In yesterday's post I showed a Carlos Quintana 1994 Topps Pre-Production card, and today I've got the Nolan Ryan.  I was drawn to this one because I love the alternate photograph, which looked so foreign to me on this design having never encountered this card previously.  At 65 cents I snatched it up immediately for my modest Nolan Ryan collection.

#18 - 1953 Topps Virgil Stallcup - $2.36

Yep, another 1953 Topps card, and this one is crease-free and was had for less than $2.50!  Virgil Stallcup got just a single at-bat in 1953, the final appearance of his MLB career.  Not exactly a stud as far as the checklist goes, but this one is in fantastic shape and I felt like it was a total bargain for my set build.

Clean back again.  66 and counting now!

#17 - 2007 Goudey Alan Trammell - $2.25

Alright, this card is potentially huge.  I say that because I think it officially marks the end of the 2007 Goudey set for me!  Only problem is, I'm still missing Carlton Fisk in my collection on The Trading Card Database.  That most likely means I have it and it's in one of the few remaining "move from Zistle to TCDB" boxes I'm still processing through.  I guess I'll save the full-on celebration for if and when I locate that Fisk.

#16 - 2011 Topps Chrome Atomic Refractor Roy Halladay - $2.41

It's getting brutally difficult now to find the last remaining 2011 Topps Chrome Atomic Refractors I need for my set build.  For that reason I decided to finally grab this Roy Halladay that I'd been staring at for many months.  Arguably my best card of the first ballot HOFer who tragically passed at age 40.

197 cards down now in this set quest, 23 to go.  I hate to say it but I question whether I'll ever get there.  For example, I've never even seen an Andrew McCutchen with my own two eyes if you can believe that.  Sigh...

#15 - 1959 Topps Mike Garcia - $2.15

Another nice high-number addition to my 1959 Topps set build here at #15 in the countdown.  As I mentioned before, I decided to target a few high numbers specifically during the sale just because they're so tough.  It's really satisfying adding these to the binder, even if they're located on sparsely populated sheets at the moment.

#14 - 2013-14 Panini National Treasures Brendan Shanahan - $2.50

I run across fewer and fewer Hartford Whalers cards I still need on the site, particularly from the 21st century.  I was really excited to bring home this super thick Brendan Shanahan base card from the high-end National Treasures release put out by Panini.  This card is numbered to /199 and is about as thick as an average pack of cards is.  Not the sort of thing I'd put a huge premium on, but a fun way to climb the ranks as far as that team collection goes for just a couple of bucks.

#13 - 1983 Fleer Cal Ripken Jr - $1.32

I mentioned in my last post how one of the things I worked at during the sale was bolstering my Cal Ripken Jr collection.  Well, the crowning achievement on that front during the sale was this second-year Fleer release, in great shape for $1.32.  Having the standard rookie card trifecta complete (though I'd still like to add an '82 Fleer in a PSA 9 as well), it made sense to pick up a second-year Cal.  Very happy with this one, certainly deserving of a spot in the top 15 of the countdown.

#12 - 1955 Topps Frank Baumholtz - $2.05

I added just one card to my 1955 Topps set pursuit during the sale, but it was cool in that it was a high-number card.

In fact, this is the highest-number '55 in my set build so far.  These are surprisingly pricey, and you can see in the scan of the back here that the only reason I could bring home this Frank Baumholtz at the price I did is that touched upper left corner.

#11 - 2018 Bowman Sky Blue Rafael Devers RC - $3.95

Yep, it's Devers again!  I'm a sucker for a good serial-numbered card, and this Sky Blue parallel of his classic Bowman rookie card was a solid pick-up.  At less than $4 I would have grabbed a couple more of these to hold on to, but this was the only copy available.  Another decent notch in my Devers belt.

#10 - 1972 Topps Bob Burda - $6.01

I mentioned in the previous post that 1972 Topps was a focus for me during the weekend.  I really adore this set, and decided that it's unacceptable that I've made such little progress towards at least tracking down all the Red Sox cards on the checklist.  Just like I did with 1959 Topps, I prioritized the tougher high numbers for this release over the course of the sale.  Not much more to say about this one; box checked!

#9 - 1953 Topps Forrest Main - $2.65

Here's the final '53 Topps card I plucked from the site during the sale for my set build.  I guess I ranked this one in the top 10 because it features a man named Forrest in front of a wooden fence.  I'm loving that I continue to find needs for this set in this condition for less than $3, though I think I've nearly tapped that well at about 1/4 of the way through the set here.

I'll have some heavier lifting from here on out, but I'm still enjoying the pursuit.

#8 - 2019 Topps Holiday (Variation) Rafael Devers - $1.75

I really, really liked the look of the Topps Holiday release this year.  I thought these looked like such a festive and fun riff on the base set when I saw them posted around the blogs weeks ago.  Problem is, I never go to Wal-Mart.  I mean never.  Haven't set foot in one in probably five years or longer.  I knew I wanted to grab at least a card or two from the release on COMC to fill the void, and was ecstatic when I found this Christmas tree variation of Rafael Devers' card for less than $2.  What a fun holiday card!

#7 - 1959 Topps Jim Perry - $3.75

Here's the final '59 Topps card I grabbed, yet another high number with Indians hurler Jim Perry.  I paid more for this one than any of my other '59s from the sale, but Jim had a very successful career that included twice leading the league in wins, as well as multiple All-Star selections and even a Cy Young Award.  I've still got a long journey ahead, but I'm determined to get there with 1959 Topps someday!

#6 - 1972 Topps Doug Griffin - $5.25

Truth be told, these top six cards could really come in any order.  I think the final half dozen stand a cut above the rest for me, starting with this awesome (high number) '72 Doug Griffin.  A Red Sox need, short-printed, from one of the best designs of the '70s, that features palm trees and the Topps All-Star Rookie Trophy?  How did it take me this long to finally pick up a copy of this gem?

#5 - 2018 Topps Chrome Pink Refractor Rafael Devers RC - $6.50

Here's what I deemed my best Rafael Devers pick-up of the weekend.  I'm a total sucker for Topps Chrome Pink Refractors period, so I felt comfortable shelling out $6.50 for this rookie card parallel.  Yes, I'll admit I'm a Red Sox homer, but I'm telling you if this kid continues to play like he did last year I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being impossible to find a copy of this card for ten times this amount a couple of years from now!  If I'm wrong, it's not like I broke the bank at $6.50.

#4 - 2013-14 Panini Select Red Prizm Brendan Shanahan - $4.75

This card is way cooler (hence ranked way higher) than the National Treasures Shanahan above.  I've long admired this Red Prizm parallel from Select, which I think was given out as an exclusive at a Canadian card show.  Problem is, with just 35 copies in existence they're rare and pricey.  I'd considered making an offer for another copy on COMC a couple of times over the years, but it had a glaring condition defect and was more expensive than this one ended up being to boot.  When this copy became available for less than $5 during the sale I snatched it immediately.

#3 - 1966 Topps Harmon Killebrew PSA 2.5 - $8.50

I purchased just a single graded card during the course of the promotion, and it was this 1966 Topps Harmon Killebrew.  I wish I had a great backstory about this addition, but the reality is I was just searching the 1960s inventory, filtered to show HOFers only, and stumbled across it.  To me it seems almost criminally under-graded (the back is as clean as the front), and certainly in "I'll never need to upgrade it" condition for my collection.

Killebrew is perhaps the most under-rated member of the 500 HR club in my opinion, largely due to the market he played in, and I tend to ignore him in my collecting as well which is a shame.  I was happy to remedy that at least a little bit by picking up this great card.

#2 - 1968-69 Topps Johnny Bucyk - $5.45

The runner-up for top card of the weekend goes to this 1968-69 Topps Johnny Bucyk.  What a beauty!  As I type this post I'm thinking I should have ranked this card #1 after all.  Oh well, as I said the top half dozen or so are really all interchangeable in my mind.

The Chief is an absolute legend in Boston, having put in 21 years in a Bruins sweater and having been an integral part of some of the most successful teams in the history of the franchise.  I'm astounded that I was able to find this card in this shape for this price during the sale.  Like so many cards in the countdown, I found myself wondering why I'd waited so long.

Here's the back, super clean as well and a great cartoon.  Yep, this probably should have been #1 in the countdown, but here's the card I went with instead...

#1 - 1972 Topps Bill Lee - $5.25

Shocker, another tough '72 Topps high number!  Of the handful of '72 Red Sox I picked up that weekend, this one stands tallest.  While I haven't pursued it all that actively, I'd love to complete the run of The Spaceman's '70s Red Sox cards.  I've already got most of them, but had always held off on this one due to its high price point.  With time running out in the sale, and just enough money left in my account to cover it and the shipping of my purchases, I finally brought one home.

So, there's a look at my pick-ups from COMC's Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotion in 2019.  I wouldn't say that I landed any absolute jaw-droppers, or collection cornerstones, but I enjoyed the sale nonetheless.  I'll certainly be back to enjoy the promotion next year!

I hope you saw at least a card or two that you found interesting among my haul.  Thanks as always for stopping by!