The year I was born... Topps released their flagship baseball card set to kids and collectors in six different series. The sixth and final series... often referred to as the high numbers... can be challenging to track down and tend to be more scarce than the first five series.
I had heard about the dreaded high numbers back in the early 90's when I worked at my local card shop, but was reminded first hand back in 2013 when I attempted to build the 1972 Topps Oakland A's team set. There was no way I was going to pay $5 to $10 for commons and minor stars... so the idea of building my birth year set for my favorite team was immediately shelved.
It also killed any hope of me attempted to build the entire 1972 Topps baseball card set from scratch. On a positive note it motivated me to purchase a complete set off of eBay that very year for a fraction of the price they are selling for today.
As for the team set... I eventually completed it with help from Wes over at Area 40 (formerly known as Jay Barker Fan's Junk). He sent me these six high number cards approximately nine months after I purchased the complete set:
1972 Topps #691, 692, and 715
1972 Topps #735, 753, and 780
Last week or the week before, I stumbled across a comic book in my office which I purchased for my Birthday PC, because it was released the same month I was born. That made me wonder whether or not these 1972 high numbers were released back in September of 1972.
I couldn't find an exact release date, so if you know... feel free to comment down below.
According to TCDB, collectors were able to get them late that summer. That means it's possible the 1972 Topps high numbers were in stores the day I was born... just like this Dr. Strange comic book:
Marvel Premiere #4 (featuring Dr. Strange)
The discovery of this comic book in my office is strange, because I have zero records of purchasing it. I'm pretty good about keeping emails for every eBay purchase I've made over the past ten-plus years. Oh well... it's a nice addition to my Birthday PC... which contains these three other comic books released in September of 1972:
The Invincible Iron Man #50
Avengers #103
Archie #221
What about you?
Do you collect anything related to your birthday?
I'm pretty sure there's at least one other blogger out there who collects comic books from their birth month, but I can't remember who it is. Anyone know?
Happy National Comic Book Day and sayonara!
Not really.
ReplyDeleteThe Playboy playmate for my birth month was a smoke show, and I got a copy off eBay years ago, but I don't have it anymore.
Devon White was born on the same day (different year), and I keep most of the cards I get of him, but I don't go out of my way to get new ones.
You should get the debut issue of the next big-time character. Try to save money by getting it when it first comes out. :)
I'd love to complete 1972 Topps someday, but yeah man, those high numbers are tough!
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of collecting comics from your birth month and may have to start doing that sometime. As it stands, I just collect the one MLB player who was born on the same day as me.
Hope you have a great b-day, Fuji!
Nope. I share a bday with Joba Chamberlain, but never had a desire to chase birthday or birth year cards.
ReplyDeleteI def. collect players that share the birthday (but not limited to the year). I do the same for a couple of my kids and my grandson. I try to collect just about anything around my actual birth. I'm a September fellow myself. My old laptop has a huge post that I hope to recover one day.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday! Next year is a big one. hehehe
DeleteAs an 11 year old kid I collected the 72 set series by series in 72,as I recall the 5th and 6th series came out around August(at least in my neighborhood) we called them new ones because you may have noticed Topps used a different type of gloss on the cards in the 5th and 6th series compared to the previous 4 series,it really made the last 2 series stand out .
ReplyDeleteCollecting the 2013 Topps Walmart Blue Parallel as any homage to My Sons' Birth Year. Also Collect Any card Serial Numbered 74/×××× as he was born on the Fourth of July.
ReplyDeleteI believe comic books, like other magazines, generally put out comics with a date a few months after they were released. So the September issue was probably on newsstands in May or June. Found this article about DC comics in the 1970s, Marvel would be similar: http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/index.php?page=fanboy&articleid=34
ReplyDeleteI don't really collect anything related to my birthday, and I don't have much of the 1966 Topps set. The song that was number one the day I was born was "Sunshine Superman" which is a big favorite of mine (and nicely connects to comic books!). I see my Mets lost 8-4 the day I was born, which should have been a sign!
ReplyDeleteI collected the '72 set from scratch and completed it! Let me tell you it's something that can't be beat. I'll always remember it.
ReplyDeleteI have some cards of people (mostly athletes) born on my birthday, but it's only a casual thing -- until somebody gets their act together and creates more cards of Phoebe Cates.
I used to always buy a box of cards on my birthday, but I stopped doing that a few years back. I really do not do much of anything at the moment. The older I get, the more I just want to make my birthday about hanging out with my family.
ReplyDeleteNope don't collect anything birthday related. I thought about getting players born on my birthday, but decided against it and decided to live through Night Owl :)
ReplyDeleteI just completed my birth year set. Wasn't something I was planning on doing until I lucked into a good starter lot a couple years ago. Don't really do anything related to my birthday though I'd absolutely love vintage cards of the two most-notable people who I share it with. Christy Mathewson and Cantinflas though are both challenging though.
ReplyDeleteI tend to give a little special favor to guys I already like who were born on my birthday (namely Josh Reddick & Dave Stewart), but other than that I don't have any specific birthday collecting focuses.
ReplyDeleteRE: Curt Blefary
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered why, given his less than stellar defensive skills (hence the nickname "Clank"), Blefary was converted to catcher.
This isn't sandlot ball, (where the worst player was the catcher, because there were rarely plays atvthe plate, and you had a backstop to limit chasing overthrows and passed balls.)
😄
My birth year set was the first set I completed from before my collecting days began. That’s about it though. There was a big leaguer born on the same day and year as me but I don’t collect his cards.
ReplyDeleteMy wife bought a Yogi Bear annual a couple of weeks ago because it was from the year she was born.
ReplyDeleteI think that there might've been two bloggers collecting birth month comics, but the only I can remember is Adam, from the now shuttered(?) ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession. I've thought about doing it before, but the last time I looked into the books that came out the month I was born, there were well over 100 issues that month, and that's just too much for me to collect.
ReplyDeleteI am still alive but the blog seems to have taken a long leave.
DeleteI do collect birth year comics, I just recently completed every Marvel comic from March 1971. It numbered 22 different comics. I thought about going after all the DC comics but the checklist is 47 comics long and I am not sure I am up for it.
The 1972 set with those dreaded high numbers was the last set I completed to have every Topps set since my birth year (I have now gone back to 1968). While I cursed it often and gave up a couple times, upon reflection it was one of my favorite set builds. Seeking out deals on those high number cards was a lot of fun.
I've been mulling a Chris Sale personal collection, since he shares the same birthday as me (3/30). I haven't committed to it though. Recently Chris at Nachos Grande showed off a card of Ryan Zimmerman celebrating the first home run in Nationals history, which also happened 3/30. I'm on the lookout for that card.
ReplyDeleteelliptical man - you inspired me. just looked up the playmate for the month i was born. never heard of her, but there are some playboy trading cards and she's featured on three of them.
ReplyDeletedefgav - there's one guy who was born on the same day as me. as of right now, i think i've only chased down one of his autographs. maybe i should track down all of them. best of luck with the 72 set
the lost collector - oh man... i remember the chase for joba.
johnnys trading spot - hope to read that post one day. yeah... i'm hella old
sg488 - thanks for the info. i couldn't find anything out there with dates.
xavier higgins - i picked up some 2013 topps parallels. not sure if i have any of the walmart blues, but i'll check. and i'll have to set aside cards serial #'d 74 for you as well.
bo - yeah... i figured that. but it'd be weird to collect november or december issues ;D
brett alan - i like the idea of looking up the #1 song the day i was born. might need to see who it is and if they have a card. i have written about the a's game that took place on the day i was born. they won... and i have a ticket stub from the game
night owl - completing the 72 set is quite the feat. i didn't have the patience or the budget. i would totally love to see more cards of phoebe cates.
the snorting bull - the older i get... the less i care about my birthday. collecting something related to it is definitely the highlight
jafronius - i have night owl's autograph... so in a sense i have a collectible related to your birthday
nick vossbrink - that's pretty cool that you share a birthday with christy mathewson. garry maddox is the biggest name i share a birthday with
nick - i collect reddick and stew to. but they're part of my a's pc.
jim from downingtown - blefary was before my time. don't think i ever played on a team where the catcher was the worst fielder on the team, but i see it happening
gcrl - that's pretty cool that it was your first set completion. mine was either 1986 or 1987 topps
jongudmund - very cool that your wife is a collector too
jon - i'm glad i was born when there wasn't hundreds of different comics being produced. there was still plenty... but that's why i focused on marvel (and archie b/c i loved that comic as a kid)
arpsmith - didn't realize dc produced so many comics during that era. guess i won't be chasing those comics when i'm finished with marvel. btw... glad i figured out who else does the birthday comic thing
matt - sale is party of my lefty pc. best of luck tracking down that zimmerman
Sadly I don't collect anything related to my birthday though I think a NY Giants player is born on the same day so does that count
ReplyDeleteI never have but a fun post and I might have to look into it.
ReplyDelete