Birth Month Cards & Comics

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

I'm slowly adding the different Marvel comic books released during my birth month.  It's not something I actively hunt for, but I try to add one each year for my birthday.

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!

Brown Bag Lunches

Yesterday was Back to School Night... which was held online due to Covid.  Don't worry.  We're not doing distance learning.  I'm still back in my classroom standing in front of warm blooded 7th graders and loving it.

Yesterday was also the first treat day.  What's treat day?  Well it's a once a month deal where one department is responsible for providing treats for the staff.  Yesterday's treat day theme was Brown Bag Lunches.  Staff grabbed a brown bag and filled them up with individually wrapped items like Smucker's sandwiches, Lay's potato chips, Quaker granola bars, Welch's fruit snacks, and Capri Suns.

I thought it was a very creative idea... considering most of the staff isn't currently eating lunch in the staff lounge and probably wouldn't enjoy the usual buffet style lunch while in the midst of a pandemic.

It also reminded me of when my mom used to pack me a lunch when I was a kid.  I was more of a lunch pail kid, but every now and then, I'd get my lunch packed in a brown bag.  As for the contents... it'd usually include a sandwich, a bag of chips, a fruit or pudding cup, and a Thermos filled with Kool-Aid or milk.  And when life was really good... Mama Fuji would toss a Hostess treat into the lunch pail or brown bag.

Life was really good back on June 26th of this year.  That day my buddy and I attended the Bay Area Sports Cards & Collectibles Expo in Fairfield, California... which was the greatest card shows I've attended since the 90's.  If interested, you can read more about it here.

To make a long story short... I spent three hours standing around one guy's booth... digging through his 8 for $1, 5 for $1, and 10 for $4 boxes.  There was a ton of cool stuff I purchased from him... but by far the highlight of the haul were these eight 1979 Hostess panels I found sitting in his 5 for $1 boxes:

1979 Hostess Panel #1-3

The first panel features our first hall of famer as well as a nice Oakland Coliseum cameo.

1979 Hostess Panel #4-6

If you don't look at the bottom half of each card... you might think all three cards in this panel were photographed on the same day at the same place.  Clear blue skies.

1979 Hostess Panel #7-9

This is arguably the best panel in the lot.  Mike Schmidt is the biggest name and Garvey is fan favorite among many of us.

1979 Hostess Panel #10-12

I'm gonna guess that Whitfield was photographed at Candlestick Park... which would mean Denny (Panel #1-3) was too.  Palmer is the third hall of famer in the lot and Moreno is wearing the first pillbox cap.

1979 Hostess Panel #13-15

Not much to say about this panel... other than the fact that Kemp looks pissed off.

1979 Hostess Panel #16-18

This panel contains the lone Oakland Athletic in the lot.  And if you're not familiar with Mitchell Page... he's the guy who was arguably robbed by Eddie Murray back in 1978.

1979 Hostess Panel #19-21

And this panel contains the lone San Diego Padre in the lot.  Tenace was also a key part of those Swingin' A's teams from earlier in the decade.

1979 Hostess Panel #22-24

The Kid is the key to this panel.  He's the fourth and final hall of famer in this lot of Hostess panels.  And that smile on his face is probably very similar to the one on my face when I found this stack of panels sitting in this guy's box.

Although these were the highlight to that card show haul, I still have a few more cards I'll show off in future posts.  One of them is scheduled to be published in May of 2022... which is the longest I've ever sat on a post in the history of this blog.  Stay tuned.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

A Puzzling Purchase

Donruss puzzles have been a part of my life since the early 80's.  I don't remember opening a ton of 1982 or 1983 Donruss packs, so I doubt I was trying to build complete puzzles of Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb.  But by the middle of the decade, I'm sure I was coming pretty darn close.  And there's not a doubt in my mind that I put together a Roberto Clemente puzzle in 1987.

Since then, I've put together a complete run of (wax pack insert) puzzles from 1982 to 1992 (Ruth, Cobb, Snider, Gehrig, Aaron, Clemente, Musial, Spahn, Yastrzemski, Stargell, and Carew), as well as the 1983 and 1984 Donruss All-Star puzzles (Mantle and Williams), the 1990 and 1991 Leaf puzzles (Berra and Killebrew), and the 1991 Leaf Studio puzzle (Carew).

1986 Donruss The Rookies Hank Aaron Puzzle #NNO

1987 Donruss The Rookies Roberto Clemente Puzzle #NNO

1988 Donruss The Rookies Stan Musial Puzzle #NNO

 1990 Donruss The Rookies Carl Yastrzemski Puzzle #NNO

I was also familiar with the miniature puzzles (standard card size/15 pieces) of Aaron, Clemente, Musial, Spahn, Yastrzemski, and Stargell that Donruss included in The Rookies box sets.

But I had no idea what I was looking at when I stumbled across these jumbo puzzles at the Bay Area Sports Cards & Collectibles Show back in June:

At first glance, you might think these are the standard size puzzles that came in The Rookies boxed sets, but these are much larger (approximately 5"x7") and contain only 12 pieces.

Here's a side by side comparison of the two Hank Aaron puzzles:

Both puzzles feature blank backs... but the larger puzzle utilizes much darker cardboard:

Thankfully... you can find information on just about anything on the internet.  After a few clicks on the keyboard, I discovered that these jumbo puzzles were included with the Donruss Super DK sets from 1985 to 1990.  Donruss produced these wrapper mail-in order sets from 1985 to 1991, but I didn't find any information on a Willie Stargell super-sized puzzle online... so I think these are the only six puzzles to collect.

***Donruss also produced a 1992 Super DK set which is extremely rare.  Based on this post it wasn't released to the general public, so I'm guessing they didn't produced a super-sized puzzle for Carew.

Well there you have it... another puzzling baseball card mystery has been solved.

Were any of you familiar with these Super DK puzzles?

I'm pretty happy that I discovered these, learned something new, and added them to my Donruss Puzzle PC for only $1.20.  Just like the 1998 Topps Super Chromes I showed off a few months ago, these puzzles were in a vendor's 5 for $1 box.

Stay tuned.  I still have several more purchases from this card show that I need to write about.  Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

The More Recognition, the Better

Last December, MLB finally recognized Negro League players as Major League players.  It was obviously long overdue, but better late than never.

There have been several Negro League baseball card sets produced over the years... two of which I have added to my collection within the past thirteen months.  The first one was purchased over at the Negro League History website back in August of 2020.  Due to the size of the set (184 cards), I have no idea if or when I will review it.  The good news is there are at least two blogs out there that have.  I first saw the set over at Waiting 'til Next Year....  I encourage you to head over to Tom's blog and read his review.  He did a great job on it.  I also saw this set over at A Cracked Bat.  Julie was the one who inspired me to run out and spend the $59.95 (+ $10 shipping) and I'm so happy with the purchase.

Then back in July of this year, I noticed that Gio over at When Topps Had Balls designed a Negro League baseball card set of his own.  This one was less than half the price and much smaller in size (26 cards), which makes it much easier to showcase on my blog.

Now I'm not really an expert on Negro Leaguers, so I'll keep my commentary to a minimum and let the scans do the talking.

The set came in a very attractive foldable package that features a 44¢ USPS stamp of Rube Foster and a custom WTHBALLS stamp of Ted Radcliffe:

He produced a total of 80 sets and as you can see mine was numbered 046.  When you flip the package over, you see a Negro League Legends stamp along with a WTHBALLS sticker used to seal the set.

Here's what the set looks like when you open the flap:

The set was wrapped with a strip of gold foil paper and another WTHBALLS sticker.  On top you can see the two bonus items that were included with the set.  I'll show them letter on in the post.

The first card in the set is the header card:

It says that this is a 25 card set, but there are actually 26 cards (the header card + 25 player cards).

2021 WTHBALLS Negro League Legends #2-7

2021 WTHBALLS Negro League Legends #8-13

2021 WTHBALLS Negro League Legends #14-19

2021 WTHBALLS Negro League Legends #20-25

And the final card in the set:

2021 WTHBALLS Negro League Legends #26

The set design is simple, yet attractive.  I like the use of pastel colors, dual images, and the inclusion of the Negro League team logos.

Although the card backs are missing the player's stats, Gio did a great job of writing a detail summary of the player's accomplishments.  I also like the inclusion of the year the player was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Out of the twenty-five players listed in the set, twenty-three have a plaque hanging up in Cooperstown.

If you want to find out the two who aren't, look for yourself:

Scans are too small to read?  Okay.  The two non-hall of famers are Dick Lundy and Ted Radcliffe.

Gio also included two bonus items.  The first honors one of the greatest teams of all-time... the 1931 Homestead Grays:

According to the card back this team featured seven future hall of famers.  I was curious to see if any MLB team had more and it looks like the 1928 and 1931 to 1933 New York Yankees had nine future hall of famers on their rosters.  As for having four 20-game winners, only two MLB teams have accomplished that feat:  1920 Chicago White Sox and the 1971 Baltimore Orioles.

So yeah... I'd say the 1931 Homestead Grays were pretty special.

The final item was actually the key to this set purchase:

When I saw these four stamp panels on his blog, I was sold.  I headed over to PayPal and immediately sent him $25.  I guess you could say these stamps sealed the deal.

My panel contained the following players:  Leon Day (upper left), Willie Wells (upper right), Ray Dandridge (bottom left), and Rube Foster (bottom right).

I realize this set isn't for everyone.  However if you're interested in collecting cards of Negro League players, I'd recommend it.  The $25 (free shipping) price tag might scare some of you away, but I figured it's just a few more dollars than a blaster at Target, but way more limited.  Plus you would be supporting a custom card blogger.

Feel free to leave your thoughts on the set's design and checklist down below.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!