52 (Bowman) Pickups: A Last Few To Show

Obviously, I won't nearly be close to finishing my 1952 Bowman set when I turn out the lights on the blog next week.  So I will take this last opportunity to show a few more of these magnificent cards:

I picked this up for a few bucks at Cleve's, and it's the epitome of what I like about the Bowman set.  It was affordable, the picture is beautiful, and the card is unobstructed by anything other than a player signature.  Wonderful, wonderful card.

I also have a few stars to show too:

 I don't remember how much I paid for this Joe Adcock, but it's a striking card as well.

Last but not least is this Early Winn.   Not only does he have a great name, but he's a Hall of Famer with 300 wins, and his cards are still pretty affordable.

'52 (Bowman) Pickup: Bums Named Carl



The one slight regret I have about ending my blog is that I won't be able to share the progress on my 1952 Bowman set.  I've been working on it for only a couple of months now, but it's been a total blast, and every card is something I'm proud to own.

One of the many pluses of the set is that there are several Brooklyn Dodgers to collect.  I've picked up a few good ones already (Duke Snider, Don Newcombe), and this week I'm adding a couple of Carls: Furillo and Erskine:

They both are in really good shape.  The scan on the Erskine is poor- it's not nearly as spotty as it looks. 

I gave myself 10 years to complete this set, which is about 25 cards a year.  So far, I'm way ahead of pace as I've already picked up 25 cards two months into the first year.  I may slow down a little, but these have been an absolute joy to collect!

52 (Bowman) Pickup: A Handful Of Commons

Since I started the process of building a 1952 Bowman set with such a barrage of stars (Feller, Snider, Stengel, Ashburn, etc.), I decided to breathe a little and start picking up some of the commons.  And to me, they're only common in a relative sense.  The cards are still beautiful little works of art, big names or not, which is why I love this set so much.  The pics:

 I've written about Sibby Sisti before. 

 Coincidentally, some of these cards are close together in the set numbers-wise, so it gives me a chance to show the types of pages I'm using for them:

The great thing about 52 Bowman is that they fit perfectly into business card pages, which hold 10 cards per sheet.  I found some heavy duty pages at Staples that seem very high quality (and weren't cheap).

So I'm about 10% done with 52 Bowman, which is the goal I set for the whole year (about 25 cards per year over a 10 year period is my time frame). 

52 (Bowman) Pickup: Richie Ashburn

I am having so much fun building a 1952 Bowman set.  Each week I take my gift certificate to Cleve's (courtesy the Lovely Wife) and each week he pulls out a box with '52 Bowman, and each week I pick a couple more out.  I'm still barely 10% into the set, but it feels like I've got great momentum. 

I think that's because I've been getting stars rather than commons mostly.  This week's card is one I'm really excited about, Richie Ashburn:

Other than a little, slightly perceptible smudging in the upper right corner, this card is in great shape.  

Trading With an Old Coot

So I see there are all sorts of "Blog of the Year" and "Favorite Blogs" posts going around these days.  I'm not daring to go down that road this year myself, but I will say that if Dustin from Coot Veal and The Vealtones doesn't get some love in these posts, then what the hell are we all doing here?

Sure, I'm probably a little biased right now because he just sent me, again, an amazing package of cards.  Starting with this gem that none of you care about but me:

Dustin seems to be my pipeline for Eric Hinske autos, because this isn't the first he's sent me.  Actually, if we are ranking cards on the excitement scale, I might have to make this my #1:

My progress continues on building a 1952 Bowman set, and this Ned Garver is a very welcome addition.

Actually, it is hard for me to rank the cards he sent because there were a couple of others I was psyched to get:

GU of the Moose and the Straw-man!

Thanks for these wonderful cards Dustin, as well as the fun stack of Rangers, Naturals, Razorbacks and other great stuff that I didn't get time to scan.

1952 Bowman Project: Casey Stengel

Not only did the Lovely Wife give me a supremely nice couple of cards to kick off my 1952 Bowman project for Christmas, she also gave me a sizeable gift card to Cleve's.  What a woman!

I decided to start whittling away at the gift card, and my 1952 set this week and bought another great card:

This Casey Stengel card is magnificent! In fact,  I might take this card out of the holder and make a hi res scan of it that I can print out 8x10 size and frame.  I might do the same with the Bob Feller  & Duke Snider cards my wife bought.  Those would look awesome in a frame on the wall wouldn't they?

So my 1952 Bowman project is off to a very strong start.  If I can find a nice lot of commons that are in good shape (so far all of my cards have been what I think are EX+ condition so I'll stay on that path), then I'm set!

Three Cheers For The Lovely Wife!

I assume you guys don't want to listen to me carry on about how much I love my wife, so I won't go on and on, other to say: I definitely got a good one with her.

Not only is she my best friend, she is the heart and soul of our family, the smartest person I know, and most importantly, she is scorching hot. 

She also got me two of the most awesome 1952 Bowman cards in the set from Cleve's for Christmas:

When I opened this Christmas morning and sat there stunned and slack jawed, she said, "I hope I got the right ones.  Cleve showed me the 1952 Bowman cards he had and I remembered you mentioning Bob Feller.  Is that one ok?"

Is that one ok?  Um, yes just a bit.

Under the Feller was this:

My eyes bugged out of my head and she continued, "Cleve said you could exchange these if you want something else."

Yeah, no I am not returning Bob Feller and/or Duke Snider.  Even IF I weren't building this set and needed all the cards, there is NO WAY I would trade these two for something else.

What I also enjoy about these cards is picturing her visit to Cleve's to make these purchases.  I would love to have been a fly on the wall for that visit.  

A Look At A Few Things From Cleve's Christmas Auction

And I won't be able to afford any of it.  Well, almost any of it. 

Let me take a step back.  I assume most of you who read my blog know that my LCS has a weekly auction that I either attend or submit write in bids for,  and I've come home with some great things over the years.  Every year, Cleve- the owner, has a Christmas auction that features some unreal cards and collectibles.  Most of this stuff goes for big money.  This year should be no exception.  I won't be bidding on any of the "big" items, except one:
 

 I figure this is my best chance to get a Stan Musial for the 1952 Bowman set I decided to start building.  So I put in a big bid on it and have my fingers crossed.

The only other card I bid on was this Adrian Beltre auto. 

Otherwise, I won't be chasing the other stuff, but I won't let that stop me from showing you the goods.  There are about 300 items up for auction, and below are some that I thought were worth sharing:

 This 1954 Wilson Franks Ted Williams is pretty rare I believe.  Cleve expects this to be one of the highest priced items of the night.

I'm really tempted to call and put in a bid on this tobacco card.  I don't remember the details on it, but it's a beautiful card.

And of course, there are tons of Mantle cards and an autographed bat:

And a few other goodies that would be great to have if I were rich:

I've never seen these Topps "Push and Pulls" but they're very clever, and I hope Topps redoes these with Archives sometime.

 Greg Maddux auto

Wish me luck on the Musial!  I doubt I post again until after Christmas, so I send my best wishes for a wonderful Holiday season to you all!

Setting a 2014 Resolution Early

Me:  Hon, I need to talk to you about something... It's important.

Lovely Wife (with a concerned look):  What's wrong?  You ok?

Me:  Sure everything is great, I've just been thinking about making a New Year's resolution and I'm ready to commit to it.  I just want to get your buy-in and support.

Lovely Wife (Takes My Hand):  Of course!  I'll always support you!  What do you want to do?

Me:  Well, I've given this some thought, and, really, it's more of like a 10 year thing I'll work on.  It will take some time...

Lovely Wife:  Sure, it's great to have a long term goal...

Me:  Yeah, so here it is:  I want to build a 1952 Bowman Set.

Lovely Wife:  (Blank Stare)

Me:  I know it sounds like a big deal, but if I stretch it out over 10 years I can do it.  The Mantle card will be tough, but I know we can do it if we work as a family.

Lovely Wife:  (Blank Stare)


I think it was a lot to process, and she may just be overwhelmed with excitement and not sure what to say yet.  But here in the Doon household, 2014 will be the year of 1952 Bowman.  It's a relatively small set at 252 cards, no crazy short prints that I know of, and it has some big time cards that will be awesome to own.  I see these often at Cleve's and they seem readily available online at decent prices.

I have a couple already (Mickey Grasso and George Kell) and just picked up a couple more.  Now I have 4 of the 252!

They are really gorgeous cards too:

 Stan Musial said Raffensberger was the toughest left hander he ever faced.

Auburn (booo!!!!) baseball's Hitchcock Field is named after Billy and his brother.  I don't like Auburn.

I'm excited about this project and I hope it helps me stay disciplined with retail wax purchases in 2014.  It will be fun to share my progress!