30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Judge me by my size, do you?

Yeah... I'm a huge fan of Yoda.  He's small, old, and awesome.  Just like these 1975 Topps minis I recently added to my collection:



I found them in one of my friend's boxes at the Great Mall Toy and Memorabilia Show over Memorial Day weekend.  The box was labeled "Three Cards for $20 or $7 each", but after four hours worth of negotiations... we settled on five cards for $15.

The
fifth card isn't a mini, but it's a nice addition to my rookie card collection:


It took fifteen years, but it was nice to see Jim Rice finally make it into Cooperstown a few years ago.

I also picked up this huge A&G cabinet card for my Japanese PC:


The card celebrates Japan's 2009 WBC gold medal winning performance and features:  Hisashi IwakumaTatsunori Hara, Norichika Aoki, Ichiro Suzuki, Munenori Kawasaki, and Kyuji Fujikawa.

One of the dealers pulled out a stack of these oversized cards as I was going through his dollar boxes.  It just so happens that this card has been on my want list since its release in 2009.  He recognized me from past purchases and gave it to me for a buck.

The last two cards I picked up were freebies from another buddy.  He crashes on my couch whenever he's in the Bay Area for a show or flea market.  So every now and then, he'll hook me up with a few cards or autographs.

The first card is this 1971 Rollie Fingers...


At first glance, you notice the typical wear and tear of a frequently handled 1971 Topps card.  But then I flipped it over and saw this...


Two things struck me.  First, I loved the peeled off portion from the center of the card.  No problem... it'd make a nice addition to my damaged card collection.

But then I noticed that the back was yellow, instead of the usual green... which led me to the PRINTED IN CANADA text at the bottom of the card.  Heck yeah... my very first 1971 O-Pee-Chee card.  It might be damaged, but I ended up adding it my my vintage card binder instead.

And the last card I'll share with you guys is this weathered and worn down copy of a 1978 Topps Eddie Murray rookie card.


Ironically, I just purchased my first copy two weeks ago.  I'll be blogging about that card in a few days.  As for this one... it'll join Rollie in the vintage card binder, where cards aren't judged by their size or condition.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You owe it to yourself to get another 1971 OPC, even if it's a common. I think the backs are much nicer than the Topps version.

Commishbob said...

#1...the '78 Murray is sheer, unadulterated, mega awesome. It's belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of card images.

#2... to quote a feathered friend of ours, "MINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" {{{..... yes that's and actual Night Owl quote.}}}

Play at the Plate said...

Those are THE minis. Often imitated, never duplicated (ok, they were duplicated, but you know what I mean!). Nice negotiating too!

Greg Zakwin said...

love the Stargell and Joe Morgan!

night owl said...

Awesome minis. So wish I stumbled across that box/had a show to go to that weekend/wasn't working that weekend/lived on the west coast.

Fuji said...

Thanks for reminding me... I've been wanting to update my Mt. Rushmore of card images posts.

Fuji said...

100% agree. I remember saving up to buy my Yount mini in the early 80's... it's one of the cards I'll never, ever trade or sell.

Fuji said...

My favorite is actually the McCovey... but I love those two guys too.

Fuji said...

Thanks night owl... I wish my blog was as awesome as yours.