Saturday is NOT Card Show Day

I myself first realized that this was not a card show day when I arrived at the strip mall that hosts the monthly show and no one else was there... Oh well, always nice to take in the lovely weather. So, instead of showing more of my 1959 Topps set build (didn't add any new cards today), here are the other cards I added from the last couple shows.

Jerry Kindall knows a thing or two about Minnesota winter weather - he was a St. Paul kid and a University of MN standout. He hit for the cycle in the College World Series in 1956 and after his MLB career returned as the coach of the Golden Gophers in the 1970s. He was the first person to win the College World Series as a player and then win again as a manager.

Hey, Let's Add Two Cubs!

I don't like to show the price tags for the most part, but for this card is was an integral part of the story. I have said it enough times now that I'm not a big fan of the 1953 Topps set. I don't have any cards on my want list because I don't have any intention of adding any more to my collection. But here we are, talking about another new card added from the set. I am fairly certain I will not be able to afford a copy of Hoyt's 1952 Topps card, so when I found a copy of his 1953 card for just $10, I had to add it. If it was closer to the book value, I think I would have passed on it.

There you go - less tacky this way.

1952 Topps Horizontal cards, on the other hand, will always be on the list for me! This card has two good corners and two missing corners, which made the Hall of Famer an affordable addition!

Some more random finds included this Doc Gooden Leaf Rookie Card. The Gooden box bottom from the 1985 Donruss card is one of my favorite cards of the 80s, so it was fun to add this card as well.

Along with the French translation on the back, the Leaf card also has a "Rookie Of The Year" stamp over the stat block. When I first saw this, I thought someone added this after the fact, but looking at some other examples on COMC, it looks like it appears on all of them.

The rest of the haul included some more recent releases, There was a decent deal to be had buying all of these together from the same vendor.

The same vendor also had some relic and autographs for sale, and I picked up a pair of Adrian Beltre cards, who just has to wait a few more years before he can be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

This looks like a bat relic, but the disclaimer on the back doesn't use the word bat at all, and is keen to point out that this "game-used memorabilia" is not from any specific game, season, or event.... It could be from an Adrian Beltre bat, but I guess we'll never know for sure! 

COMC Haul - The Minnesota Not Twins

Saint Paul has 3 Hall of Famers that called it home - Winfield, Molitor, and Jack Morris. It was also the birthplace of John Anderson, who made 24 major league pitching appearances. The zipper is a neat feature on that jersey, and of course that distinctive wind blown lock of hair stands out.

Bill Davis was a big time power prospect out of Richfield High School (just south of Minneapolis) and the University of Minnesota. In 1965 in the minors he hit 33 homers, and that made Topps very interested in the young man for the rest of the 1960s:

They only need 2 photos to get 4 more Bill Davis cards. He had 71 minor league homers overall, but just one at the major league level. There's a nice SABR biography of Davis by Daniel Leavitt, who at 6'6" was a two sport star at the U of MN.

Minneapolis was home to Yankee Johnny Blanchard, who attended the now defunct Central High. His 8 year major league career included 2 W.S. titles. He was primarily a reserve, but was used extensively in the post season- He had a pair of homers in the 1961 series, and hit .345 overall in 15 post season games over 5 seasons.
Lefty Tom Burgmeier  appeared in 745 games in the majors was also born in Saint Paul, but he attended high school (Up North!) in Saint Cloud. He was an All-Star in 1980, saving 24 games for the Boston Red Sox. For his career he had a 3.45 ERA and won 79 games while saving 102 others.
Alex Call is from Burnsville, MN attending High School in Thief River Falls, WI and Sam Carlson is from Savage, MN originally, but went to Burnsville High School! So that's neat.

Jim Brower and Jim Crowell pitched for short stints in the mid 2000s, while the Eisenreich bros saw playing time in various outfields in the 80s and 90s. Big brother Jim had the longer career. 

There were and are still plenty of Minnesotans in the minor leagues still waiting or never getting their shot in the Show, but there's still time for many of these guys.

The other Hall of Famer from MN? Charles Albert Bender, who was born in Crow Wing County. Not long into his youth he was taken to a boarding school in Ohio, where he would ultimately learn the finer points of athletics before become a literal Athletic for Connie Mack.

This postcard is a reprint from a pre-war issue of Bender in the prime of his A's career. All of these were acquired in the latest COMC binge, taking advantage of the Spring Sale.