1950 Bowman Reds Team Set

12 cards total in this set. A much improved design over the 1949 Bowman set. My only gripe is the small card size, but Bowman fixed that with their 1951 release.

26 Grady Hatton
27 Herman Wehmeier
62 Ted Kluszewski
63 Ewell Blackwell
80 Howard Fox
81 Ron Northey
116 Red Stallcup
168 Bob Scheffing
172 Harry Lowrey
173 Lloyd Merriman
197 Johnny Wyrostek
198 Danny Litwhiler

1974 Reds Team Signed Baseball

I decided to save the best for last when it comes to the autograph baseballs in my collection. Although the 1985 autographed baseball holds a special place in my heart because of Pete Rose passing Ty Cobb's mark of 4,191 hits on September 11, 1985, this baseball features many prominent members of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine. While the 74 Reds didn't make it to the Fall Classic, the fact that this ball is autographed during the Big Red Machine era puts it as the pinnacle of my autographed baseball collection. There are a total of 23 autographs on this baseball and the signatures I can discern are: Sparky Anderson, George Scherger, Johnny Bench, Fred Norman, Cesar Geronimo, Bill Plummer, Darrel Chaney, Phil Gagliano, Alex Grammas, Don Gullett, Denis Menke, Joe Morgan, Ross Grimsley, Ted Kluszewski, Pedro Borbon, Pete Rose, Andy Kosco, Tony Perez

A Kluszewski Glove for the Collection

My latest and last glove purchase for my collection is this Draper and Maynard Ted Kluszewski trapper glove model DG957. The first time I spotted one of these gloves was a little over a year ago when I was just browsing ebay for vintage baseball gloves. I wasn't able to find one at the time for the price I was willing to pay since the gloves I found were priced at $50 and above. A little too rich for me. Finally, last weekend I was able to grab one well below that price. Patience does pay off. I've mentioned before in previous posts my affection for vintage sports equipment and this glove fits the bill nicely. I hope to start working on a display soon that will house my autographed bats as well as these gloves. Once I wrap up that project I'll be sure to share the pics with all of you.

One more for this year!

This will be my last post for 2013 as I hurry to wrap up my Christmas shopping, wrapping, etc. and spend the next week with family and friends. I did want to share with everyone my latest pickup that completes another 2013 card collecting goal. This 1957 Topps Kluszewski was the last card I needed for my 1957 Topps Reds team set. I'm happy that not only do I now have the 57 Reds team set, but I now have a complete run of Topps Reds team sets from 1954 to 2013. That includes the base set as well as the traded/update sets. While I wanted to wrap up my 1953 Topps Reds team set, that will just have to wait until next year. I'm very happy with what I added to my collection this past year. Not only did I knock out some vintage Topps wants, I was also able to complete a few sets I've always wanted (1992 Bowman, 2005 Studio and 1989-90 Hoops). I nabbed a few more tobacco cards this year and I've whittled down my wantlist for 1986-87 Fleer basketball to just 7 cards! (unfortunately 2 of those are the Michael Jordan base and sticker cards) So I guess you're all wondering what's in store for next year. I will be concentrating on more vintage Reds cards, but I think 2014 will be the year that I devote more towards my set collecting. I decided to start a project where I'll be collecting my favorite Topps set within a given decade. As a result, I've updated my wantlist with some vintage Topps sets that I've always wanted to complete and this coming year I'll start down the road to adding them to my card collection. I still haven't decided what set I would like to collect for the 2000s and I'm still torn between 1990 and 1991 Topps. I know that it'll take a few years (or perhaps a decade) to complete these sets, but I'm excited to get started and I can't wait to share this journey with the rest of you. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Another Goal Put to Bed!

For the past few months I've been neglecting my card collecting goals for the year by opting to chase after some bobbleheads and a World Series ticket that I had always wanted. This week, however, I decided to take a break from the nodders and chase after some vintage Topps cards that I had been eying for a while but just never pulled the trigger on. I'm very happy to announce that I have now completed my 1954 Topps Redlegs team set. One of the last remaining cards in the set was this Ted Kluszewski card. I was also able to grab my first 1953 Topps Reds cards in the process (which I will be posting about next week). Not everything was rainbows and unicorns this week as I found out that I had missed a card from my 2011 Topps Reds team set. Card #198 is MIA and has been added to my wantlist. The regular version of this card is Buster Posey, but I'm not after that one. Nope, instead I found out that there's a short print 198 that's none other than a Johnny Bench parallel. These short print parallels will be the death of my collecting!

TTM: Ted Kluszewski

Ted Kluszewski aka "Big Klu" sported a massive set of guns. So much so that he cut off the sleeves of his uniform because the tight sleeves constricted his large biceps and shoulders and interfered with his swing.

Bronze Nuxy

This is one of my most favorite stadium giveaways I have in my collection. The Reds gave out 30,000 of these bronze beauties on June 10, 2008 when the Reds were defeated by the Cardinals 7-2 The only highlight in that game for the Reds was a Votto home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Nuxhall giveaway represents a smaller version of the statue that can be found outside the main entrance to the stadium (along with Ernie Lombardi, Frank Robinson and Ted Kluszewski). Nuxhall made his major league debut with the Reds on June 10, 1944 giving up five runs before being relieved after a third of an inning in the ninth. He spent 15 of his 16 years in the majors with the Reds and was a two time all-star. After retiring from the field he began announcing games for Cincinnati. In 1974 he teamed up with Marty Brennaman to become one of the most memorable announcer pairings in Reds history. He retired from broadcasting in 2004, but continued to make guest appearances prior to his death on November 15, 2007.

1952 Topps

What to say about something that's been talked about for over a half a century? The 1952 Topps set was a game changer, much like Upper Deck in 1989. But I think where Topps came out on top compared to their competitor 37 years later is that they changed the card world in ways that reverberated even to this day. The team logo on the front of the card, player name and facsimile autograph, player blurb as well as stats on the back of the card, sweet color photography/painting style. Although Bowman, Leaf, Play Ball, Goudey, Cracker Jack and the previous card companies had some of these aspects in their product, Topps was able to put everything together. This wasn't a home run....it was a grand slam! I'm hoping that someday I'll have my 1952 Topps Reds Team set completed, but those high numbers are going to put a hurt on my wallet. Favorite card from 1952 Topps... Ted Kluszewski. Look at those cannons! They're ginormous! And the Crosley Field stands in the background, that's timeless and classy. Nothing screams baseball cards more than 1952 Topps.