Friday, March 6, 2015

Red Sox Collection - Nearing the End on Diamond Stars

Today I've got the penultimate card in my quest to complete a 1934-1936 Diamond Stars Red Sox team set, #48 Rick Ferrell:

Certainly not in the finest condition of the handful of these cards that I now own, but I don't think the creases detract too much from the overall visual appeal.  As with most cards this old, I really don't care about the shape they're in, and am only buying graded to minimize the chance that I purchase a reprint or non-authentic card.  There's no paper loss and the colors are vibrant, aside from that the low grade simply made this card affordable (I paid around the cost of a blaster with free shipping!).  I've already talked at length about this set in my previous posts, so I'll keep it brief here.

You can see some of the creases a little better here, especially the one going across Rick's catcher's mitt.  I love the bold, vibrant colors on these cards.  They really seem to survive well over the decades.  Ferrell's card is one of my favorites on the entire checklist, mostly because of the odd backstop behind him and the fact that his Red Sox jersey is prominently displayed.

Rick is actually enshrined in Cooperstown, having been selected for induction by the Veteran's Committee back in 1984.  I'm still kind of shocked than an 80-year-old card of a HOFer in this shape could be had for around $20.  Best of all, I can now file this card away next to the card of his brother from the same set.

The back tells you more than you'd ever want to know about the approach a good catcher takes to track foul ball pop-ups off the bat.

At this point I'm left with just one card to track down, but it's a big one to say the least.  The one I'm missing?  That would be HOFer Lefty Grove.  To make matters worse, he's card #1 on the checklist for the set.  As vintage collectors know, the first and last cards on the checklist typically demand a premium and are harder to find in decent shape, as those would be the "exposed" cards whenever a collector stacked (or rubber-banded) their set in numerical order.  Nonetheless, I am hoping I can put this one to bed sometime later this year...

7 comments:

Commishbob said...

That's a great pick-up! Congrats. I love that set, wish I could afford more than the handful I have.

Mark Hoyle said...

Any card from this set is a great card. Money well spent. I go with a vintage buy any day of the week

Brian said...

Agreed - Diamond Stars are some of the best looking cards of all time! Very nice.

Mark Kaz said...

Sweet card! You find the best deals on eBay.

By the way, your next PWE began its journey to RI earlier today!

shoeboxlegends said...

Thanks guys! Looking forward to the PWE Mark!

Hackenbush said...

Never get tired of seeing those. Good luck with Lefty.

Mark Hoyle said...

Lefty is definitely the toughie. I managed to find a decent one a couple of years ago at a reasonable price. They are out there

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...