card show recap - dealers 3 and 4 and the assault on my 1974 topps want list

all right.  moving on to the meat of the card show from last week.

before i get there, however, remember to let me know what you think i spent on these cards in the comments.  whoever is closest (or first with a precise guess) gets some cards featuring a team of their choice.

now then.  my primary goal was to complete my 1974 topps set.  i would have gone to dealer 3 first, but he was still setting up shop when i arrived.  this is the guy with the vintage bargain bins.  i have been buying slightly-off vintage from him for 14 years or so.  he also has a half-price vintage box with cards in better shape marked at half off of what i assume to be book.  who knows the last time he updated the prices, though.

i took some cards from there, including a 1974 topps nolan ryan

1974 topps nolan ryan/tom seaver league leaders

1974 topps bobby murcer/pete rose all-stars

1974 topps hank aaron special #2

i didn't need the hank, but i picked it up for a certain calgarian.  the ryan was the most expensive card i bought at the show.

now for those true bargain bins

1961 post johnny podres

1967 topps stan bahnsen/bobby murcer rookie stars

1967 topps john werhas

1968 topps deckle edge frank howard

1969 o-pee-chee jim lonborg

1969 o-pee-chee rick monday
1971 o-pee-chee clete boyer - love the 71 opc backs!

1971 o-pee-chee lew krausse
1971 o-pee-chee rod gaspar
1971 o-pee-chee merv rettenmund
1971 topps willie smith

1972 o-pee-chee mets team - featuring gil hodges

1972 o-pee-chee vida blue in action - look at how often new york shows up on the back

1972 o-pee-chee 1971 nl playoffs bucs champs
1972 o-pee-chee 1971 world series game 1
1974 o-pee-chee ramon hernandez
1975 o-pee-chee yogi berra/roy campanella 1951 mvps

yes, it it miscut, but it is a campy o-pee-chee.  in the most bargainy of all of this guy's bargain bins.  here's the back for you frenchies

ptd in canada!
1975 o-pee-chee joe niekro
1975 o-pee-chee mickey rivers
2 1971-72 o-pee-chee hockey cards for $30 a week habit

yes, i found some vintage o-pee-chee.  that doesn't happen - ever - at these shows.  the podres is the second 1961 post card in my collection (both from this show) and the werhas, while creased, was worth picking up because it took me so long to find one for my collection that i thought there might be a dodger collector out there that would be ok with one that is creased in half.  the murcer rookie was an impulse buy, but the '71 willie smith goes in my set.  not completely sure what i will do with most of these cards, however.  i am not about to start building any more opc sets (i have from 1977 through 1992 and just the variations from prior to '77).

on to dealer 4

i don't recall exactly when it was that i last attended this show, but whenever it was, i talked to this guy about my need for a few 1974 topps washington nat'l variations.  he emailed me later to let me know that he had the ones i needed and that he would bring them to the next show i attended.  i emailed him last week to let him know i was coming, and he brought the cards i needed.  unfortunately, i had already obtained a copy of one of the cards since our last meeting.  that would be the glenn beckert variation

here are the ones that are new to me - nate colbert

cito gaston

dave roberts

and the whole darn 'nat'l lea' team.

i became so so close to finishing that set after these two guys helped me out.

let me know how much you think i spent with dealer 3 and dealer 4 in the comments.  i am looking for individual amounts, not total.  next post coming later this pm.

o-pee-chee on parade

here are a few dodger o-pee-chee cards, celebrating the occasion of the final variation being posted over at oh my o-pee-chee! today.

the back of wes parker's 1971 card is somewhat inexplicably included in the blog's header.

his card is not a variation (here's the front)

but i wanted to show the cool 'sunburst' photo on the backs of (most of) the 1971 cards, and i chose parker's mug for some reason.

here's ron fairly from the years before variations, 1969 to be exact

a bunch of rick monday's former teammates wanted to show their support for his 1977 o-pee-chee variation, and here they are.  from 1981, we have burt hooton

who had a variation of his own in 1985;

steve howe

who did not have any variations even though he bounced around in the mid 1980's.  he either switched teams during the season (1985), or signed as a free agent after missing the previous season(s) due to suspensions (1987, 1991);

bill russell

and reggie smith

sporting their 'vedette' banners;

don stanhouse

sporting don sutton's hair and phil garner's mustache;

steve yeager

looking forward to his shameful 1986 o-pee-chee variation (i really wanted yeager to remain a dodger for life);

and here's a 1982 ron cey in action card (with the man of the hour, rick monday, lurking in the background)

one year before receiving a team variation of his own (one of three appearances the penguin made on the blog);

while dave lopes' 1983 card

is one year past his trio of variations, although i think his 1985 variation is the best of lopes' five o-pee-chee variants.

it's been fun (and sometimes tedious) covering the wonder of o-pee-chee cards through the years.  i will miss writing about minute changes in photo cropping and cool team variations and wacky airbrushing and odd text variations and even cards that weren't variations.  i hope you all enjoyed it.

now, back to timeless teams!