10 Random Recent Arrivals

Hey everyone. You know, it does feel a little weird to be acting like a bit of "show-off" here on the card blogs. Honestly, most of my posts seem to be of the look-at-what-I-just-got variety. I know that's kind of strange, but you know why I do it? Because those are the posts I like to read the most on other people's blogs. It's where I see how people collect these insignificant pieces of cardboard - the players they care about; the sets that matter to them; the trades they made and so on. I love that stuff. So please forgive me - I'm not bragging about how awesome it was I got a card worth $1.50 shipped to me or anything; I'm trying to give people what I think they want, even if it's just me who actually wants it. 

Hey, check it out, it's a 1968 Topps Willie McCovey! OK, so this cost me a little more than $1.50, but not a ton more. I figured I'd start collecting my 1968 SF Giants team set with a couple of the bigger names - McCovey and Perry - though Willie Mays' card price is still a bit out of reach for me. Mays is going to be a real stumbling block on my path to collecting the 1960s Giants team sets. I'm going to have to buy some of those cards that were put through the laundry of his in order to truly knock out these sets, I'm thinking.

Oh, here's hall of famer Gaylord Perry from the same year:

OK, who knows who this next guy is? Talk about a card that scanned terribly! This is Kenny Lofton, from a 1994 Topps Finest series. I got this in one of those Walgreens repacks I buy every now and again, and it was my favorite pull that day.

Next up, a guy whom I've flirted with collecting but never really pulled the trigger, Mr. Billy Martin, from a 2008 Topps Triple Threads series.

Look, it's world-famous Dodgers prospect Gavin Lux in the new Topps 2020 Update series. My son got me a small box of these for Hanukkah. Why so sad, Gavin? Wishing the Giants had picked you instead?

Speaking of Giants, here's a couple of winners from 2020 Stadium Club:

...and from 2020 Topps Archive, Vlad! The new Vlad. C'mon Vlad, make your Dad proud and win one for Canada. We the North!

I know I got this in a trade/PWE recently but I forgot who was kind enough to send it to me. Thank you, though!! It's a 1984 Mother's Cookies Alan Wiggins of the San Diego Padres.

Finally, our 10th card is Joey Bart, also from Topps Update 2020, card #P-25. One of the players I collect, and I just randomly nailed him in that pack my son got me. See you next week!

1971 Topps San Francisco Giants Progress

I guess I'm simultaneously trying to collect the 1971 San Francisco Giants Topps team set while also trying to collect the entire Topps '71 set as well. Let's just say the former is nearly at hand, while the latter is a long ways off. All I really need from the '71 Giants set is the Mays card and one from someone named Bob Heise, and then this Juan Marichal Scratch-Off and then I'm good to go.

This was a stacked Giants team that finally won their division after 9 years since their previous postseason appearance; it would be another 16 years before they'd get into the playoffs again (losing to the Cardinals in the NLCS in 1987). Not just the 4 hall of famers Mays, McCovey, Marichal and Gaylord Perry, but a phenomenal breakout year from Bobby Bonds, then tagged to be "the next Mays" (one could argue it would be his son Barry instead).

I would have loved to have seen this team play at windy Candlestick Park that season. You can watch the Pirates beat them in the 1971 NLCS here. Alas, I was 3 that year, but when I became a Giants diehard a good 5-6 years later, I schooled myself with the memory of our most recent team in the playoffs, and hoped for more soon. That I had to wait until my junior year of college made it all the more sweet, I guess.

Here are some of those '71 NLDS champs, immortalized by Topps at the start of the season.

 

 

 

 

A Few '72s - Because We Love '72s

Not sure if I'm ultimately going to go all-in on 1972 Topps and get the full set, but I really enjoy the look of these things. It was retro the day it was released, though I'm not sure that was the intention. I've already collected the entire 1972 Topps San Francisco Giants team, but there's a part of me that wants to pour it on with this set and go all the way.

It may be that I'm into this era because I was barely sentient when it was occuring. I turned 4 as the 1971 season was coming to a close. I missed Vida Blue's historic year, and Mickey Lolich's 25-14 record. I missed the Pirates beating the Orioles in the World Series. That said, when I did get really into baseball in 1977, I bought some used "preview magazines" from this era, and read them cover to cover. Guys who were totally out of baseball by the time I learned about them - Harmon Killebrew, Frank Howard, 1971 NL MVP Joe Torre - were absolutely still raking in '71. I was fascinated with these relics from another era then, and I'm still moderately fascinated now.

So here are a small handful of the 1972 Topps cards I have purchased or acquired, with many more to go. All picked up at Lefty's Sports Cards in Burlingame, CA - my local card shop. May it please open again soon.