Puck-er Up

Every now and then I think back to card shops I visited as a kid that have been closed now for years. Whether it was walking round the perimeter of the store gazing are the cards in penny sleeves that were thumb tacked to the cork boards, peering at the vintage cards that were piled up in the display cases, or even gazing at the latest and greatest wax boxes that were stacked behind those same display cases, each of those memories makes me long to go back to that time when cards were king and life was so much simpler. One of those wax boxes that I had always admired (and even bought a few pack) was 1991 Stadium Club Hockey. I wasn't a huge hockey fan growing up and even today I don't really follow the sport. I attend a game or two here in Cleveland every year to watch the Lake Erie Monsters (the Columbus Blue Jacket's minor league hockey team) but that's about it. That being said, I love everything about the early iterations of Stadium Club. It doesn't matter if it's baseball, football or hockey, I think these cards are fantastic. This past weekend I was able to purchase a complete 400 card set off eBay for $12 shipped. I'm glad to have this set back in my collection and I'm hoping that sometime next year I can get the 1991 Stadium Club football set. Maybe I'll even track down some wax boxes of these three sets. I'm just grateful that these packs are no longer $5 each.

Schnozz

This is my second Goudey Reds card from the 1934 set. This was one of the more expensive cards I'm chasing in this set, the other being Chick Haffey. Lombardi was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1986 by the Veteran's Committee. In addition to being known for his big nose, hence the nickname, but also for "Lombardi's Big Snooze" during the 1939 World Series. According to Wikipedia, during the fourth game of the 1939 World Series, in the 10th inning, with the score tied and runners on first and third, Joe DiMaggio singled. One run scored, then Reds outfielder Ival Goodman fumbled the ball. Yankees right fielder Charlie "King Kong" Keller, well known for his sturdy physique, beat the throw to catcher Lombardi and inadvertently hit "The Schnozz" in his groin. Unfortunately for the Reds and Lombardi, he had failed to wear his protective cup and Lombardi was in pain and dazed. DiMaggio raced around the bases and scored while the ball was just a few feet away from the dazed Lombardi. The press was hugely critical of the sensitive catcher because of this and it came to be known as "Lombardi's Big Snooze".

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

1949 Bowman Reds Team Set

There's a total of 12 cards in this set. Bowman decided to add some color to this year's release instead of sticking with the black and white photos that they used the previous year. The other noticeable difference are the name plates that are found on the front of the higher numbered cards.

5 Hank Sauer

21 Frank Baumholtz

37 John Wyrostek

51 Herman Wehmeier

62 Grady Hatton

81 Virgl Stallcup

97 Danny Litwhiler

113 Ray Lamanno

128 Johnny Vander Meer

160 Jim Blackburn

176 Ken Raffensberger

192 Harry Gumbert

 

1948 Bowman Reds Team Set

I finished this set earlier this year and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. There's a total of 5 cards in this black and white set which made it easy to track down.

2 Ewell Blackwell
39 Augie Galan
44 Johnny Wyrostek
45 Hank Sauer
46 Herman Wehmeier

Forgetting the First Rule of Collecting

Collecting shouldn't feel like a chore. It's a hobby that one should enjoy. When it starts feeling like a chore, or a job for that matter, then it's lost its purpose entirely. A few years back I started a PC of my favorite Reds player of all time. I had amassed more than 600 unique Pete Rose cards at the pinnacle of collecting his cards. While I can reflect now that 600 was a lot for someone who last took the field 30 years ago, I wasn't content with my collection. The parallels and short prints that comprised Donruss in 2008 as well and Leaf and Panini from 2011 to today just became too overwhelming for me. I felt that if I couldn't own every single Pete Rose card that the hobby produced then it made no sense having a PC of Rose. So I dumped the collection...all 600+ cards. It was freeing knowing that I no longer had to set aside funds to chase down a numbered color parallel to 10 or a short print photo variation; however, there was a part of me that regretted that decision. The variety of cards that I had acquired from the 70s and 80s (Kelloggs, Kahn's, Purina, Nestle, Hostess, Drake's, Coca-Cola, Squirt) was fantastic. It showed a time when anyone and everyone was producing baseball cards to include in their products. These were cards that I had wanted to grab when I was a kid but couldn't afford to buy didn't have the funds to acquire them at the time. After a lot of thought I decided I would create another Pete Rose PC collection but with one major difference. I would make sure that I would abide by some of the cardinal rules of collecting.....collect what you like and have a goal in mind. So, I've already stated my enjoyment of the oddball issues of the 70s and 80s. My goal for this PC will be to keep everything within Pete's time in the majors. Nothing past 1989. There are a couple of cards I will be trying to track down that won't be part of this collection (2014 Leaf Q autographed jersey relic, a 2014 Leaf Q Pure Auto, and the 2015 Leaf Sportkings base, mini and autograph cards) but that's it. I know that if I stick to my goals I'll enjoy putting this PC together and it won't feel like a chore this time around.

Sweet!

I haven't purchased much vintage lately. Instead of focusing on some of my Reds wantlist items I've been consumed with trying to track down 2011 Gypsy Queen autographs and other modern cards. Luckily I was able to stumble across this 1909 T206 Rebel Oakes Sweet Caporal on eBay for just a hair over $30 shipped. Although Rebel is not Mr. Oakes given name, it's Ennis for those that are interested, one interesting tidbit of information I found fascinating wat that both he and Miller Huggins were traded from the Reds to the Cardinals in 1910 for Fred Beebe. With this purchase I now have 13 of the 24 T206 Reds cards that comprise this set. I would like to try and purchase one or two more before the end of the year.