Here we go with yet another “pack” from the 6-for-5 bin down at the local card shop. Let’s see what goodies we’ll get today.

1957 Topps #96 Hank Aguirre

This is the second ’57 Topps that I pulled out of that box. So far, those have been the oldest cards I’ve seen in there, which is pretty good when you think about it. Initially, I wasn’t too crazy about the ’57 design, especially when I look at it next to some of the other designs from the 50’s. When I look at it by itself, it really is a nice looking card. According to the back, “Hank started 9 games for the Indians last season and one resulted in a flashy 4-hit shutout.” First of all, I love the use of the word “flashy”, and secondly I always find it funny when the writers are obviously struggling to come up with something nice to say. Hanks win-loss record for 1956 was 3-5, which means he was 2-5 with one no decision without that 4-hitter. But let’s just concentrate on the positives.

1974 Topps #20 Nolan Ryan

Obviously, not all of the cards I’ve been getting out of the 6-for-5 box are in great condition. I guess that’s to be expected when you’re getting vintage cards of Hall-of-Famers for less than a buck a piece. This Ryan is certainly the beatest of them all so far. Aside from the scuffs and dings and what-not on the front, someone named Chad (The previous owner I assume?) saw fit to write his name a bunch of times on the back. That was quickly erased from my mind however when my eyes fell upon Nolan’s stat lines and I saw that in 1972 and 1973 he had a combined 711 strikeouts. Yes. In two years. Crazy.

1981 Topps #490 Eddie Murray

Until recently, the vast majority of my vintage cards have been of Mets. That makes sense considering the Mets are really the centerpiece of my collection. Because of that, until I got this here Eddie Murray, all of my 1981 Topps cards have been Mets. One thing I always loved about the ’81 design was the hat on the bottom left with the player position and team name. On the Mets cards, that hat is just solid blue with white type. It took Eddie Murray to teach me the wonders of a multi-colored hat. Oh, and did you see his chops? And is that an actual, honest-to-goodness water cooler back there?

1969 Topps Deckle Edge #26 Richie Allen

I got my first one of these deckle edge inserts a month or so ago, and my initial impression was that it was a sort of cool looking insert but I wasn’t head over heels crazy about it. Since then, I’ve gotten one or two more of them and they’re beginning to grow on me. I think it’s the whole fact that they look more like old family photos than baseball cards. Considering that there’s only 35 cards in the whole set (The back says “No. 26 of 33 Photos”, but there’s 2 versions of #11 and #22. See, even back then Topps was doing the whole variation thing.) and the one’s I’ve gotten so far haven’t proven to be bank breakers, I might try my hand at completing it.

1969 Topps #147 Leo Durocher

I’m pretty happy that with my recent rash of vintage acquisitions, I’ve still been able to mostly stick to my collecting goals that I outlined earlier in the year, namely focusing on the Mets and manager and team cards. I really like these older manager cards when you can just tell that that guy is an old-time baseball son-of-a-bitch. I guess it doen’t get more old-timey son-of-a-bitchy than a guy who managed for 24 years, spanning from 1939 to 1973. Just think about the guys he managed and managed against during that time period.

1960 Topps #118 Bob Bruce RC

I really like the idea of having completely different designs for rookie cards within a set. I know many of the Topps sets through the years would have specified designs where they have 2 or 3 or even 4 rookies on a card, but the design is usually more or less the same as the other base cards from that set. The 1960 set is the only one I can think of of the top of my head that has a completely unique design for the rookie cards, not to mention the All-Star Rookies (which is one of my favorite card designs ever). I’m glad to have finally gotten one of these 1960 rookies, even if it is just Bob Bruce. He spent a pretty mediocre 9 years in the Majors, pitching his way through the Tigers, the Colt .45’s and the Braves. He did have one really good years in Houston when he went 15-9 with a 2.76 ERA and 135 strikeouts, but other than that, not so much.

So there we go. Another successful foray into the 6-for-5 bin.

On a separate note, we’re down to 9 days to go for pitchers and catchers. I know spring training isn’t necessarily “real” baseball, but after 4 months or so without it, I’m dying to watch what basically amounts to practice. Especially being a Mets fan, I’m excited to just watch some damn baseball rather than listen to the constant barrage of criticism about the Mets’ off-season moves and handling of injuries and whatever other complaints people have about the team. I’d much rather be pissed at the team for losing games and not performing than be pissed about press releases and lack of judgement on Omar Minaya’s part.

Tags: 1957 Topps, 1960 Topps, 1969 Topps, 1969 Topps Deckle Edge, 1974 Topps, 1981 Topps, Bob Bruce, Eddie Murray, Hank Aguirre, Leo Durocher, manager card, Nolan Ryan, Richie Allen
Filed Under: Bargin Bin Baseball Cards by slangon
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