The past month was little crazy. The MLB lockout ended. The A's have traded away most of their stars. Tom Brady came back. Gas prices are soaring. And by the time this post is published... my students should be finished with a huge school project that has been keeping me busy during this timespan.
Enough whining and complaining (because I truly do love my job)... let's focus on something positive like baseball cards...
Last month, Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life! sent me a PWE with some very nice additions to my Damaged Card PC. Instead of describing them with words, it's easier to let the scans do the talking...
1962 Topps #144
Miscut. Torn. And inked...
Gives new meaning to the term "Sports Card Trifecta".
1977 Topps #285
And my very first XXX baseball card...
Someone didn't like the fact that Rick Cerone had to share his rookie card with Gary Alexander, Kevin Pasley, and Dale Murphy.
The person even tried to omit their existence on the back of their card as well.
1977 Topps #476
I realize seeing ripped and defaced cards can be difficult to look at, but I assure you that there are collectors out there who will provide warm and loving homes for them. And I'm one of them.
Bo also completed my Tony Gwynn Topps base card run with this card:
Here's the twenty card run in its entirety:
1994 Topps #620
Thank you Bo! With Gwynn out of the way, I can now focus on building Rickey's entire run of Topps cards. But I'll save that for a future post.
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
The Gwynn run looks sweet. You could frame that up as is and it would look great on the wall. If sports cards could come to life, I can just picture a Toy Story-ish scare happening to the kids that would damage cards like that. lol
ReplyDeleteAnd these guys would be armed with baseball bats.
DeleteMeh. I only have 3 of the 20.
ReplyDeleteGood job.
Oh dang, those are some beat up and battered cards. Marked with love for sure!
ReplyDeleteSomeone either really liked Rick Cerone, or really disliked the other three players on that '77 rookies card. Always love seeing weird, wacky stuff like that. And oddly, I think the '94 might've been the last Gwynn I needed for my complete Topps run too.
ReplyDeleteI tried to figure out which Gwynns I had just by looking at your rundown and my memory. I knew 1983-91 (I have them all) but blanked on the rest. I'll bet I have some of the mid-1990s but probably nothing from end of his career.
ReplyDeleteRickey who? lol.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather not say anything about ripped or defaced cards but it's almost fun to looked at the scattered vintage / old school cards'marked up' with miscellaneous stuff that should be likely from the era the card was first collected.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about doing a run of Topps cards for another player [Tim Salmon] and even though his cards aren't worth anything, it might be worth seeking out cards I still need.
That's a great Ruth. I think I have that one and it's technically my oldest card of him.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like them!
ReplyDeleteThe kid messing with the '77 cards may not have been as big a Cerone fan as you think. I have another copy of the card I got at the same time - on this one it's Cerone, Murphy and Pasley who get crossed out in favor of Gary Alexander. I didn't know if you wanted two copies of the same card but I can send you that one if it interests you!
If just a little mangling (like in this post http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-price-was-right.html) is enough for your damaged card PC, I've got a lot more for you if you are interested!
Brooks looks good with a goatee!
ReplyDeleteSo someone didn't like 3 out of 4 Rookies on that card. UGH> Reminds me of a sportlots dealer I have bought from 2 maybe 3 times that will add in a couple of very very low value "junk" cards to act as cushioning for the rest of the cards, but he puts big magic marker "X"s. It is a shame because for one order the Xed out cards were a couple of Elvis Presley cards from the 1992? River Group set I think. the other order it was some 1990s Hoops Basketball cards.
ReplyDeleteNice! I need to check if I've got the complete Topps Gwynn base run. I'll bet I'm missing one or two from the aughts.
ReplyDeletetopps gave gwynn a great looking final tribute card in 2002.
ReplyDeleteThe complete run of Gwynn cards show how Topps operated on a "meh, good enough" approach to photography for more of the 80s and 90s.
ReplyDeleteOne always has to wonder what the stories are behind these kinds of cards. It's too bad that we'll never exactly what was going through these kids heads when they decided to alter their cards.
ReplyDeletecrocodile - good idea. i have a few of those 20 card wall displays (the ones that Michaels sells). maybe i'll toss in these twenty gwynns and hang it up somewhere
ReplyDeleteelliptical man - do you want more? i have several dupes i could send your way
sumomenkoman - it's not every day cards get inshrined in the damaged card hall of fame. these did.
nick - hmmm. maybe the 1994 topps gwynn is short-printed. i'm guessing i didn't have a copy b/c i don't think i opened any topps baseball in 1994. i was focused on basketball that year
night owl - if you want to do his entire topps run, let me know. i have some dupes laying around.
johnnys trading spot - he's just some dude who played in oakland. kind of a nobody
laurens - good luck on the tim salmon project. you might give sportlots a try. i think that's where i'm gonna go for the rickey henderson cards i need
the lost collector - pretty sure that's my oldest ruth too
bo - thanks for the story behind these cards. maybe there's a gary alexander collector you can send that copy to. however if you ever want to send it to a warm home, my collection would love that copy too. as for bulk "mangled" cards... i'll pass. i'm pretty picky about which cards make it into the binder
matt - and tough with the black eye
captkirk42 - that's a shame. i understand a little kid marking up cards back in the 70's, but the idea of marking up 90's junk is silly. instead of an "x", the person should have drawn flowers, rainbows, or other decorations instead. at least that's artistic
defgav - if you need help, let me know. i have some gwynn dupes. but definitely not an extra 1994
gcrl - i totally agree. i've been eyeballing the chrome refractor for a few years now
jongudmund - the good news is they started and ended the run strong
jon - i know. i'd love to ask the kid why they gave brooks a black eye.
That Gwynn complete run is a thing of beauty...so is that X'ed out Dale Murphy!
ReplyDeletejafronius - i totally agree!
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