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Thursday, August 30, 2007
Comments - DUH
Okay, feel free to leave any comments... I had the goofy things turned off and didn't realize it.. No one accused me of being smart, ya know... :-)
1965 Topps
In 1965, Topps produced a base set with a few insert sets to go with it. The base set included cards with a white "pennant" shape eith the Indians team name in it. One of the insert sets was the gold embossed cards, which are blue with gold foil pictures and borders.
The first time I saw one of the embossed varieties, I had no idea what it was (other than the T.C.G. on the back). In fact, I am pretty sure that the 1965 Embossed was the reason I bought my first price guide. I didn't care about the "value" of the card, I wanted to know what it was! And, back in those days (somewhere in the early 80's), the World Wide Web was no where to be seen. With guide in hand, I found the matching picture and couldn't wait to get the rest of the Indians from that set!
I have since obtained each of the Indians cards of that set and now have all but 1 card (though, I believe I recently ordered it from the Beckett Marketplace) in the set.
The 1965 Topps have that nice "vintage" look to them, even in mint condition... There is something about the photos themselves and the general lighting on them which says, "Yes, I am 40+ years old. What about it!?" :-)
Checklists:
Embossed Inserts: 3 Max Alvis 31 Leon Wagner 60 Chuck Hinton 72 Jack Kralick | |
Regular (Base): 17 Johnny Romano 76 Sam McDowell 92 Dick Howser 96 Sonny Siebert 105 Chico Salmon 128 Vic Davalillo 145 Luis Tiant 166 Agee/Culver 185 Max Alvis 235 Chuck Hinton 262 Bud Daley 283 Fred Whitfield 301 Birdie Tebbetts 317 Don McMahon 332 Ted Abernathy 348 George Banks | 367 Leon Wagner 380 Rocky Colavito 404 Stan Williams 406 Ralph Terry 424 Gary Bell 448 Lee Strange 468 Larry Brown 481 Indians Team 501 Gagliano/Rittwage 514 Joe Azcue 535 Jack Kralick 562 Billy Moran 578 Camilo Carreon |
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Game-Used Materials
The first time I saw a game-used card, I was awestruck, as if I were a kid seeing a card for the first time. Being the sort who likes to take things apart and put them back together again, I understood the "how" of the game-used card. What got me was the fact that someone had even thought to include a piece of the actual bat used by one of the players I enjoyed watching! I am a H-U-G-E Jim Thome fan, and my first game-used card was the "Moments and Milestones" Bat card (shown). This was all of just a few years ago. I remember showing to my Dad, as if I were twelve years old.
Since that first card, I have added many game-used cards to my collection - jerseys, bats, even pants. The "problem" I have with game-used cards nowadays is that the novelty has worn off. Card companies started producing so many of them that, for me anyway, they have lost some of the luster, the awe, that they first generated in me.
Don't get wrong, some game-used cards still give me that same "12-year-old" feeling... Cards that have multiple items on them, maybe from different players. Or cards that have a multi-colored patch from a jersey. There is something cool about having part of the logo on the card for some reason... :-)
Regardless of what one may think or feel about the card companies putting clothing and other materials in (or on) cards, for me, it is like being one step closer to the game, to the players. I (and some serial-numbered of other folks) own a piece of this player's jersey (or bat, pants, glove, etc)!!
I will say that I am not a big fan of "dirt" cards and/or "base" cards. I guess if I had some connection (say, since I am originally from Pittsburgh, a card with Three-Rivers Stadium dirt), perhaps I would wax nostalgia and want a piece of the stadium, but for the life of me, I just can't find that place within myself. A piece of home plate? First base?? Or a stadium seat even? Nah, I guess I am missing that particular collector's gene that says, "collect anything and everything!"
Well, to a certain extent... After all, if someone offered me a Cleveland Municipal Stadium card with dirt, a base, or a seat in it, I'd happily accept it.... :-)
Monday, August 27, 2007
1957 Sohio Album Cards
The 1957 Sohio Cleveland Indians were issued in several 3-panel layouts. The photos themselves are basically 5x7 black-n-white. The photos were/are perforated so they could be separated and placed into the Sohio Indians Album. Find the still-in-tact panels is difficult, though a little poking around the Internet will yield the non-separated issues. If you're not that picky (as I am not!), then you'll enjoy the photos regardless of their 'completeness.'
(1957 Sohio Bob Lemon)
Here is a checklist for you:
Indians Album
Bob Avila
Jim Busby
Chico Carrasquel
Rocky Covalito
Mike Garcia
Jim Hegan
Bob Lemon
Roger Maris
Don Mossi
Ray Narleski
Russ Nixon
Herb Score
Al Smith
George Strickland
Bob Usher
Vic Wertz
Gene Wooding
Early Wynn
(1957 Sohio Bob Lemon)
Here is a checklist for you:
Indians Album
Bob Avila
Jim Busby
Chico Carrasquel
Rocky Covalito
Mike Garcia
Jim Hegan
Bob Lemon
Roger Maris
Don Mossi
Ray Narleski
Russ Nixon
Herb Score
Al Smith
George Strickland
Bob Usher
Vic Wertz
Gene Wooding
Early Wynn
Saturday, August 25, 2007
A few checklists from 1969
I chose 1969 because it has significant meaning in my life... :-)
Note: The checklists I provide are accurate so far as I have determined. Checklists do *NOT* necessarily indicate the cards I have in my collection. Checklists are provided so that collectors will know which cards are in which sets.
APBA Baseball 1969 Extra Players: 65 Ken Suarez 66 Chuck Hinton 67 Dave Nelson 68 Larry Burchart | |
APBA Baseball 1969 Regular: 321 Jose Cardenal 322 Larry Brown 323 Duke Sims 324 Tony Horton 325 Ken Harrelson 326 Russ Snyder 327 Richie Scheinblum 328 Lou Klimchock 329 Max Alvis 330 Vern Fuller | 331 Eddie Leon 332 Ray Fosse 333 Frank Baker 334 Sam McDowell 335 Luis Tiant 336 Stan Williams 337 Dick Ellsworth 338 Steve Hargan 339 Mike Paul 340 Ron Law |
APBA Baseball 1969 Second Edition: 376 Jose Cardenal 377 Larry Brown 378 Duke Sims 379 Tony Horton 380 Ken Harrelson 381 Russ Snyder 382 Richie Scheinblum 383 Lou Klimchock 384 Max Alvis 385 Vern Fuller 386 Eddie Leon 387 Ray Fosse 388 Ken Suarez | 389 Dave Nelson 390 Chuck Hinton 391 Frank Baker 392 Sam McDowell 393 Luis Tiant 394 Dick Ellsworth 395 Stan Williams 396 Steve Hargan 397 Mike Paul 398 Ron Law 399 Horacio Pina 400 Larry Burchart |
Kahn's Baseball 1969 Regular: 6 Max Alvis 13 Tony Horton 18 Sam McDowell 22 Luis Tiant | MLB Official Baseball 1969 Photostamps: 16 Sonny Siebert 29 Larry Brown 42 Joe Azcue |
O-Pee-Chee Baseball 1969 Regular 19 Ken Suarez 61 Jimmie Hall 91 Al Dark MG 118 Stan Williams 145 Max Alvis 176 Joe Azcue 201 Russ Snyder | |
Topps Baseball 1969 Decals Inserts 27 Sam McDowell 43 Luis Tiant | Topps Baseball 1969 Deckle Inserts 7 Luis Tiant |
Topps Baseball 1969 Regular 7 McDowell/McNally/Tiant 11 McDowell/McLain/Tiant 19 Ken Suarez 61 Jimmie Hall 91 Al Dark MG 118 Stan Williams 145 Max Alvis 176 Joe Azcue 201 Russ Snyder 220 Sam McDowell 244 Ray Fosse RC 267 Vicente Romo 291 Vern Fuller 325 Jose Cardenal 348 Steve Hargan 367 Lou Johnson 414 Duke Sims | 435 Sam McDowell AS 455 Sonny Siebert 479 Richie Scheinblum 503 Larry Brown 537 Mike Paul 560 Luis Tiant 571 Cap Peterson 579 Dave Nelson 595 Lee Maye 605 Dick Ellsworth 629 Jack Hamilton 644 Chuck Hinton |
Topps Baseball 1969 Stamp Albums 8 Cleveland Indians | Topps Baseball 1969 Stamps 161 Max Alvis 162 Joe Azcue 163 Larry Brown 164 Jose Cardenal 165 Lee Maye 166 Sam McDowell 167 Sonny Siebert 168 Duke Sims 169 Luis Tiant 170 Stan Williams |
Topps Baseball 1969 Super 13 Luis Tiant 14 Sam McDowell 15 Jose Cardenal | Topps Baseball 1969 Team Posters 13 Cleveland Indians |
Note: The checklists I provide are accurate so far as I have determined. Checklists do *NOT* necessarily indicate the cards I have in my collection. Checklists are provided so that collectors will know which cards are in which sets.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
What a bunch of oddballs!
I have to admit, I use the term "baseball card" very loosely when it comes to my collection. In reality, I collect Indians "items." Now, I generally do not collect bobble-heads, baseballs, etc. Most of my collection entails "flat" items, such as my most recent addition - a 1944 press photo (complete with credentials on the back) of Jim "Mudcat" Grant (not pictured, sorry). Another unique item I have is a record which has an interview with Frank Robinson getting his first home run as an Indian. Other "oddball" items I have include things like "Baseball Bucks," Crane Potato Chips discs, stand-ups, punch-outs, rub-offs, stickers, etc.
When trying to organize my collection, I began to run into the issue of "defining" exactly what an 'oddball' item really is. Well, I suppose I could have forgone the whole mess by simply including my 'oddballs' with their respective year folders (thus, the 1977 discs would appear in the 1977 folder instead of the 'oddballs' folder). But, I wanted to have a separate folder for some of my more 'unique' items.
The problem I ran into was deciding what was an oddball and what was more-or-less an extension of an existing set, and what should be considered a set period! So, I picked a number out of the air. That number is 4. If I have a collection of items of the same year and type (1977 Pepsi Cap Liners, for example), then I look at how MANY I have. If I have less than four (or if there is a pre-existing checklist in my database or I find a team-based checklist in a book or online), then those "fewer than four" sets go into the 'oddball' binder for its corresponding year. If there are four or more cards, then I put them into the binder for that year with the "regular" cards.
My plan worked for about 10 minutes. Soon, I found myself putting off-brand, weird items in with "regular" issues ("regular" being defined by me as Topps, Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss, Score, etc - major players). And, I found myself torn between placing things like a 1986 Topps Glossy Send-in. There are only 1 or two in the Indians "set," so is that an oddball item or do I put it with the regular issue cards because it *IS* Topps, after all?
Since the organization of my collection is mainly for my own benefit, I figured I would just do what I felt like doing. I made the rules, I can choose to follow them, break them, or bend them as needed. So far, it has worked out fairly well. The only time I have a problem is when I discover a card have to file that fits into the "break/bend the rule" category. Because then I have to look in the "oddball" binder AND the year-specific binder. Granted, it is not a big deal, but has led to some interesting placements of cards (not to mention a few strange conversations with myself).
Ultimately, the way I see it is that if a company took the time to make more than 3 Indians in a particular set, then that set is worthy of a place in the binder with its year marked on it.
No matter where an oddball item ends up, as long as it's in my collection, I'm happy to have it!
When trying to organize my collection, I began to run into the issue of "defining" exactly what an 'oddball' item really is. Well, I suppose I could have forgone the whole mess by simply including my 'oddballs' with their respective year folders (thus, the 1977 discs would appear in the 1977 folder instead of the 'oddballs' folder). But, I wanted to have a separate folder for some of my more 'unique' items.
The problem I ran into was deciding what was an oddball and what was more-or-less an extension of an existing set, and what should be considered a set period! So, I picked a number out of the air. That number is 4. If I have a collection of items of the same year and type (1977 Pepsi Cap Liners, for example), then I look at how MANY I have. If I have less than four (or if there is a pre-existing checklist in my database or I find a team-based checklist in a book or online), then those "fewer than four" sets go into the 'oddball' binder for its corresponding year. If there are four or more cards, then I put them into the binder for that year with the "regular" cards.
My plan worked for about 10 minutes. Soon, I found myself putting off-brand, weird items in with "regular" issues ("regular" being defined by me as Topps, Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss, Score, etc - major players). And, I found myself torn between placing things like a 1986 Topps Glossy Send-in. There are only 1 or two in the Indians "set," so is that an oddball item or do I put it with the regular issue cards because it *IS* Topps, after all?
Since the organization of my collection is mainly for my own benefit, I figured I would just do what I felt like doing. I made the rules, I can choose to follow them, break them, or bend them as needed. So far, it has worked out fairly well. The only time I have a problem is when I discover a card have to file that fits into the "break/bend the rule" category. Because then I have to look in the "oddball" binder AND the year-specific binder. Granted, it is not a big deal, but has led to some interesting placements of cards (not to mention a few strange conversations with myself).
Ultimately, the way I see it is that if a company took the time to make more than 3 Indians in a particular set, then that set is worthy of a place in the binder with its year marked on it.
No matter where an oddball item ends up, as long as it's in my collection, I'm happy to have it!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
1981 Topps
As a kid, we generally didn't think to look at the back of the cards to see what 'date' or 'year' the cards were. So, when trading with our friends, we came up with descriptive (okay, some not really all THAT descriptive) identifiers. The 1978 Topps were called the "written kind" because of the cursive writing on the front. The 1980 Topps were called the "flag" or "banner" kind. And, the 1981 Topps were called... "The Hat Kind." You can see why in the picture below:
CHECKLIST:
6 Barker/Carlton
13 Joe Charboneau
39 Tom Veryzer
74 Mike Hargrove
99 Eric Wilkins
122 John Denny
141 Miguel Dilone
170 Ross Grimsley
198 Jerry Dybzinski
222 Jorge Orta
252 Victor Cruz
276 Dan Spillner
308 Rick Manning
333 Sid Monge
362 Bo Diaz
388 Andre Thornton
416 Gary Alexander
432 Len Barker
451 Bndo/Brennan/Wihtol
462 Jack Brohamer
511 Wayne Garland
536 Bob Owchinko
564 Ron Hassey
612 Duane Kuiper
632 Alan Bannister
665 Indians Team
697 Rick Waits
721 Toby Harrah
738 Bert Blyleven
CHECKLIST:
6 Barker/Carlton
13 Joe Charboneau
39 Tom Veryzer
74 Mike Hargrove
99 Eric Wilkins
122 John Denny
141 Miguel Dilone
170 Ross Grimsley
198 Jerry Dybzinski
222 Jorge Orta
252 Victor Cruz
276 Dan Spillner
308 Rick Manning
333 Sid Monge
362 Bo Diaz
388 Andre Thornton
416 Gary Alexander
432 Len Barker
451 Bndo/Brennan/Wihtol
462 Jack Brohamer
511 Wayne Garland
536 Bob Owchinko
564 Ron Hassey
612 Duane Kuiper
632 Alan Bannister
665 Indians Team
697 Rick Waits
721 Toby Harrah
738 Bert Blyleven
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
1993 ProCards Kinston Indians
You may be wondering why, of all the cards I have, I start my posting with the 1993 ProCards Kinston Indians. Well, it's simple. I happen to be entering the team set into my database and thought, "Hey, I'll post this checklist." No one said I was brilliant, okay?
There are a couple of neat finds in this minor league set. Most notably, Julian Tavarez and Matt Williams. There is also Pete Rose, Jr... Guess he couldn't live up to his Daddy's reputation (good or bad)... (Note, my scanner did quite a number on these.. I'll get that figured out later)
Checklist 2266
Dickie Brown 2237
Carlos Crawford 2238
Ian Doyle 2239
Joe Fleet 2240
Jason Fronio 2241
Fernando Hernandez 2242
Kevin Logsdon 2243
Greg McCarthy 2244
Scott Morgan 2245
Cesar Perez 2246
Julian Taverez 2247
David Welch 2248
Matt Williams 2249
Mike Crosby 2250
Rick Sued 2251
Juan Andujar 2252
Pat Maxwell 2253
Rod McCall 2254
Paul Meade 2255
Chop Pough 2256
Pete Rose Jr. 2257
Mark Charbonnet 2258
John Cotton 2259
Ray Harvey 2260
Marc Marini 2261
Tony Mitchell 2262
Dave Keller 2263
Greg Booker 2264
Dan Norman 2265
Dan Devoe
There are a couple of neat finds in this minor league set. Most notably, Julian Tavarez and Matt Williams. There is also Pete Rose, Jr... Guess he couldn't live up to his Daddy's reputation (good or bad)... (Note, my scanner did quite a number on these.. I'll get that figured out later)
Checklist 2266
Dickie Brown 2237
Carlos Crawford 2238
Ian Doyle 2239
Joe Fleet 2240
Jason Fronio 2241
Fernando Hernandez 2242
Kevin Logsdon 2243
Greg McCarthy 2244
Scott Morgan 2245
Cesar Perez 2246
Julian Taverez 2247
David Welch 2248
Matt Williams 2249
Mike Crosby 2250
Rick Sued 2251
Juan Andujar 2252
Pat Maxwell 2253
Rod McCall 2254
Paul Meade 2255
Chop Pough 2256
Pete Rose Jr. 2257
Mark Charbonnet 2258
John Cotton 2259
Ray Harvey 2260
Marc Marini 2261
Tony Mitchell 2262
Dave Keller 2263
Greg Booker 2264
Dan Norman 2265
Dan Devoe
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Welcome Tribe Fans!
Greetings and welcome to the place where I'll talk about Indians baseball cards. Why? Because that's what I collect. Starting with my first card in 1975, my collection has amassed nearly 6000 non-duplicated singles, and grows every single day. I hope to use this spot on the Web to share images, checklists, and thoughts about various Indians baseball cards! make yourself at home, and enjoy the ride!
Pictured below is my first purchased Indians card. The crease across the card came from one of my "stupid" moments in life. I had a stack of cards wrapped with a rubber band. This card was on top. One slip of the hand, and POW, instant crease. I have kept the card after all these years because, despite its flaw, it is my favorite - my first bought one. I paid 25 cents for it in 1975, and have been buying Indians cards ever since.
Pictured below is my first purchased Indians card. The crease across the card came from one of my "stupid" moments in life. I had a stack of cards wrapped with a rubber band. This card was on top. One slip of the hand, and POW, instant crease. I have kept the card after all these years because, despite its flaw, it is my favorite - my first bought one. I paid 25 cents for it in 1975, and have been buying Indians cards ever since.