1957 Topps Set Quest Update

I set some goals at the beginning of the year and the first goal was to do some work on my 1957 Topps set.  I really just started going after this set late last year when I picked up a few nice conditioned team cards at a local auction.  With some late in the year pick ups, I was down to needing 334 cards of the 407 card set on 1/1.  However, I decided to take a new approach to building this set and instead of trying to accumulate as many of the commons as possible to shorten the want list, I decided to try going after the bigger cards first.

I used the Beckett value as a guide knowing it wasn't accurate from a price perspective but generally reliable on which of the cards in the set are most valuable.  My want list included 30 cards with a book value of $100 or more and I decided I would shoot for 1 card per month for a total of 12 cards in 2019.  Since I stopped blogging during the middle of the year, I never did an update post on my goals and thought I would rectify that today.

This has been the goal I have spent the most time and money going after this year and I am happy to report that I have exceeded my goal and have picked up 14 cards from my want list so far this year.  I thought about breaking this up into multiple posts but who knows how long my blogging streak will continue so I will share them all today.  I have been keeping track of where I got them and how much I paid so I will share that with you as well.  Might give you an idea of what this set will cost if you decided to pursue it.

I have actually posted about two of the pickups:

1957 Topps Whitey Ford #25 - BV $160 purchased for $13.99 on eBay

1957 Topps Don Drysdale RC #18 - BV $500 purchased for $53.99 on Sportlots auction

The rest will go in the order I picked them up:

1957 Topps Dodgers Sluggers #400 - BV $240 purchased for $29.99 on COMC

1957 Topps Billy Martin #62 - BV $100 purchased for $20.25 on COMC

1957 Topps Warren Spahn #90 - BV $160 purchased for $15 on COMC

1957 Topps Larry Doby PSA 4 #85 - BV $100 purchased for $10 on Facebook

1957 Topps Richie Ashburn #70 - BV $160 purchased for 8.05 on COMC

1957 Topps Al Kaline #125 - BV $200 purchased for $25.65 on COMC

1957 Topps Eddie Mathews #250 - BV $120 purchased for $10.15 on COMC

1957 Topps Willie Mays PSA 3 #10 - BV $600 purchased for $70 at a local card show

1957 Topps Gil Hodges #80 - BV $100 purchased for $7 on Sportlots auction

1957 Topps Pee Wee Reese #30 - BV $160 purchased for $10.50 on Sportlots auction

1957 Topps Hank Aaron #20 - BV $600 purchased for $41.00 on Sportlots auction

1957 Topps Frank Robinson RC #35 - BV $600 purchased for $70 at CA LCS

 Overall I am pretty happy with each of my purchases and very surprised that I have made such great progress so far this year.  I still have biggies to get (Mantle, Yankee Power Hitters, Brooks RC, Clemente, Koufax and Ted Williams) but it has been nice to get a number of the higher dollar card off the want list.

I have picked up some commons but not a ton. As of right now I have 183 of 407 cards so my want list has shrunken from 334 to 224.  I feel confident this one will eventually be complete which is very exciting.  Perhaps my biggest question is which will be done first, 1957 Topps or 1972 Topps?

My First Big 1957 Topps Pick Up

After picking up a couple of nice player cards (Ted Kluszewski and a Rocky Colavito RC) and a majority of the team cards from 1957 Topps in a local estate auction late last year, I decided to start the long quest to complete the set.  My typical vintage set building approach has been to buy large lots of commons on eBay or at an LCS to knock off a decent percentage of the set then start filling in the more expensive cards.  I know the Mike Schmidt RC was my last 1973 card and I believe my last 1975 card was the George Brett RC.

I decided to take a different approach with this set and try to focus my set build start on some of the more expensive/valuable cards.  While I know BV isn't accurate for a purchase price, I thought I would use it as a gauge for what cards to pursue.  The auction purchases were a decent start with the Klu booking at $80, the Rocky at $160, the ChiSox team card at $120, the Dodgers at $300, and the Reds and Giants at $160.  The goal I set was to pick up 12 cards (1/month) that have a book value exceeding $100.  After the auction purchases, I was left with 30 cards fitting that level and I am off to a pretty good start with 6 but I have only blogged about 1 so far.  Right now 3 of them are sitting in my COMC inventory and I still need to blog about 1 but a card that came in today's mail jumped to the front of the line.

In my 2019 Collection Goals post I shared that there were 10 cards valued at over $500.  I finally pulled in my first off this list and I wanted to share it:

This is the rookie card of Dodgers HOFer Don Drysdale  I had just gotten my annual work bonus and decided (with spousal permission) that I was going to consider splurging on a card or two and that happened to coincide with this card showing up for auction on Sportlots.  There was a bit of a bidding war but I was able to bring it home for what I thought was a very nice price, especially considering the condition.  It isn't perfect but the corner wear is minimal, the centering is pretty solid and the surface isn't too bad.  For a card that is 62 years old, I think it looks amazing.

I thought since this was a 1 card post I would share the back as well.  Don had a solid first year start to his career but it went up from here.

I am hoping to bring home one more of the biggies in 2019.  I am currently in a Sportlots bidding war with another person for a really exciting card.  I haven't decided what my limit is yet which is dangerous, I just want to win.  I can promise you that despite my sporadic blogging of late, if I bring the other card home it will jump to the front of the blog line as well.

NY Giants Vintage Pick Ups

One of my 2019 goals is to pick up some vintage era NY Giants baseball cards.  Outside of the top rookies and the high number 1952s, I have a majority of the Bowman and Topps cards so part of the fun in my quest is seeking out cards from sets that aren't represented in my collection and in most cases cards I haven't seen in person before.  I have cards from two such sets that I thought I would share.

First up is the 1941 Double Play set.  I picked up 4 of the Giants cards from this set.

The 1941 Double Play set consists of 75 cards and each card features 2 players - hence the double pay name.  Each player is given a separate number so there are 150 subjects in the set.  The cards measure 2 1/2" by 3 1/8" and have a blank-back.  These were issued and distributed by Gum Products. There are 9 Giants cards in the set so I am almost halfway to the team set.  Cards 81-100 have action photos while the rest showcase portraits.  Of the remain cards, 2 feature HOF Mel Ott and 1 features HOF Carl Hubbell so finishing the team set will most likely be a little pricey.

The second set to share today is a pick up from 1952 Berk Ross.  I picked up 1 card from this set.

The 1952 Berk Ross sets consists of 71 cards.  It is pretty New York heavy with 19 Yankees, 18 Giants and 7 Dodgers.  No other team has more than 4 cards.  These cards are unnumbered and measure 2" by 3".  The fronts closely resemble the 1951 Bowman set in my opinion.  For the Giants team set, the Willie Mays is really the only super high valued card. Once again I am glad I am not a vintage Yankees collector as the Mantle is super high and there are also pricey cards of Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra.  There is a nice looking Jackie Robinson card that is pretty spendy as well.

If you have some recommendations for some reasonably priced pre-1958 sets I should be looking for drop me a comment.  I am having fun exploring some new sets.

A Whitey Sighting

As I mentioned in my 2019 Collecting Goals posts, I have started down the path of trying to put together a 1957 Topps set.  One could argue my time, energy and funds should be focused on my 1972 Topps set since that would complete my Topps run of sets from 1969 to present.  However those dang high numbers but in price and quantity have made me give up in pursuing the set.  Maybe if I run across a place to get some singles for a buck or two a piece or find a nice big lot at a reasonable price I will reconsider.  But for now I am working on 1957 and find it much more fun (and surprisingly affordable).

My goal for this year was to pick up 12 of the 30 cards with book values of $100 or more that I still needed.  In the past when I start older set builds I tend to focus on getting lots of commons first then slowly acquiring the stars later on.  I am hoping this approach prevents me from having a bunch of expensive cards left at the end.

I have picked up some cards that fit the bill on COMC already but recently got my first $100+ card in my possession.  I was able to pick up this Whitey Ford card for $13.99 delivered.

This card is in really nice shape with one exception that I am sure drove the price down. If you look at Ford's left arm you will some some pencil writing, I think it is the number 58.  To my naked eye it isn't too noticeable unless you look really close and with the rest of the condition being so nice I was happy to add it to my set build.

The backs on the 57s are pretty solid as well, take a look:

There is a nice write up and shares the start of his amazing career World Series record.  Ford put up some pretty amazing stats.  I know that wins and winning percentage are not as important to most as they used to be but winning over 74% of his decisions through his first 5 years is pretty impressive.

I love the cartoon on the back.  Interestingly, I did a google search to see if the 45 hits in a game had been broken.  I found some inaccurate information on line but was able to track down a game from 1922 with 51 combined hits - August 25, 1922 Phillies vs. Cubs and an extra innings game from 1932 with 58 combined hits - July 10, 1932 Indians vs. Athletics.  Both of those were prior to the printing of the card so I am guess recording keeping wasn't quite as easy as it is today with baseballreference.com.

My last thought when looking at this card is surrounding the nickname Whitey.  I am not super political but have seen some recent news stories about politicians dressing up in black face back in the 80s and know that there is a decent amount of racial tension in some parts of the country and quite a bit of political correctness in today's speech.  I am guessing the days of a blond dude named Ed being nicknamed Whitey are probably over.

Wish me luck on tracking down some other good deals on 1957 Topps cards!

2019 Collecting Goals

I am a list person, I get stuff done my making lists and checking things off.  Last year I went to an extreme and had many goals and sub-goals.  The results were mixed so I decided to simplify things a bit this year.  Today I present my 2019 Card Collecting Goals.

1. Add 12 $100+ BV cards to my 1957 set

I bought a few really nice cards from 1957 at an auction in December and have picked up a few common singles at my LCS and a card show and I am down to needing a total of 334 cards of the 407 card set.  I have a long ways to go and this will not be a fast set build as there are quite a few very high dollar cards (Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Don Drysdale RC, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson RC, Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Brooks Robinson RC, and Yankee Power Hitters) plus there is a series, the 4th of 5, that is rarer than the other cards.

All up there are 30 cards on my want list that have a Beckett book value of $100 or more (the cards listed above all book for $500 or more).  My goal is to acquire 12 of these high valued cards this year, one per month on average.  Historically I have built my sets by picking up lots of commons and only having the high dollar cards to fill in at the end.  I am hoping this approach limits this.

2. Add 100 new Hostess card to my collection 

I bought lots from the 1975-1978 sets on an auction site a few months back.  There are 600 cards across the 4 sets and after the auction and a couple purchases I now need 388 cards to complete the run of all 4 sets.  There is a 150 card 1979 set too but until these are closer or I run into a starter lot, my focus will be on the first 4 sets.

I don't have a good strategy yet on how to pick up this many cards while keeping the prices down and not paying a ton of shipping costs.  My local card show wasn't any help.  If any of you happen to run across a good source point the way or let me know if you can work something out.  I would like to knock 100 cards off the list in 2019 which will cut my want list down by more than a quarter.

3. Finish 2 vintage sets that are currently on my want list

While I really enjoy picking up Trojans, Giants, 49ers and cards for my player collections, I have recently recognized the most fun and satisfaction I get out of my collection is derived from set building.  I have a number of vintage sets on my want list currently and would like to make some progress and puts some sets to rest.

My current list includes 1975-78 Hostess, 1972 Topps, 1972 Kellogg's ATG, 1969 Topps Deckle Edge, 1961 Gold Press, 1960 Fleer and 1957 Topps.  The odds of the 72 or 57 sets getting completed are virtually nil but I would be happy to completed 2 of the other sets this year.

4. Add 5 HOF autographs to my collection

I currently have representation of 101 different autographs of Hall of Fame players in my collection.  The number of affordable options continues to diminish so I am keeping this goal at less than one new addition every 60 days.  I need to do a little research and set up some eBay searches to pick my targets.

5. Add 49 new 49er vintage cards

I had a lot of fun and success picking up a majority of the 1970s cards I needed during sales on COMC since Black Friday. I have, either in my possession or my COMC account, cards that give me the complete from from 1968-1979 with the exception of 8 1972 high numbers and 9 1973 cards so many of these will need to come from the 50s and early to mid-60s.

My want list includes some insert and oddball sets but my focus is really on the main set of the year be it Topps, Philadelphia or Bowman.

6. Add 20 NY Giants era vintage cards

I had this goal last year and it worked so I am going to do it again this year.  I love adding vintage cards and there should be plenty of cards within my price range I need from prior to 1958.


That is 6 goals for the year.  I think they are obtainable and will result in great joy if I complete them by year end.  There were some goals I had in the past and/or considered for this year but ultimately decided against.  Here's why.

• I have recognized that collecting my desired new sets is pretty much a given every year so a goal is pointless, kind of like setting a goal to breathe.
• I recognized last year that a goal for each of my player collections doesn't drive my collecting focus, when I get the urge and have the funds I look to add cards for a player that feels right in the moment
• My modern Giants collection, picking up the newest issues and filling past needs happens organically as well, so while it will remain a focus, no goal is needed.

Those are my goals for 2019, wish me luck.