Vic Janowicz
 

In todays mail, one of my collecting buddies sent me two hits to my 1951 Topps "Magic" Football set #33 John Petitbon and #10 Vic Janowicz. Only two more cards to complete my set! Then I look in my trusted "Standard Catalog" and discover the Janowicz is not only his RC, but the most expensive card in the set?

And as I have proven over and over again here on the football board, I know nothing about the guys pictured on these little pieces of cardboard. I'm a baseball card collector at heart, and I know that I've seen Janowicz pictured on some early 50s Topps and Bowman baseball cards.

Janowicz played college football at Ohio State University and he won the Heisman Trophy in 1950 as a junior.

After college, Janowicz passed up offers to play professional football in order to pursue a baseball career. He reached the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but hit only .214 over two seasons as a bench player. He returned to football late in the 1954 season with the Washington Redskins, and was their starting halfback in 1955. During training camp in 1956, he suffered a serious brain injury in an automobile accident that left him partially paralyzed and ended his athletic career.

Janowicz eventually made a full recovery and became a broadcaster of Buckeye football games.

Vic Janowicz died in 1996.

Larry
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Larry,
This is an interesting set you are putting together. What are your last 2 cards needed?

SMR also shows this card as the most valuable in the set - about 3x the next most valuable card in some cases - I'm stumped as to an explanation.

I'm not sure why Janowicz being valuable is so hard to understand.

The set is a set of College Football players, Janowicz was the best college player at that moment and won the Heisman Trophy in 1950. He was also an early 2 sport athlete and played for a highly popular school (Ohio State). All those things together make him somewhat valuable, even though his NFL and MLB careers were less than most expected.

Well.... just looking at SMR which admititly isn't a great indicator, in the PSA 5 grade, the card is more valuable than a 48 Leaf Steve Van Buren, Charlie Trippi, Bob Waterfield.... A 50 Bowman Joe Perry, Marion Motley, etc. So yeah, a bit surprising if the Heisman and Ohio State are the only explanations.

Don't quote SMR, John. PLEEASE. That thing is such a crock. If anybody believes it's accurate I've got some swamp land in FL to sell you. Stop, stop, stop using SMR. Whenever a dealer quotes SMR, I just walk away as they just demonstrated they either 1) don't know what they are doing or 2) are trying to take advantage of me. In either case, I'm moving on.

VCP has a PSA 5 average for Janowicz at $146. Van Buren Leaf PSA 5 is $214.
I'm actually surprised its that close but realize it IS Janowicz's rookie card which gives it some value. The 1951 Topps set is sooo cheap because there isn't a single card besides Janowicz that raises an eyebrow.

jeff

1955 Bowman FB
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1956 Topps FB
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1953 Topps BB
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1954 Topps BB
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1954 Bowman BB
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1955 Bowman BB
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Hi Jeff, From my experience SMR is fine for most cards. I collect HOF rookies (at least what the registry calls a rookie) and it's always pretty close.

For example, I won my PSA 5 Steve Van Buren at auction for around 110 within the past year. 214 on that card is way high and I'll tell you why. And honestly I'm not trying to be a jerk as you are one of my best collecting colleagues. VCP includes the blue sock variation which sells much higher. They distinguish the yellow jersey, but not the blue sock. I tried to tell them, but we weren't speaking the same language and I gave up.

You can double check, but I think VCP average includes BINs and collectors can overpay in a BIN situation - I've done it. And again, needs verification, I believe the average excludes results from over 2? years ago approximately, so even though they correctly exclude "old" results, "old" is subjective and I've noticed times this makes the average less than my gut tells me the next one will sell for. I get your point though - VCP is great - includes a lot of results, not just eBay and is based on ACTUAL data. I can use it how I like - usually I just pick relevant auctions, mix with my subjective opinion, and come up with a valuation. All that said, I don't usually find it's much different than SMR or my SMR + $15 for HOFers rule of thumb. On a 500 dollar card, sure I should do my homework, but on a $50 dollar card.... Eh, SMR and an eBay search is usually ok.

If dealers are quoting you SMR, maybe you should listen - you may get a deal!!! Check out SMR on high numbered 35 Chicles....

With regard to this card - still seems high to me, but if I needed it for my set, I'm sure I'd pay market rate. I'd hate to reveal what I paid for my Bull Tosi who while I'm sure was a good guy, and has a card that is very nice aesthetically, had a short undistinguished playing career. In that case though, at least I understand the price driver.

Finally, I think you see what I'm getting at. Janowicz 51 card is at least somewhat price comparable (assuming the same condition) to the first mainstream issue cards from similar years of some of the games' all-time great players - Van Buren, Trippi, Waterfield, Motley, Perry, etc. Interesting stuff. The one thing I can think of is we didn't have a lot (any) mainstream sets between 35 and 48. So a 48 Van Buren is somewhat late - not exactly an LSU Van Buren, say one existed. With Perry and Motley, their cards are somewhat late because we needed the AAFC to merge in with the NFL before we got mainstream cards of those guys. And Janowicz is a true college card like the 48 Leaf Doak Walker. I still feel like I'm grasping at straws though. I guess it's full circle back to the Heisman as an explanation - maybe this: http://www.psacard.com/psasetregistr...t.aspx?s=16039

Heisman all the way
 

I've been collecting Heisman autos since I was 12. The Heisman factor is the main reason it carries a premium. Plus early topps FB(Felts and magic) are way cool and collectible.

That's just my opinion take it how you will.

Matt, thanks - makes sense. And nice auto! Looking at the magic checklist, it looks like it didn't wind up with any HOFers? I saw Bill Wade who led his team to a title, but as a pro collector and not college, the set is heavy on names I don't recognize.

I'm from Austin and everything University of Texas carried a premium down here. Mix that with pre Ebay days. I looked forever, at every show, for the Byron Townsend from that set. The day I found one I was so happy you would have thought I found a Mantle rookie for a dollar. I think those first two topps FB sets are tougher than we believe. I feel they don't get the love they deserve because they are all of college players. Of course you would have to discredit the popularity of the 55 AA for that theory to be true. If a felt Paterno or Darrell Royal doesn't do it for you; I don't know what will. Still never seen a Royal in person.

The 51 Magic is a great set. Good hunting to you.

All good points, John. It appears VCP now DOES differentiate the blue sock variation as it has its own listing now. I was using the Blue Jersey category for the price I quoted and didn't recognize that the Green Jersey is substantially lower. My bad on that. VCP does include BINs but I don't see anything wrong with that as compared to SMR. My understanding is SMR is collected by asking dealers what they charge for cards and that might have a BIN flavor to it as well.

I agree that for some cards it is close but for thinly traded / pre-war cards my experience has been that it's not close at all. SRM tends to be what dealers WISH they could sell those cards for instead of what they actually do. Yes, there are exceptions but again my experience is that dealers just don't quote SMR if they think its too low ... only when they think its too high!

Finally, its hard to trust any pricing guide that owned and operated by a grading company. Same with Beckett. Just too many conflicts to account for.

I do agree that Janowicz value is mostly due to his Heisman stature and that's good thing in my book.

jeff

You're right Matt, the '51 Magic set is a great little set. And cheap too! Here's a scan of the Townsend card in my set: (near set haha)
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Larry- that card has the infamous tower on it too. My dad was on campus when that sh*t went down. Definitely a darker part of Austin history.

8/1/66 I was thirteen years old in Southern California. I must have forgotten about this.
Larry

Vic Janowicz
 

The reason the Janowicz card is higher is that there was a period in time he was attempting to buy everyone of his rookie cards. It drove up the price and created a shortage. I've heard the story a few times back in the day.


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Thanks Carl - that's really interesting. There was a hoarding story in ESPN the Magazine about a baseball card.... Curt Flood? not long ago.

I didn't know there was some hoarding going on with this card. That's very interesting.

Another card that I've heard is hard to find because the player buys them all up is the 1948 Leaf Jim White. You'll notice the price of this one is usually more than other commons in the lower half of the set.

jeff

Topps 1973 Reprints
 

He shows up, under an alias, in one of the most bizarre Topps baseball sets of all times, referred to as the 1973 Reprint set. The purpose of the set is a mystery as is how Topps managed to get 3 of the 8 cards in the set wrong, including Vic's. Can you spot the other two misidentified players

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http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/...539/img156.jpg

I didn't know you spelled Antonelli F-U-R-I-L-L-O

1973 Topps 1953 Reprints
 

You do not, nor do you spell it your way :)

It's funny - I just saw this in a catalog recently - I think it was an AH catalog, but I'm not sure - I page through whatever comes in the mail and I remember I thought this was strange and actually read the write up. Probably when I was younger, I could tell you who's auction it was - oh well - maybe someone else saw it and can let us know. It mentioned the 3 errors and I recall it said something to the effect Topps was holding a dinner party and these 8 card sets were party favors - don't recall if they were putting this out as a theory or fact.

Clyde McCullough is Vic Janowicz?

Al Rosen is Jim Fridley. But I had to look through my cards:)
Larry
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