December pickups

[jason.1969]

This will be a December to remember. Leading off, what may now be the best card in my collection, thanks to a fellow board member.j Up next, my first card of Chuck Klein. Hard to believe but these two guys were second and third in all-time HRs by National Leaguers at the time Hank Aaron broke into the majors.

And then pulling up the rear, a nice upgrade over my prior 1974 Aaron, a 1969 Banks that I thought looked nice for the price, and a Joe Morgan rookie card.

Hornsby_1935_DS_SGC_4.5.jpg

Klein_1940_PB_SGC_3.jpg

Aaron_1974.jpg

Banks_1969.jpg

Morgan_1965_RC.jpg

[JollyElm]

I've brought this up before, but it bears repeating. The '69 Banks is ridiculously hard to find centered. Well done!

[KCRfan1]

The photo of '74 Aaron card was taken in Kansas City during the All-Star game in 1973. You can see the Royals score board in the background!

[jason.1969]

Yes, I was really happy with the shape the Ernie Banks was in. I'm not as big on condition as many of you, but another card I had to really hunt for with even decent centering was the 1972 Hank Aaron in Action. So many of these are really, really bad.

And great eye to identify the 1974 Aaron photo as KC. It probably also goes down as Hank's biggest smile on a card.

Finally, in my haste, I forgot to include Mr. October's rookie card. There definitely some wear, particularly on the bottom edge, but it was one I needed for my "Big 50" board, essentially a collection of the 50 best players I can (maybe) afford, focusing on cards from the 1933-1969 sets.

So without further ado, here he is...REGGIE, REGGIE, REGGIE, REGGIE, ...

Jackson_1969_RC.jpg

[MikeGarcia]

.....the bottoms of 1953 Topps really exaggerate any hint of wear....high grades are difficult to find and centering of course is all over the place like any '50's Topps set. I like this one....he's still alive and living in Pottstown Pennsylvania.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by MikeGarcia

.....the bottoms of 1953 Topps really exaggerate any hint of wear....high grades are difficult to find and centering of course is all over the place like any '50's Topps set. I like this one....he's still alive and living in Pottstown Pennsylvania.

Sweet Shantz! Much better centering than mine!

[Beatles Guy]

Originally Posted by jason.1969

This will be a December to remember. Leading off, what may now be the best card in my collection, thanks to a fellow board member.j Up next, my first card of Chuck Klein. Hard to believe but these two guys were second and third in all-time HRs by National Leaguers at the time Hank Aaron broke into the majors.

And then pulling up the rear, a nice upgrade over my prior 1974 Aaron, a 1969 Banks that I thought looked nice for the price, and a Joe Morgan rookie card.

Chuck Klein's 1930 season has to rank up there as one of the best of all time. Just dominant.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by Beatles Guy

Chuck Klein's 1930 season has to rank up there as one of the best of all time. Just dominant.

Klein's dominance was a result of playing his home games at the Baker Bowl. Klein was a left handed pull hitter, and the Baker Bowl had dimensions that are dwarfed by high school parks now. The right field wall was 280 feet, and right center field was only 300 feet.


The Baker Bowl, Philadelphia. A left handed hitter's paradise.

In 1930, his home and away splits are probably the least severe of all his "great" seasons. He saw a drop in 1931, but in 1932, his numbers jumped back up. And the difference between his home and away performance is like night and day.

1930 splits


1932 splits


In 1930, he hit 26 of his 40 home runs at home. His home OPS was 1.278. Away from the Baker Bowl, it was .969. His season would have still been great if you eliminate the Baker Bowl games, and average all the away games over the course of the season-He'd have hit .332 with 54 doubles, 28 home runs and 122 RBI, or slightly better, because at any other home stadium, he;d have recognized some sort of boost. Still an exceptional season.

But look at 1932. After a great 1930 season, his "great" 1932 season is completely the result of his home stadium. At home, he hit .423 with 29 home runs and 97 RBI in 77 games. A .464 OBP, .799 SLG and a 1.263 OPS is mind blowing.

But he's not even an all star away from home. Away from the Baker Bowl, he hit .266 with 9 home runs and 40 RBI. His OBP away from home is 124 points lower. His SLG is 318 points lower. And his OPS drops from a 1.263 to an .821. I don't know of anybody, even playing at Coors Field, who has a 442 point discrepancy between home and road OPS metrics.

He was a .395 hitter career at the Baker Bowl (931 for 2354). Everywhere else, he was a .277 career hitter (1,145 for 4,132). He hit 164 home runs there in 2,354 at bats. He hit 136 in 4,132 at bats everywhere else. His home home run rate was 14.35. One home run every 14.35 at bats. Away from home, his home run rate was 30.4. He hit a home run every 30.4 at bats. He hit home runs in a stadium measuring 300 feet at right center field more than twice as often. Shocking, I know.

In 1934, at age 29, still in his early prime, his numbers plummeted when he went to the Cubs. In 1933, he hit .368 playing for Philadelphia. The next season, as a Cub, he hit .301. His OPS dropped from 1.025 to .882.

The bottom line? The Baker Bowl made Chuck Klein a Hall of Famer.

[the 'stache]

Nice, Chris! Pistol Pete, and the Great One. I, too, will be doing some of that. I want to add Wayne's rookie, as well as Lemieux, Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Rocket Richard, etc. I wan to add Wilt, Magic and Bird, MJ, the great hoopsters.

But baseball and football will dominate my collection, with baseball clearly at the top of the mountain.

Just two more adds this week. Nothing special, but a baby step closer to the finish line.



The Robinson I thought might be trimmed. Don't ask me why, I mean, who trims a 1975 Frank Robinson? It's a shade light left to right (about 2 pixels of 250). But it's about 3 pixels too deep top to bottom. And no signs of trimming.

It will do until I get a PSA graded. I love the centering, so it's a good temporary.

[Bestdj777]

[QUOTE=the 'stache;1353591]Nice, Chris! Pistol Pete, and the Great One. I, too, will be doing some of that. I want to add Wayne's rookie, as well as Lemieux, Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Rocket Richard, etc. I wan to add Wilt, Magic and Bird, MJ, the great hoopsters.

But baseball and football will dominate my collection, with baseball clearly at the top of the mountain.[QUOTE]

Thanks! I am a huge baseball fan, but I thought it would be nice to go for a four sport theme to my collection. I picked up some game used items from every major sports, and I figured I'd try to get at least one iconic rookie from each as well. Now I just need to find an affordable Namath to round things out.

Love the set you are working on. Gorgeous cards.

[KingFisk]

Nice pickups everyone....haven't been getting too much worth posting lately, but pretty happy with this one...the scratches are on the case, not the card itself....

[VintageBucs]

My first graded pickup for my 1959 set, hoping for all HOF'ers in PSA 6 or above

[jason.1969]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

Klein's dominance was a result of playing his home games at the Baker Bowl...The bottom line? The Baker Bowl made Chuck Klein a Hall of Famer.

Way to rain on my Chuck Klein parade, Bill!

Perhaps the most extreme home-field advantage for home run hitters would go to the "murderers' row" of the 1884 Chicago Cubs, playing in Lakeshore Park, where the right field fence was less than 200 feet from home plate. Here were their unprecedented home run totals that season.

• Ned Williamson, 27
• Fred Pfeffer, 25
• Abner Dalrymple, 22
• Cap Anson, 21

The teammates were not only the top 4 home run hitters in the major leagues that year, but they also were the top 4 home run seasons of all time to that point. In the case of Williamson, his record would not be broken for 35 years and by no less than Babe Ruth! It would be like having Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and two Mark McGwires all on the same time, but these dudes didn't even juice!

In the case of Williamson, only 2 of his 27 homers came on the road. I'm not sure about the other players.

[GregC]

Some fun pick ups from the Hofstra show this afternoon. Haven't scanned yet so pics for now.

[brewing]

I have been wanting this card for over 30 years, by far my favorite Willie Mays card. Picked it up from a board member.

[jb67]

GregC and Brewing some nice pickups. I have all of those cards on my want list and will add them at some point. Congrats!!

[jason.1969]

Originally Posted by brewing

I have been wanting this card for over 30 years, by far my favorite Willie Mays card. Picked it up from a board member.

Wow, that would be my favorite Mays card too if I had it!! What a great, great card. Really, I don't even know what Mays card would be a distant second.