By the page: 1964 Topps #'s 1-9

It's time I stopped and smelled the roses for a while.   I've spent the past 4 years playing catch up with my collection.  I've started a lot of sets, finished a few, and showed off a lot of cards on the blog over that time.

But to be honest, while moving as fast as I can to build sets, I've never really stopped to take a good look at a lot of my cards.  I'm so busy accumulating numbers, marking off checklists, and having a grand time building my collection that I haven't enjoyed it. 

I'm going to use the by the page theme to highlight pages that I've completed from vintage sets, take a look at the cards a little bit closer and muse a little about their condition, the photo, the placement in the set, or whatever I may feel like saying at that time.  Maybe I'll even notice something on the card that I didn't notice in the past.  I might even find a few cards that I'll want an upgrade for.

I have to start somewhere, so I figured why not go with the set I've been building the longest, and go from there.

1964 Topps cards #'d 1 through 9 

Top row:  NL & AL ERA leaders, NL pitching leaders

I still remember picking up a few of these league leader cards as I was on my way out the door at the 2012 Baltimore National.  I was tired, worn out from the sensory overload that was 2 days at the NSCC (it was my first).  But I just happened to look at one last table, and found 4 of the LL cards for $5 apiece.  I didn't even haggle with the dealer, because in my opinion they were such a good price that I couldn't leave them there.

All 3 of these cards are in really nice shape, the backs on 2 of the cards have some light stains on them, but nothing that really says to me that the cards would have to be replaced.  I'll be enjoying these 3 for many years to come.

Middle row:  AL Pitching leaders & NL/AL Strikeout leaders

I wound up scanning this row 3 times, thinking that the AL pitching leaders card was crooked on the scanner bed.  Nope, that's how it looks.  That might be the only card from the entire page that I would consider replacing. 

I also find it interesting that the pitching leaders cards are simply the wins leader for each league.  Why not just call it "Wins Leaders" on the top of the card?  The only name I didn't recognize on any of the 6 pitching cards is Dick Stigman, who finished 3rd in strikeouts in 1963.  Turns out that 1963 was Stigman's only season in which he did nothing but start, every other season during his brief 7 year career he split time between the pen and the rotation for the Twins/Red Sox. 

Bottom row:  NL & AL batting leaders + NL Home Run leaders

Man, look at the names on these 3 cards.  7 Hall of Famers, Groat and Davis had over 2000 hits each, and Rich Rollins found himself in the middle of a lot of great players by hitting .307 in '63 which earned him 3rd place in the AL batting race.

These 3 cards are really nice as far as I'm concerned, with the only blemish courtesy of someone who either wasn't a Tigers or an Al Kaline fan.

Only 4 hitters above .300 in the AL...wow!

Even though Kaline's name is crossed out, I don't plan on replacing this or any of the three cards in this row.

Even with #4 being a bit off center, and #8 having the red line through Kaline's name on the back, I still think this is a great page to look at when I open the '64 binder. 

I'm looking forward to doing a lot of posts like this from the sets I have completed or am near completing, such as '73, '75 and '77 Topps.  There's also quite a few sets that I have finished that aren't in binders that I may dust off and scan as well.   There's no telling what I might show off.

I think it'll be fun....

thanks for reading, Robert