a complete run of jackie

behold! my latest jackie robinson acquisition - a 1953 topps card

which is also number 1 in the set

i've always liked this card, but only in reprint or virtual fashion, so to have one in my hands is pretty cool.  i assume that the background is supposed to be some part of a stadium, but to me it seems more like the 'l' in chicago or some ancient roman aqueduct, had they made their aqueducts of metal.  this was the card i targeted a while back that was sold with about 17 other cards from the 1950's, including that 1953 bowman color gil hodges i posted a couple of weeks back.

anyway, adding the '53 jackie to my collection means that i now have a complete topps run of jackie's cards from his playing days.  let's run through them, shall we?

1952 topps

1953 topps

1954 topps

1955 topps

and 1956 topps

that is some fantastic cardboard, if i do say so myself.

a nice way to start 2015 - 63 year old cardboard obtained!

i bought myself a christmas present - this 1952 topps duke snider card

it was the low-numbered card from the set that i most coveted, and so i went and got it.  i am still a long way from the team set, not even considering all of the high numbered dodgers that i would have to acquire to finish, but i am pleased to own this iconic and beautiful card.

hopefully, 2015 hasn't already peaked for me and my collection.  happy new year!

the evolution of the dodger second baseman - beginning with jackie

just two positions left to review in my evolutionary posts.  this one is special to me because i spent most of my playing days at second base, and even though i was a steve garvey fan, i marveled at the dodger lineage at second base.  as a little leaguer, i traced it back from dave lopes to jim lefebvre to jim gilliam to jackie robinson.  i later learned that it wasn't quite that clean, but still.  at some point, it traces back to jackie, which is where i will start.  besides, it gives me a reason to show my 1952 topps jackie robinson card again, now freed from its plastic cage.

jackie robinson (1948-1952)

jackie was named the rookie of the year in 1947 when he was the dodgers' first baseman.  in 1948, brooklyn traded their second baseman, eddie stanky, to boston and gil hodges took over at first with jackie moving to second.  he stayed there for five seasons, winning the mvp award in 1949 and leading the league with a .342 average as well.

jim gilliam (1953-1957)

like jackie, gilliam was named the rookie of the year, but he won the award as the dodgers' second baseman in 1953.  that's his 1954 topps card - i unfortunately don't have a copy of his 1953 topps issue.  although gilliam also played some outfield in 1955 and 1956, he was the team's primary second baseman through 1957.  he finished fifth in the league mvp voting in 1956, when he hit .300 and helped the dodgers return to the world series.

charlie neal (1958-1961)

gilliam moved to the outfield in 1958 as the dodgers moved west, and so charlie neal moved from short to second.  he remained the dodgers' second baseman until he was traded to the mets following the 1961 season.  he made two all-star teams for the dodgers in his tenure as their second baseman, including the 1960 team as noted on his 1960 topps all-star card, and he also won the gold glove at the position in 1959.

jim gilliam (1962-1963)

with neal in new york, jim gilliam returned to the position in 1962, which is the year that the bell brand card shown above was issued.  he finished 6th in the mvp voting in 1963 as the team's second baseman, but once the world series came along, he moved to third base and dick tracewski played second in the dodgers' four game sweep of the yankees.

nate oliver (1964)

oliver was a second year player in 1964 when he hit .243 in 99 games and played more second base than any other dodger.  tracewski and gilliam also spent time at the position that season, but oliver started 97 contests there.  in 1965, however, he played second in only 2 games at the big league level.

jim lefebvre (1965-1966)

another dodger second baseman to win the rookie of the year award, lefebvre (shown on his 1965 topps rookie card) hit .250 with 12 homers en route to the honor.  he did better in 1966, hitting 24 homers with a .274 batting average while being named to the all-star team for the only time in his career.  he also began playing some third base, and spent most of the 1967 season at the hot corner.

ron hunt (1967)

hunt was acquired by the dodgers after the 1966 season from the mets in the tommy davis trade.  topps was abel to get him into the 1967 set as seen above, although the card is a bit of a high number (525).  he spent the 1967 season in los angeles before being traded to the giants prior to the 1968 campaign.  during his stint with the dodgers, hunt started 89 games at second base batting .263 while hitting 3 homers and driving in 33 runs.

paul popovich (1968)

with hunt going to the giants, the dodgers turned to popovich, an offseason acquisition from the cubs, to man second base in 1968.  his 1968 topps card there identifies him as an infielder, and he lived up to that billing by playing second, short, and third in '68.  still, his 80 starts at second base is what qualifies him for a spot in the team's evolutionary chain.  he hit only .232 on the season, and was traded to the expos early in the 1969 season, meaning that the merry-go-round of dodger second basemen would continue...

thank you jackie robinson

no time like the present to show the few jackie robinson cards that i've had in my scanned folder for a while…

2001 fleer greats of the game

2007 upper deck sweet spot classic

2010 topps national chicle - a short print, i believe

2012 topps a cut above insert

2012 topps career day insert

and, what the heck.  let's see it again.  1952 topps

thank you jackie robinson!

what do you do when your collection nears completion?

i have no illusions regarding my collection.  i know that i will never have a complete (or even the most complete) steve garvey card collection.  i might have the best catalogued double play collection, but my dodger collection, i know for a fact, is lacking in both its organization and completeness.  for example, while i have completed the topps dodger team sets from 1956 on (including traded and update sets except for those four 2012 super short prints in the update set), i do not anticipate ever completing all of the topps dodger team sets.  the biggest obstacle would be the 1952 topps high numbered dodgers which make up almost half of the team set (16 of 33) and include such players as roy campanella, pee wee reese, and jackie robinson.  i just can't see myself being able to pull that off.

but, at least i can check jackie robinson off of the list.  yes, i pulled the trigger on an honest to goodness 1952 topps high numbered jackie robinson card.

it is, as you might imagine, fantastic.

as you can see, and as you know if you've been reading this blog for any of the past 5 and a half years, i am not a stickler when it comes to the condition of my vintage, although i don't begrudge those who might want something better for their collections.  i am happy with my collection - happy with the cards that i own and happy with the ones i choose to add to it even as i run out of cards that i 'need' to add.  i won't get to the point where i am actively seeking condition upgrades for my vintage dodgers (although i would like to upgrade a few other cards in my 1970 topps set).  because of this, my topps dodger collection, and perhaps my dodger collection as a whole, is close to being complete - complete by my terms.

i had already decided that this year would be the last for this blog when i picked up the jackie card a couple of months ago.  i thought about hanging on to it for my final post, but that would have been a waste of it.  besides, i still have a ton of posts that i want to write, and some recurring themes that i need to finish, and i couldn't wait any longer to show it off.  don't worry though, you'll see it again before this is all over.  in fact, let's have another look at it now.

it may well be the best thing i've ever posted.

my pared down 1952 topps sampler set, a dodger double dipper, and a contest winner!

thanks to all who joined me in wishing steve garvey a happy birthday yesterday.  as promised, i will be giving away a 1952 topps card to one of you.

first, let's take a look at what my 1952 topps sampler set looks like now.  as you'll recall, i decided to pare down most of my pre-1970 collection (1957 topps and 1965 topps not included) to just dodgers and a few double plays, final tributes, and memorials.  here's what i am left with from 1952.

that's wayne terwilliger, the overly happy chris van cuyk, a forlorn johnny schmitz, and clyde king.  billy cox, rocky bridges, and ralph branca, too.  there is one spot left on the sheet, and darned if a high number wouldn't look nice there.  i'll have to do something about that.

i have posted about each of these guys in one way or another, except for van cuyk, a dodger pitcher from wisconsin.  van cuyk will have to wait, however, as clyde king is hijacking this post.  yes, king was a dodger double dipper.

[this is the fiftyfifth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, joe medwick, juan castro, and ron perranoski.]

just for fun, here's another 1952 clyde king card - from bowman - that i just picked up.

it hasn't arrived yet, but i am posting it anyway.

king signed with the dodgers prior to the 1944 season, and a couple of months into that season, he was making his debut with the club.  he wound up going 13-12 for the dodgers from 1944 through may of 1948 before the team put him on waivers.  he was selected by the phillies, but never did appear in a game for them.  they wound up waiving him a few days later, and the dodgers decided to bring him back into the fold.  when he returned to the mound for brooklyn in 1951, king's status as a double dipper was completed.

he had his best season in 1951, going 14-7 with a complete game and 6 saves.  then, after one more season in brooklyn, king was traded to the reds for dixie howell.  he finished his big league playing career with the reds in 1953, but spent a couple more seasons in the minors.  after that, king began his managerial career in the braves' organization.  he managed in the pirates' organization, too, and was later an instructor/coach for the cardinals, reds, and back to the pirates during the 1960's.  late in the decade, he joined the giants' organization, and was named their manager in 1969.  from there, he moved on to managing the braves, and later the yankees.  he also took a turn as the yankees' general manager in the mid-1980's, and wound up trading for jay buhner and rickey henderson, among others, as well as signing bernie williams.

but enough about king.  let's find out who gets a 1952 topps card.  there were 5 blogs which promoted the contest:

the junior junkie
it's like having my own card shop
mark's ephemera
the writer's journey
tenets of wilson

there were 24 blogs (other than mine) that wished steve a happy birthday and left a comment.  i wasn't too much of a stickler beyond that - it's the thought that counts, right?  here are the blogs:

the writer's journey
it's like having my own card shop
ptown tom
angels in order
1978 baseball
red cardboard
the chronicles of fuji
the diamond king
this way to the clubhouse
tenets of wilson
coot veal and the vealtones
mark's ephemera
the prowling cat
the junior junkie
the lost collector
baseball card breakdown
1978, the year it all began
dime boxes
chavez ravining
play at the plate
cards on cards
dodger penguin
night owl cards
playing with my cards

so, here's the list that goes into random.org:

the junior junkie
it's like having my own card shop
mark's ephemera
the writer's journey
tenets of wilson
the writer's journey
it's like having my own card shop
ptown tom
angels in order
1978 baseball
red cardboard
the chronicles of fuji
the diamond king
this way to the clubhouse
tenets of wilson
coot veal and the vealtones
mark's ephemera
the prowling cat
the junior junkie
the lost collector
baseball card breakdown
1978, the year it all began
dime boxes
chavez ravining
play at the plate
cards on cards
dodger penguin
night owl cards
playing with my cards

and, after randomizing 6 (the garv's jersey number) times, the winner is…

…play at the plate.

brian requested the senators (which are the twins' senators, not the rangers' senators), so he receives an eddie yost card.

yost wound up as an original angel, and not a twin, in 1961.  dude could get on base, too.

congrats brian, and thanks again to all who participated.

documenting my 1952 topps sampler set before it's gone

while i like the idea of frankensets - serial numbered frankensets; mini card frankensets; team specific frankensets; dime box goodness frankensets - i am not working on any.  i did, however, put together some sampler sets about 10 years ago.

you see, i started collecting in 1978 as a set collector.  from that time until 2010, i completed a topps flagship set each year, along with fleer and donruss from 1981 through 1987.  i also started working on a 1970 topps set sometime in the 1980's (and completed it about 7 or 8 years ago).  i had no illusions of completing the flagship sets dating back to 1952, and was content to have some dodgers and a few other cards from those other years.

then, sometime around 2003, i had the idea to build sampler sets for all the years that i would not complete as a way to appease the set collector in me.  a sampler set would include at least one card from each team featured in the set, as well as at least one card from every subset - league leaders, combo cards, team cards, etc - as well as one card from each color (think of the 1954, 1958, and 1959 sets) or orientation (horizontal cards in a mostly vertical set, like 1952).  i put together a spreadsheet for every set from 1952 through 1969, along with 1971 through 1977, and hit the vintage bargain bins at the local card shows and bought vintage lots on ebay.  i wound up with some nice cards and completed the sampler sets in fairly short order.

in more recent years, i have completed the full sets from 1973, 1974, 1976, and 1977.  i am (somewhat) actively working on a 1971 set. and, i have just decided to complete the 1972 and 1975 sets (i was torn on the 1975 set since it is my least favorite from the decade, but not completing it would leave a large gap in my set collection).  want lists for those two sets will be up soon.

as for the other years, i have decided to break my sampler sets and only keep the dodgers from those years - it has to do with paring the collection and all - although i might hold on to the extra 1957 and 1965 cards (the only sets from those decades that i would ever try to complete).  so, i figured i should show off the sampler sets before dismantling them.

in 1952, there weren't any subsets (but there were horizontal cards) - just player cards - and there were 16 teams in the big leagues - the browns, red sox, white sox, indians, tigers, yankees, a's, senators, braves, cubs, reds, dodgers, phillies, pirates, cardinals, and giants.  without further ado, here is my 1952 topps sampler set.

so, 24 total cards, including two horizontal ones.  that is one card from each team except the white sox (2), red sox (2), and dodgers (7).  this represents less than 10% of the set, and only about 20% of the dodger team set.  i still have some work to do, even to finish off the low-number team set.

the backs have some variations represented in the sampler, too.

only one black back, but a few white backs.  no high numbers, though, which is a bit of a regret.  at least the backs are all oriented the same way.

now the enterprising young reader in you might be wondering what i am going to do with all the non-dodger goodness you have just seen.  well, i'll post later tonight about an upcoming contest in which you could win one of the 1952 topps cards from this post.  stay tuned...

feelin' '52

just for the heck of it, here are some 1952 cards i picked up at a show sometime last year.  at least i think that's where they came from. pretty sure.  there's a show this weekend, and i am hoping to get a couple of key 1950's cards.  i'm a bit at a loss, as i recently completed my 1960's dodger topps team sets.  i could always look for upgrades, i suppose, but i think i want to let the accomplishment settle first.

anyway, i have a long way to go to complete the dodgers from the 1950's, and i don't plan to really ever get there.  but, i do own these four cards, among others.  this one is a 1952 bowman ralph branca

and this one is his manager, chuck dressen

looks like chuck is trying to shake some sense into the artisit.  i'm one of those collectors who dislikes the facsimile autograph.  i was surprised when i first saw cards from 1952 and noticed that the facsimile auto had been around since the dawn of modern cards.

it works better on the 1952 topps cards, however, thanks to the little box.  here's a backlit johnny schmitz card

and a wayne terwilliger

schmitz failed to play a whole year for the dodgers, splitting both the 1951 and 1952 seasons between two clubs. he was traded to the dodgers during the 1951 season along with rube walker, terwilliger (and andy pafko - anyone have an extra '52 topps card of his?) for gene hermanski, eddie miksis and a couple other players, and then was picked up on waivers by the yankees during the 1952 campaign.  terwilliger played out the '51 season with the dodgers, but spent 1952 in the minors.  he was picked up on waivers by the senators late in the '52 season.

when i first moved to minnesota, twig was a coach for the saint paul saints - the local independent league minor league team.  he moved on to other coaching jobs, but i think he is retired now.  i've thought about enhancing his 1952 topps card with a genuine autograph, but haven't ever pursued it.

so, i'll be diggin in at the vintage bargain bins tomorrow, looking for some friends of branca, dressen, schmitz, and twig.  anybody need anything?

the topps dodger autograph project - the brooklyn years

when i started doing ttm in 2009, i didn't really have a plan other than getting some players from the early days of my collecting to sign some cards.  shortly thereafter, i decided to try for all of the 1978 topps dodgers, and then former dodgers in general, along with other players featured in the 1978 topps set.  i finally included current dodgers with varying degrees of success.  about a year or so ago, i found a post at the lost collector about his topps yankee project in which he was trying to obtain, via ttm, a yankee autographed card from each year that topps had produced cards.

i took stock and realized that i was only a couple years short of doing this with the dodgers, so i decided to finish it off.  unfortunately, one of the years i was missing was 1951.  both gene hermanski and duke snider, good signers through the mail, had passed away, so i wound up purchasing a preacher roe signed 1951 topps red back online.  

it's jsa certified, if that truly means anything.  i could have picked up a ralph branca card and looked for a private signing to send it to, but decided to go this route.  so, already i am off the track that the lost collector followed.

my 1952 topps entry, however, cost me just two stamps beyond the cost of the card itself.  rocky bridges was kind enough to sign his 1952 topps card for me

this was one of the requests i sent out after deciding to complete the topps run of signed dodger cards.  before that, i didn't really think too much about getting a 1952 card signed - not sure why.  wayne terwilliger still signs occasionally so there were some opportunities.  anyway, the bridges cards sits alone in the binder as the sole 1952 ttm representative.

i have a couple of 1953 topps cards signed.  one is from dick williams (which required his signing fee of $25), and the other is this bobby morgan card

which was obtained through the mail free of charge.

1954 was the other year that i had to purchase a card online.  i found a billy herman card and picked it up.

herman is a hall of famer who obviously coached the dodgers in the 1950's.  tom lasorda was the only 1954 option through the mail, but the cost of buying (another) 1954 lasorda rookie card was not appealing to me.  especially knowing that it would cost me more to have it signed at a private signing.

for 1955, i chose don zimmer

i've had a couple of successes with zimmer, and this is the only signed 1955 topps card i have in my collection.  same goes for 1956, where the randy jackson card is all by itself

jackson had also signed a 1957 card for me, but i will feature each player only once, just as the lost collector did.  that means that 1957, the dodgers' last year in brooklyn, will be represented by carl erskine.

erskine is one of the best signers out there, so he's a great friend to the hobby.  i've sent a few cards his way, and they always come back looking nice.  the aforementioned jackson and this oisk card are the only two signed cards from the underappreciated 1957 topps set that i have in my collection.

as always, i am appreciative of the players who sign through the mail, and i am glad that there are so many former dodgers who do so.  i'll post some of the early los angeles dodgers to have signed for free through the mail in the next post.

the evolution of my oldest card

i'll take a break from my other evolutionary posts and jump on the 'evolution of my oldest card' bandwagon that has been perpetuated by night owl, the vintage sportscards blog and the number 5 type collection recently.

the first cards i ever owned were 1977 topps. i remember being given a pack probably around the world series that year, and opening it in the back seat of our car. the only card i really remember from that pack is this one, a 1977 topps mike schmidt card.

i previously feted this card here.  it was instantly the oldest card that i owned.  a few years later, i would be on the lookout for (and eventually the lucky recipient of) his rookie card, but only because of the presence of the penguin.

sometime in 1978, i came across this beauty, a 1976 topps reggie smith,

the details of which i wrote about here. this card then became the oldest card i owned.

there was some furious trading going on in my neighborhood in 1978, and i somehow landed a small sampling of 1971 topps cards, including this thrashed 1971 topps jim shellenback card

i have since sent this card to night owl as i upgraded it, but i still remember it fondly.

at some point that same year, i vacationed north of the border and was introduced to the wonder that was o-pee-chee. i also accompanied my parents to many a prairie antique barn, and, much like my reward in that 1976 topps reggie smith card, i found a few 1960 fleer cards, including mel ott, cy young, and this tris speaker card.

i told you i didn't object to antiquing!

in 1979, i was able to trade some giants cards to a guy who lived on the other side of my block. he humored me and gave me a 1955 bowman don hoak card.

for the first time, my oldest card was a dodger, and for a long long time, it was the oldest card in my collection.

fastforward to 2000 or so, and i decided that i would collect one card for each team, subset, and color combination variation from each topps set, from 1952 through 1977. at that time, i had complete sets from 1978 on (since then, i have completed the 1970 and 1977 sets, and am working on the 1971 and 1976 sets). it was fairly easy to do this, thanks to my topps coffee table book and ebay. the first 1952 topps card i purchased was this ralph branca card

it reigned as my oldest card for a couple of years before i purchased a vintage card lot on ebay that included this 1909-11 t206 dick egan card

as well as a 1951 topps luke easter red back. this t206 card was awesome, but i never really connected with it (i had purchased the lot more for the 1953 topps cards that were in it) so i sold it on ebay about a year and a half ago. around the same time, i also sold the luke easter card.

that meant that the 1951 topps gene hermanski

(and 1951 topps gil hodges) cards that i had acquired in the meantime were now my oldest cards.

that was until a couple of months ago when i plucked this 1951 bowman rex barney from the vintage bargain bin at the local card show.

i consider it to be older than the 1951 topps cards simply due to alphabetical order. the bowman card is the first card in my 1950's binder.

so there you have it. the evolution of my oldest card. i'm accepting new (older) entries if anyone has some pre-war dodgers to offer up!