Baseball Card Blogs » Poor Old Baseball Cards http://baseballcardblogs.org Posts from the Best Baseball Card Blogs on the Net Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:42:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 1961 Topps Mickey Mantle http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1961-topps-mickey-mantle.html http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1961-topps-mickey-mantle.html#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:21:00 +0000 POBC Ouch!

All signs of the culprit point to one thing, and only one thing. Tape.

Tape is to the baseball card what kryptonite is to Superman.

It has destroyed far too many cards only to take their value with it.

I bet this was quite the desirable card to have in 1961 with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris taking aim at Babe Ruth's record for homers in a season.

Most wanted Mantle to break the mark. But it was his teammate that would eventually hit number 61.

I could imagine New Yorkers, heck most all baseball fans, choosing sides.

It must have been like Conan O'Brien vs. Jay Leno.

By the way, I'm with Coco.
]]> http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/feeds/3075204774700214006/comments/default 0 1909 T206 Heinie Wagner http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1909-t-206-heinie-wagner.html http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1909-t-206-heinie-wagner.html#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:05:00 +0000 POBC So I think I may have found it: The worst-conditioned baseball card in the world.

A few weeks ago I was brousing on eBay and found this 101-year-old beauty that was just begging to be a part of this blog.

The bidding was fierce, but I was able to land it for the price of one cent. Yep, that's right, a penny. You know, that copper coin you won't even bend down to pick up.

But I was thrilled.

It arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon, and when taking it out of its package, one of the first things I noticed was it was super brittle.

In fact it was so bad, when I took it out of its sleeve, I immediately added the major horizontal crease through Heinie's head. It's barely hanging on.

About 20 minutes ago, I figured it was time to post.

So far, so good. Then it happened.

I was pulling the card off the scanner's surface and it split in two.

Just another wrinkle in the life of this poor old baseball card.

]]> http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/feeds/1957308338782822434/comments/default 0 1963 Topps Billy Williams http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1963-topps-billy-williams.html http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1963-topps-billy-williams.html#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:20:00 +0000 POBC This card is a mess.

A closer look at this old piece of cardboard reveals rounded corners, fading, heavy creasing and a hole below Williams' chin.

It's even off-center.

It looks as if someone carried it in their hip pocket for the entire 1963 season.

Or maybe it spent a good portion of its life attached to a kid's bicycle spokes.

It could even have been thrown in a trash bin by a mom who thought their child was over collecting cards.

Or maybe .... who knows? It does make you wonder though, doesn't it?
]]> http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/feeds/6404375079850265882/comments/default 0 1962 Topps Joe Torre http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1962-topps-joe-torre.html http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1962-topps-joe-torre.html#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:59:00 +0000 POBC I'm not sure if it was the big ol' trophy or the big ol' glove that first drew my attention to this baseball card.

I'm partial to the big trophy. I think it's one of the best designs elements Topps came up with for its cards.

As a kid I remember opening up a pack and looking for the trophy. It usually meant a good card of a good player.

And this rookie card of current Dodgers manager Joe Torre doesn't disappoint.

And what about that glove? Torre won a gold glove in 1965 to go along with an All-Star appearance, one of nine he would make as a player.
]]> http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/feeds/4928675764218525010/comments/default 0 1909 T206 Al Bridwell http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1909-t206-al-bridwell.html http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1909-t206-al-bridwell.html#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:56:00 +0000 POBC


This baseball cards came with a bonus: a piece of tape that holds Bridwell's head together.

It's not a regular pece of tape, it's more like an old piece of paper that was pasted to the card's back.

I'm glad someone took the time to keep this card together, no matter what it took.

Bridwell played for the New York Giants when this card was produced. But in 1914-15 he was a member of the St. Louis Terriers.

The Terriers played in the third major league. The Federal League lasted only two seasons before it folded. But a few things remain from the old league.

The most famous being a Chicago ballpark located on the corner of Waveland and Sheffield.

That's right, Wrigley Field was home to the Federal Leagues' Chicago Whales.
]]> http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/feeds/579159796851156559/comments/default 0 1958 Topps Tony Kubek http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1958-topps-tony-kubek.html http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1958-topps-tony-kubek.html#comments Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:11:00 +0000 POBC Before the days of cable television, if you wanted to watch an out-of-market baseball game, your best bet would be to tune in to NBC's Game of the Week on Saturday afternoon.

And one of the things I remember most about those days was the broadcasting of Bob Costas, Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek.

In the summer, Saturdays were all about baseball.

Shows like This Week in Baseball and NBC's Game of the Week were how I got my baseball info. There was no ESPN or MLB Network to feed you a constant diet of scores and analysis.

Now I've got the TWIB theme song stuck in my head. Maybe I should have gone a different direction with this post.
]]> http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/feeds/4979491192694196067/comments/default 0 1909 E90-1 Donie Bush http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1909-e90-1-donie-bush.html http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1909-e90-1-donie-bush.html#comments Sat, 09 Jan 2010 11:30:00 +0000 POBC Before this card arrived, I had no idea who Donie Bush was.

Donie Bush was a darn good baseball player.

In 1914, Bush finished third in the American League MVP voting behind future Hall of Famers - and Detroit teammates - Eddie Collins and Sam Crawford.

The shortstop is also the major league leader in triple plays with nine.

I once saw a triple play during a Spring Training game. That was the only one in my 30-plus years of watching baseball.

To have nine is amazing.

He also holds the Amercan League record for putouts by a shortstop in a season with 425 and chances with 969.

Not bad for a guy I've never heard of.
]]> http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/feeds/6475114806880779071/comments/default 0 1945-46 Caramelo Deportivo Lou Knerr http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1945-46-caramelo-deportivo-lou-knerr.html http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1945-46-caramelo-deportivo-lou-knerr.html#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:58:00 +0000 POBC










The first time I ever knew this set existed was when I placed a bid for the card you see on eBay a few weeks ago.

The first time I ever saw one of these cards in person was just the other day when it arrived in the mail.

I'm not sure why but this paper-thin card has several tiny holes. It's like someone took a small hole punch to them. Usually I would think that there may have been some sort of premium involved. With some old issues, cards were collected and sent in to the manufacturer to get a premium sent back. Often times the cards were sent back to the owner with holes so that they could not be redeemed a second time.

But when searching the Internet, I could not find any other examples with holes.

You know what? I could care less.

It's not every day you get a Cuban baseball card from the mid-40s in the mail.
]]> http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/feeds/8813789442248706520/comments/default 0 1963 Topps Rookie Stars Mathews, Fanok, DeBusschere, Cullen http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1963-topps-rookie-stars-mathews-fanok.html http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1963-topps-rookie-stars-mathews-fanok.html#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:22:00 +0000 POBC This is one of those baseball cards I picked up at the local baseball card shop a few days ago. It was $1.

A dollar for a baseball card of a Hall of Famer.

Believe it or not Dave DeBusschere is in the Hall of Fame: The Basketball Hall of Fame.

He is one of several baseball players to have also played professional basketball. But as far as I can tell he is the only one to become a Hall of Famer.

As a baseball player, DeBusschere played in two seasons for the Chicago White Sox where he compiled a 3-4 record with a 2.90 ERA.
]]> http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/feeds/3862119866753845132/comments/default 0 1952 Topps Larry Doby http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1952-topps-larry-doby.html http://pooroldbaseballcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/1952-topps-larry-doby.html#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:01:00 +0000 POBC 1952 Topps cards are great no matter the condition. It also helps when that card depicts a historic player like Larry Doby.

The first line on the back of this card reads: "Larry came straight from semi-pro ball and became an Indian regular in 1947."

The truth is Doby came straight from the Newark Bears, the 1946 Negro League World Series champions. I'm not sure that you can call that semi-pro.

Doby did become an Indian only 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. Thus, Doby became the first African American to play in the American League.

Doby accomplish another first: In 1948, he became the first African American to hit a home run in a World Series.

A classic player from the classic Topps set.
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