1969 Deckle Edge inserts, now and then

Topps cards have had inserts for as long as I can remember collecting.

As a kid, I don't recall coming across too many, but I had enough to make them special. There's the story booklets and posters from the '70 set, the scratch offs and metal coins from the '71 set. I have a few of each of these, but the oldest insert cards I have that I actually pulled myself from packs, are a pair of what is called "deckle edge" cards from the '69 set.

I have had them forever. For many years I didn't even keep them with my regular baseball card collection. They got to go in the special wooden chest full of odd trinkets such as a huge Bolivian coin that I was convinced was pirate treasure and a bright red plastic apple I stole from the Snow White ride at Disneyland on a dare. 

For many years, I really thought that the autographs were real. No one could convince me otherwise. I used to take the card out and stare at it and wonder where was Jim Fregosi sitting when he signed my card?
Did Don Kessinger know that it was *me* that had this one and only card that he signed?
Probably because of the blue ink, I was convinced they were real.
There have been many baseball card sets over the years that have had printed signature on them, but I am pretty sure they were all black and, to me at least, pretty obviously pre-printed.


Recently I bought a handful of 2012 Topps Archive. I pulled this Ichiro Suzuki deckle edged card from a pack and nearly dropped my shorts! A signed Ichiro Suzuki card! Wow! Look at that! It's right there in the blue ink! How did I get so lucky!.

It was a fun 10 minutes as I rushed over to look at eBay to see if this was really a signature, and how much these were going for. It didn't take long to realize that the printed ones had the blue ink signature too.
I cracked open the binder I have with all the odd-ball cards in it, and sure enough there were Jim Fregosi and Don Kessinger, signed names with blue ink, smiling at me, almost laughing, "You're still just a big kid, aren't you?"

Why can't cereal boxes be like this now?

This last weekend was a big "sports collectibles" show here in Houston. It's about as big a card show as we get here. More aimed toward football than baseball, only one of the dozen athletes doing signatures was a baseball player; Billy Williams. Interestingly, his autograph, and picture with him if you wanted, was only $55 - lowest of all the people at the show.

But what was great about attending this show was that I was with my dad! I have not been to a card show with my dad since... boy, maybe mid-80's, so this was a treat. 

There were some great framed photos, one in particular was Koufax winding up and delivering at Dodger Stadium. I think it was from his September 1965 no hitter. I was mesmerized by the photo. It was big, maybe foot-and-a-half by two feet, and Koufax took up whole picture, batter, ump and catcher just a blur in the foreground. Behind Koufax, in the distance, you could make out the scoreboard. It was framed, autographed and over $300. Which is not a lot of money considering, but I passed on it.

I only really brought lists for a couple sets I'm trying to finish, primarily the 1970 Topps. After looking around for an hour, I had sort of given up hope when the best price I could find for the 7th series no-name high-number guys was like $7.
Not gonna happen.
Rick Reichardt? $7?
Nope.
$6.75 for Duffy Dyer?
I'll pass.
I bought Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente in this set for $7 and $4.50, respectively. No way am I paying $7 for a common, I don't care how rare someone thinks it's "high" number is.
Unfortunately for the guys selling this stuff - I've seen Sportslots. 

I'm just about to leave empty handed when the last table on the way out has a dollar box and the tab dividers are all 60's and 50's. Jackpot!
I found a handful of these 1962 Post cards. They were so worn and loved and beautiful that I knew I had to have them. Of the 10 Angels in the Post set, here were 4 of them at a buck each. One great thing about collecting the Angels is that other than Nolan Ryan, (and apparently 1970 Topps Rick Reichardt!), there aren't too many high dollar cards.

.

I like these, and the poorly cut edges only make them more fun for me. I am reminded of a time when getting a treat from the morning cereal box was a huge part of a kid's life!

My dad even bought me a card! How about that? He ponied up the dollar for Steve Bilko! Thanks pop!
Steve Bilko was a big part of my dad's childhood baseball. He grew up in Los Angeles, which back in the 1700's when he was a kid, had no Major League teams.
But they did have the Pacific Coast League, which meant Los Angeles Angels and Hollywood Stars.
Dad's favorite player with the Angels was Bilko, because the guy used to rip the cover off the ball and send many a kid home with a souvenir. Here's a pic of Bilko that I "borrowed" from the LA Times archives.

Thanks dad!

I lost out on Dock Ellis over a nickel?!?

I lost out on this beautiful card over a mere five cents. 

To be fair, I was distracted. I was watching Jered Weaver's no-hitter in progress and seriously regretting that second helping of garlic mashed potatoes.

But still... When I came across this card of Dock Ellis, I just knew I needed it. Not wanted it. Needed it.

And it was $0.99 with $0.99 shipping and no bids on it and due to end in an hour! I put my $0.99 bid down and I was sure it was mine because, well, I don't know, but I was just sure it was mine and that no one else would show up and bid on it. I went back to loosening my belt and watching Weaver and the Angels beat up on one of only other teams in the league, playing worse than they are. 

I know better! Down inside I knew better, but beer, veal and mashed potatoes were piled up on top of my inner voice and I couldn't hear it! I know that if I want a card, I need to put in the highest amount I'm willing to pay, not just the next amount up! But no... too distracted by the potential of seeing Weaver throw a no-hitter.

So an hour or so later, after the Angels get the last out and the stadium erupts in to excitement and everyone is hugging and I'm still trying to loosen my belt enough to be comfortable - I remember Dock Ellis, and that I need to go and pay for my card. His card is not up there on the main screen, so I look for the " you have to pay for 1 auction" link, but not seeing it... I go to the Didn't Win page and there's Dock. He's very disappointed in me. I look at that mesmerizing psychedelic design, and right next to it, it says $1.04 in red letters. I cried a little. 

The guy selling this card is just down the road from me. (Note: in Texas, 97 miles is just down the road). I know this because I've bought some other cards from him. I briefly consider driving down there tonight, offer him a $1.05 and see if he'd go for it. Hell, I was ready to offer $1.10.

But enough of my whining, I at least have a picture of the card to admire. I do not know why but I have always been fascinated with the idea that Dock Ellis could pitch a game, much less throw a no-hitter on acid. I am also mesmerized by that design.

Oh well, probably another one will come up eventually. Let's hope. 

Trade with Jeff @ Cardboard Catastrophe

Jeff at Cardboard Catastrophe sent me a big pile of 2011 Update, some Heritage and some Lineage. A trio of the Heritage Chrome. I did not even realize these were numbered #/1962.

The stack of 2011 Lineage included some current Hall of Famers members, some definite future Hall members and some guys, who like me, will only ever get to Cooperstown on a tour bus.

Thanks a ton Jeff, I do hope you are eventually able to use the database I sent you.

Trade with Michael @ Nomo's Sushi Platter

Michael sent me a big pile of cards off my lists, just out of the blue! He sent along some Lineage, some 2012 '87 minis, some 2011 update even a sticker!

Very cool, I appreciate it very much. I was looking through his want lists and I don't have too much from his lists, so I had to really dig through the boxes to find some goodies to send him. Hope you enjoy them, and thanks very much for the trade!

Trade with Matt @ 26 Cent Summer

After a short business trip, I arrive back home to find a fat envelope from Matt over at 26 Cent Summer - I am back home and catching up on mail!

Matt sent a ton of 2011 Heritage, Series 1, Series 2 and Update.

Also in there are the last 4 pieces to the 1992 Topps puzzle. Set is wrapped up now! Thanks very much Matt! I look forward to trading again!

How do you organize your cards?

A few years ago, Hurricane Ike dropped a tree on my garage roof, letting water down all over my prized possessions. In reality, though, very little of importance was ruined, a bunch of paperbacks we'd already read, a lot of shoes that no one even wore, toys and dollhouses that no one had played with in years... crap mostly.

Except the baseball cards. 

I keep my baseball cards in Rubbermaid containers, originally to prevent bugs, coons, possums and other vermin from nesting in there. None of them had water damage except one... Only one container was damaged, and some water leaked in. A few football and hockey, and part of a '76 Topps baseball set were ruined, but in reality, I was pretty lucky.

At the time, I realized how really sad I would have been if all those baseball cards I'd been collecting over the course of my life had been destroyed. It was not the money value of these cards, it was my emotional connection with them. I decided I'd try to insure them, and was happy to find out that my homeowner's policy would cover them, though I needed to be able to provide precise list of all the cards.

I searched and searched for any software that could do what I wanted to do, and could not find anything useful. I knew I would have to write my own. I decided I'd use Microsoft Access as it is very easy to use, has forms for the UI and a capable report writer, if I wanted one. While I was a programmer at one point in my career, I really didn't want the project to be "work".

The top left is where you select a set to work with, after selecting the set, the lower left fills with each card in the set. If you click a card in the, the image of it loads as does the inventory for that card. If I wanted to add a card to inventory, I double-click the card list in lower left. Pretty straightforward.

It isn't pretty, but it does everything I need it to do, and I don't really have anyone to please but myself! Before you ask, no, I didn't type every single card in by myself. Some wonderful person behind Trading Card Database has done the work for me. I just copy his lists, paste to text file, import the text in to Excel, manipulate the rows as I need adding set ID numbers, sub set ID numbers, display order, etc, then I copy all those rows right in to the database table. I'm mostly finished adding in the set definitions, but a long long way from entering my inventory of cards in to the tables. But it's a labor of love, and it can be very relaxing. So, really, I do not mind.

I gave each card record a link to an image file, should I be crazy enough to want to actually scan every card I own some day. Very doubtful... Also, the database is linked with Sean Lahman's database, so should I get free time some day, I can link each card's represented player to his stats, personal data and so on. If you're not familiar with Lahman's, it's essentially the backend to the baseball-reference website. For now, though, it's a work in process, a pasttime that combines my love of cards with my love of programming.


I was curious how do all of you keep track of your collections?