A pair of cards made their way to me from Wes, who has been sending out stacks left and right all summer long!
Hey look a bat rack card! Bo from Baseball Cards Come To Life! sent over a few envelopes this summer, packed to to gills with 1973 and 1974 Topps.
Paul Casanova played for the Indianapolis Clowns, did you know that? I did, thanks to the back of his card. That's the same Indianapolis Clowns that Hank Aaron played for before he was signed to the big leagues, but it was 1961 for Paul, after the Negro Leagues had broken up. Indianapolis was an Independent team at that point. They would continue barnstorming in the 60s and didn't officially disband until the 1980s. The film "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings" is loosely based on their post Negro Leagues barnstorming teams.
The famous Luis Alvarado "used car lot" double play card makes an appearance as well!
Some of the cards were "well loved" and that's A-ok with me! A little personality goes a long way.
I've been unofficially working on a set of all cards that feature the "21" Roberto Clemente Tribute patch. The 1974 Topps set is where most of them can be found.
According to the back of his card, Thurman Munson's nickname was "Squatty" - which I guess makes sense for a catcher, though I don't think I would call him that to his face! Bo, thanks so much for these, sorry it took me so long to say so!
Awesome pickups here! And I'm glad to see a Dodger card squeak into your post. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteI do like the Dodgers - probably one of the top 5 teams for me, but the blog tends to lean Twins when I'm not set building.
DeleteSome nice cards here. Fergie, Vida, Bowa, Munson, McCovey as a Padre, a Belanger action shot.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite on the page is probably Don Wilson - I get a kick out of the early Astros uniforms and I'm sucker for cards that feature a player cracking a big smile. Baseball is fun!
DeleteGlad you like them! Believe it or not I was trying to give you the best copies I had for these. My '73s and '74s are not in very good shape. For some reason my '72s are much much better, maybe the cardstock was a little sturdier that year.
ReplyDeleteI very rarely am concerned with condition, and actually a card with "flaws" sometimes can be better than one encased in plastic.
DeleteTons of great vintage here. Love the 73T George Scott with the Campy cameo and the Gene Tenace... I mean Joe Rudi card. But my favorite card is the Suzuki. That's an awesome photo with his daughter. I'm looking forward to watching your rainbow grow.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be a tough one - hard enough to build a rainbow when you're trying to compete for those low print run parallels as they hit eBay. But I bet I can make a nice dent in it!
DeleteThat Sparky Lyle is about as well-loved as well-loved can be! Looks like it's covered in spider webs. Also seeing all these '73 Topps in the same place just makes me admire that set more and more.
ReplyDelete