New Old Kalines

I've been hard at work adding to my Kaline player collection. A key part of that is finishing the Topps base card run. Though, likely, I'll probably never truly finish this run because of a certain 1954 card.

But a 1959 Kaline, that I can do. I snagged this one off eBay for around $5. It took a lot of searching to find this card for that price. It's probably not that amazing of a deal considering the horrendous centering issues, which I completely do not care about. This is a beautiful card. And it's from the same set as my first vintage card, a famous card I received from my dad when I was kid, and a couple decades later it would inspire this here little blog. There's a story to this, and there's, of course, the card: 

Mr. Veal is happy to finally be reunited with his teammate.

Now, I just wish these two could have been paired on this card:

Nothing against Maxwell, but Coot and Kaline against a pink backdrop would have been cardboard perfection. But this card will do. This one was right around $2, and an absolute steal. It came with a nice screw-down. 

What else? This:

1966 Kaline. I feel like I've seen this card reprinted so many freaking times, though really only in the 2011 Topps 60 Years of Topps set, and I just have a bunch of doubles. But nothing beats an original. I appreciate the uniform with the big 6 on the shoulder so much more now that it's on a piece of slightly yellowed cardboard. The condition is pretty decent, and I nabbed this one for under $4 shipped.

Slowly, slowly, I'm filling in the gaps, getting closer to that Topps run. I'm on the hunt for a destroyed 1956 that I can afford. I'll let you know when I find it, and I will find it.