“Payment” from Project ’62: Part 3
June 30th, 2011 by slangon
Before we get into it, I just want to acknowledge the Mets awesome play over the last week or so. They actually set a new club record for most runs scored over the course of a 4 game span. I personally didn’t really know that such a record existed, but they broke it alright. The previous club record was set from June 12-15, 1990 when they tallied 50 runs against the Cubs and Pirates. This time they scored 52 runs against the defending American League Champion Rangers and the first place Tigers. They also put up an incredible 69 hits over that 4 game span. Keep it going, boys. Anyway…
Chunking right along with the cards that Senor Sesenta y Dos sent me. We’re getting into the good stuff now. Some crusty 70’s sunshine.
Starting off is a card of some random dude from a set that has been growing on me lately.
Many moons ago, when I first decided on trying to collect the 1960 set, I didn’t think about how many hard to get cards there were in that set. That’s not to say that I regret that decision. I really love that set and after all, the chase is half the fun. So having so many tough cards is cool. That being said, and hind sight being 20/20 and all, since I’ve started collecting it, on a couple of occasions it’s dawned on me that maybe I should’ve picked a little bit set to chase for my first complete vintage set. The 1978 I think would’ve been a good one to start with. It looks really cool, and although it does have a lot of stars and a few key rookies, I don’t think any of them are that hard to track down reasonably. All that aside, I’m always glad to get a vintage card of the Ryan Express from his heyday.
As a Mets fan, I have an intrinsic love for Bill Buckner. Maybe that’s not quite accurate. I have an intrinsic love for what Bill Buckner has come to represent. I my mind, he, as much as any member of the 1986 Mets, has come to represent their World Series Championship. That’s not to say that if Buckner had caught that ball the Mets wouldn’t have won. First off, remember that the game was already tied at that point, so even if he caught it and made the out, that wouldn’t have necessarily been the end of the game. Secondly, if you look at video of the play, had he made that catch, he was still pretty far off of first and Calvin Schiraldi was no where to been seen. It would’ve basically come down to a foot race between the fleet footed Mookie Wilson and Buckners cranky knees. But we can debate that all day. Fact is, he didn’t make the catch and the Mets won in the end. The point I’m trying to get to here is that over the years I’ve developed an appreciation for Bill Buckner and was always a little bummed hearing about all the crap he went through in Boston as a result of that play. It’s nice to see him in happier times.
Chris also included a pretty nice card of one of the few Yankees that I can stand. I really like that in a lot of these mid to late 70’s Topps sets, rather than put out separate All-Star cards, they just added a spot on the regular card where they mentioned that players All-Star status. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some All-Star cards, I just think it was a nice change for a bit.
I always kind of wished that Jerry Koosman became a radio DJ after his baseball career. His show could’ve been called Cruisin’ With the Koos. It would be soft rock and smooth jazz.
I love seeing how many Hall of Famers you can fit on one card. That’s a lot of bad-ass for 8 3/4 square inches of cardboard.
We’ll finish up this episode with a couple of cards from the 1970 set.
Here we have Frank Howard, a man with one of my favorite baseball nicknames: The Capital Punisher. I’m sort of ashamed to admit this, but it took me until just now to realize that this Frank Howard is the same Frank Howard who managed the Mets during the second half of the 1983 season. I think I was getting him confused with Frank Thomas and thinking that there were 2 Frank Howards. Got all that?
And lastly, we have a 1970 Denny McLain All-Star card. I think I kind of dig the whole exploding out of a newspaper vibe. It’s one of those things that’s a little hard to decide for sure. I’m sort of curious if that’s actually a real newspaper or not. Something about a forfeit and the Champs plans. And maybe the Sharks won the Caribbean World Series?
That’s it for today. Stay tuned for even more awesomeness sent my way via Chris.
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