Saturday, June 28, 2014

Rediscovered Vintage - The Last Of The Cardboard Gold

We've made it to the final installment of my rediscovered vintage - cards that I found in a long forgotten shoebox.  

Thanks to those of you who read along with this series and especially to those of you who commented on the coolness of what I found. I was just as excited to reexamine and reread each card as you were to see and read about it here. It was great bounty, indeed. 

 Let's see what other cardboard surprises await.


One of the best things about these cards is the number of iconic players on classic cardboard images I found. 

I saved Brooks Robinson's 1969 Topps issue for today's installment because it should stand on its own, away from the other cards of the decade.  

The circle of the name balloon mimics the rounded old time batting helmet, which matches the cartoon Oriole's logo. And how about Brooks' mother-lovin' smile? 

For some reason the contents of the shoebox completely skipped the '70's (all of the Dodger cards skipped the 70's as well), but they pick up again in the 80's with a couple of doozies...

 How about a Rickey Henderson Rookie Card for a doozie? 

Talk about a card that defines the hobby.  Young Rickey silhouetted at the plate, full of promise and potential, coiled and ready to strike at the entire league.  

But one RC doesn't make a great shoebox, how about one more...


I'm not a big fan of Damn Mattingly, the manager, but I'm certainly a fan of Donnie Baseball.  No, this one doesn't have the highest "book value" of his three RC's (Fleer, Donruss, Topps), the big money card is the Donruss release, but this one is my favorite. 

This card has everything for a lover of the 80's on cardboard. We get a portrait in the insert and a full image of Mattingly at the ready, on the bag. Old time stirrups and flip-down shades complete the look.  

Finally, a couple of inserts from the 90's. I recall back in the day these Topps Finest refractors were the shite. And you couldn't do much better than refractor reprints of these next two guys.
 

 When I first got into collecting, Mickey Mantle was the king of cardboard. 

Conversations went like this - 
 Collector A: "I got a Big Hurt Lumberjacks insert!"
Collector B: "Yeah, that's cool and all, but I got Mickey Mantle!!"
All other collectors (in unison): "WOOOOOOOOOW!!" 
And the Mick hadn't touched a baseball diamond in more than 25 years. However, I don't think he has as much juice with this generation of collectors. 

Batting cleanup for the box of rediscovered cardboard...


Bat barrel - Check!
Roberto, not "Bob" - Check!
Old timey stadium tiers - Check! 
One of the greatest to ever play the game - Double Check! 

That closes out the old shoebox.  Thanks for readin', gang!

6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Tony. It was just as much of a blast to write about them as it was to see them.

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  2. That Clemente is beautiful. I have copies of the '69 Robinson and '80 Henderson (though yours are in way better shape), but I've always wanted an '84 Topps Mattingly rookie. I don't necessarily collect him, but, as you said, it perfectly sums up the '80s in one shot.

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    1. I think he's one of the must-have 80's rookie cards - and I love shots with the fielders set and ready to go.

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  3. It's always fun when, after looking at cards for decades, you see something awesome that's been there all the time but managed to elude appreciation. If I've seen that '69 Brooks before, it didn't click. But that might just be his best of MANY Topps base cards. Sweet.

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    1. You're right about that, Pete. Easily my favorite of his.

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