Tommy John (#609)

What, has it been 11 months already? 

I have come to the realization that I no longer enjoy blogging. A year ago, I shut down 3 of my baseball set blogs, and now the remaining dominoes will fall. 

But what better way to go out than with this Tommy John card?  After completing all the low numbers in 1967 (and all but 5 high numbers in the 1980s), last week I picked up one of the last three cards I needed - and at a steal for $5.00!

There's a slight crease on the left side, and ever-so-slightly rounded corners, but last week I found this at an antique store near me, where the dealer was selling all manner of late-60s/early-70s stars for $5.00 each. (Well, the 1970 Henry Aaron was $75.00, but everything else was a flat $5.00). 

I've often heard the adage that the first and last card numbers in the set are hard to find in good condition, because kids would rubber-band their cards together, and damage the front and back cards in the stack.  

To that I say bah!  Who is going to rubber-band 609 cards into one stack? Back in the day, my friends and I would group our cards by team, and rubber-band each team separately. I don't know about the other guys, but I would then have my 10 NL bundles in one box and the 10 AL bundles in another box.  (Our local Mom-and-Pop vendor would let us take the box home if we bought the last pack(s) in the box.)

Now I only need the Tom Seaver and Rod Carew rookie cards to complete the set, but that is only a passive goal at this point. I think I will be much more likely to complete my 1966 set.

Anyhoo, this is the last card in the 1967 set, and also the last card to be featured on this blog.

One more post will follow (probably less than 11 months from now. lol)

Brooks Robinson (#600)

STOP THE PRESSES!!! 

Forty-nine years ago this month, I started collecting baseball cards. (I think I began when the 2nd or 3rd series of 1967 cards were in the stores, so I had to get the earlier cards through trades and "shooting" cards.) Anyway, by the end of that season I had collected every card in the first 6 series except the Cardinals Team card.

The high-numbered 7th series wasn't sold in my area, so I didn't get any of them until visiting card stores and shows in the 1980s. In a year or so, I was able to get all but five of those high-numbers. Six years ago, I got the Maury Wills card, cutting my want list to four.

Today, I scored the hard-to-find Brooks Robinson card, at the same antique store where I picked up 100 or so 1965 cards last year, and also these Topps 1964 giant cards.

I have already posted my 1966 Brooks Robinson card here, so I won't re-hash his playing career. Just want to say "1 more down, 3 to go!"

While at that store, I also picked up these two Mickey Mantle cards, which I will feature on my '65 and '66 blogs at some point. These are 1996 reprints with Stadium Club-like cardstock, and are glossy on both sides. Even so, they will now take their place in my '65 and '66 binders, because there's little chance that I will get the originals.

Maury Wills' Rookie Card

Two days ago marked the 6th-month anniversary of this (my first) blog, and this is my 100th post. For the occasion, I'm posting my most recent acquisition - the 1st Maury Wills card from Topps. Yes, after 8 years, Wills finally got his "rookie" card. It's only taken me 43 years to get it!


Maury Wills (#570) was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers, and played 7 seasons in their minor-league system before even advancing to triple-A (in 1958). After a year and a half in triple-A, Maury made his major-league debut on June 6, 1959. Don Zimmer had been the Dodgers' starting shortstop, but from July 4th on, Wills was making most of the starts there. (They each started 70 games at shortstop that season.)



From 1960 to 1966, Wills started 140 or more games at shortstop for the Dodgers each season (except 1963). The Dodgers inexplicably started Dick Tracewski at shortstop for long stretches of games in 1963, while Wills was either starting at 3rd base or was out of the lineup. (Maybe an old-school Dodgers fan can shed some light on that?)

In 1962, Wills actually started 164 of the Dodgers' 165 regular-season games that year! That season, he set a record with 104 stolen bases, and won the MVP award. He also led the league in plate appearances, at-bats, and triples that season.

After the 1966 season, Wills was traded to the Pirates for third baseman Bob Bailey and minor-league shortstop Gene Michael. He played 3rd base during his 2 seasons in Pittsburgh.

Maury was selected by the Expos in the expansion draft following the 1968 season, and after starting 46 of the Expos' first 50 games at shortstop in 1969, he was traded to the Dodgers (with outfielder Manny Mota) for outfielder Ron Fairly and infielder Paul Popovich. The Dodgers, who had been getting by with Ted Sizemore and Billy Grabarkiewitz at shortstop, returned Wills to his familiar post. Maury started all but 6 games at short for the rest of the season.

Wills was the Dodgers' starting shortstop until April 28, 1972 when Bill Russell took over the position. Wills remained with the team for the rest of the season as a backup, and was released in late October.

He later managed the Seattle Mariners for parts of 1980 and 1981.

11/10/2018 edit: Here is the No card for Wills story.