Topps Type Collection - Time To Pull The Trigger

A bit of Christmas green came my way, so I decided to pull the trigger and finish up my Topps Type Collection.  I know that may disappoint some of you who were wanting to send me something to help me complete it.  There will be other opportunities, my friends.

I visited Check Out My Cards and plunked down some of that cash.  Amazing what one can buy for less than the cost of a blaster.  You might be scratching your head on why I selected some of them.  Mark McGwire?  Sammy Sosa?  I remember having my son come to the television in the fall of 1998 to watch their at bats.  He was just four and I don't know if he recalls it, but it is something that I remember.  I realize now that they were flawed men, but at the time it was exciting.  I'm not here to debate them, or other players.  These are the cards I'm adding to my TTC because I think that it accurately reflected the times.

Don Bollweg?  I met Don back in 1989.  He was living in Carol Stream, IL, with his wife.  They were involved with some apartments and I was involved with doing some disaster recovery for a cleaning company.  I didn't fully realize who he was at the time.  But a very nice man.

1951 Topps Red Backs
Mel Parnell (card # 10)
cost: $2.85

1952 Topps
Don Bollweg (card # 128 )
cost: $4.25

1955 Topps
Jack Parks (card # 23)
cost: $0.91

1957 Topps
Hal Jeffcoat (card # 93)
cost: $0.79

1958 Topps
Warren Hacker (card # 251)
cost: $0.71

1960 Topps
Tex Clevenger (card # 392)
cost: $0.45

1994 Topps
Steve Avery (card # 137)
cost: $0.39

1996 Topps
Dennis Eckersley (card # 368)
cost: $0.41

1998 Topps
Mark McGwire (card # 325)
cost: $0.46

2000 Topps
Sammy Sosa (card # 50)
cost: $0.75

Hopefully the cards will arrive next week and I'll be able to close out this little experiment. I ordered a few more cards to round out some of my other collecting interests.  I'll be showing them after they arrive.

Now, to find some pages that will hold the cards from the 1950s.  2-5/8" x 3-3/4" fit very snugly in standard pages.  I looked at the Ultra-Pro website and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.  Any suggestions?

Happy Birthday Steve Garvey

My friend, Art Paul Schlosser, would like to wish Steve Garvey a very Happy Birthday.  So would I.


Why did I select this card of Steve to show?

Well, it is part of my Topps Type Collection.   I was sort of hoping to get a vertical card for that 1974 slot, but Steve is starting to grow on me.  Thanks, Garvey Cey Russell Lopes, for encouraging me to celebrate one of the most fun players to watch in for almost two decades.

More of the Topps Type Collection

I picked up a few more cards for my Topps Type Collection.  Over at listia I bid and won the Ron Kline.  The seller kicked in the Bobby Shantz in for free.  It set me back only 1,310 credits.

1953 Topps
Ron Kline (card # 175)

1956 Topps
Bobby Shantz (card # 261)

In a further effort to get the remaining cards I want I'm going to enter and plug a contest that Garvey Cey Russell Lopes is having to celebrate Steve Garvey's birthday.  Check it out and wish Steve a Happy Birthday.

Travel back in time

Travel back in time with me to 1998.  On a warm night in July the Modesto A's played host to the Lancaster JetHawks.  Thanks to Krier's Cards & Comics it was the Team Set Giveaway night.  The first 1,000 fans got a set.

On the team were future big leaguers such as: Jeff DaVanon, Nathan Haynes, Cody McKay, Adam Piatt, Carl Dale, Kevin Gregg, Tim Hudson, and Luis Vizcaino.

That was fifteen years ago.  Now you have to get them on ebay.  About $17 delivered.

I found the yearbook in the free bin at the McKay used bookstore in Chattanooga earlier this year.  I don't have, nor do I want, the cards.

1971 Topps Football Posters Inserts

The other day at Webb's Cards there was a box of oversized cards.  Sell sheets, completed pages, promo cards, posters.  All for a buck each.  These two caught my eye.

1971 Topps Posters Inserts
Joe Namath (# 4)

1971 Topps Posters Inserts
Merlin Olsen (# 25)

I guess I should pick up a few 1971 Topps Game cards so I can play.

1971 Topps Posters Inserts
back

Oh, and I added another two cards to the Topps Type Collection.  A 1953 that I won on listia and a 1968 that I found stuck in a page underneath a pile of stuff.  I really need to get organized.

Joy of a Completed Page - TTC edition

Here are the 1978 through 1986 cards from my Topps Type Collection.

For some reason Webb's Cards had a mess of Royals, A's, Brewers and a few other teams.  I guess I grabbed three Royals for these years.  I'd like to change that out at some point, but not right now.

Since I don't see much movement on this project right away, unless PatP and Night Owl really want to send me cards, I won't be posting the checklist on the blog, but have assigned a page for it.

I did find a Sports Lots seller that is getting rid of some 'poor' 1950s cards a what I think is a very fair price.

TTC Update - Friday edition

I did make it to Webb's Cards today.  Bill Webb, the owner, let me come behind the counter and pick the cards I wanted.  He wanted a quarter each.  He's been good to me, so I agreed.

Here's what a completed page looks like.  Love the '70s.

Here's the latest version of my Topps Type Collection checklist

Year	Number	Player	Team	Notes
1951
1952
1953
1954	160	"Red" Kress	Cleveland Indians
1955
1956
1957
1958				have Carl Erskine
1959	485	Ryan Duren	New York Yankees
1960				have Earl Wilson
1961	205	Bill Pierce	Chicago White Sox
1962	114	Howie Koplitz	Detroit Tigers
1963	99	Jim Umbricht	Houston Colt 45s
1964	95	George Altman	New York Mets
1965	109	Walt Bond	Houston Colt 45s
1966
1967	5	Whitey Ford	New York Yankees
1968
1969	642	John Hiller	Detroit Tigers
1970	14	Hank Allen	Washington Senators
1971	55	Steve Carlton	St. Louis Cardinals
1972	26	Andy Etchebarren	Baltimore Orioles
1973	412	Manny Mota	Los Angeles Dodgers
1974	575	Steve Garvey	Los Angeles Dodgers
1975	407	Herb Washington	Oakland A's
1976	13	Johnny Wockenfuss	Detroit Tigers
1977	514	Cliff Johnson	Houston Astros
1978	38	Willie Montanez	Atlanta Braves
1979	84	Greg Minton	San Francisco Giants
1980	280	Gaylord Perry	San Diego Padres
1981	54	Ivan DeJesus	Chicago Cubs
1982	429	John Wathan	Kansas City Royals
1983	565	Bucky Dent	Texas Rangers
1984	52	Paul Splittorff	Kansas City Royals
1985	459	Charlie Leibrandt	Kansas City Royals
1986	662	Bill Schroeder	Milwaukee Brewers
1987	328	Bob Welch	Los Angeles Dodgers
1988	300	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees
1989	560	Rock Raines	Montreal Expos
1990	119	Billy Hatcher	Pittsburgh Pirates
1991	79	Frank Thomas	Chicago White Sox
1992	275	Todd Zeile	St. Louis Cardinals
1993	240	John Olerud	Toronto Blue Jays
1994				have Orel Hershiser
1995	86	Gerald Williams	New York Yankees
1996				have Orel Hershiser
1997	110	Orel Hershiser	Cleveland Indians
1998	368	Scott Stahoviak	Minnesota Twins	badly creased
1999	365	Raul Mondesi	Los Angeles Dodgers
2000
2001	69	Manny Alexander	Boston Red Sox
2002	66	Denny Neagle	Colorado Rockies
2003	78	Jimmy Anderson	San Francisco Giants
2004	306	Donald Levinski	Baltimore Orioles
2005	317	Kevin West	Minnesota Twins
2006	42	Reed Johnson	Toronto Blue Jays
2007	135	Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies
2008	252	Dmitri Young	Washington Nationals
2009	6	Ross Detwiler	Washington Nationals
2010	430	Kazuo Matsui	Houston Astros
2011	380	Jose Reyes	New York Mets
2012	279	R.A. Dickey	New York Mets
2013	306	Jerry Hirston	Los Angeles Dodgers

I've got a few bids on listia for some of the years that I need. We'll see how that works out.