Card Show-Off: Hard Luck Houtteman and the Bargain Boxes

I didn't find a ton of stuff at the most recent mall card show I went to, but I did run into some nice vintage bargains.

This was my favorite find. For $3 I knocked a need off my vintage Bowman Tigers want lists. I didn't know much about Art Houtteman, but apparently he was a decent starter who spent 8 of his 12 seasons with the Tigers. He had the nickname "Hard Luck" for a number of horrific reasons: car accidents, noise headaches, baby death, and so on. Art's hard luck will now be remembered and appreciated against a green brick backdrop in my collection.

Here are some Tigers bargains out of the quarter and dime boxes. I had all of these before besides the Wertz, which was a steal. The rest were upgrades. I sure love me Tigers team cards.

Rounding out my Tigers finds are two Freehans and a Northrup. Those are big names for us vintage Tigers collectors. The Freehan in the middle is a 1971 Dell Today's Team Stamp. I really know nothing about this set, but I dig oddballs. I wonder if Dennis has this one.

It's not vintage, but it cost a dime and this is one of my favorite insert sets. I'm slowly moseying away at collecting this set. These cards are chunky as a thick hunk of Swiss cheese with just as many holes.

Last up, here are the modern treasures I found out of the dime and quarter boxes. All of these are numbered except for the Pill Ice parallel. Pretty great stuff. Probably most of it will find its way into trade packages. Always looking out for my blogging bros.

Next post, I'll show off the best of the bargain vintage.

Vintage Trade Bait: Well-Loved '50 and '60s

Below you'll find scans of some vintage cardboard that's up for trade. I'll be adding this to a new page that will consist of all my vintage trade bait. You'll find the link next to my modern trade bait  and want lists at the top of the page. There's more to come in the future.

 

Note that this stuff is all well-loved to different levels of affection, meaning this stuff is creased and stained and written on and certainly not mint.

 

Archie Wilson: 1952 Bowman

Don Larsen and Casey Stengel: 1959 Topps

Minnie Minoso: 1959 Topps

Joe Frazier: 1955 Topps (horrendously off-centered)

Ruben Gomez: 1955 Topps

Harry Dorish: 1953 Topps

Ned Garver: 1952 Bowman

George Zuverink: 1957 Topps
Gus Bell: 1957 Topps

Harry Simpson: 1953 Topps

Eddie Yost: 1956 Topps

Jerry Lynch: 1958 Topps
Don Larsen: 1958 Topps

Dodgers: 1959 Topps

1968 Topps

1947-1966 Exhibits: Earl Torgeson

Jim Delsing: 1952 Bowman

 

If you see anything you like and have some similarly vintage Tigers or catchers in gear to trade, or other stuff I might be interested in, leave a comment or send me an email: dustinhoff86 at gmail dot com. Thanks for looking.

Pair of Trades: Rhubarb and a Shoebox

It's time for some very belated trade appreciation. To start off, Rhubarb Runner and I completed another trade. This was our third or fourth. He's one of my oldest and favorite trade partners. If the alliterative name doesn't sound familiar--and it should if you're reading baseball card blogs!--perhaps his difficult to pronounce blog name will, é rayhahn, rayhahn.

This was the favorite card of the trade, which was a nice and simple one. Topps Heritage usually puts together a pretty classy GU card, and 2008 might be the best with the baseball diamond design and homeplate-shaped bat chunk.

Here are some Rhubarby extras. Great Kalines and Pudges. I kept trying to figure out why Ivan would ever be on a cover that says "Best of the Worst." What the heck, ESPN.

The Runner is always a great trader. If you have some snazzy Twins, hit him up for a trade. You won't be disappointed.

Next up, was a new trader for me. Shoebox Legends and I traded some bricks of Sox and Tigers.

From '94 Score to 2007 Heritage short prints, lots of Tigers I hadn't seen before. I love the super-close-up of Sweet Lou's shiny helmet.

Here are some of my favorite Tigers inserts. I'm a big fan of framed Masterpieces, even if Mr. Shef is featured. A pair of wood-framed Pudges are no scrubs either.

I always appreciate some Verlander rookies.

Shane didn't just send a bunch of great Tigers, he also filled a bunch of player collection needs. These were a few of my favorites.

And some Ripken and Cabreras, too.

Believe me when I say these were just a few of the cards in this huge batch. If you have a Red Sox cards to trade, swing on by Shoebox Legends.