Recent Pick Ups

 Well, it's that time again.

I've got a few new pick ups to share and here we go...

I was able to work a trade with another collector recently that netted me a few new E90-1s and an E92 Dockman.

I love the E90-1 set and didn't have a Dockman example after having sold off my only one a long time ago.

Here are the E90-1s:

The Fromme is a dupe that I'm hoping to trade for another hit to the set someday.

Here is the E92 Dockman.

I've always loved horizontal poses in these T and E card sets so I was happy to get this Bridwell.

The last card I received recently was another E90-1 that was actually a gift from another collector whom I helped with a project he was working on.  I was very excited to get this one and blown away by the gesture.  

Well, that's it for this episode of Recent Pick Ups.  I hope you enjoyed the cards.

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.

Honus Wagner Video

 Saw this video of Honus Wagner with audio on Net54 and wanted to share it with you all.

I love seeing videos of old prewar stars and games in action.  Here's a video where they interview Honus Wagner and you get to hear him talk and see him take batting practice and do a bit of fielding.  I always imagined he had a strong German accent for whatever reason, but he really doesn't have one at all.

Wagner was considered one of the games greatest shortstops when he played.  He's known to the general public because of his famous T206 baseball card that consistently sells for more than a million dollars.  This generally makes the news every time it happens and spreads the mystique of Honus Wagner.  

But beyond the baseball card, Honus was a great player and a first ballot Hall of Famer.  He was known as The Flying Dutchman because of his speed and German heritage.  He won eight batting titles in his career.  That record has never been broken to this day (although it has been matched by Tony Gwynn).

Wagner debuted in baseball in 1897 and played until 1917.  He started with the Louisville Colonels and when the National League dropped four teams after the 1899 season, the owner of the team took Wagner to the Pittsburg Pirates the next year and Honus continued with Pittsburg though the end of his career.

I hope you enjoyed the video folks.  I thought it was really cool.

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.

Baseball Art

 Well, I just felt like showcasing some of the baseball art that I enjoy here.

There are many many baseball artists out there, but I just wanted to share a few here with you.  These are different styles but all very cool.

I have a degree in fine arts with a concentration in painting so I am naturally drawn to baseball paintings.  Would I like to do my own baseball paintings?  Yes, I would.  However at this time in my life I don't have the time or space in my home to set up for painting.  It is something I will get into when my kids are a bit older and I can dedicate some space to it.

So I live vicariously through other artists and dream of someday producing something of my own.

First I wanted to share a painting by Kadir Nelson.  Kadir doesn't exclusively paint baseball art, but this work is simply fantastic.

This image captures the great Cool Papa Bell sliding into third in a close play.  I really like the elongated figures and the drama they display.  You can see Cool Papa's long leg reaching third before the throw make it to the glove of the third baseman.  It reminds me of the loose uniforms and lanky looking players in the Negro League back in the early part of the 1900's.  

Next up is a water color panting by Noah Stokes depicting the great Human Vacuum Cleaner Brooks Robinson fielding a ball in his signature diving defensive play.

Noah captures the action beautifully with great detail in the water colors in Brook's figure.  The contrasting loose brush strokes in the background work perfectly to highlight the player which is much more detailed.  We see Brooks holding the ball in his glove showing he has snagged it for the out.  The touches of red in his socks, pinstipes on his pants and number really stand out as well.

Christopher Arndt brings in our next piece.  This is a stunning image of the Washington Nationals ballpark at dusk with absolutely stunning skies. 

I really like paintings of stadiums like this that show expansive views of the park including the entire field.  The scoreboard in the background has so much weight to it and feels so imposing.  Even the well manicured lawn with the lines and the well manicure dirt look great.  It really feels like you're at the park in your seat watching the game.  

Our next artist isn't a painter at all, but instead Tim Carroll actually cuts up junk era baseball cards and glues them back together to form "paintings" of mostly baseball cards.  Tim has so many works to choose from but I went with one that I really like a lot.

Here is a 1955 Sandy Koufax rookie card made up of thousands of pieces of cut up baseball cards.  The face of Sandy is made of hundreds of cut up faces of other ballplayers arranged to form his visage.  Tim has done so many other cards from tobacco and candy prewar cards to modern cards.  His work speaks for itself.

My last couple of works are from my favorite baseball artist, Graig Kreindler. I chose these two pieces because they have the advertisements in the outfields.  For some reason I find it really cool when he paints the ads that were on the walls of the outfieldl

This is an image of the great Mickey Mantle at bat.  I love the wide angle image and the overcast weather  But the ads strike me for some reason.  I also really like the water tower in the background and the scoreboard on the right side.  

The next one features the Splendid Splinter Ted Williams up to bat.  

This one has great advertising as well as two large oil signs in the Gulf and Cities Service signs outside the stadium.  Here is a detail of Ted where you can see the brushstrokes.

There are so many more sports artists out there that I obviously could've profiled here.  But I just wanted to share a few of the ones that I really like.  If you're interested in this stuff or any of the artists please look into it on your own. You'll be surprised what you can find out there.

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.

Recent Pick Ups

 I recently received some new cards and took some pics of some cards I got a while ago.

First we'll look at the cards I received a while back but just got around to taking pics of.  And I apologize now for the quality of the pics.  My scanner can't handle a graded card well at all, so I had to take phone pics.

First up is a new 1933 Goudey HOFer Harold "Pie" Traynor.  

This card is rough, but if you read my blog then you know I don't mind that at all.  And I love 1933 Goudey HOFers in SGC slabs. I just feel like they are presented so well in that black border.  

Next up is a sweet T210 Old Mill Series 7 card of Cooney.

I'm a big fan of T-sized cards that have full body poses as opposed to portraits and this one fits just right;  It also has a nice red border that isn't too broken either.  This is my first and only T210.

This next card I just received the other day from a CCA win.  What's CCA, or it's Cardboard Currency Auction and you offer cards for others to bid on so you get chips and you bid on lots you want with your chips.  It's a fun way to move cards around between collectors.  If you're interested in it just contact me.

This is a 1972 Daily Juice Roberto Clemente.

This is actually a very common card and one of Clemente's easiest cards to obtain to be honest.  At least that's what I've read.  But I never picked on up so I'm just thrilled to get this one finally.

Now for the cards that I just got in a recent trade.  I sent out three of my E98s for these three E98s in return.  I'm just thrilled with this trade and the cards;

That's it for now folks.  I hope you liked my new pick ups.  I should have some more coming soon as I recently won some cool stuff in the latest Brockelman Auctions.

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one;