Card Show-off: Vintage Steals and a Contest Reminder

I recently missed my favorite annual card show in Kalamazoo, due to the small coincidence of my daughter being born on the same day. However, I still have a card show from a few months ago in my bank. This show happened in Holland, Michigan, a town known for its windmills and tulips and Dutch culture. Go figure. 

Few know, though, that the Dutch are also famous for their great deals on vintage cardboard. And thanks to them, one of these cards could be yours, if you go and enter the Vealtones Vintage Contest.

I snagged this 1952 Bowman Monte Irvin from this one dealer who was getting rid of a bunch of sweet vintage. I actually paid less than the price listed at the top of the card. And what a steal. I love the batting cage background and how Monte is captured here looking so inquisitive.

Another infamous Giants Hall-of-Famer here with the legendary Leo Durocher. This is my first card of his, and I'm thrilled to own it.

Not a Hall-of-Famer but a respectable player: Hank Bauer. He's looking mighty noble here, chin up against the shadowy stadium risers. 

One more. Carl Erskine. Another very cool background here. It looks like some kind of old-timey ad behind him. I wish I knew what it was. I love the look of the three different cobbled wall materials. And, of course, Carl's wind-up is so cool. Bowman did a great job to capture his leg and then run the signature up it. I have always wondered if the players chose where to put their sigs.

Moving on from Bowman, I couldn't pass up a good deal on a Johnny Podres 1958 Topps. I may have picked this up thinking trade bait more than personal collection. Any Dodgers collectors who don't have this card?

I also scored this card, along with all the others above, from this same dealer. And I think this card was the biggest steal of the day. I absentmindedly snagged it out of the 3 for a dollar box, thinking it looked cool. I didn't realize until I got home that this is Tiant's 1965 rookie. How about that! This goes right into the iconic rookies personal collection, and becomes one of my best cheapo box finds.

Eddie Kazak's 1953 Topps card came from a different dealer, and it cost me 2 bucks. Not the same steal that the Tiant was, but a nice addition to my vintage Tigers team sets. My '50s Topps sets are still in very early stages. So, this card is cool, but it's just not as cool as any of those '52 or '53 Bowmans. The headshots from this set are meticulously detailed, but they're just a little too boring for me. 

To wrap things up, here are a few bargain box finds. Great names and great cards, and I think these were out of a quarter box. I've always been a Lou Brock fan, so his 1968 All Star card was a good find for me.

Tomorrow, I'll try to post the rest of this show, mostly my dime box finds. Don't forget to head over and enter my first contest for some '50s vintage of your favorite (or second favorite) team.