I find I waste a ton of time trolling eBay, often just looking for great deals. Sometimes I'm just searching the lowest price baseball cards and snagging stuff to trade or just stuff that looks cool. It's the virtual dime box, and if one puts in the time, there are gems to be found.
This card cost me less than a postage stamp, and it's numbered to 25. I don't know how others missed it. Perhaps because it went up with a massive amount of other Obak cards all selling at the same time. I especially dig the Negro League cards from this set, and this is a cool one. According to Wiki, Babe Ruth thought John Henry "Pop" Lloyd was the best baseball player ever. Others called him the "Black Wagner," and Honus is quoted as saying, "It's an honor to be compared to him." I love that Babe and Honus gave such respect to Lloyd. Sounds like he deserved it.
More from the virtual dime box. I love this 2003 set, which worked so much better than the last 2 throwback Topps 206 sets. These are both great-looking minis, and this is my first true Markakis rookie. And I guess these are Sovereign backs, which is yet another parallel. I have trouble keeping track, but I think these are a little rarer.
Here are the backs. Does anyone know anything about these sovereign minis? The Shoppach and Markakis cards ran me a little under a dollar, which, after shipping, means they were about a dime a piece, so these are genuine virtual dime box gems. Now keep in mind, these took many diligent hours of searching to find. And I think that means I need to get a hobby. Oh wait, I have one, and it rocks.
This one cost me lest than a postage stamp, and this is just a beautiful card, one of my favorites I've seen from the Diamond Kings sets.
So how about you guys. Have you found some gems digging through the virtual dime boxes?
Adam over at Thoughts and Sox contacted me a while ago about needing some cards I'd posted, and he offered up some vintage. Well, I'm always up for vintage, and it's always a pleasure to go through Adam's well-manicured want lists.
Apparently, he has a lot of extra 1960 Topps. He sent a really nice smattering of cards. I always dig the multiple player cards from early Topps, and the Win-Savers card is a nice example.
The Yaz '71 card is great. I always liked this set. And a '55 Topps card is always welcome, even if slightly nibbled. Higgins hip-check pose and his fancy bat hold is just priceless.
Two more 1960 cards to round out the trade. The Paul Foytack card was a new one for me.
I should mention that Adam also sent back one of the cards I sent him. Among others things, I sent him two '52 Bowman Red Sox cards. He ended up getting one of them before my cards arrived, so he sent it back:
I have to say that was pretty generous of Adam to send back a double he didn't need. So, now Randall here wants to turn into a vintage Tiger if anyone else needs this.
Thanks again for the great trade, Adam. And if you readers haven't checked out Thoughts and Sox and browsed his want lists, you should head on over.
I have a new collecting goal, and it's to work on Tigers team sets from my favorite vintage sets: 1950-1952 Bowman. The art card years. The best damn designed sets of the '50s in this blogger's humble opinion. You'll find a new link at the top of the page noting what I have, and if you have anything not listed there, I'm very interested in trading, and I have some nice vintage I could send back your way.
Toward this pursuit, I snagged a very nice lot off eBay a while back. This lot included Tigers cards, all from the '52 Bowman set.
Neil Berry spent his five best seasons with the Tigers, and he's a Kalamazoo native, WMU alumni, which is where I teach. On top of that, he has a classy signature. Love the way the N and B connect.
Ted Gray had an all-star season with the Tigers in 1950. In this card, we get to enjoy what looks like his all-star pit stains. Ted's a Michigan native, too. Gotta dig all the homegrown talent of this Tigers team.
Fred Hutchinson was also an all-star and played all ten seasons of his career with the Tigers. He finished with a lifetime 95-71 win record. I believe we have a bona fide semi-star here. This card is dark, full of shadows, and Fred looks grim. Only one dude in the stands to witness his stoic pose.
Dick Littlefield was born and died in Detroit. This card features Bowman's signature blue skies and fluffy clouds background.
More blue skies for Pat Mullin, who spent his whole career with the Tigers.
Jerry Priddy's signature and his card might be one of the coolest ones in the set. We get the blue skies again, and Jerry's towering over us. Love the horizontal here. Everything about this card just makes it a perfect example of why this set rocks. I think this is my favorite of the bunch. Priddy got a great card, but Bill James wrote about him having kind of a tough life, in his book What Ever Happened to the Hall of Fame? Has any one read this? It sounds good.
Pretty tough to follow up Jerry Priddy's pretty card, but here's Bob Swift emerging from stage right, creeping under the shadows of the stands. It feels right to end this post with a catcher. And a long-time catcher at that--a 14-year career catcher who never played any position but catcher. The only thing that would make this card better would be if Swift was wearing his gear.
So that wraps it up for the lot. This eBay win knocked a big chunk of '52 Bowman Tigers off my list, but I still need a few more. If you have any to trade, let me know and I'll send you some good stuff.
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