Fruits of the Greatest Month: The Throw Ins
July 20th, 2011 by slangon
No, the people I bought these cards from weren’t super generous and threw in some free cards. They were more impulse buys on my part. Lemme ‘splain.
I’ve noticed that I’ve developed a specific strategy when it comes to buying cards online. I tend to employ this strategy whether it be Sportlots or eBay (to a lesser extent). Not so much with Check Out My Cards just because it doesn’t really matter how many different sellers you end up buying from. They just rape you on shipping no matter what. The other 2 though, I use the same strategy to cut down on the painfulness of the shipping costs. I’ll usually start looking for cards for 1 of my 2 biggest collecting goals, those being the Mets team sets and the 1960 Topps set. After I find one seller with a bunch of cards that I need from those 2 goals, I’ll go back and scour their wares for some of secondary goals, those being the ’69 Deckle Edge set, my managers and team card set, or my Keith Hernandez set. After that, and somehow this part usually ends up being the most fun, I’ll just browse through and snatch up anything cheap that catches my eye. This part is particularly prevalent when I’m shopping on Sportlots just because most sellers have a whole stock pile of cards that are in the $0.18 to $0.25 range. Most times these are just ratty old commons, but every now and again you can find a few gems.
These were the gems I dug up during the fabled “Greatest Month Ever”.
1963 Topps #29 Rookie Stars
The 1963 set is one of my favorite offerings from Topps during the 60’s. I also love floating heads, so this one is a no brainer. This particular Rookies Stars card from this year also has a variation where it says “1962 Rookie Stars” rather than “1963 Rookie Stars”. I think it’s supposed to be a little rarer. The seller didn’t specify which version it was and I figured since it was so cheap it was probably the more common version, but I thought it was worth a shot. I have a few of these multiple rookie cards from the ’63 set, but this is the first one I remember seeing that had all 4 rookies coming from only 2 teams. Normally it seems every player on the card is from a different team.
1971 Topps #35 Lou Piniella
I couldn’t leave Sweet Lou in the lonely confines of the virtual quarter bin, especially when this card wasn’t even a quarter. It was $0.18. For only 18 skinny pennies, you can give Lou Piniella a good home.
1971 Topps #67 A.L. E.R.A. Leaders
Jim Palmer for a Quarter?!? That’s only 12 1/2 cents per luxuriously feathered sideburn. Plus you get a free Diego Segui and Clyde Wright.
1979 Topps #455 Bill Lee
For some reason, I had it in my head that Bill Lee was already on the Expos by the time his ’79 card came out. Furthermore, I had it my head that his Topps card from that year had a picture of him in his full bearded glory. I don’t ever like to use the term disappointed in conjunction with any cards of The Spaceman, but the card in my head was a little bit cooler.
1963 Topps #67 Ed Charles
This card found it’s way into my shopping cart for 2 reasons. 1) Although I am not “officially” collecting the 1963 Topps set, I do very much like it and always grab any cheapies that come my way from that set. 2) I always like getting cards of any of the guys from that ’69 Miracle Mets team, even if they’re not in a Mets uniform.
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