show your money makers

it has taken me awhile to get to this post for a couple of reasons, but when i first saw night owl write about his top cards in terms of monetary value as determined by tcdb, i knew i would eventually share mine, too.

one of the reasons i waited was because i wanted to get this card in hand:

that is, of course, a 1963 topps ken mcmullen rookie card. it also features pete rose. i already had one of these, but i wanted one that was authenticated. authentic altered is a-ok with me, especially when the front looks as great as it does. the altered part has to do with the back:

paper loss and pen marking. i guess the original owner was a white sox fan, and i am just glad the defacing was limited to the back.  i bought the card on ebay, and it got sent through their authenticating process which just means that i received what i purchased.

earlier in the year when i was hanging out with fuji, we talked a bit about tcdb and i mentioned i had an unauthenticated version of the rose rookie card and that i was looking to pick up an authenticated version and then send my other raw card in to see if it would come back authentic. and so, a few months ago i finally pulled the trigger on an authenticated version, but haven't sent my other one in yet. i am guessing that it is a reprint even though it was advertised as authentic back when i bought it many years ago and someday i will find out for sure.

anyway, here are the top 12 valued cards in my dodger collection, according to tcdb:

#1 - 1955 topps sandy koufax

#2 - 1952 topps jackie robinson

#3 - 1955 topps jackie robinson

#4 - 2008 topps red hot rookie exchange clayton kershaw

#5 - 1954 topps jackie robinson

#6 - 1963 topps ken mcmullen

#7 - 1953 topps jackie robinson

#8 - 2006 fleer greats of the game bat barrel autographs steve garvey

#9 - 1956 topps sandy koufax

#10 - 2021 leaf lumber off the end of the bat relic steve garvey

#11 - 1952 topps duke snider

#12 - 1953 bowman color duke snider

just like night owl, i looked up my 100th priciest card, and it's this one

that's a 1953 bowman color pee wee reese. i've got two of them thanks to my double play collection.

keep in mind that these lists are only as good as the data, and there are many cards that don't have dollar values assigned to them, including my certified vin scully autograph from topps mint or my many 1/1 cards featuring steve garvey and others. there are also some high end cards that i own that are not on tcdb (2022 topps dynasty steve garvey cards, for example) and then there is condition to consider as well.

with my dodger collection now fully entered on tcdb, i plan to begin entering my complete sets, mini-collections, and hall of famer collection next, which will surely impact this list (thanks to vintage mickey mantles and a mike trout rookie and so on and so forth). it will be interesting to see where the list ends up!

1950's represent!

sometime around the year 2000, i began putting together "sampler" sets of topps sets from 1952 through 1969. i had no intention of ever completing any of those sets, and i figured it would be a fun idea to pick up a card from each team and each subset for those older sets.

i finished the task in a few years (it was a low priority), but then decided to scrap the collection as i began putting together the 1965 and 1957 sets.  now, i've decided to put together a "representative card" mini collection that will make it easier for me to see a great card from each topps flagship set from 1952 on.

i'll show off the cards occasionally, along with a reason for choosing that particular card. i won't use a card that is in my dodger collection, or any other collection for that matter, so i should wind up with a good variety.  here are the cards that represent the 1950's in this mini collection:

1952 - chuck stobbs

this card is one of the first that i added to my 1952 sampler, but that's not the only reason that i've chosen it for this project. it's a great looking, colorful card, and features stobbs (a pitcher) posing like a slugger with the bat resting on his shoulder. stobbs was only 18 when he debuted with the red sox in 1947, and looks the part of a young ballplayer five years later.

1953 - ralph kiner

the first (but not only) pirate and hall of famer to represent the 1950's. this kiner card was in a lot of vintage cards that i bought back when i started the sampler project. this was his final pirates card as he was dealt to the cubs during the 1953 season. he only played for 10 years, but stuck around the game for the remainder of his life.

1954 - ed and john o'brien

another pirates card! this one was picked up for the sampler as the only 'combo' card in the 1954 set. i know it's not really a combo card, but i wanted it in my sampler anyway. neither o'brien brother suited up for the pirates in 1954, but both were with the club in '53 and again from 1955 to 1958.  both played the infield and also pitched, with ed's 1957 topps card even listing his position as "ss-p". 

1955 - joe amalfitano

i chose this card because amalfitano was well known to me as the dodger third base coach for most of tom lasorda's managerial reign. 

1956 - wally moon

the unibrow makes this card, although i am also about 95% sure that the catcher appearing here is roy campanella.

1957 - elmer valo

the valo card is well recognized as one of the highlights of the 1957 set, and it was one of the first that i added to my sampler collection. it is also the card that helped me decide to pursue the complete set - something i hadn't committed to doing when i first showed one of the valo cards from my collection.

1958 - pete whisenant

whisenant here is one of the few (only?) black background cards in the 1958 set, and it creates a striking piece of cardboard. for the 1958 set, i not only had at least one card from each team and subset, but also at least one card featuring every different color background.

1959 - roberto clemente

here's the only card in this collection that wasn't part of my sampler set. no, this clemente belonged to my dad, who must have picked it up as part of a deal for some 1959 dodger cards. he had no other clemente cards, and his star player collections didn't include clemente. however it came in to his possession, i am thankful as it made its way to me a couple of years ago.

i used to own a 1951 topps luke easter card, but sold it off a few years ago. i don't plan to pick up a 1951 card for this collection, but if i were to do so, i would probably seek out easter again.

which cards would represent the 1950's in your collection?

up next, the 1960's represent! stay tuned...

it never hurts to ask

when i posted recently about my completed 1965 topps set (!) i mentioned that i really got serious about completing it in the near term last fall.  what i didn't mention was that i bought a huge lot of cards from a dealer in california.

the listing promised a near set with a total of approximately 1000 cards, and included photos of several of the key cards.  it turned out that i didn't need as many of those key cards as i thought. can you imagine that i forgot i already had willie mays and hank aaron for my set?  at any rate, i figured i would drastically reduce my want list, upgrade a few cards, and then flip the remainder.

at that time, i needed around 240 cards. after i went through the purchased lot, i found that my list had dwindled to about 80 cards.  however, there was a portion of the set that was pretty much completely missing from the lot.  i messaged the guy to let him know that there were not quite 1000 cards in the lot, and the portion of the set between numbers 387 and 524 was pretty much missing.  he was surprised to hear that and offered to send me another 125 cards, including many in that range.

i was very appreciative and offered to pay for the additional shipping. he noted it would be sent in a medium rate priority box, and he would include another miscellaneous lot of cards from the 1950's and 1960's that he had laying around.  cool.

sure enough, the cards arrived and i was able to cross off another 50 or so needs from my 1965 set pursuit.  however, i was able to also cross off about 15 cards from my 1957 set pursuit from the 40 or so cards that were included in the box, leaving a few duplicates.

plus, i found 190 cards from 1969 topps,

16 cards from 1953 topps,

about a dozen cards from 1956 topps,

and a whopping 75 cards from 1955 bowman!

the bowman cards were the biggest surprise, so let's take a closer look.  i obtained my first 1955 bowman card back in 1979, and it was this guy's card

that is a special card to me as a collector, so i am always happy to see it.

i had not previously owned any of the umpire cards from the set, and this lot had two of them - bill summers

and nestor chylak

summers there is oblivious to the fact that later in 1955, he will call jackie robinson safe on a steal of home in the world series, setting off yogi berra. unfortunately, summers was just out of the frame and missed an opportunity to be featured on numerous baseball cards that depict that play in the future.  chylak's last gig as a major league umpire was the 1977 world series. he was at first base in game 6, so isn't in all the cards showing one of reggie's three home runs.

there was the iconic gene baker card

with the large bandage. i thought that i had read the story behind the bandage somewhere, but i can't find it now.  even though he himself was a shortstop by trade, baker was moved to second base and became ernie banks' double play partner with the cubs (they debuted for the team within days of each other in 1953).  he later went on to become the first african-american manager in professional baseball when he took over one of the pirates' farm clubs in 1961.

and i found this murry dickson card to be amusing

someone forgot to give him a ball to hold for the photo

i needed this bob miller card like he needs a hole in the head

so i guess we're even.

i spent some time looking at the backs which covered a variety of topics.  this robin roberts card stood out to me

duke snider had a decent reputation as a wall climber, and it sounds like this was a great catch on his part. there is another catch by the duke that is immortalized on cardboard in the 1959 topps "baseball thrills" subset.

there were some heavy hitters in the lot, too.

minnie minoso 

showing an odd way to bunt

bob feller (!)

with a thumbtack hole, but still - it's a card of feller from his playing days! it is weird to me that he didn't make an appearance in the 1954 world series, but he was definitely on the downside of his career by then so maybe it made sense.

phil rizzuto

it was definitely surprising to find a yankee in the lot

and then there were the two 1955 mvp award winners - roy campanella

and yogi berra

with his uniform number helpfully scrawled on to the card.

just a crazy amount of cards featuring some great players, all because i asked.  

ray boone turns two at third base?

a few months ago, i was standing next to brian from highly subjective, completely arbitrary at a card show digging through some '56 topps cards (congrats on finishing that set, brian!).  i have a few cards from that set in my collection - among them a complete dodger team set, the remnants of my sampler set, and some cards showing the double play turn.  while watching brian purchase the penultimate card for his set, i came across this ray boone card:

now, boone here is listed as a third baseman, although he is clearly not playing third base here, unless the yankee runner has fallen down in the basepaths well to the shortstop side of third base.  to me, it looked like a double play, but i knew that the tigers of the mid-1950's featured perennial all-star (and two-time sandy koufax no-hitter final batter) harvey kuenn locked up at short.  i had to know for sure, so i bought the card for $1 (or less) and brought it home.  a few days later, i took a trip to baseball reference.

according to what may well be my favorite website of all time, ray boone played in 135 games in 1955 - exclusively as a third baseman.  in 1954, his first full year in detroit, boone did appear in one game as a shortstop, but had zero fielding chances in those four innings.  before that, he spent half of the 1953 season in cleveland before being traded to the tigers.  i was beginning to think that the detroit player featured in the action image was not bob boone's dad, but rather kuenn or a random tiger whose face was obscured enough to pass for boone. i took a look at 1953 anyway, and found that there were three games in which boone played short after joining detroit - all of which came against the yankees in the bronx!

after beating the yankees in the opener of a four-game series in june of 1953, boone moved from third to short and into the leadoff spot for the final three games of the series, replacing kuenn both ways. in the fourth inning of the third game of the series, hal newhouser gave up a triple to mickey mantle, a single to yogi berra (berra out at second on the play), a single to gil mcdougald (who also has a double play card in the 1956 set), and then a walk to gene woodling.  newhouser was replaced by ray herbert who got the next batter, willy miranda, to hit a grounder to tigers' second baseman jerry priddy. priddy fed boone for the 4-6-3 double play to end the inning and solve this mystery - aaron boone's grandpa is turning two in a play from 1953 that is featured on a card in 1956 - and  i welcome the rare thirdbaseman card into my double play collection!

it's the wrong edwin, but it's still a dodger card

i recently looked at edwin/eddie/ed mathews' 1956 topps card for the first time.  i mean, really looked at it.

it's a tatooine card - a card that features only the infield dirt - and i did not know that mathews' given name was edwin (just like the duke of flatbush, edwin donald snider), but that's not why i was so intrigued.  no, it was the presence of a brooklyn dodger on the card that made me stop and take notice.  given the circumstance, i can only assume that it is pee wee reese who has suffered the wrath of mathews' slide.

i decided to add this mathews card to my collection (first copy goes in the 'dodger lurker' mini collection), and was looking for one at a recent card show where i met up with brian from highly subjective, completely arbitrary.  he made some good progress on his 1956 topps set at that show, but i came away without a mathews.  a few days later, i pulled the trigger on a very low priced version which, as you can see, has some damage.  that's no problem for me or my budget. having this card in my collection now, i see that it pairs well with my 1956 topps roy mcmillan card, which features jim gilliam in an uncredited supporting role.

mathews grew up and lived (and is buried) in santa barbara, which was not far from where i grew up.  i played against his alma mater in high school ball a couple of times.  howver, he was well before my time, and so the santa barbara guy my friends and i were more familiar with was jesse orosco, who doesn't have any cards that feature pee wee reese.