Card Show-Off: Vintage Rookies at WAR

I'm finally getting to posting the rest of this card show. The magic word today is vintage. Well-loved vintage, of course. Read on for the big rookie WAR.

But first, we'll start with this beauty. For $2 the thrill of Duke Snider's wall catch is mine to behold. Now, Topps might have their fancy-smancy short print Great Catch cards this year, but they're not as cool as this one. Which would you rather have, a slightly scuffed-up '59 Snider in action or some over-hyped picture of Mark Reynold bumbling over a tarp roll? Gotta love that vintage.

The deals go on. These were dime and quarter box finds, and finds they were. Bask in the glory of a rare smile from Mr. Gibson. I think my favorite in this group is the Post Minnie.

Now we're getting into my favorite finds: vintage rookies. These, also, were quarter box finds. Sure, these aren't Hall-of-Famers, but they're names we know and love. Those are exactly the rookies I'm always looking for. Let's play a little game. Of these semi-star rookies, who was the best bargain statistically, going by the very simple stat of career WAR. In order, Tasby has a sad negative WAR of -0.6. Tommie Agee, who was 1 hit shy of 1000 career hits, has a WAR of 25.5. Frank the Tank Tanana (no one called him that), who is a Detroit native and one of those Tigers pitchers from my youth, has a WAR of 57.5. Finally, poor Bill Buckner had a surprisingly low 14.7 (they must be counting a certain game against him).

These, too, were amazingly quarter box finds. Are you kidding me!? Look at those giant trophies! Let the games continue! Matty Alou's WAR is 23.3. Crusty Rusty Staub has a WAR of 45.8. And finally Bert Blanco Campaneris racks up a sweet 53.3.

So, the biggest bargain by WAR is Tanana.

And in case you don't know like I do exactly what a WAR is and how it's calculated, here you go (according to Wiki):

where

Well, that's some highlights anyway. Simple as a quarter box.

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.

Card Show-Off: Vintage Dime Box Treasures

The Vealtones are so backlogged we actually have two card shows to showoff. To start, this one was a mall show in Grand Rapids, a show that happens a few times a year. It takes me about an hour to drive to, and it's usually worth it. This time, yup.

I love the Baseball Thrills subset, and this triptych of Mays' famous catch might be the coolest card in the set. The price tag was--you won't believe this--one dollar. That's right, for just some round corners and subtle creases it was just a single solitary buckaroo.

I didn't even look at the back of the card until I got home, which is when I said, Oh, I see.

I'm not even sure what this is, but I'm pretty sure this giant glob of tar or spit chaw would ensure that Beckett would refuse to ever slab this card. Still, I'm thrilled to get this for a buck.

I have a very modest and informal Rollie Fingers player collection, which I was able to add to. These all came out of a dime box. I love the Kellogg's card. Rollie's mustache may've been at its creepiest in his Brewers days.

More randomness from the dime boxes. These will all be making their way into trade packages for my pals eventually.

More from the dime box: semi-star rookie cards. I'm a huge fans for rookie cards, especially when they cost me a dime. Dang, I didn't realize Mr. Kingman had 442 career home runs. And Reuss had 220 wins. Nettles, well, he had a brother named Graig.

Two fellas I can never turn down for a bargain: Sparky and Bill. Sparky will eventually become a formal player collection, once I get my crap together. Did you know he own a baseball signed by the Pope?

Out of all these great vintage treasures, these were my favorite find. Out of the dime box comes these presidents. I love political cards. I love art cards. I love minis. These are all of the above. I guess they're 1974 Panographics, according to COMC. I don't know anything else about them, but I'm curious. I especially love the Teddy Roosevelt card. I took a doctoral lit class based on literature associated with Teddy. The man was brilliant, read a book a day and remembered every single word he read. Too bad our presidents don't herald literature like that anymore.

Anyway, great finds. Next post, I'll show the modern cards.

Card Show-off: Dime Box Attacks!

Time to finish up showing off my goods from the card show. Today, we'll rehash my favorite part of the card show: the dime boxes.

OK, I only wish these were dime box finds. These came out of a 6/$5 box. Each of these are numbered. The 2004 Throwback Threads card is as cool as it gets for a Tigers collector. Pudge, Trammell, and Mr. Tiger all on one card. Yes, please. And some sweet Verlander parallels, copper Topps and light blue Heroes. I might just have to go after a Heroes rainbow or two one of these days.

Now we're back to talking dime boxes. I snagged a gaggle of these cards from the 1983 Kaline story set. I didn't even know about this set, but now that I do, damn, gonna have to finish this sucker. These cards are fantastic.

Here are some more glories from this set. I love the cameos, including the whole 1974 all-star team. And that top right card is a masterpiece. We have to have a closer look:

Perfect.

More goodies for my various player collections. Just when I think I have all the Pudge rookie cards from his 1991 I find another. And up top, there's Cobb being a douche.

Along with all the cards above, I snagged one of these Mars Attacks cards from the same dealer's table. Just one. He noticed, and offered me all of them he had as an add-on to the already great deal he'd given me. These are a few of my favorites. Who of us cardboard connoisseurs don't appreciate the history of Mars Attacks? Some of us more than others, of course.

To wrap this up, some randomy randomness. Refractors, gold, and the Finest I could never afford when I was a kid. 

Not a bad dime box haul. At most shows, I usually end up with a lot more randomness and much less for my actual player collections. I managed to stay on track this time and get stuff I actually needed. Well, the word "need" is always relative to a cardboard addict.

Card Show-off: Vintage Bowman and a Schmidt

As I mentioned a few months ago, I had to miss my favorite annual card show in Kalamazoo, and I didn't care at all because of a special little lady. But I did make it to another annual show in Grand Rapids recently. Not as good as the Kalamazoo one, but I got some sweet stuff. 

I've mentioned plenty on this blog how much I love the 1952 Bowman set, probably my favorite vintage set. I'm getting close on my Tigers team set. But I also avidly collect catchers in gear. The gear here is awesome. Love the mask in hand, the chest protector, and the iconic Catchers-Finding-Jesus pose (term copyright the wise doctor over at Carl Crawford Cards). We also get one of those oddball backgrounds often featured on vintage Bowman cards. Overall, a fantastic card of an average player.

Along with the Eddie Fitz card, I picked up this Ray Scarborough. It's a cool card, that I'll probably trade eventually. I know there's probably some Red Sox collector pals out there who need this one and have some sweet Tigers vintage to send my way.

This Mike Schmidt jersey card was my other big purchase of the show. I've always admired Schmidt, and this card was a great deal. The design is fun with Minty Beans' friend Elmer McPunchy bounding out behind Mike's knee. Also, you can't beat that jersey pinstripe. 

I notice a lot less collectors being interested in GUs these days, but I still love them. Then again, I got this for a few bucks, not as my one hit in a $75 box. I have to say, though, I'll always be a fan of these cards, especially with great designs like this.

Next post, I'll jam out my dime box finds. You never want to miss those.

Card Show-Off: Dime Boxes: I've Got a Golden Ripken!

Yesterday, the blog hit 100 followers, and I'm thrilled. Thanks, everyone, for reading. The final push past 100 might have something to do with my contest, which you should enter if you haven't and you like vintage cardboard. If you don't like vintage, well, that just makes me a little sad.

Following up on yesterday's post, it's time to show you what else I got at the Holland, Michigan card show. As I said yesterday, those Dutch are known to be famous for their wooden shoes and windmills and silly hats, but are secretly also known for their great deals on vintage AND their wonderful dime boxes.

This one actually came out of a 3/$1 box. And it's a very intriguing addition to my Ripken collection. I have no idea what this card is, but it's made of metal, probably pure gold. It looks a little like the early '90s Bleachers cards, but I'm not too sure.

And the back doesn't help much. It does appear to be numbered out of 10000, and is this Japanese writing? Whatever this is, I'd have to say this is one of the most oddball finds out of the bargain boxes.

One whacky oddball calls for another. Check out the Bo Jackson card I snagged from the dime box. What was he thinking to have posed for this shot? The '90s were full of bad choices for all of us. Flanking Bo's big mistake, we have a great Rollie card and those 3000 Club Fleer inserts I'm a big fan of. They're thick as a game-used card and cut really cool.

A few more unidentifiable Nolan oddballs, and a 1990 Leaf, all a dime a piece. 

Here are my dime box Ripkens. I was excited to pick up the 2001 Topps Traded reprint, which cost a bit more; it's probably the closest I'll ever come to the white whale that is Ripken's best rookie.

And this 1995 Topps Traded Mariano Rivera is probably the closest I'll ever come to his white whale rookie. A great find for a dime. As is the Wally auto. I have no idea if it's real, but it's worth a gamble for a dime. 

Lots of Topps Gold, which actually came out of a nickel box, and will one day become trade package extras.

A dime box auto, a nickel box Romero rookie, and that Paulk is numbered to 50, so who cares that I have no idea who he is! The Mantle has felt and the Jackie is Chromed out. This grouping defines the hodge-podge that is the joy of the dime box.

Love those tobacco and Goudey reprints.

Though I don't find them often, Sparky and Tigers team cards are always a great dime box find. I'm pretty sure these team cards were a bit pricier, but such is Michigan. If you trade with me, Sparky and Tigers teams are always welcome adds to a trade package.

This was not a dime box find, nor was it five dollars. You can't get much cooler when it comes to a well-designed GU card than this one: numbered, baby blue, Mr. Gwynn, pinstripe. Perfect.

That wraps up this show. I'm headed to my first card show of 2013 this weekend, so wish me luck. I hope I get some finds as sweet as the Dutch gave me. Don't forget to enter my contest!

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.

Card Show-off: 5 for 10 Pudge Splinters

I'm wrapping up showing off my most recent card show today, which started in the last post. I did the dime boxes last time, and today will be the big-time hits. Hits for me are dollar box cards. I know, it's pretty sad how cheap I am, but finding the bargain is the thrill of the show for me. 

And I found some real bargains. I also broke the bank. This card came out of a 5 for $10 box that was full of great GUs. $2 per card is high-rolling. This was one of my favorites to add to the Pudge collection. It's the first card I own with these two amazing catchers both featured. The slices of bat have a lot of personality. I dig the design of this card.

Another awesome $2 Pudge bat cards with a bunch of other great catchers from the '90s. I find these cards a little boring. For some reason, the more relics and players with threadbare connections you put on a card the less exciting they become. Still, a great card for the collection at this price.

And, of course I was excited to snag up this card from my favorite modern set: 2007 Bowman Heritage, which I'm only a few cards from finishing. (Ahem, want list plug.)

But then there were no more Pudges, and I still had two cards to finish off my $10. So...

One good Pudge deserves another. It's Pudge the first! Fisk is a player collection I've been working on a bit more informally. I'm always happy to add his cards.

Here was my last card of the deal, which I tossed in last-minute. I don't necessarily collect Juan Marichal, but I thought this was a cool card, and I love the old school jersey swatch. It's a card I picked up thinking maybe another blogger would want it and trade me something cool for it, but it's also the kind of card I wouldn't mind incorporating into the Vealtones. I'd certainly listen to offers for it.

That does it for this card show. I have another one still to post. And next weekend is my favorite yearly card show right in my very own town. However, I might have something even cooler to do on that day. Mystery...