Day Seven - 1959 Topps Mudcat Grant #186 (IP Auto)

Day 7: A Card You Bought in Person and the Story Behind It

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the seventh 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 - I made a post about this one back in January of 2016, when I attended TwinsFest. I was really bummed out that my favorite player Kennys Vargas was not going to be there (He was on the schedule when I purchased my ticket, but a few days later he was removed from the list), but I had plans to get Glen Perkins and Kurt Suzuki to sign some things, so the day was not a total wash. Suzuki was in the very first round of players on the day, so I was kind of wandering around the vendor tables aimlessly while I waited for Glen Perkins to arrive later in the day.
I assumed that Suzuki and Perkins would be the only autographs I would try to get at the show (they were the two players I actually brought things to sign), but out of curiosity I checked the schedule again, and I'm really glad I did. The line was already forming for the next group. It was then that I noticed that the table would include Jim "Mudcat" Grant, signing autographs for just $5!

The only problem-- All my vintage was at home. It's not like I carry all my cards with me everywhere I go. So, I had a very simple goal - to find the very best Mudcat Grant card of all-time (in under 10 minutes). I made a bee-line for one table in particular, having purchased vintage from this vendor many times before. No Luck! I went to two more tables before I found it staring right back at me.
Normally when I buy I card I already own, I kick myself for not updating my lists, or not checking them before buying. This time I did it on purpose. The 1959 Topps card is the only one that shows Grant as Mudcat instead of Jim. A fair consolation would have been his 1972 Topps card with the A's, but this was the one I wanted him to sign. I waited in line about 90 minutes to get Grant's auto. I was towards the end of the line that started forming about half an hour before the signing session started, and I joined it after A) realizing Grant was there and B) finding a card for him to sign.
But it was totally worth it. As the line snaked back and forth, I would get closer to the table, then farther away. He was a great sport, very patient with the adults. But you could tell that he preferred signing for kids much more. The kid in front of me was 6 years old (Mudcat asked him his age) and the two of them had a great short conversation. He'd been signing autographs for nearly an hour by that point, so I was glad that a younger collector was in front of me. When I got to him I didn't say much other than thanks for coming to Twinsfest and thanks very much for the autograph.  

Since these are basically one card posts, why not show the backs, too? This card might actually be an upgrade condition-wise over the card with my other '59s.

An Honorable mention:

I picked this card up on Saturday at my local card shop. I wanted to find a sorting tray, which I found out about from the Sport Card Collectors blog. I was able to get a tray for just a few bucks, and I was happy to get it at the shop instead of online. Not a particularly interesting story, but now I am having a really exciting week sorting cards!

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.

Twinsfest 2016

There were long lines for some of the stars, but we waited patiently like good Minnesotans.

Mudcat! 80 years young.

from L-R: Dan Gladden, Cory Provus (Radio Play-by-play), and Jose Berrios. Gladden was sharing stories about playing baseball in Puerto Rico and eating goat for the first time.

A view of the field and the Minneapolis skyline - That Snow is going melt before Opening Day, we hope.

One of three autographs I waited for this morning.

Twinsfest was a great time - I'll share the great finds tomorrow!

Gearing up for Twinsfest

I don't that one's got the distance, Dave.

 This weekend is Twinsfest, the annual fundraiser for the Twins Community fund. A Ticket gets you into Target Field, where you can meet players, get autographs, check out card vendors, buy tickets for the upcoming season, take tours of the facility, and more. There's lots of free games for the kids to play, but don't worry - there's just as much or more things to spend money to get.

 I was browsing COMC and decided to add a few things to my cart. I sometimes wish the regular Score Select set was blue, too.

 Lots of Kenny Lofton cards to be found, all ages and points inbetween.

 A cameo by Mr. Eddie Murray.

Why stop at one Kenny when you can have Kennys? Kennyses? I had my eye on that Jackie Robinson Day parallel for quite some time. Was very happy another one popped up at a reasonable price. Sadly, Kennys is not going to be at Twinsfest this year, according to the latest schedule. I am getting worried the Twins are going to cut ties with him before the season is over, especially since the signing of Korean slugger Byung-ho Park. Park was a beast in the KBO, hitting over 100 homers over the last two seasons. He's a DH/1B, at least that's how the Twins will be using him, which means Kennys is a guy without a spot on the depth chart.