January 2022 Pickups...
 

As the calendar page turns, it's time to meet the new cards, same as the old cards...


This 1971 Topps Greatest Moments Piniella makes 19 different for me, so I am officially over one third of the way through a set that I will never, ever complete...

Attachment 495651


And I was also ecstatic to get my hands on two more impossible-to-find-centered 1972s...

Attachment 495652

Few upgrades for my 68 set..

My latest pickup. I am posting over here, because I think Jolly's thread has higher standards for what is a dead-centered card than the other one.

:p HA!

Nice centering. I like that Mantle, and never really understood why it generally has a bad rap. Yes, it's older Mick - but he's smiling, which cannot be said for a lot (any?) of his other 60's cards. The '67 design is generally considered among the best of the decade. I guess people don't like the brick wall and the closeness of the shot.

Man, do I agree!!
For a head shot, it's pretty frickin' awesome. If he wasn't wearing his Yankees hat, then it might verge on the awful, but I have simply never understood the disdain that some people have for this card.

It's true that it does often appear "washed out", in that his face is too white - even in high grade examples, but you can find copies that are not. It's certainly not a "bad" Mantle card. The '68 is pretty blah in comparison IMO.

I don't mind the 67 Mick...it's a Mick and I have a couple nice ones. The picture just doesn't fit the rest of the cards in the set. Picture the Mick posed like Colavito...I bet it would be worth even more and would have captured the look of the 67s better. I always think they missed the mark.


Jolly...cool 71 Piniella...I literally know nothing about that set other than what you post. Are there a few rare ones keeping it impossible? SPs? I love the look of them...

Picked this up last night...this card is really getting popular and has certainly increased in price since the last time I bought it. Lost several auctions on this lately! First solo card of most likely a future HOFer. I am down to needing 2 more 65 Topps cards for my duplicate set (Perez RC and Banks)


https://i.ibb.co/rmHFvVP/65-Allen.jpg

The Piniella is really sharp. My feeling is the person who got it graded checked the 'no qualifiers' box, so it came back a 6 instead of an 8 OC. Fine by me. If you look on eBay, the vast majority of them are the double prints, the commons if you will. They are still pretty pricey, though, because they're truly hard to find. The big problem is all of the single prints (a boatload of which are HOFers). My gawsh do those prices soar through the roof!! So far, I only have 6 SPs, including the Piniella.

Here's an article:
https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...t-moments-set/

January 2022 Pickups...
 

While it might be preferable to have Mantle in more of an action shot, tight portraits are pretty common in '67 too, including for other stars. Mays, Clemente, Santo, Mathews, and Maris come to mind. I don’t think Topps really considered things like that back then. They were not phoning it in yet for the most part obviously in 1967, but it’s not like they had competition to worry about.

I agree about the skin tones on this card. You can find the Mick's face in many shades from light pink to bright orange and the background can vary from teal to blue. Also, the card I posted is a variation with a red dot above the S in YANKEES.

Artist just sent me a picture. I am crazy happy how amazing this cut card piece turned out. Can't wait to get it in hand.

Congrats, Ben. That's amazing.

Thank you, they are kinda addicting as I have 6 different ones now.:D

Thanks again Ben! Your commissions are some of the most fun to create - always challenging!

Got my COMC delivery today, and I'm especially ecstatic over this foursome of beauties (especially since the Mays cards aren't plastic-incarcerated, so I can actually hold them in my hands)...

Attachment 497423

...and I only now realized that the 1967, 1969 (and 1966, duh!) Mays cards are **seemingly** from the same photoshoot, taken just moments apart. His face/smile is exactly the same. And look at how consistent the bunching/placement of the brown undershirt is in both photos. The 'lowness' of it on his left side, and the lapel flip is a match, too. Huh.

Took a picture of my new toy in daylight; I'm gonna Flat Stanley this thing...

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...box%20view.jpg

Sheesh. Congrats!


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John is this your first time seeing this? Because it's been on Net54 more than your '63 Koufax.

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Yeah. I only briefly looked at this thread today on my phone.

Hank Aaron's last mainstream baseball card. 76 Topps.

Nice one, Dale. You putting together an Aaron run?

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Thanks, Al.

No run, just purchasing random cards here and there so when I seen this one up from a seller who has treated me very well over the years, I decided to grab it up.

Nice day at the mailbox today:

https://baseball-trivia-game.com/images/71_topps.jpg

https://baseball-trivia-game.com/images/tiant_rc.jpg

I posted these in the Mantle thread, but then Adam "Exhibitman" posted his 1952 Mantle and completely blew me out of the water. Maybe I should have posted them over hear to begin with. :D ;)

Nice ones David.

As a fluke, I just recently picked up a "Baseball Thrills" and a "Rival All Stars" as well.
I picked up mine raw, and plan on sending them to SGC in a couple weeks.
I'd say mine are going to be mid - lower grade, but strong eye appeal also.

Following a '52 Mantle isn't easy to trump, but I have to continuously remind myself that a "BIG card" for some of us, isn't "BIG" for others. I personally may never get a '52 Topps Mantle, especially anytime soon. But I still find satisfaction with "lesser cards". Having to start your entire collection over is humbling, but yet you learn to appreciate cards that you might not have fully appreciated otherwise. I can appreciate a sharp looking $100 card, just as easy as I can appreciate a $25k card now.

Here is the Rival All Stars card that came in today.


https://i.imgur.com/I8wfqV6.jpg



:)

Picked this up in a trade with someone on the board. Now down to just Bench and Perez to complete the 1971 Topps Greatest Moments set.

Good luck on closing the set out Jay! Very nice accomplishment

Not a card but an incredible item to pair with my Dave Hoskins card collection, shown here.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...516047c746.jpg

If you don’t know his story, Hoskins, who pitched briefly for the Indians in the 1950s, starred as an outfielder with the Homestead Grays. You might recognize at least two of his legendary teammates.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8b3acbed4e.gif

Between the Negro Leagues and the American League, Hoskins integrated the Texas League in 1952. He was the league’s top pitcher and third best hitter and his team, the Dallas Eagles, set attendance records whenever he pitched. Still, as chronicled by his 1954 Topps card, he received racist death threats.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7c3e996dc9.jpg

There are a couple collectibles from that Dallas season that I’m not sure I’ll ever find, but what I did find (and won tonight!) is this ball signed by the entire 1952 Dallas Eagles team. The Hoskins signature is shown here, and other parts of the ball include Don Mossi, Dutch Meyer, and Eddie Knoblauch.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c24bb94b6e.jpg

Very, very excited to add this to my collection.

I don't have a pickup. I just wanted to bump the "real" January 2022 pickup thread to the top.;)

OK, but now you have to go buy something to post! :D

What we got here is 'dueling pickup threads'...

Attachment 498548

These took longer to arrive than expected but finally came today. Two days after I subbed to PSA. Still happy they arrived safely.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...92141c0682.jpg


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Okay, well I had never posted these in the pickups when I got them.

January 2022 Pickups...
 

I’ve done some trading at the LCS lately. Yeah, Pete is OC - but pretty crispy otherwise and with a nice image. I'm doing the whole '67 set, so occasionally have to cut corners when I come across a deal.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3ad8bab9a6.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...97cf5aa3b5.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0660184e24.jpg





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This card is the epitome of this category:
See also: Opportunity Accost - unexpectedly coming across a card (that you may or may not need) and knowing if you don’t buy it immediately at this price, the next person who sees it will undoubtedly jump on it.

I grabbed up this McCovey the moment I saw it (the same seller has a PSA 6 listed for more than twice the price of this one), and continue to chip away at the set...

Attachment 498772


And although this card was quite expensive, I think I got a steal of a deal on it. There were almost 20 watchers, but it ended early in the afternoon when there are much fewer eyes around, so I sniped it for about two bills (and will be forced to eat nothing but ramen for a long while), when I fully expected it to go over three bills, especially with that many watchers!! Yowza!! And, when it comes to the black bordered 1971's, all issues about centering (and this one isn't bad at all) are thrown out the window, and it's all about the (lack of) chipping...

Attachment 498773

A great day at the mailbox.

Pffft. Man that is splitting hairs about centering if you ask me. Who says that that graders weren't tough in the old days? Don't get me wrong, I see it - but wow. Beautiful card, Jolly.

That Ryan is sweet John. Such a nice example. Congrats on snagging that one man.


.

Thanks. If graded it probably would get the PD qualifier. There are some spots on his sleeves, and more errant red ink on the back. I'm over it - the focus and centering on this one are nice, and I was not going to pay a good deal more for essentially the exact same condition on the corners and surface without other flaws. Sometimes you have to find the beauty despite conventional modern grading wisdom...

Couldn't pass it upAttachment 499238Attachment 499239

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What the heck is that?

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Looks like a beautiful Mantle RC! Evidence trimming.

1951 Bowman slightly trimmed.

Nice:)

Looks nicer than the non-existent 51B Mantle in my collection! :D
Nice pickup!

That is way cool, Justin.

It's from the very rare 1951 Bowman mini set.

Send that 51 Mantle to one of the TPGs. There's a good chance they won't notice it's trimmed and give a 5 or 6.