A Giant Project

My first project for 2021 is going to be assembling a complete set of 1964 Topps Giants cards.  I do not own a complete set from the 1960s, so this is something different for me.  It's a small checklist and the usual really expensive players in the set are not really all that expensive.  

I posted one card from the set last week.  

I have four more that have shown up in the mail during the first part of this week with several more on the way.  Here are the first four new cards.   

First up is a pair of Milwaukee Braves.  I bought these two cards together.  I viewed it as a good sign that I was able to find a Hall of Fame pitcher and great player from the era for $7.  Here is the Joe Torre.....

I wish I knew the 1960s stadiums a little better. Torre is wearing a road uniform, but I cannot figure out the stadium in the background.  I had thought that the square object behind him might be a blurred out Anheuser-Busch sign that was in left field at Sportsman Park in St. Louis, but I think the scoreboard was under the sign.  Not quite right.  

Back of the card.  

Next.  

The centering top to bottom is a little off here, but no complaints.  This was from the end of Spahn's career, definitely looking older here.  Love the hat brim. 

Next up is a St. Louis native.  

I have picked up a few Elston Howard cards over the years.  St. Louis produced a lot of baseball players during the 1950s and 1960s, kind of a fun to pick up their cards from time to time.  Elston Howard is not a Hall of Famer, but definitely a great from his era. 

Nice write-up on Elston Howard's 1963 American League MVP season on the back of the card.  

Last card for this post.  

I think Freehan was in the 1963 Topps set, but it had three other players on the card.  So, 1964 was the first year he had a stand alone card.  His regular Topps card is a really goofy posed shot where he is half squatting down, but half-heartedly.   This is a much better card.  

and the back.  

I know that it is not going to be too difficult to find the majority of the cards, but I am going to put this project at roughly 6 months.  There are short-printed cards in the set and there is also a budget here.  The wife is not going to be happy if I drop a couple hundred dollars on some high grade copy of the Mickey Mantle card.  Here is the checklist.  Cards I own are highlighted in red.  

1 Gary Peters
2 Ken Johnson
3 Sandy Koufax SP
4 Bob Bailey
5 Milt Pappas
6 Ron Hunt
7 Whitey Ford
8 Roy McMillan
9 Rocky Colavito
10 Jim Bunning
11 Roberto Clemente
12 Al Kaline
13 Nellie Fox
14 Tony Gonzalez
15 Jim Gentile
16 Dean Chance
17 Dick Ellsworth
18 Jim Fregosi
19 Dick Groat
20 Chuck Hinton
21 Elston Howard
22 Dick Farrell
23 Albie Pearson
24 Frank Howard
25 Mickey Mantle
26 Joe Torre
27 Ed Brinkman
28 Bob Friend SP
29 Frank Robinson
30 Bill Freehan
31 Warren Spahn
32 Camilo Pascual
33 Pete Ward
34 Jim Maloney
35 Dave Wickersham
36 Johnny Callison
37 Juan Marichal
38 Harmon Killebrew
39 Luis Aparicio
40 Dick Radatz
41 Bob Gibson
42 Dick Stuart SP
43 Tommy Davis
44 Tony Oliva
45 Wayne Causey SP
46 Max Alvis
47 Galen Cisco SP
48 Carl Yastrzemski
49 Hank Aaron
50 Brooks Robinson
51 Willie Mays SP
52 Billy Williams
53 Juan Pizarro
54 Leon Wagner
55 Orlando Cepeda
56 Vada Pinson
57 Ken Boyer
58 Ron Santo
59 Johnny Romano
60 Bill Skowron SP

Postcards From The Target Card Aisle

Dear Readers,

I was recently back in Target to fetch a black ink cartridge for my printer.  We all have my appliances/devices in our lives, my printer might be my least favorite.  In my recent past many of my printers have broken suddenly.  I blame it on the fact that I probably abused the printer I owned during grad school, which died the final week before I graduated.  I have literally gone through a printer a year.  My latest printer is finicky.

However, seeing how my printer is also a scanner it is a necessary evil in my life if I wish to continue to write about baseball cards.  Sure, I could just take a picture of the cards and post them into my ramblings, but I do not really like the way that looks.

Feeling a little disgruntled at the idea of having a buy a cartridge, then wrestle it into the printer when I got home, I decided to make a quick trip to the Target card aisle.  I had actually visited about two weeks back and done fairly well with some Bowman cards.  I decided to try again.

My initial back in my blaster of Bowman landed me a J.D. Drew buyback......

Pretty happy to land a card of a former Cardinals player, even if he is wearing a BoSox jersey on the card.  I feel like I always get Buybacks, but never Cardinals one, or even former Cardinals.  As I kept opening backs the two other cool cards I pulled were both part of the Chrome remake/rehash inserts.

The first was a 1948 Bowman Warren Spahn card.  I kind of dig some of these types of cards that Topps has put into Bowman products in the past.  I really like the minis that Topps put into the first Bowman Heritage set back in 2001, these have a totally different flavor, but I still like them a lot.

The other rehash card was a Noah Syndergaard from the 1992 set.  This card is much more my generation, but I felt like the whole suit thing is off a bit.  The 1992 Bowman set did have players wearing street clothes, but I feel like if you are going to remake the set, put them in something from that time.  Cavaricci's, Skidz, Jamz, something 90s.  

Which brings me to my last pack in the box.  Always the last pack.  Right?  

A Leody Tavernas autograph seems like pretty good find in a retail box of Bowman.  He is regarded as a Top 100 Prospect by several baseball publications.  I am not sure I am sold on him, looking at some of his numbers, but than again I do not know much about him beyond the stat page.  Whether Leody is traded or sold or kept this was a pretty good buy...even feeling pretty good about putting the ink cartridge in my printer....

Have a great Sunday afternoon.


                                                                                     Sincerely,
                                                                                          S.B.