Some Recent Vintage Pickups

For the past few weeks, most of my free time has been spent organizing my collection and creating/adjusting my want lists. I've spent considerable time creating new want lists for my Topps Team Set Project, my attempt to collect every Dodgers team set from Flagship dating back to 1952. They even have pretty pictures of each Topps design and collection stats, which I am almost certainly mentioning so you go and check them out. Or you can keep reading; I'm a blogger, not a cop. 

I've been working on this project for a while, starting it way back in 2013, but I never really made much progress or focused too much of my attention on it. I have a good chunk of the late-'80s and early-'90s knocked out, as well as the early-to-mid-2010s. But while tinkering with these lists, I discovered that I had yet to track down a card from the '50s. So that had to change.  

I did some browsing on eBay, but didn't find much for cheap right away. I decided to turn to Twitter in the hopes someone there had some inexpensive vintage they were willing to move. Enter Cards from the Attic. 

He regularly runs sales on Twitter, lots ranging from cheap vintage to expensive modern stuff. I ran across a thread with some '52s for sale, and we very quickly came to an agreement. 

  

I picked up three much-needed cards from the '52 set, as well as a 1967 Walt Alston for just $12.00 shipped--about $2.50 a card. I know very little about appropriate pricing on vintage stuff, but I was just happy to add these to the collection and mark them off the checklist. 

I have actually never heard of any of the three guys on these '52s, and based on what I've learned about them on their card backs, there's a reason for it. 

A lifetime 5.23 ERA doesn't get you very far. 

I was initially drawn to the Dodgers hat Mr.Russell here is wearing, but quickly deduced it's not a Dodgers hat at all--it's a Boston Braves hat. I suppose the uniform beneath the nameplate gave it away, but it certainly threw me for a loop at first. 

I also added this Alston to the collection, helping jumpstart the '67 set for me. I was a bit surprised to find I hadn't added anything from '67 yet, so this was a definitely a boon. 

This is just the beginning of a larger focus on vintage for me. I secured my first cards--gorgeous, albeit in rough shape--from the 1952 and 1967 sets, and that makes me a happy collector.