Day Seventeen - 1948 Bowman Ewell "The Whip" Blackwell #2

Day 17: A Card From the First Set You Put Together Hand Collated

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the seventeenth of 30 posts, using the prompts provided. I won't necessarily post one every day, but I will do one for each card, toss in a few "insights" (as insightful as I can be, anyway), and usually include an honorable mention or two, just because I'm like that.

Here's my pick - the other Day on the countdown that was similar to this one asked about the first set I tried to complete. In that case I went with a card from the 2014 Topps Heritage set, which I did complete before I finished this one. So, the "twist" I'm adding here is that 1948 Bowman is the first set I finished without buying any packs. the 2014 sets were still available in retail stores when I finished it, and you'll still find a loose pack in a repack box from that set. You won't find many 1948 Bowman packs lying around. There's one wrapper on eBay right now going for just a hair under $4,000, no cards included. I don't plan on making an offer for that one anytime soon...
I finished the 1948 Bowman set in about a year - starting with this card of Ewell Blackwell.

Since these are basically one card posts, why not share the backs, too? This is especially true for the 1948 Bowman set. The backs are the main reason I wanted to complete it. Bowman was Score before Score, the copy on the backs taught you a little bit about the player, how they did in the most recent season, and because of the era, often included a sentence about their military service. The set (which is a tidy 48 cards) is filled with great nicknames, another reason to have an interest in the reverse side. The side arm delivery of the wiry 6'5" hurler earned him the nickname "The Whip." This set, despite being small, oddly sized, b&w and not particularly sexy, is still one of my favorites of all-time.

Honorable Mention:

Ewell Blackwell was the first card that I purchased to build the 1948 Bowman set, this Tigers Rookie Stars card is the last one I needed to complete the 1965 O-Pee-Chee set. The 65 set goes to just card #283, and the mid 200s and above seem to be harder to find than the rest of the set. This one is #259, and there was a copy on eBay for more than I wanted to pay for months and months before this one finally popped up in an auction. The rest of the "high numbers" seemed to pop up regularly, but this one eluded me after all the others fell into place, either online or in person.

The Joy Of A Completed Set - 1948 Bowman

Yesterday, I posted about finding Phil Rizzuto. He was one of the final three cards I needed to complete the 1948 Bowman set. Once I had the "big" guy out of the way, the last two cards seemed ripe for the taking.

 #11 - Johnny Lindell (I got what I thought was an amazing deal on this card - it was listed in VG-Ex condition on eBay, I figured out why later)

 #46 Herm "Wee" Wehmeier - funny for a 6'2" guy to be called "Wee" but it's all good.

 Now do you see why Johnny was such a great deal? Trimmed. Sad Trombone. It doesn't bother me too much though, as I already had two other trimmed cards in this set (the only way I could afford them, by the way...)


So, without further ado, here is my 1948 Bowman set, in all it's low conditioned glory:

 Hall of Famers Kiner, Feller, Berra, and Rizzuto.

 I will probably seek out an upgrade on Bob Elliott - card #1 in the older sets are often on the top of kid's stacks, so condition can be rough. I'd like a little cleaner front image than this one...

 Hall of Famers Spahn and Slaughter

 Check out the great story on Jack "Lucky" Lohrke.

 Hall of Famer Stan Musial

One of the reasons I built this set is for all the fantastic nicknames- Snuffy, Available Jones, Billy the Bull, The Antelope . . .

 Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst

This set jump started the modern era of cardboard - Bowman was joined in 1948 by Leaf, then Topps jumped on board a few years after that and the rest is history. At just 48 cards, this was an "easy" set to build. I had a lot of help from a vendor in the Twin Cities last year - Kurt - who is now in North Carolina. Most of the cards came from his table at shows. He helped me find Musial, Berra, and Spahn at prices I could afford and in condition I could enjoy. Johnny Lindell was the last card I needed. Rizzuto, Wehmeier and Lindell were all ordered within a few days of one another.

Thanks for reading!

Something Old and Something New (2016 Goal Achieved!)

Very exciting news this morning, as I have reached another goal on my list for 2016. I now have in my possession the last of the big rookies from the 1948 Bowman set, one Mr. Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto!

Sure, it's beat to Hell and has a serious crease through the middle, but that's exactly why I bid on it (fits in my price range beautifully!)

Here's the back:

In other news, the Minnesota Twins finally won a baseball game in 2016! I can finally breathe again. Hopefully it doesn't take too long for win #2. I was wrong about Topps not giving Kennys Vargas a card in 2016 - he's part of the Twins Mini Team Set:

He might end up being in Series Two for all I know, though he'll probably need to get called up from AAA for that to happen.

Twinsfest 2016 - the cards

 The Twins hold a mini yard sale within the Twinsfest event, selling items from their archives - This official scorebook from the 1991 World Series was like new.

 1979 Sportcasters - these are really thin and really big- Bert was a couple teams removed from the Twins when this came out, pitching for Pittsburgh. The back even referenced the trade from Texas for Al Oliver.

 Larry Jansen! This one gets me one card closer to finishing 1948 Bowman. No Rizzuto Rookie at the show.

 1964 Topps Giant.

 the back of the Giant Killer.

 Lots of cheap Mauer cards...

 And Puckett cards - though I had most of the cards for sale. There were three vendors selling the 1984 Fleer Update card, but none for the price I was offering to pay.

 My first IP auto - ever. I always feel a little weird about getting these, and I hate lines with a fiery passion. But getting this auto allowed me to do this:

 Getting a Twins Team Set of the 2014 All-Star Game, autographed.

 This was a real treat! Mudcat was having a great conversation with a 6 year old in line in front of me, and had a big laugh. I didn't even know when I came to the show that he would be there, but once I saw that he was signing for just $5, I found a copy of his 1959 Topps card (the only Topps Base card with "Mudcat") and got in line. I had to wait for about 90 minutes to see him, but it was more than worth it.

 Just a couple more fun ones I found for a great deal. Then it was time for some Set Building:

 Can't beat 1956 Topps.

 There was a copy of Mantle available - but I didn't have or want to spend $300 total at the show, let alone on one piece of cardboard. It has some flaws (rounded corners, a tiny speck of paper loss on the back, some light staining on the edges) but it was otherwise a beautiful card. Oh Well, we'll have to see how I do after tax time and after I invest in my house a bit.. Probably not meant to be!

 Here was my favorite of the new 56s - Billy Pierce running out a bunt!

And I couldn't end the post without showing at least one of these 1956 backs.

The future ain't what it used to be, Yogi.

Today, Kurt is "The Man"

"Saturday is Card Show Day" is my usual refrain and Blog Title for attending the card show, but today I have to give a shout out to the vintage guy. Kurt is moving to Raleigh, and it is our loss and the East Coast's gain. Kurt had a couple set needs for me set aside, and we'll get to those eventually. But anyone reading the blog that attends card shows in Raleigh, you're in for a treat. Kurt has treated me better than any other vendor at the shows in MN, and it won't be the same without him.

It was a big day at the card show!

How big? Well, take a gander at how freaking thick this card is...

 Compare it to a single 1967 Topps Zoilo Versalles!

 Speaking of Zoilo Versalles, I picked up a couple Twins from Kurt's .50 boxes

Some "at the bat rack"  mini collection guys....

 a 1980 Junior Ortiz card?!?! Don't mind if I do. Nice shades, Junior.

 an Odd Great One

"Frequent" . . . Ya think?

I rarely collect any football,  but the fact that he's the holder for a kick is pretty cool. Impressive mustache, too. Those three also came in a big bargain box. I also found a dime box down the aisle:

I somehow missed Jose Canseco's Expos days. He's secretly a Blue Jay in that Leaf card.

Between the dime box and the bargain vintage, I picked up some serious trade bait, too.

 A big lot from this set

 And lots more fun vintage here.

Speaking of vintage, I decided to start more seriously collecting the 1969 Deckle Edge set -I'll be adding a line to my vintage want list soon.

ALOUS!

Set building continues on the 1956 Topps set . . . Slow and steady!

 Now things are getting interesting!

 Dave's Rookie Card was at a price I couldn't pass up. Dave was born on the same day as Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard Round The World" - fun fact!

 I told about some set needs that Kurt helped me with... Blackwell is an upgrade, but this next guy...

 IS THE MAN!!!

This card is trimmed and guess who has two thumbs and doesn't care? THIS GUY. I am very nearly done with the 1948 Bowman set, and I couldn't have done it without Kurt's help. He was able to work with my limited budget to find cards that made both vendor and buyer happy.
Thanks again Kurt!