Card show report: 11/27: vintage baseball

Now that I've shown off the pre-show in-person trade I did with Dustin, here's one of two additional posts that'll cover what I picked up at this weekend's show.

My main focus this time was hitting up the (mainly) 90% vintage guy I discovered last month.  Dustin and I both found some keepers here, and I picked up 10 cards for something like $40.  One was a dupe of a Freehan I hadn't realized Dustin had given me that afternoon, so I won't show it off again, but it's tradeable if someone wants it, and if not I'm happy to keep it with the rest of my Tigers.  Here are the other nine:

Al Kaline 1960 Topps

 This is now my oldest Kaline of the six I now have and it happens to be one of those classic vintage designs that I'm sure many of you are already familiar with.  As with just about everything here, it has its signs of damage but is a great addition nonetheless.

Al Kaline 1962 Topps

 Ah yes, one of the famous wood-paneled sets!  The back of this slightly miscut card refers to his 1955 batting title when he hit a "lusty .340."  Um, that might not be an appropriate use of that word, just sayin'...

Andre Dawson 1977 Topps RC

 You know, I could have sworn I already had this card, but fortunately I've scanned all my prominent RCs into an album you all already know about, so I was able to quickly take a look on my Picasa album and see that I didn't.  The copy I bought is fairly beat up and pretty misprinted on the back--oddly enough, Dawson's name is the part that got cut off, of all people--but I'm happy to finally have this RC of the recent HOFer.

Carlton Fisk 1972 Topps RC

 Speaking of new additions to my RC collection, Dustin pulled this from the massive group of stuff for sale and I decided I had to have it for $13.  The centering's a bit off and it's somewhat worn but is otherwise in nice shape and is easily one of the best cards I came home with Sunday.  Pudge was obviously an outstanding player, but Cooper, who gets the center spot here, was a pretty good player in his own right, and actually compares best to Don Mattingly.  Neither guy deserves to be in the Hall, but they both had nice careers, so Cooper doesn't feel out of place on Fisk's RC here.

Frank Robinson 1968 Topps

One of my favorite underrated players of all time, this makes four vintage cards of Robinson for me.  I've always kind of liked the look of the '68s and this was a nice shot of Frank with the Orioles, though I'm just as happy to get his Reds cards.  You can see the wearing and a crease, but this is still pretty good for a couple bucks.

Johnny Bench 1969 Topps

Johnny Bench 1975 Topps

Here's a pair of Benches I grabbed for two different reasons.  The '69 is Bench's second-year card, which means it looks perfect right along with my RC of Mr. "No runs, no drips, no errors."  That, plus who doesn't like those All-Star Rookie cards?  Finally, it's a great posed shot of a catcher doing what he does best, as is the '75, featuring an older but no less talented Johnny on that awesomely colorful background.  

Lou Piniella 1964 Topps RC

Here's another great vintage card that also fits in my RC collection. Piniella's one of those guys like Joe Torre that will be enshrined in the Hall for a pretty good career as a player but huge contributions as a manager, always a nice combo.  Besides being a Rookie of the Year, he won two titles with the Yanks as a player, then one as a manager for Barry Larkin and the 1990 Reds.  Sweet Lou managed five different teams, including his hometown Rays, and finished 14th on the managerial wins list when he retired this year after a hell of a career in baseball.

Warren Spahn 1958 Topps All-Star

I definitely have a thing for some of these vintage designs including this sweet All-Star card.  Frozen in that moment of time, I can picture Spahn about to go into his signature windup.  I don't actively collect too many vintage stars due to their obvious price premiums, but I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of him at subsequent shows.  Incidentally, Spahn is one of my favorites in my autograph collection.

Tune in tomorrow or whenever I get to it as I show off the last of my haul from this show, including two purchases of groups of singles, and only a couple Michigan football hits, I promise!