Vintage Bowman Tigers: Well-Loved, Maybe Too Loved

In my pursuit to finish my Tigers team sets from my favorite vintage Bowman years, I found a couple needs at my LCS.

I found this 1951 Bob Swift and the rest of the cards in this post in a box of really battered vintage. We struck up a deal for a price tag around 10 percent of BV. So, each of these were two bucks or so. Now, Swift here, besides being an awesome card of a catcher in gear, is probably in the best shape with only a few creases. But great color. Perfect to me.

Pat Mullin is worse for wear. He has one of those hole punches. I see this a lot in super-bargain-priced vintage. Maybe kids used to punch holes to hang them from string or something ridiculous like that? I have great skill in being able to see past condition flaws like this. I love this cards despite all the character. The shadowy looming stands creates a stark contrast for Mullin's practice swing. The color is still great on this card.

Last in this bunch is Mr. Fire Trucks. RIP, kind sir. This card's condition is borderline for me. Maybe a bit too much character even for me. Color fading creates the most issue for me. I care little about centering or creases or rough corners or even hole punches because those things don't really hide the design of the card. Fading, though, is a bummer, especially when it comes to art cards where color is so important. That's what these sets were all about. But, heck, it's Trucks. I couldn't pass this up. Might have to upgrade someday, but for now, it's a great filler.

Would you pick these up for a couple bucks a piece if it was your team? Where does your tolerance for condition with vintage end?

Acquiring Iconic Rookies: Vida Blue

When it comes to cool baseball names, you can't really beat Vida Blue. And when it comes to epic single seasons, it's tough to beat Vida's 1971 season when he won both the Cy Young award and MVP, just like a certain favorite Tigers pitcher of mine. 

Vida had some tough years with screwy Athletics management, and then, of course, that little run-in with nose skiing. Ah, for the days when our baseball players were just sniffing their not-so PEDs. 

But Vida looks so hopeful in his split-card head-shot, and he should be. Heck, Gene Tenace even has a respectable 15-year career on his horizon.

I acquired this card at a show for 50 cents. That's a no-brainer purchase, in my book, for an amazing pitcher who deserved at least a few more Hall of Fame votes than he got. He probably marks the beginnings of the BBWAA's prejudice against any kind of drug use. I have my own opinions on this bias, what I think is somewhat of an absurdity in a very imperfect world. Whatever your opinion, Vida's rookie is an iconic must for any cardboard collection.

Joy of Inked Vintage: The Great Del-Ink Mystery

It's been a while since I posted about one of the vintage Bowman cards I picked up from my LCS. For those of you that don't know, they have a few boxes of '50s Bowman cards that are bargain priced because the guy they bought the collection from wrote in ink on the cards. But a little ink never scared this collector.

In fact, I love a little ink when it means I get an awesome 1950 Bowman card of catching great Del Crandall for 3 bucks. Not a bad price for an 8-time all-star and 4-time Gold Glove winner. Along with Tigers, I'm always looking for vintage cards of catchers in gear, and you get the full effect of the '50s gear here. The gear here is very cool, as is the background, and the signature '50s Bowman blue skies. This card just screams, "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks."

What I can't really figure out is the writing on this card. Usually, on most of the inked cards, the guy wrote the name of the team the player was traded to. But what do we make of this? I'm thinking this is in reference to Jesse Flores, a mediocre pitcher from Del's era. But why write Jesse's name here? What do the letters after mean? It's like a Ginter crack-the-code kind of deal. Oh well. The point that matters most is that this ink allowed this card to fit into my budget.