Mail Day - Vintage 50s Edition

Thought I would share some of my most recent vintage pick ups for the Giants collection.  This post will feature cards from the 1950s.

This first card is a vintage beauty of Alvin Dark from the 1951 Bowman release.  I really enjoy the look of these cards, this is one of my favorite Bowman releases.  I only have 3 of the 21 Giants from this set and doubt I will ever pick up the Willie Mays rookie card but I will continue to keep my eyes open for some of the other, more affordable Giants.

 Here is another Bowman card of Mr. Dark, this one from 1955.  I already have this team set finished so this is a duplicate.  Not sure what I was thinking but it is a pretty cool card.  Dark played for the Giants from 1950 - 1956 and later managed them from 1961 - 1964.  An interesting fact about Al is that he was the first NL shortstop to ever hit more than 20 HRs twice.  Expectations sure have changed with the SS position.

Here is a nice pair of 1955 Topps cards, another one of my favorite card designs.  The small action shot with the up close portrait works well.  Also included is a nice facsimile signature and the great looking, classic Giants logo in the corner.  I also enjoy the colorful backgrounds of these cards.  1955 is a good collecting year for me as I have all the Bowman Giants and am just short the Willie Mays card from this release.  It might be time to branch out and grow my 1955 Giants Golden Stamp collection or start looking for the Red Man cards. 

 This is my 5th 1952 Topps card. This set has the Mays Topps Rookie card, the Hoyt Wilhelm Rookie card and 11 other Giants from the High Number series.  If I ever complete this team set, it will be when I am a very old man.  That makes picking up a card from this series, even of a relatively unknown player like Monte Kennedy.  Monte spent his entire 8 year career with the Giants and split time as a starter and reliever.  He was a member of the 1951 NL Champion Giants.  A great addition to my collection.

Here are a couple 1958 Topps cards of some versitile players with multiple positions listed.  Lockman has a solid career spending all but one season between 1945-1958 with the Giants and taking part in the 1954 championship year.   Kirkland was somewhat of a journeyman, playing with 4 teams over 9 years after getting his start with the Giants.  He ended his career playing in Japan.  The 58 team set is nearing completion with the base and All Star Willie Mays and two commons remaining.

Two Mike McCormick pick ups from 1958 and 1959.  McCormick won the Cy Young for the Giants in 1967 during his second stint with the Giants.  He was a 4-time All Star going to both games during the 1960 and 1961 seasons.  Mike still works running a Fantasy Camp for the Giants and is one of the greats from those late 1950s and 1960s teams.

Two more 1959 pick ups. This is a set that needs a lot of work.  A couple years back when I started collecting Giants, I originally planned on not collecting cards for the sets I had already complete with 1959 being one of those sets.  After picking up these 3, still have 9 cards to go including 3 featuring Willie Mays.  Wait, you are thinking "aren't there 4 cards with Willie Mays in the 59 set?"  You would be correct, my final card to show off is this beauty.

Everyone knows about this great catch versus Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series.  This is one of my favorite cards of all time showing the over the shoulder catch, the turn and throw.  Very happy to have this card in my collection.