My Baseball Card Blog

Well, yesterday I ended up winning an auction that I wasn’t expecting on winning. And now that I have won it, I have been contemplating adding another challenge to what has already been a project over 25 years in the making. I will tell you about that auction later but first here is a little background about my lifetime project. About 25 years ago, I decided to start a complete Topps set run – a set of cards from every year Topps has existed from 1951 to present in solid EX or better condition. This was quite a challenge but I am one not to back down easily. I started by trading my extra 1989 Topps sets back in 1989 and 1990 which I had zillions of for older sets such as 1985 through 1988. I kept working my way backwards and it did not take me long to have sets from every year of the 1980’s. However, it was very difficult to trade my extra 1989 Topps sets to anyone for sets in the 1970’s so I had to come up with a different strategy. Back in the early 1990’s, the only ways to obtain cards were from card shows or card stores. Then along came the internet and everything changed! I decided to begin making trades online when I was in college. This was back in 1992 when most people have not even heard of the internet. My roommate had a Prodigy internet account and allowed me to use his account as long as I paid him back. Back then, internet providers charged by the minute and it costs 25 cents just to send an email. It ended up being costly to trade online but it was a great experience to find reputable people in chat rooms and forums that were willing to help me with my huge undertaking. I was able to get the 1976 through 1979 Topps sets while in college via trading on the internet. After college, I attended as many card shows as I could. I even set up a booth at a few just to trade and talk about baseball cards. I continued to work my way backwards on my Topps set quest and by the time I was 25 I had completed a Topps set from my birth year, 1971, to present. At 25, finding older sets from reputable dealers online was becoming very difficult. I decided to hold off on my quest and take a break for a year or two. Then, a friend of mine told me about an online auction site, eBay. This changed everything about baseball cards. I felt sorry for most card stores because eBay put them out of business. Buyers no longer had to go to physical stores to buy cards. Now, they could buy them online and at much cheaper prices. The card stores that are around today exist because they have been able to adapt to the changes in customer’s habits. So, in 1998, I started an eBay account and began buying up cards in the 1950’s and 1960’s. A few of my purchases were partial sets. Before I knew it, I was able to piece together my childhood dream set – a 1957 Topps set in EX condition! After many years of amassing cards, I came to the realization that I will most likely never complete the highly coveted 1952 Topps set. Nor would I be able to complete the 1951, 1953, and 1954 sets. They are simply too expensive. So, after mulling it over, a few years ago I decided to sell off the 1951 through 1954 Topps cards in my collection and just begin my collection with 1955. I continued to build on my sets and now I have a complete Topps set run from 1967 to present plus completed sets from 1957, 1959, 1964, and 1965. Then, last year I decided to try to slowly collect cards from 1951 through 1954 again only this time I would not be so picky on condition. I decided to collect the 1951 through 1953 sets in PSA 2 or better and the 1954 Topps set in PSA 3 or better. I have quite a few from these years as the commons are relatively inexpensive to find in lower conditions. Now, back to the card I started to tell you about at the beginning of this blog post. I have always wanted to own a high number card from the famous 1952 Topps set. As you might know, Topps announced that they had sunk the majority of 1952 Topps high number cases into the Atlantic Ocean due to poor sales and needed warehouse space thus the amount of high numbers out there is very scarce. Well, I have been scouring the auctions on eBay and most of the Topps high numbers sell for hundreds or thousands depending on condition. Even common 1952 Topps high number cards in PSA 2 sell for over $100 on average! I was lucky to pick this one up to what I believe was a bargain…

I ended up paying $75.76 delivered for this one. It is my first high number since selling off my 1952’s a few years back. I plan on adding more but this will take some time. So, I wonder if this is something I should attempt to complete? It might take another 25 years to do this, but I think I am up for the challenge! What do you think?

Best Match Items Ending First Newly-Listed Items First Price + Shipping: Lowest First Price + Shipping: Highest First

1952 Topps! Rocky Bridges # 239 EX-Near MINT! High Grade! $19.99 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 2h 8m

1952 Topps! Jack Phillips # 240 EX-Near MINT! High Grade! $19.99 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 2h 14m

1952 Topps! Dick Fowler # 210 Near MINT! High Grade! $19.99 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 2h 18m

1952 TOPPS BOB THORPE # 367 HIGH NUMBER $47.00 (7 Bids) Time Remaining: 3h 19m

1952 Topps Baseball Card HIGH #372 Gil McDougald Rookie New York Yankees G/VG $485.00 Time Remaining: 21h 20m Buy It Now for only: $485.00

1952 Topps Baseball Card HIGH #384 Frank Crosetti New York Yankees $325.00 Time Remaining: 21h 22m Buy It Now for only: $325.00

I am now actively working on the 1966 Topps set. I only need 49 more cards to complete this monster! I am finding this to be one of the most challenging sets to complete of the 1960’s. This is mainly due to the high number series (cards numbered 524-598). These cards are shortprinted and I need 40 cards from the high series. Here is a list of the cards I need along with the high Beckett prices:

#126 Jim Palmer $100.00
#160 Whitey Ford $30.00
#254 Fergie Jenkins/B. Sorrell $60.00
#300 Roberto Clemente $150.00
#365 Roger Maris $50.00
#410 Al Kaline $40.00
#469 Bobby Murcer/D. Womack $30.00
#490 Bobby Richardson $25.00
#500 Hank Aaron $120.00
#526 Twins Team SP $100.00
#527 Julio Navarro $15.00
#530 Robin Roberts $50.00
#532 A.Monteagudo SP $30.00
#533 Jerry Adair SP $30.00
#535 Willie Davis SP $40.00
#538 Bob Allen SP $30.00
#539 B. Heath/C. Sembera $25.00
#540 Denny McLain SP $60.00
#543 Roger Craig SP $30.00
#544 Hoerner/Williams SP $30.00
#545 Dick Green SP $30.00
#546 Dwight Siebler $25.00
#547 Horace Clarke SP $40.00
#548 Gary Kroll SP $30.00
#550 Willie McCovey SP $100.00
#551 Bob Purkey SP $30.00
#552 Birdie Tebbetts SP $30.00
#554 Jim Northrup SP $30.00
#556 Mel Queen SP $30.00
#558 Grilli/Magrini/Scott $20.00
#561 Choo Choo Coleman SP $30.00
#562 Russ Snyder $25.00
#563 Pete Cimino/Cesar Tovar $15.00
#564 Bob Chance SP $30.00
#565 Jimmy Piersall SP $40.00
#567 Dick Howser SP $40.00
#569 Orlando McFarlane SP $30.00
#576 Dave Nicholson SP $30.00
#578 Chi Chi Olivo SP $30.00
#579 Bertaina/Brabender $20.00
#583 Tigers Team SP $120.00
#584 Fernandez/Peterson $15.00
#586 Claude Raymond SP $30.00
#588 Dobson/Suarez $15.00
#589 Lou Klimchock SP $30.00
#590 Bill Skowron SP $40.00
#591 Shirley/Jackson RC SP $40.00
#596 Nate Colbert/G. Sims SP $30.00
#598 Gaylord Perry SP $200.00

I know a guy that is willing to sell all of these 1966 cards to me. He and I currently working out a deal. I am not sure if I will be able to agree to his prices or not. I am currently waiting to hear back from him so I am very anxious to see his proposal. He is the same guy that I got this very nice 1967 Topps Tom Seaver RC from and the rest of his collection is of this quality:

Stay tuned as I will post once I hear about his offer. Maybe I will be on my way to completing this set soon! Once I have the 1966 Topps set complete, I will have a complete set run from 1964 to present. I will then work on my 1963 Topps set which is only 23 cards away from completion. Unfortunately for me, one of the cards I need is Pete Rose.