Twenty-Four of 24

Last week, I was on my annual trip to Ashland, Oregon when I heard the news that Willie Mays passed away.  It was one of those moments where it felt like everything around me paused to allow me to soak in the news.

Mays was literally one of the greatest to ever play the game, but he played his final MLB game a little over a week after I turned one.  In other words, I never had the opportunity to watch him play in person.  Even if I had, I wouldn't remember it.  Thankfully there are enough interviews, documentaries, statistical data, and highlight films out there to cement The Say Hey Kid's legacy.  Plus he has been a Bay Area resident and fan favorite since the Giants left New York and moved to San Francisco in 1958.

I've never considered myself a Giants fan.  However I am a baseball fan and a collector who likes collect just about anything related to the sport.  Over the years, I've added a few of his cards and collectibles to my collection and today I wanted to show off twenty-four of them as a tribute to him.

Most of the stuff are cards, but there are a couple of other items included.  Originally, I was going to rank them... but that was easier said than done.  Instead... I've just put them in chronological order.

Here we go...

1955 Red Man #7

Yeah, I know.  Many of you aren't into slabbed cards.  But when it comes to vintage, it gives me a little peace of mind.  The ranking thing might not have happened, but I guarantee this card would have been in the Top 5, along with this card:

1956 Topps #130

The 1956 Topps baseball set is my favorite baseball card set design of all-time, so you know this card is going to be one of my favorite cards of Mays.

1956 Topps #31

If you're wondering why I included Hank Aaron's card in this post, it's because the painting of him sliding into home was actually based on a photograph of Willie.

1963 Topps #3

One of my favorite side PC's is my collection of Topps league leader cards that depict only hall of famers.  This card is the coolest one I own, because it features five of them... four of which were first ballot hall of famers.

1964 Topps #9

San Francisico Giants fans must have been pretty excited to see three of the top four home run hitters in the NL hitting for them.  They led the National League with 197 home runs that year.  The Atlanta Braves were a distant second with 139.

1964 Topps Giants #51

I absolutely love this oddball issue.  In fact, it's one of my favorite baseball sets from the 1960's.

1962-65 Jay Publishing Photo

This is one of those non-card items I was referring to at the beginning of the post.  This photo is printed on super thin paper... almost like newsprint.  I'm guessing they were mass produced, because they sell for a fraction of what vintage baseball cards sell for.

1966 Topps #1

I'm guessing a kid who pulled Willie's 1966 Topps card would have been pretty stoked back in the day.  He was coming off his MVP Award winning season in which he led the National League in a bunch of different categories including home runs, slugging percentage, and on base percentage.

1966 Topps #215

How could I not include this card?  My only complaint about this card is the photo selection.  It would have been so much cooler had they all been looking in the same direction.

1967 Topps #423

This is one of those cards, I had seen hundreds of times over the years and in the back of my mind I knew I'd eventually buy it.  I'm just embarrassed to admit that it took me almost forty years to do it.

1967 Topps Posters #12

There was a time (before the Hobby Boom) when late 60's and early 70's Topps insert sets were pretty affordable.  This poster insert and the game card are both part of complete sets I purchased during that time.

1968 Topps Game #8

This card is part of a thirty-three card set... in which only eleven cards allowed a player to reach base safely.  Topps honored Mays with the best card in the set.

We've reached the halfway mark... and we're entering the 70's:

1970 Kellogg's #12

This Kellogg's card is another favorite of mine.  Like many other collectors out there, I'm a big fan of the Kellogg's lenticular sets of the 70's and 80's.  The 1970 baseball design is my favorite.

Up next is another collectible that doesn't fall into the baseball card category:

1971 Mattel Instant Replay #NNO

Eighteen years before Topps and LJN teamed up to release their Topps Talk Player and cards, Mattel did something similar with their Instant Replay player and records.  Unfortunately, I don't have own the player and I didn't find a recording of the Mays on YouTube.  However, there are several examples of other sports on there.

1972 Kellogg's #54 (RBI 1855)

1972 Kellogg's #54 (RBI 1856)

Your eyes aren't deceiving you.  I'm showing off two copies of Willie's 1972 Kellogg's card.  The one on the left is considered the "error" card with his incorrect MLB career RBI totals with the one on the right being the "corrected" version.

This set is littered with error/corrected versions.  Based on the PSA Pop Report, the corrected cards are slightly more common.

Next up is probably the most common card in this post:

1982 Topps Kmart #8

I'm pretty sure this is the first Willie Mays baseball card I ever owned.  Well... not this exact copy... but one just like it.

Back in the 80's the Kmart my parents shopped at had hundreds of these box sets that sat there on the display for what seemed like years.  At the time, I wasn't a fan of anything Kmart related... including this set.  But over the years, I've grown to appreciate this set.

1987 Topps Traded Bronze Premiums #5

This metal medallion replica of Willie's 1953 Topps card was once awarded to a dealer who purchased a case of the 1987 Topps Traded sets.  I included it in this post, because it's an oddball issue you don't see around every day.  If you're interested in seeing the other Topps Traded Bronze Premiums that Topps produced, click here.

1989 Kenner SLU Baseball Greats #NNO

While digging through scans and binders looking for items for this post, I picked this card because it has his nickname on the front of the card.  I also liked how Kenner listed his full MLB career stats on the back.

1995 Topps Legends of the 60's Medallions #1

Here's another Mays medallion.  Like the Topps Traded Bronze Premiums, this is one of those oddball issues that fly under the radar of many collectors.  However this medallion is much bigger and heavier.  

I've written about this set before, but in short... there were twelve medallions produced by Topps that were released on a monthly basis to Stadium Club members for $39.95 each.

1995 Upper Deck Autograph #AC2

I flippin' love this card!  If I ever made a Top 10 list of my autographed baseball cards, I'm pretty sure this would be on it.

2003 Topps Gallery HOF Currency Connection #CC-WM

I reserved a spot for this "coin" card, because like a few other cards in this post... it's different.

The encapsulated wheat penny was produced in 1958... the same year the Giants moved to San Francisco.

The last two items are signed memorabilia that are undated:

Say Hey Authenticated

I've got a pair of signed Mays photos depicting "The Catch".  One is 8x10 and the other is a 16x20.  Both are certified by Say Hey Authenticated which was his company.  I've heard mixed reviews on whether or not these signatures are legit.

Rumor has it that some unscrupulous people forged the Say Hey Authenticated holograms and used them on photos with fake signatures.  Since I wasn't there to witness him signing either of the photos, I guess I'll never know.

PSA/DNA Authenticated

Unfortunately, I didn't witness him signing this baseball either.  I bought this ball at the Branham Flea Market back in 2015 for $8 and had my buddy submit it to PSA to see if it was legit.  It passed, but with any third party authenticators... who knows if it's actually legit.  

Well there you go... twenty-four Mays collectibles in honor of #24.  Rest in peace Mr. Mays.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Planes, Pineapples, and my Pops

Today's post focuses on some recent additions to a small collection dedicated to my father... who has been a role model and someone I've admired and looked up to my entire life.

The first card features a plane my father worked on back in mid to late 60's:

2023 Historic Autographs Flight #52

Due to the classified nature of the project, he didn't really open up about the specifics of his job.  Even my mom had no idea what he was up to.  Years later, a lot of the information regarding the plane became declassified and he was able to tell us his group focused on the INS (inertial navigation system).

I've been interested in this plane ever since... and enjoy collecting anything and everything related to it.  Back in December, Billy over at Cardboard History showed off some singles from his box of 2023 Historic Autographs Flight which features birds, planes, rockets, and drones.

After doing some research, I discovered this card was one of the short prints in the set.  I immediately headed over to eBay and picked up a few copies for a buck each.

Two weeks earlier, Nick over at n j w v wrote a post on the 1928 Players Cigarettes Products of the World set.  This card really caught my eye and motivated me to purchase a complete set:

1928 Players Products of the World #27 

Pineapples were a big part of my dad's childhood.  He grew up on a plantation and his first job was working at Dole when he was thirteen.

On one of our last trips to Costco together while he was still living in Las Vegas, they had a crate of pineapples.  That was the day he taught me how to pick a sweet one (look for the heavier ones that are golden in color and have a sweet smell on the bottom).

Happy Father's Day Pops... and to all of the other fathers out there.  Hope you enjoyed your special day.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #162: A Binder Full of Cards

It's officially flea market season.  Last weekend... I hit up the De Anza Flea Market with my brother and his wife.  The weather was nice (cool and sunny).  In fact... it might have been too nice... because it lured the largest crowd in years.  That's a good thing for vendors, but I wasn't a fan.  Large crowds mean more people.  More people mean less personal space.  And less personal space means I'm trying to rush through things in an effort to get out of there.

Anyways... you're not here to listen to me complain.  Let's show off my purchases...

Purchase #1:  Baseball Card Binder  $35

Walked up to a booth and noticed a guy flipping through a binder of cards.  The vendor also had some action figures and video games, so I checked them out and waited to see if the guy was going to buy the binder.  He didn't.

After he left, I walked over, picked it up, and opened it.  Here's what I saw:

The first few pages were filled with Aaron Judge cards... followed by eight to ten pages of Derek Jeter cards.  Here are some of the highlights:

As much as I dislike the New York Yankees... I love collecting Derek Jeter cards.  I didn't take an official count, but I'd say I added at least sixty new ones to my collection.

The vendor mentioned that the binder belonged to a family member who is a New York Yankees fan.  That makes sense, because the vast majority of the cards in the binder were Yankees.

Included in the pages was one of those World Series team sets that Topps produces:

2009 Topps New York Yankees World Series Set

I thought about breaking it up for the Matsui and Jeter cards, but in the end I kept it intact.

The vendor marked the binder with a $50 price tag, but after flipping through about 15 pages, he told me to make an offer.  Then I saw this page:

At that point, I knew I wanted the binder.  I have a pretty nice Ichiro collection, but I didn't own his Topps rookie card.  So I tossed out a $30 offer.  The seller countered with $35 and now I own this card:

2001 Topps #726

I love this card so much.  I even took the extra time to scan the back:

Overall the binder mostly contained inserts and base cards, but there were a few other rookie cards I didn't own:

1994 Bowman's Best #29

2007 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects #BDPP12

2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP25

Actually... I own a copy of that Freeman, but this is my first raw copy.

The other cool thing included in this purchase was a complete run of Joe Torre Topps manager cards:

1978 Topps #109

Did you know that he's the only person in MLB history to have 2,000 hits as a player and 2,000 wins as a manager?

Okay... I spent enough time on this purchase.  Moving along...

Purchase #2:  March Graphic Novel Trilogy  $10

These three books are about the life of Congressman John Lewis, who played a key role in the civil rights movement.  I already own hardcover copies.  But when I saw this set of paper back copies for $10, I grabbed it for my classroom.


Purchase #3:  Puffy Stickers $1

1983 Funmate Norris Division

Saw this sitting in a guy's dollar box.  Don't normally seek out puffy stickers, but I thought the North Stars sticker was pretty cool.  Worst case scenario, I pass this along to my buddy who is a Blackhawks fan.

Well that wraps up another trip to my local flea market.  Thanks for coming along on the ride.  I know I didn't buy a lot this time around, but there's always next time.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!