Completed my childhood set build - 40 years on

Natswin2019 · #1 02-03-2021, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UKCardGuy

I'm sure there's a Net54 rule (or there should be) that a statement like that needs to be followed up with the story. Details please.

+1 on that. I would really like to know the story behind that statement

jingram058 · #2 02-03-2021, 02:33 PM

I personally feel that the 1960 Topps Mickey Mantle is his best card ever. Just a beautiful card. In fact, the whole set is gorgeous. There is just something about this set that separates the wheat from the chaff, as they say...the horizontal layout, the color closeup and the b/w full length photos, the cool looking alternating colors of the letters of the ballplayers names. Just beautifully done by Topps.

Your back story is one of the best I have ever read. Many, many congratulations!

RayBShotz · #3 02-04-2021, 10:46 AM

Congratulations on the childhood set completion.
I really need to circle back and check to see what I still need from my childhood 69T set.
RayB

jgannon · #4 02-04-2021, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jingram058

In fact, the whole set is gorgeous. There is just something about this set that separates the wheat from the chaff, as they say...the horizontal layout, the color closeup and the b/w full length photos, the cool looking alternating colors of the letters of the ballplayers names. Just beautifully done by Topps.

The 1960 set really grew on me. It stands out for all the reasons you state. And the backs of the cards are also great - the color layout, the season highlights, etc.

All in all, one of Topps' best.

obiwan1129 · #5 02-04-2021, 02:39 PM

Related to drinking with Larsen, in the 80's Billy Martin tried to pick up my aunt at a hotel bar while she was waiting for my uncle to come down. He bought her a drink and she politely mentioned she was waiting for her husband to come down. My uncle shows up and sees Billy Martin chatting up my aunt. He looks over and realizes next to Billy is Mickey Mantle and I think, Whitey Ford, it's been a while since I heard the story. They all sit down and knock back a few drinks together.

As they are having a few, Mickey keeps getting calls at the hotel bar. Apparently there was some function/event that he was supposed to be at and he decided to just go ahead and blow it off.

tombocombo · #6 02-04-2021, 09:08 PM

Great work!

Casey2296 · #7 02-04-2021, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natswin2019

+1 on that. I would really like to know the story behind that statement

My Dad and his cronies used to put on a "Wild Game Feed" to raise funds for their childrens charity back in the day. They bought a decrepit camp in the woods and built it up so "crippled" kids could participate in life and not feel ostracized. Now I realize that term is verboten nowadays (my politically correct spellcheck doesn't even recognize the term) but that's what it was.

So every November when hunting season started in Montana we'd have a few pops before sunrise and bag some deer for that years game feed. A story for a later time.

They'd press all the local chefs to cook all this stuff up so it was palatable and get everybody drunk then have an auction. They'd auction off guns, vacations, sports memorabilia, cars, anything that was fun and had a story. They'd bring in a cattle auctioneer to set the pace and have a financial dick swinging contest with the well off marks they invited. It was a thing of beauty to observe as a young man. The kids ultimately benefited but I've never seen a more fun way to raise money for a good cause.

When the dust settled after one raucous game feed we retired to the bar where the event was held and I found myself sitting next to Mr Larsen who had been a special guest that evening. Everybody in that generation knew what he had done in game 5 of the 56 series so it was pretty neat to have him there. Me being a young baseball fan of probably 17 or 18 at the time also knew the significance of that day. I was a bit intimidated when he introduced himself and offered to buy me a drink. I accepted. Then another, then another. Now I'd been drinking my buddies under the table since age 15 so this was nothing new. Except this guy had been at it much longer than me, a true major leaguer of alcohol consumption. I'd like to think I asked him about that magical day in October of 56 but I know I didn't, instead I wandered off out the side exit and passed out in the alley. I would say I wore the Ofer collar that evening of drinking with Don Larsen.

I smile every time I see that 56 Topps card.

ValKehl · #8 02-05-2021, 09:26 AM

1960 was the last year that I collected cards when I was a kid. Although I agree that Mantle's card is really good looking, I didn't care much for the 1960 set back then for these 2 reasons:
(1) The cards were in horizontal format, after I had become totally conditioned to Topps cards in the vertical format since the 1957 set (my favorite set as a kid) was issued.
(2) The backs of the cards didn't have the stats for each year of a player's career, like the 1957 and 1959 Topps cards did. I've always liked numbers (which likely explains why I became an accountant for my career), and as a kid, I loved "studying" a player's stats on the back of his card.

stkuhl · #9 02-05-2021, 07:15 PM

Cheers on finishing the set. For me as a set builder it's always an obscure common card that is the last card. I can always find the high dollar star cards.

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