Now if I only could have bought something borrowed and something blue! I added two new items to my Personal Collection since my last post. I've done some "Fall Selling" of items from my collection that no longer interested me and decided to reallocate those funds (50% towards daughter's college fund / 50% towards my personal collection).
My "old" addition is a beautiful 1941 Play Ball Ted Williams card that is graded a BVG 4. The card is beautiful, decent condition (especially for 1941) and was won in an auction format which is my preferred method of purchase on eBay.
The "new" addition is a 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Bryce Harper rookie card. I wrote about this card and the BGS 9.5 population that is likely to surpass past year Allen & Ginter cards. It has the subgrades I was looking for and was at a price that I thought was reasonable. While there is no guarantee that he'll end up in the Hall of Fame someday, it's the "must own" card from 2012 Allen & Ginter.
My apologies for the lack of updates recently, but my wife gave birth to our first child on September 18, 2012. We are blessed to add a baby girl, Kylie Elizabeth, to our family.
Ok, back to sports cards!
I was fortunate enough to add a few new items to my Personal Collection since my last blog post. I've posted photos below and will be adding them to my Personal Collection galleries. The first card is a 1941 Play Ball Jimmie Foxx card graded a BVG 2 and features him in a Boston Red Sox uniform. I've been focusing my collection more around graded vintage cards, mostly of Boston Red Sox players, and Jimmie Foxx was a player that I hadn't added to my collection yet. It's graded low, but we all know that these vintage cards cost a good amount even at low grade. The second card is a 1954 Bowman Hoot Evers card that is graded a BVG 6, and I decided to add this card as it's a Boston Red Sox player, the card didn't cost much and it's graded a BVG 6 which is typically the minimum grade I would look for in vintage cards (depending upon the cost). I was also fortunate enough to add another card from the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set, but I think my hope of completing this set in BVG 8.5 form may end up being impossible. Regardless, I am going to attempt it and at the very least collect a graded copy (any grade) of the full set with the option to upgrade at later dates. The last two cards are modern era cards that appealed to me for a number of reasons. For obvious reasons, I love the BGS encasing of the cards especially seeing as they are cut autographs. I love the cut autograph aspect of the cards and the fact that the autographs were cut from actual pictures rather than just plain index cards. I had the opportunity to meet Bob Feller before his passing at an autograph signing and he was such a nice guy, in addition to being likely THE best pitcher in the history of the Cleveland Indians franchise. Bobby Doerr is someone I haven't had the chance to meet but is right up there with Johnny Pesky in terms of being one of the most iconic Boston Red Sox players in history.
Ted Williams grip on a bat. That's it. For some reason, I fell in love with this card and felt like I just had to have it.
As a huge fan of Ted Williams and the Boston Red Sox, I have known about the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set for quite some time. I've scoured the images on eBay and thought about purchasing a few of the cards on a number of occasions. As a collector of BVG cards (especially 8.5's), I saw this pop up one day during a search and knew that it was time to add this to my collection.
Imagine a subset these days of bat grips, batting stances, gloves, etc. Would you have an interest in collecting an insert set featuring these small aspects of the game?
Until next time, I hope you fall in love with a card today. Especially all of you lucky dogs at the National. Have fun and keep collecting!
1) Potential BGS 9.5s. Historically, the cards grade very well. I'm hoping to get a few quality base, mini, relic and autographed cards to submit to Beckett for grading.
2) Hotties!! I mean, who wouldn't be excited about Kate Upton and Erin Andrews being added to the checklist?
3) Globe Trotters. The Curly Neal and Meadowlark Lemon cards should be really cool. I'm picturing red, white and blue relics from their uniforms. Awesome!
4) Yaz-Tastic! I'm glad that Topps has added Carl Yastrzemski to the set again. Can someone explain what happened to Ted Williams though? Topps adds the same retired players to all of their sets but the lack of Ted Williams is disturbing.
5) Man's Best Friend. As a dog owner, I'm actually looking forward to the Man's Best Friend Mini set. While I typically don't collect the mini insert sets, I think I'll make an exception this year for this one.
6) The Pictures. I'm always in awe of the drawings used in the Topps Allen & Ginter set. I posted a picture of the Manny Pacquiao card from last year, as I found the picture to be stunning. A great picture of a champion who just prevailed after a hard fought battle. I'm sure Topps won't disappoint with this year's pictures as they are usually one of the best pieces of the release.
7) TTM Autographs. After making a Master Set (only the regular sized cards), I love to use my extra cards to request through the mail (TTM) autographs. The card stock is perfect and the vintage look makes the autographs look stunning.
8) Sweater or No Sweater? The Bob Knight relic has been piquing my interest ever since I heard that he would be included. Topps dropped the ball last year on the Shawn Michaels relic (camo, really?!?) and I'm hoping that the Knight relic will include a piece of one of his legendary Indiana University sweaters.
9) Historical Turning Points. The Historical Turning Points set should be interesting and I'm glad that it's a normal sized insert set. I'm curious to see if they include baseball related "turning points" (like Dave Roberts "The Steal") or if it will be strictly historical dates in time.
10) EVERYTHING!!! I am excited for the 2012 release more than in past years. I love the addition of the retired players, the non-baseball checklist and am DYING to see what I pull from my case. Is it July 10th yet???
