Today I got Card #18 - the 1970 card - in the mail to complete my set. It commemorates Mays' selection as "Player of the Decade" for the 1960s by the Sporting News. Each of these cards shows off the stadium that Mays was playing in during the year in question - so, the Polo Grounds for his NY Giants years; Seals Stadium during the first couple of years in San Francisco, and Candlestick Park for the remainder of his Giants career. I myself have seen him in person at Oracle/AT&T/SBC/Pacific Bell Park - a wonderful stadium that many of us have lobbied to be called "Mays Field" instead. Whenever I meet someone at a game, it's always by the statue of Mays out front, because everyone knows where and who that is.
Of course, I'd love to be a Mays card collector. It's just not financially feasible for me. I'm already realizing that McCovey is going to be a bit of a grind, and in order to be a completist, I'll need to settle for some low-grade cards of his from the late 50s and early 60s. (I'm already doing great on McCovey circa 1968-1980, and am working my way backward from there). Mays is a different beast entirely. You guys know he's still alive, right? We need to celebrate this guy and his contribution to our greatest sport every single day. This 20-card set is a nice and relatively painless way to do so.
Not a bad set. I always loved Willie!!
ReplyDeleteI love that Candlestick is featured on over half of this set. I've never met up with anyone at the statue... but I definitely know where it's at.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on completing the Mays insert set, well done!
ReplyDeleteI'm not normally a fan of these single-player insert sets, but these look pretty darn nice. Congrats on completing it!
ReplyDeleteMost vintage Mays cards are way out of my price range, but I've been able to find quite a few affordable McCoveys over the years. I even stumbled into a beat-up copy of his '60 Topps rookie -- a card I never thought I'd own -- for ten bucks at a show last year.
This is a really nice set. I was initially turned off by how much space is eaten up by the text at the bottom but seeing the entire chronology changes my mind. Some great photos of the "Say Hey Kid" here.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good look8ng set. I was surprised that topps included his met cards in their stamped buy backs this year since the foil stamp on them refers to 20 giants seasons. Glad they kept this set to just the giants.
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