Friday, September 17, 2010

From the Dollar Box - Something Vintage, Something New

Here's another quick post, 2 cards plucked from the dollar box at the local hobby shop. One vintage baseball card, one new (or newer) card. We'll start with the vintage:

1959 Topps - #237 - Run Preventers - The 1959 set is really starting to grow on me. In fact, I would rank it right up there with '52, '53 and '57 Topps as one of my favorite sets from the decade. Aside from that, the combo cards featured in the 50's and 60's Topps sets are some of my favorite vintage cards period. I really like the concept and they are a good way to get the top players of the day at a cheaper price than regular base cards.

This particular card features 3 of the lesser-known (at least to casual baseball fans) Yankee players from their era of domination. Gil McDougald, the 1951 AL Rookie of the Year, played for 10 years, all with the Yankees, and reached the World Series 8 times. Not too shabby! "Bullet Bob" Turley wore pinstripes from 1955 to 1962, and when this card came out was coming off of a 21 win season. Those 21 wins combined with a sub-3.00 ERA were good enough for the AL Cy Young award. Finally, Bobby Richardson was a tremendous fielder (5 time Gold Glove winner) and clutch hitter in his time in New York. He was named MVP of the 1960 World Series (of course the Yankees lost) when he hit .367 with a grand slam, two doubles, two triples and 12 RBI.

1990 Score Rookie/Traded - #100T - Eric Lindros - Here's the newer card, a 1990 Score Rookie/Traded Eric Lindros. You can make the argument (and you're 100% correct) that I overpaid for this one, but I recall this being one of the most coveted baseball cards within my group of childhood friends at one point, so it was more of a sentimental/nostalgic purchase. As you can see from the back of the card, Lindros was one of many two-sport stars at the time:

I'm ashamed to admit that before reading this I had no idea that pitcher Kirk McCaskill was actually a very good hockey player and was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the '81 entry draft. Obviously we all know how Lindros' hockey career turned out, but it's interesting to wonder how well he would've done with a career in Major League Baseball. I'm sure if nothing else he wouldn't have suffered nearly as many concussions!

Hockey collectors out there, did any of you purchase a Score Rookie/Traded set back in the day just to get your hands on this card?

1 comment:

Captain Canuck said...

still have that set,although it was not purchased specifically for lindros.

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