Binder Page Heroes Vintage Style

Hello, everybody! Welcome to ATBATT's first post of 2013.

Although I didn't post in the opening couple weeks of January, I was certainly keeping active by reading everyone's posts and dropping the occasional comment.  One cool development I've noticed in our community is a movement toward vintage cardboard being discussed, chased and traded.

Nothing like a great vintage Dodger on great vintage cardboard

Carl Furillo is an unsung hero from those great old-time Brooklyn teams.  Sure, Jackie, Campy, Pee Wee and The Duke get all the attention, but steady Carl Furillo more than held his own.

This interest in vintage might be due to the disappointment a lot of us felt after the "relic scandals" of 2012. Who wants to pay a premium price - for a pack or a single - chasing cards with chunks of table legs or scraps from horse blankets being passed off as bat and jersey relics from our favorite players?

Maybe this renewed respect for vintage is just a part of a natural cycle in our hobby.  Fads like triple patch relics will come and go, but we'll periodically return to our hobby roots and the joys in cards that are not only about baseball history, but that carry history themselves.  The history of their past "owners" that we now join and take a part in creating. 

 Heres Sal "the Barber" Maglie.  He got his nickname by - yeah, you got it - giving batters such close shaves with the high heater.  Sal pitched for the enemy, and later, he joined the Dodgers and pitched for the Good Guys.

 

 Most of us have heard of fiery Billy Martin, and most of us probably think of him as manager of the yankees, feudin' with Reggie, Steinbrenner, and anybody else who happened to be in the room at the time. 

I'm happy to have a card from Billy as a player.  This '61 topps shows he played for the Braves, which means he was Hammerin' Hank's teammate.  

 Here's another cool '61.  I love this photo of Killer Killebrew.  He looks like a (baseball) hero, and quite often, he was.

Whatever the reasons for vintage getting more exposure on our blogs, it's great for a collector like me, because cards from old-time HOF'ers is one of my favorite things about our hobby.  I'm looking forward to seeing more of my fellow bloggers exposing me to their vintage cards and hopefully we'll all be getting some vintage-based trades going.

THANKS for reading, everybody!

Next Post:  B.P.H. Vintage Part Deux