Dirty tease

I went on a bit of a spending spree at the end of last week.  I decided to hit up Sportlots to try and knock a couple of want lists down.  Mission succeeded.

In what might be a record shipping time, I received the first of my 2 orders yesterday.  The 2013 A&G want list is all but dead.  Just 2 cards remaining now, the Manny Machado RC and the Pele correct version (yes, I do want the writing on the back).

42 cards were in the lot, 20 of them were very affordable short prints (either 27 or 37 cents).

I took a quick look through the 42 cards while writing the post.  Not one non-ball player in the group.  Plus a lot of them were legends, Clemente, Gehrig, Rickey Henderson, Jeter, Mays, Whitey Ford, etc.

Great group of cards for under $20 to nearly finish this set.  I don't know if the seller was wanting to give me a bit of a heart attack, but this a picture of the snap case he sent the cards with...

Now, I would have been very happy had the case been full of 1961 Topps cards, but I'll settle for what I have now.  Wonder what the other group of cards that I bought from the Sportlots site will arrive in?

Robert

Another slow set build....but I think it will be fun

1962 Topps football.  Certainly not one of the bigger vintage sets out there at just 176 cards.

They're all horizontal as well.

Multiple photos on the front of the card.  Jimmy Patton intercepting a pass, Roger Leclerc being described as a "LB-Kicker" on his card, which I don't think you will not find very often on any player card (certainly not in the modern era).

And these guys just look like football players.  The backs?  Easy for an older guy like me to read.

I find a lot of the newer sets a bit difficult to read, especially if I'm sorting by number (as always); the card numbers now are a lot smaller and on some sets are almost impossible to read, if not find.  Look at that number 156 in the upper left.  Can't mistake that!!

I looked at some of the card prices on COMC while writing this post and learned about Ernie Davis.  Died at 23 before ever playing a professional football game due to leukemia.  What a shame.

Hopefully I'll be able to find an affordable card of his one day.  Wait and see...

Robert

What got me started

I've been writing the blog for 12 years now (haha I missed the blog's anniversary on July 23rd), and for most of that time I had no interest in vintage football.

Sure there was always the vintage hockey interest (I grew up in Canada) and over time the vintage baseball interest came along (the '64 set build helped create that love).

A few months back I stumbled across a '70 Topps football lot on eBay, and my current obsession has become older football sets.  I've been picking up pieces and parts at shows, on eBay and via the trade route on TCDB.

Unlike the baseball and hockey vintage sets which for the most part are pricing me out of completion, I don't believe the same thing is going to happen with football.  As I work on building these sets, I might end up proving myself wrong.  But for starters, I've been having fun acquiring some of the old stuff.

This set I do like, and I've been able to put almost half of it together already.  120 out of 263 are already in house, and I have a COMC order that will put the set over the halfway point.

This set has reminded of what the vintage sets should be.  Old cards.  For the most part, especially with baseball and hockey, I'll be very picky about what I add to the sets.  Most of the cards that I acquire for 60's and 70's builds are usually EX-MT or better.  That can get pricey.

For the football stuff, especially 1972 and before, I'll accept the dinged corners, I'll see the creases that are there and accept the fact that that's how they should be.

I do stick to the hard and fast rule for my vintage, no paper loss.  Even I like to be able to read everything that is on the old card backs, which I'm loving for the football sets.  

It'll be a few weeks before I see my COMC order come in, and I'm looking forward to a pair of cards, Fran Tarkenton and Johnny Unitas '70 Topps.   Between the 2, I paid less than $10 total.  That isn't bad. 

Actually, at that price, this is fun!!

Robert 

A couple that are a bit dirty, and a couple that aren't so dirty

Haven't touched the 1959 Topps set very much during the month of July.  But last week I decided to get back on the bandwagon and start knocking out a few more off the want list.

I mentioned it on the post yesterday, had a coupon for 20% off if I purchased $50 or more, so this evening's post is the bulk of the purchase that complemented the Thurman Munson.

Between the Bobby Richardson and the Sparky Anderson, I spent about $17.  For the condition that they came with, I was OK with that.  I've been seeing the Anderson RC'S about $30 and up, so I saved a bit of money here.

$32 for the Cepeda and Snider combined.  Very happy with that.  Not the perfect centering most would like, but I really like the condition that these are in.  A couple of bigger names off the want list for sure.  

34 cards to go.  I've already identified a few cards that are still on the list that can be picked up for a few bucks here and there.  

I've also started discussing with the Mrs. about the big names such as Mantle and Gibson.  She actually had prices in her mind that are higher than what's on ebay.  This '59 train may have a bigger light at the end of the tunnel than I thought.   Fingers crossed!!

Robert

249 left, and none left

July has been brutal, and that's saying something for south Florida.  I spent the first week of the month in South Carolina at my sister in law's, but couldn't escape the heat.  Several days I left work at 3:45 in the afternoon only to be greeted to 100 degree heat when I opened my car door.

I do know that there are many of you that are suffering worse heat than I am, and I certainly pity you.  But when I can say that I've been spoiled by the summer's I've had here in Florida for the 8 years I've been here, 2023 has been brutal so far in comparison.

I don't think August will be much better, but at least today I've got the gumption (yes I used that word) to sit down and write a post.

In July I've completed 8 trades, not bad considering how hot it is and I'm sure a lot of collectors would rather be doing other things beside roasting at their computers.  One trade I finished recently was a 2 for 1 deal.  One of the 2 cards actually helped me finish a set!

I've had the Fernando Tatis Jr. card as the only one on my want list for the 2020 A&G set for a while now.  I thought that eventually this would be part of a purchase somewhere down the road.  Luckily I received it in as part of an offer, and I quickly made the trade to finish off the 10th A&G set in my collection.  I have 3 or 4 Allen and Ginter sets that are reasonably close to being finished, and I'm hoping to knock those want lists down with a couple more trades in August.

The Thurman Munson 1972 Topps In action card was part of a purchase.  This one seller on ebay had a deal where if you buy $50 worth of cards, you got a 20% discount.  Can't complain about that!  With the discount, this turned out to be free (at least in my eyes) so this is a nice add to the '72 set.  

Just 249 more cards to go for this set!!  I have another set that's 4 cards closer.  Tomorrow's post will show those off.

Robert