Another Meet Up with Mr Haverkamp

One of the better friendships I have developed through the development of this blog has been with fellow Giants fan, Mr Haverkamp aka Jim.  We have sent a few packages back and forth between Nor Cal and So Cal and even met up a few times.  Lucky for me Jim has some friends down here from his time living in So Cal and comes down every so often for a visit.  A couple weeks back our schedules aligned and we met for lunch near the two LCSs I frequent.

One of the coolest things I received during our meet up was this awesomely packaged 12-pack of San Francisco's favorite beer (and one of mine too) - Anchor Steam.

Jim was shopping a little while back and saw these special 12-packs celebrating the Giants 3rd World Series in 5 years.  He picked one up for himself and shot me a pic and a note asking if I was interested.  Heck yes!  It pays having friends in the location of your favorite team.

Here is the top of the 12-pack, nice usage of the Orange and Black color scheme, it looks great either way.

I have always said that one of the best things about going to Spring Training in Scottsdale is sitting in the stands drinking an ice cold Anchor Steam in the hot sun straight out of the bottle.  It does make for a Perfect Game experience.

Finally, anything that partners up the logos from all 3 of the World Championship teams is a winner in my book. It looks like this is designed to be cut out and brought to a game.  My 12-pack is going to remain in tact in my card room.  It may be crazy to leave such great beer untapped but I don't want to risk damaging the packaging and I can always pick up some in So Cal without the great packaging.

This meet up wasn't all about beer however, there were of course cards involved.  I have been on a several year quest to finish my 1970 Topps set and after finishing paying for a big lay away purchase at my old LCS in Orange County I am in striking distance.  Jim brought a few cards off my want list and we negotiated a fair price and I got some serious help.

I believe this group of cards features 3-4 of the high numbers.  High numbers for this set go for a premium so it was great to get some from Jim.  I love the Bud Harrelson card of him signing autos, I wonder if the dude whose arm is featured ever figured out he was on a card.

Now we get into some of the high end cards, nothing like a pair of Hammer Hank Aaron cards.  I had been following both these cards on eBay and hadn't pulled the trigger which I am now thankful for.  These cards are both in nice shape and huge additions towards my set completion.

 Next up is a card featuring a great photo of one of my player collection focuses, Reggie Jackson.  I like his cards from his first stint with the A's as they combine his youthful appearance with those Amazing A's uniforms.  This card does not disappoint.  I have a copy in my player collection and a couple reprints but I was very happy to knock it off the set want list.

 The final 1970 Topps card in the exchange was this rookie card of Yankee great Thurman Munson. This card is in great shape and is one that is very hard to track down in any reasonable condition.  I was super happy that Jim was willing to part with this card to help me out.

Jim also tossed in a couple of extras:

This is a full Ho Hos box featuring one of my favorite players, Vida Blue.   While I had a cut out single in my player collection, I certainly didn't have this awesome piece.  It may not be the easiest to store but I actually have a large plastic container for items like this.

The final card was this iconic image of fully afroed Oscar Gamble.  I needed this for the set of 1974 cards I am working on.  For the record, here is the remainder of my want list:

1976 Topps Traded #80T Jim Kaat
1976 Topps Traded #250 Fergie Jenkins
1976 Topps Traded #592 Willie Randolph
1976 Topps Traded NNO Checklist 

I am closing in on the 1970 Topps set, after this exchange with Jim, here is my remaining want list:

1970 Topps #580 Pete Rose
1970 Topps #600 Willie Mays
1970 Topps #640 Al Kaline
1970 Topps #650 Sam McDowell
1970 Topps #660 Johnny Bench
1970 Topps #712 Nolan Ryan

Some pretty big names there but I have actually knocked 3 of the 6 off the list since I met up with Jim and I will be sharing them as soon as I get them all in hand.

Thanks for meeting up Jim and thanks for the help on my collections.  I have a few cards as a show of thanks on my way to you.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that the Giants can overtake the hated Dodgers and make it 4 out of 6!