1953 Topps Project - Post #41

I haven't posted a 1953 Topps card all month, I'm going to have to do better than that if I ever hope to complete this set in my lifetime!

#36 - Johnny Groth - St. Louis Browns

John Thomas Groth, affectionately known as "Johnny", played for 15 seasons in the Major Leagues, although he saw action in more than 100 games only 6 times, and played only 12 total games over his first 3 seasons. Most of his time was spent with the Detroit Tigers, including his 1952 season, which explains why he is depicted in a Detroit hat on this card.

If this were the 70's, Topps would've done a terrible air brush job to turn that into a Browns hat. Had O-Pee-Chee been around in 1953 we'd probably get a "Now with Browns" notation on the front of the card. Instead, the painting is left as is, and I believe this may be my first 1953 Topps card where the hat/uniform differs from the team listed on the card.

The Tigers claimed that Groth was "the next DiMaggio" when he first began his career back in 1946, but as evidenced by the fact that your average baseball fan has never heard of him, he never really lived up to the hype. To be fair though, those are some pretty big shoes to fill. What kind of organization would put that kind of pressure on a 20 year old?!?!

Set Status: 41/274 (15%)

What I Bought Instead of Allen & Ginter - Post #3

Time to catch back up with my pseudo-Allen & Ginter hobby box. Today's post is nothing too crazy, and probably won't turn any heads, but it gives me a sense of accomplishment. As part of a Sportlots order I picked up the last 15 cards that I needed to finish off the 1991 Topps Stadium Club (Series 1) set. Way back when I busted a hobby box of this stuff, which left me just short of the set, these last cards bring me to completion. Not all 15 are real winners, so here are my favorite 5:

#2 - Wally Joyner - I have to confess that I stopped reading before I got anywhere near the end, but I didn't know until writing this post that Joyner's name came up in the Mitchell Report. He had a few great years and I remember his cards being very popular when I first started collecting, but he seemed to fizzle out over time.

#57 - Frank Thomas - Not the most unique or interesting shot of the Big Hurt.

#154 - Ozzie Smith - I like that they caught Ozzie mid-laugh, I just wish the background were more interesting than a concrete wall...

#247 - Joe Girardi - Current Yankees manager. I told you these weren't exactly the most exciting group of cards, so Girardi makes the top 5...

#264 - Ben McDonald - McDonald reminds me of Joyner a bit in that there was quite a bit of hype when he came into the league, but over time he never really met expectations. I think a lot of the build-up had to do with his major contributions to the 1988 US Olympic gold medal team. More than anything, I remember him as being incredibly tall.

Well that about does it. It took me almost a year but finishing sets is something I don't do nearly enough, and it's a good feeling. Wonder where I can get a cheap Series 2 box?

Cost: $3
Running Total: $33

Pack Rip - 1978-79 Topps Hockey

Let me just start by saying that the designs used on vintage wrappers, at least for hockey and baseball, are fantastic. I mean look at that wrapper! I wish Topps or Upper Deck would release just one set that contains no game-used or auto hits, is printed on cardboard stock like the older sets were, and came packed in traditional wax wrappers. I know, not likely to happen anytime soon. It's a shame. Alright, moving on here I recently picked up a wax pack of 1978-79 Topps hockey at the hobby shop I just discovered. This blog's been all baseball lately and I thought it would be cool to open a pack of hockey cards that's older than I am. I did the same thing a while back with 1977-78 Topps for A Pack a Day. Let's see how this pack does. 12 cards and 1 sticker included, I scanned each for your viewing pleasure:

#34 - Keith Magnuson - Magnuson was a Blackhawk his entire career, and had his number retired by the team not too long ago. He was in the twilight of his career in 1978-79 though, appearing in just 26 games. He would appear in just 3 the following year, which would be his last. I suspect this photo was from at least a couple of years earlier though, as Keith was team captain from 1977 to 1979 yet is missing the C on his jersey here. Sadly, Magnuson was killed in a drunk driving accident in 2003. He was a passenger in a vehicle driven by former NHL player Rob Ramage, who was charged in the accident. It's actually kind of creepy that I pulled this card now as Ramage just began serving a 4-year prison sentence last Monday.

#243 - Jim Bedard - It's a shame this card came so early in the pack, because it sets the bar pretty high. Even though he's a no-namer who actually logged little time in the NHL and played the bulk of his career over in Finland, this card is awesome. Judging from the players on the bench and the crowd in the background, it looks like this picture was taken during the National Anthem perhaps. What an awkward card...

#93 - Jude Drouin - Jude has no stats for 1978-79, and if you can believe Wikipedia it's because he was so disgruntled with his declining role and lack of playing time with the Islanders that he chose to sit out the entire season to become a free agent. He's got some killer sideburns though...

#244 - Peter Lee - Here's a random fact about Lee...he held the Ontario Hockey League career goal record for over 33 years. Do you know who broke it? John Tavares, back in 2009 before joining the New York Islanders in the NHL.

#146 - Dale Tallon - Pretty cool, I think this is my first card of Tallon, the new General Manager of the Florida Panthers, and the guy largely responsible for constructing the current Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks team.

#98 - Andre Dupont - Dupont was a rough but solid defender for the Broad Street Bullies Flyers teams of the 70's. It was not out of the ordinary for him to log 200+ penalty minutes in a season.

Team Sticker - New York Islanders - Each pack contains a single sticker insert, which actually contains 4 stickers within, a larger team sticker and 3 smaller hockey related stickers. I would love to pick up more of these. The Whalers weren't part of the NHL yet, but I'll have to pick up a Bruins one.

#110 - Garry Unger - Garry was a serviceable player for a long time at the NHL level, and at one time was hockey's iron man, setting an NHL record with 914 consecutive games played between 1968 and 1979.

#214 - Terry Harper - I don't have much to say about Harper, so I'll talk about the design of the cards instead. The set is simple enough, with team logo and position in the upper left corner, and team name in arced banner format underneath. All of this, along with a player photo (with rounded edges) and the player's name in plain black font, is overlaid on a plain white card. Not a bad design in its own right, but it just doesn't have the classic appeal of some of the decade's better sets, such as the 1971-72 or 1979-80 releases.

#16 - Perry Miller - Another Red Wing that I don't have a whole lot to say about. Let's face it, the Red Wings of the late 70's were pretty bad. In 1978-79 they finished last in the Norris division, with just 23 wins in 80 games.

#30 - Darryl Sittler - Sweet, a Hall-of-Famer! Did you know this guy once scored 10 points (6 goals, 4 assists) in a single game against the Bruins?!?! There's a record that may never be broken. That goalie in the background is kind of creepy.

#13 - Doug Jarvis - Remember a few cards back when I said that Garry Unger was at "one time" the NHL's iron man? Well that's because Doug Jarvis bested his record of 914 consecutive games played with a new mark of 964, which still stands to this day. Pretty random to pull both of those guys in the same pack.

#210 - Larry Robinson - We finish off the pack strong with a second Hall-of-Famer. I know this doesn't appear to be an in-game photo, but you have to admit this isn't too bad an action shot for a card this old. The photographer managed to capture his flexed stick right at the moment of impact.

Well there you have it, a thirty two year old pack of hockey cards. I think this one was a success compared to my 1977-78 pack. I pulled two Hall-of-Famers, a pretty cool sticker, and almost all the other cards had interesting ties to modern events or were relevant in some way. I'll take this over the modern stuff any day!

Completed Set - 1987 Topps Traded Baseball

I always liked the 1987 Topps set, but I never had any of the Traded series, so when I saw this set for just a few bucks I couldn't resist. As the box indicates this is a 132 card set. Over the past couple of weeks I scanned in all 132 cards and updated the Zistle library. One trend I noticed was that there are quite a few cards of players who seem to be confused. Like this guy:


Maybe there was something in the air in Oakland, Gene Nelson seems thoroughly confused as well...


There are plenty of examples, here's just one more:


It's not all confused nobodies that comprise this set though, here are some of my favorites:

#14T - Ellis Burks - Definitely can't complain about an Ellis Burks rookie, he's a very under-rated player in my opinion. He turned in some really great seasons. I always forget that after bouncing around the majors he returned to the Red Sox in 2004, making 37 plate appearances in 11 games, including 1 home run. Hey, it was good enough to get him a World Series ring with the team he began his career with. Pretty good story...

#19T - Steve Carlton - Speaking of guys with lengthy careers... For some reason, at least on all the 80's Traded cards I've seen, Topps used what I would consider a slightly better quality cardstock with a lighter back:

As was par for the course in this era for Topps, full career statistics. Look at those numbers for Carlton, not a bad career huh?

#27T - Andre Dawson - The Hawk's card is one of the funnier cards in the set. What an odd photo to choose. The story behind this card is even better though. If you don't know the tale, Dawson was struggling to find work after his final season with Montreal in 1986. Dawson tried in vain to persuade the Cubs to sign him during the off-season, since the natural grass at Wrigley would treat his damaged knees much more kindly than the artificial turf at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Cubs refused though, and desperate to play with the team Dawson and his agent arrived at training camp with a signed blank contract, asking the Cubs to simply pay what they thought was fair. The Cubs finally conceded and signed Dawson to a $500,000 contract, with an additional $250,000 in incentives. How did the Hawk respond? How about revitalizing his career with a .287/49HR/137RBI season in which he led the league in Home Runs and RBI, was named an All-Star and National League MVP, and was awarded a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove award! Dawson's '87 Topps base card depicts him as an Expo, so this Traded card is pretty cool given what it signifies...

#31T - Dennis Eckersley - Dennis is smiling widely here, and why shouldn't he be? Given what's to come in the years ahead in Oakland, he's got reason enough to be happy.

#34T - Terry Francona - Tito!

#52T - Reggie Jackson - A slightly pudgy Reggie pictured on his last Topps card.

#70T - Greg Maddux - Probably the most well known card in the set, this is the very first Topps card of the pitching whiz.

#74T - Fred McGriff - Another first Topps card of a star player. Great photo of McGriff sporting the first baseman's glove.

#81T - Kevin Mitchell

#89T - Joe Niekro - Joe's beginning to show his age here. He'd been in the league about 20 years at this point...

#102T - Cal Ripken, Sr. - I'm pretty sure this is my first card of Ripken Sr.

#112T - John Shelby - I can't tell from the photo, but I wonder if the elastics on those braces are Dodger blue?

#115T - Chris Speier - What is with the mesh jersey?!?!

#121T - Tom Trebelhorn - Tom gets the prize for subject in the set who could most easily be a Tolkien character. He's the clear cut winner in both name and look.

#127T - Bill Wilkinson - Is it just me, or is Wilkinson's face extremely angular?

#129T - Matt Williams - Rookie card of another solid player. Williams finished his career with 378 HR and over 1,200 RBI.

Well there you have it. This was well worth the low price I paid for it. So what if there are millions of these printed? For a few bucks you've got rookie cards of a surefire Hall of Famer (Maddux), a likely Hall of Famer (I hope McGriff's 493 HR will get him in someday), the final Topps cards of a couple of Hall of Famers (Carlton & Jackson), and a couple of cards that signify some pretty cool historical events (the Dawson signing by the Cubs, and Eckersley's revival with the A's). I'll take that any day!

It's About Time!

One thing that seems to be on the verge of extinction is the hobby shop. It's a shame because to me one of the best parts about collecting was always taking a ride to the shop, picking up a few packs and making some small talk. I think big box stores and online auction sites/retail shopping will only result in fewer and fewer shops going forward. I hear people on many of the blogs I read lamenting the fact that there aren't any hobby shops within a reasonable driving distance of their house. Until recently, my scenario wasn't much different. When I first purchased my home there were 3 hobby shops within driving distance. The closest one burnt down in a fire. The next closest one has about an inch of dust over everything and it seems like inventory hasn't been updated or even looked at in years. The last is run by a somewhat grumpy guy who thinks all of his singles are worth "book" and overcharges for packs.

Over the weekend though I noticed a sign while driving around for a brand new hobby shop that just opened about 10 minutes from my house. I had some time to kill yesterday evening so I took a ride over to check it out. The place is small but so much better than my other options. The owner is a younger guy who collects himself and actually knows the difference between book value and market value. They have a good selection of modern packs, especially baseball and hockey which is perfect. They also have a lot of junk wax, which was thoroughly lacking at the other places nearby and is much appreciated. Best of all, they have dollar, quarter and 50% off monster boxes right in the front of the store. I was on a limited budget so I went right for the dollar box and picked out 13 singles. Here's what I got:

This 1976 Kellogg's Bill "The Spaceman" Lee was an easy decision. Even though he pitched before my time, he's a very interesting character. Besides, this is a nice edition to my Red Sox collection and I didn't have any 1970's Kellogg's cards before this purchase.

This was the only other Kellogg's card in the box, and it's from the 1977 series. Again, I didn't have any of these and Munson is one of the Yankees I despise least so I went for it. Truth be told, I probably would've grabbed these two Kellogg's cards regardless of who they were. The other 11 singles I got were all 1966 Topps:

I think I chose this one just because I like older cards depicting funky glasses.

Don Wert had some interesting background scenery, a very green lawn and some odd buildings.


Probably my least favorite. I don't know why I even chose this one. Maybe it was the All-Star Rookie cup...

If you notice, this picture is taken in the exact same location as the Wert card above...


This one was a little off center top to bottom, but come on, a 1966 Flood for a buck!

This one was also chosen primarily for background scenery.

As was this one. One of the best photos in the bunch.

I'm a big fan of the combo cards that were so prominent in 50's and 60's Topps sets. I can't tell for sure but it seems like the player photos might have been superimposed over the background. Finally, the prize of the day:

I can't believe it took me this long to add Mossi's legendary ears to my collection.

Not bad huh? These were in great shape too, not a crease or soft corner to be found, some with slight centering issues, others almost perfectly centered. I think I found my new hobby shop...