Having decided on my 5 favorite cards that I got on my amazingly successful June card spree, I feel like the 5 I chose have 1 thing in common. They might not be the most amazing cards in and of themselves (although they all are pretty awesome) and they might not be the most pristine copies. Hell they might not even be cards that anyone except for me find interesting. What they all have in common is that they all have eluded me for a very long time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bidded on all of these cards and gotten sniped at the last second. The funny thing too is that with the exception of one of them, none of these cards go for a terribly high premium, so it’s not like the cost was especially prohibitive. I’ve just had bad luck with these particular cards. Well, no more.

So without further ado, my 5th favorite card from the Greatest Month in My Collection Career is…

1962 Tops #213 Richie Ashburn

This actually the last of the “stars” from the 1962 Topps Mets team set that I needed. I use quotes because even though Put Put here is a Hall of Famer along with Casey Stengel, and Gil Hodges should arguably be in there with them, it was kind of last hoorah time for them and the Mets pretty much brought them in to put asses in the seats. Richie actually did pretty well in his lone year as a Met. He hit .306 with a .424 OBP that year and was named an All-Star, although he didn’t play in the game.

This is definitely one of those cards that although the book value might be a little high ($20 according to COMC) it was always pretty reasonable whenever I saw it on eBay. It was just one of those things that every time I would have the high bid with a minute or so to go, I would always lose it in the last 20 seconds. Damn snipers. This particular copy actually came from Sportlots though for less than what I would usually bid on eBay. It might not be minty fresh, but I don’t think it’s in all that bad condition.

I’ve stated many times on this blog that one of my favorite things about old cards is the cartoons on the back. I’ve also stated many time that the 1962 set is not my favorite. I think I’m starting to come around a bit on the ’62 set and a lot of that has to do with that years cartoons. It seems like all the other cartoons are so, well, cartoony. I kind of like that the ’62 drawings are kind of dark and a little eerie looking. I mean, that drawing of Richie sliding into third almost looks like a skeleton with those drawn in cheek bones. He also looks like he’s about a second away from giving that third baseman a scissor kick to the mid section. By the way, Mr. Third Baseman, I’m no big league coach but it seems to me that if you actually extended your arms a little and, you know, reached for the ball, you’d have him out by a step. Just saying.

This card puts me 7 shy of the inaugural ’62 Mets team set. Of course 5 of those 7 are high numbers, and 3 of those 5 are them damn near-impossible-to-find-for-less-than-a-kagillion-dollars Rookie Parade cards.

Tags: 1962 Topps, Richie Ashburn, The Best Month Evah
Filed Under: Some Cards by slangon
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