as i eagerly await the arrival of my box of 2022 topps update to see what, if any, cards feature images from this past summer's all-star game at dodger stadium, i'll use this time to show off some cards related to a couple of mid-summer classics.
first, there is no burying the lede here - i puchased a 5-pack of 2022 topps now turn back the clock card of steve garvey directly from topps, and was once again rewarded with a low-numbered parallel:
the white ash parallel is numbered to 3, and is a great addition to my collection. this card celebrates the garv as the 1974 all-star game mvp and features him with his hardware in three rivers stadium.
there is more hardware handed out during the all-star game festivities these days, including the home run derby champion dual bat trophy. this year, juan soto won the contest, and i bought a single of this card through a third party
as for the actual game, giancarlo stanton took home the mvp honors, and he got a card, too
this one features a photo with the right field corner in the background. a while back, the style of award has changed to a bat instead of a trophy. now, i was really hoping for a wider shot, because the guy who presented the award to stanton was none other than steve garvey. oh well, the tbtc card certainly makes up for that.
speaking of which, here is the base version of the card
and the back:
this may be the first time i have ever seen something reference garvey's performance in the 1974 all-star game without mentioning the fact that he was a write-in starter.
here's the full picture topps used, which included commissioner bowie kuhn and some nice old-man sideburns
four years later, kuhn and garvey would reunite (along with bob uecker)
as the garv picked up his second all-star game mvp.
with five of the card in my possession, i put one in the dodger collection, one in the garvey collection (along with the parallel), and i decided to send one to garvey to sign. i used pastpros for the first time, and it worked pretty well. i am assuming athletes are more apt to return cards that were sent using this service, but i don't know for sure. anyway, the card came back and looks great
i also asked him to sign a 1978 o-pee-chee card for me, and he did
at one time i had thought about making custom cards featuring dodger award winners and their trophies, but decided not to since there aren't images for all of them. thanks to topps, i at least have one garvey award card!
With pastpros, do you only pay when you receive the cards? Or do you get a refund if they don't sign?
ReplyDeleteyou pay upfront. they send you a voucher of sorts that you mail to the athlete with your cards and sase to prove payment. my cards showed up, so i don't know about refunds.
DeleteNot liking his scrunched signature, but I guess the guy is getting pretty old.
ReplyDeleteNice luck on the parallel again! I won a parallel /7 if I recall, plus I got the base. I have not really been chasing the newer stuff as hard since Covid, when everyone and their brother seemed to think a basic higher numbered (50-100 or higher) Garvey auto once in the $10-15 or less range, should not be $30-50!
Wow. You hit the jackpot with that white ash parallel. Congratulations on adding that to your Garvey PC. Thanks for sharing PastPros. Hadn't heard of them before, but I checked out their website. Was hoping the had an inside scoop to Mark Davis, but they didn't (although they do feature a bunch of his autographs).
ReplyDeleteGiven your hot hand, you should think about starting a service, for a small fee of course, where place peoples orders for them, thus insuring that they'll get some crazy rare parallel with their stuff :)
ReplyDelete