so it begins - the (mostly) regular issue steve garvey binders

i've got essentially four full binders of steve garvey cards and assorted items (not to mention my garvey posters, prints, first baseman's glove, louisville slugger bat, and signed balls).  two of them feature oddball items (which i've shown over the past few months) and the other two feature (for the most part) standard sized cards.  over the course of the next unknown amount of time, i'm going to show you the contents of those two binders.

here we go - page 1:

this first sheet features:

1. 1971 dell today's team stamp
2. 1971 o-pee-chee
3. 1971 topps
4. 1971 topps dodger team
5. 1972 topps dodger team
6. 1972 topps
7. 1973 o-pee-chee
8. 1973 topps dodger team
9. 1973 topps

here are the backs, just remember that they are reversed since i just flipped the sheet over to scan it

a couple of notes about this sheet - i obviously decided to include team cards (topps only) as the garv is in the front row of the 1971 card, the third row of the 1972 card, and the middle row of the 1973 card.  also, the dell today's team stamp is also sometimes referred to as the 'mlb official stamp'.  the only garvey release i am missing from this period is the 1972 topps venezuelan stamp. good luck to me.

here's the second sheet:

featuring:

1. 1974 o-pee-chee
2. 1974 topps
3. 1974 topps dodger team
4. 1975 hostess
5. 1975 kellogg's
6. 1975 o-pee-chee
7. 1975 o-pee-chee 1974 mvp's
8. 1975 o-pee-chee 1974 nlcs
9. 1975 topps

and the backs:

in case you're wondering, garvey's in the middle row of the team card.  here i'm missing only the 1975 hostess twinkie card (it has a black bar on the back, which the regular hostess card - as seen above - does not).

this is the third sheet of the binder:

featuring:

1. 1975 topps 1974 mvp's
2. 1975 topps dodger team
3. 1975 topps 1974 nlcs
4. 1975 topps mini
5. 1975 topps mini 1974 mvp's
6. 1975 topps mini 1974 nlcs
7. 1976 hostess
8. 1976 kellogg's
9. 1976 o-pee-chee

these are the backs

garvey's still in the middle row on the team card.  you might notice a couple of things here.  first, i am missing the 1976 hostess twinkie card (again with a black bar on the back), and the 1975 sspc card is not where it should be. instead, i have a 1976 o-pee-chee card there.  that's because i used to catalog the sspc card as a 1976 release (which is how it's listed on the official beckett garvey checklist).  since starting this blog, however, i have come to refer to that set as the 1975 sspc set based on the copyright date on the back of the cards.

so, there you have the first three sheets of cards in my basic steve garvey card collection.  there will be more.  lots more.  stay tuned.

an angel minor leaguer memorial

bruce heinbechner was a minor league pitcher working his way up the california angels' depth chart.  he had spent the 1973 season in aaa - his second full season at that level - and had won 10 games while throwing two shutouts.  sometime after the 1973 season ended, a trade was worked out between the angels and the cubs in which heinbechner and andy hassler would have gone to chicago in exchange for ron santo, but santo used his '10 and 5' authority to nix the deal.  so, heinbechner remained with the angels and reported to spring training the following year.

it was during spring training that heinbechner was killed in a car accident in palm springs.  he apparently crossed into oncoming traffic and hit another card head-on as he was returning to the team's hotel.

while he hadn't yet made the 40-man roster, his future had seemed bright.  in his memory, heinbechner's angel teammates wore a rectangle of black fabric on their left sleeve for the remainder of spring training.  there are lots of examples of this memorial in the 1975 topps and o-pee-chee sets.  here is an o-pee-chee winston llenas card

and here is a topps dick lange card

both are good examples of the memorial.  the black fabric is also visible on nolan ryan's card in the sets, but i didn't have an extra.  so, i was going to use former dodger bobby valentine's topps card as the representative example in my collection.

but i decided that i preferred mickey rivers' o-pee-chee card instead.

heinbechner was the second of three angel players to die in car accidents in the 1970's - chico ruiz and mike milery were the others - but he was the only one of the three to receive a memorial on the uniform.

the danny thompson memorial armband

danny thompson was drafted by the reds, yankees, and senators before finally signing after being taken by the twins in the first round of the 1968 june draft.  by 1972, he had earned the starting shortstop job for the twinkies.  here's his 1975 o-pee-chee card

following that season, in which he hit .276 in 144 games and even garnered some mvp votes, thompson was diagnosed with leukemia.  doctors estimated that thompson had 5 more years of being able to play baseball before the disease affected him.  he returned to the twins in 1973 and was later traded to the rangers during the 1976 season in the bert blyleven deal.

he finished the season with the rangers, hitting .214 in 64 games.  a couple of months after the season ended, thompson passed away at the mayo clinic in rochester, minnesota due to complications from his disease.  he was only 29 years old.

the following season, the rangers wore a black armband with thompson's number 4 on their left sleeves.  you can see it on adrian devine's 1978 topps card

but the card in my memorials collection is mike hargrove's 1978 o-pee-chee issue

the twins did not wear a memorial for thompson, but his former teammate harmon killebrew organized a fundraising golf tournament in his memory that still operates today - the danny thompson memorial golf tournament (now known as the killebrew-thompson memorial golf tournament) which has raised millions of dollars for cancer research since its inception.

i will be keeping these cards

a while back, i asked the question 'should i keep this card?' regarding a nolan ryan card that mentioned steve garvey on the back.  i already knew my answer when i wrote the post (i will not keep that card), and the four of you who commented all came to the same conclusion.  i don't have checklists in my garvey collection, although i do have the topps team cards in which he appears (for some reason, it looks like he missed the photo that appears in the 1981 set) in the binders.

there is a card that mentions steve garvey on the back which i will keep in the collection.

that's because the cartoon you see above is on the back of garvey's 1972 topps card

i suppose it makes sense for a ballplayer to get married in the winter since that is their offseason.  i have to say, with the temperatures i am experiencing right now, i am not sure i would attend anybody's winter wedding.

moving on, there is another card that features garvey as the answer to the cartoon trivia question on the back that will remain in my collection.  take a look at the back of garvey's 1975 o-pee-chee card

that fine example of canadian cardmanship came to me thanks to kerry from cards on cards.  in fact, all of the cards (except for the 1972 topps card up top) were sent by kerry in what was a most generous trade package.

there was another 1975 o-pee-chee card in the mix - the 1974 mvp card

two horizontal cards don't make a right, unfortunately.  when this card goes in the binder, poor garvey is upside down.

here are some of the other goodies - 2003 bowman draft prospects xavier paul

paul was recently non-tendered by the reds.  i hope he is picked up by another team.

2009 topps jackie robinson turkey red insert

pretty sure that photo is from a shot inside the dodger clubhouse, not out on a field.  nice to see it colorized, though.

2010 bowman matt kemp 1992 throwback

and 2011 topps lineage matt kemp diamond anniversary refractor

i will be quite upset if kemp is traded this week, or at any time for that matter.

chad billngsley's lineage refractor also came along for the ride

kerry was nice enough to hit the nefarious 9 (my most wanted cards) as well.  he sent a copy of former number 1 most wanted 2000 upper deck victory koyie hill (as seen in this post), but also sent a 2003 bowman heritage fred mcgriff black bordered facsimile autograph parallel

and a 1998 fleer tradition dennis reyes card

both from the list.  a list i need to update...

thanks kerry! you really outdid yourself with these cards!

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.

standing on guard for thee

so, in addition to those 1973 o-pee-chee cards that i showed off earlier today, i also picked up some canadian cards from 1975.  the lot included the entire infield - garvey

cey

russell

and lopes

plus some other dodgers like bill buckner

ken mcmullen

and doug rau

rau is posing in front of the holman stadium bleachers that most recently showed up on 2007 topps dodger cards and 2009 topps heritage cards.

like his 1973 issue, 1975 was pretty much the same as its topps counterpart.  more so, in fact.

here, bill hands suffers some serious airbrushing on his 1975 o-pee-chee card just as he had back in 1973

and carmen fanzone still has his number inscribed within the cubs' logo on his helmet

unlike 1973, there is no french on the front of subset cards, like this nolan ryan card

but there is french on the back

pretty sneaky putting a trivia question on the back of lou brock's card for which the answer is lou brock.   and why specify the nl mark?  brock's 118 steals were the major league record at the time.

anyway, i am happy to have these o-pee-chee cards in the collection, even though i will probably only keep the dodgers.  i just can't see see myself being able to complete any o-pee-chee sets prior to 1977.