My HOMer: Jimmy "Toy Cannon" Wynn - 1967 Topps Punch Outs

 My Hall of Mediocrity (HOM) inductee was Jim Wynn and I have a nice little player collection (PC) of him so I wanted to share a card with you.

I wanted to share my PC of Jim Wynn with you so I'm going to post a card that's in the collection every now and then.  Some of these will be a little rare, some of them very common (pun intended) and some will be from the dreaded modern side of the hobby.  

The first card I wanted to share was this 1967 Topps Punch Out test card.  I have read that this set is one of the more rare Topps issues due to limited distribution.  I think they are not that rare, but maybe scarce would be a more accurate term as they can be found fairly easily for a type card.  Maybe if you're looking for a specific player it might be difficult.  Although you could just get lucky like I did and have one fall in your lap.

I was just searching Jim Wynn cards on eBay one day and there it was.  The condition is not very good as several of the punch outs have been punched and there is paper loss is the black area towards the bottom, but if you have read my blog for a little while then you know I'm not a condition freak.  So this card works for me just fine.

Cleaner unpunched example without the kind of paper loss that my card has can get expensive.  Especially higher graded examples.

Here is my Toy Cannon example from my PC shown to the right.

These are cool little cards.  They are larger than a standard Topps card but not as big as I thought they would be before I ever saw one in person.  They measure out at 2 1/2" x 4 2/3" and there are eighty six cards in the set.

There are also four variations in the set where the images of the player is different in each variation.  They are Matty Alou, Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle and Frank Robinson.  Of course it had to be Mantle, Clemente and Robinson right?  Figures.

The set includes some big names too.  In addition to the four variations there are names like Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Pete Rose and Willie Mays to name a few.

I believe putting together a complete set would be tough.  Trading Card Database (TCDb) is still missing images of both Matty Alou variations, Johnny Callison, Roberto Clemente (plain background variation), Donn Clendenon, Andy Etchebarren, Jim Fregosi, Tom Haller, Willie McCovey, Rick Reichardt, Mel Stottlemeyer, Tom Tresh and Bill White.  That's a decent number of missing images for a set this size.  I have to assume these players are tougher than the rest.

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The National League players came in black with red "National League" titles and the American League players came in red with black "American League" titles.  Here are two of the cards side by side as a reference.

The cards themselves were packaged in a long cello pack with three cards connected top to bottom with perforations between the cards.  You can see the perforations at the top of the Koufax card above.  The cello pack and an unseparated trio are shown below.

Image courtesy Mile High Card Co. Auctions

The cards all had the same backs which was where the instructions on how to play the game were.  It has a legend at the bottom that shows what the abbreviations on the backs of the tabs that you punch off the card showed.  Then you would move the runners around the bases as needed.  When a runner crossed home you recorded a run for your team.  

Click to Enlarge

These instructions are fairly simple and I would think the game was fairly easy to play and would actually be fun.  It sounds like it would be similar to playing the 1968 Topps Game cards.  You would need to set up a small baseball field and use something for runners to keep track of where your runners are on the bases during the inning.  When I was a kid I was the kind of kid that wouldn't have punched out the pieces and played the game.  I would have kept them in the best condition that I could.  

What would you guys do?  Play the game or keep the card original?  At least you can play the 1968 Topps Game cards without destroying them.  Do you have any of these in you collection?  Are you collecting the set?  Let me know your thoughts and answers in the comments below.

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

1889 Goodwin Games and Sports - N165

 The 1889 Goodwin Games and Sports set, designated N165 in the American Card Catalog (ACC) is a pretty cool 50 card set.

The N165 set includes 50 cards of several different games and sports.  They picture a portrait of a woman in front of a scene of the subject game or sport.  There are four baseball cards in the set and one football card.  The football card is one of the earliest cards issued featuring the sport.  

There are cards of bowling, boxing, cricket and lacrosse among others.  The baseball cards and football card are the most popular (not surprisingly) and they command the highest prices for cards in the set.  

I recently picked up an example of one of the baseball subjects (shown below).  The four different baseball cards feature a batter, pitcher, catcher and fielder.  I picked up the batter card.  It was not expensive but the condition is quite low so that may have had some influence on the price.  It was in an auction lot of three cards, the other two cards being N28 Allen & Ginter cards of boxer Jack Dempsey and a billiards player.

All of the cards in the set are horizontally laid out and they measure about 1 1/2" x 2 3/4".  They are cool little cards and it's a neat set to collect.  Even if you just go for the four baseball cards.  

The checklist is below.

1. Ancient Tournament
2. Archery
3. Baseball (batter)
4. Baseball (catcher)
5. Baseball (fielder)
6. Baseball (pitcher)
7. Bicycling
8. Billiards
9. Bowling
10. Boxing
11. Bull Fighting
12. Canoeing
13. Chariot Race
14. Club Swinging
15. Coasting
16. Coursing
17. Cricket
18. Curling
19. Dumbbell Raising
20. Fencing
21. Fishing
22. Football
23. Foot Race
24. Fox Hunt
25. Gladiators
26. Hand Ball
27. Hare and Hounds
28. High Jumping
29. Hurdle Race
30. Ice Yachting
31. Lacrosse
32. Lawn Tennis
33. Pedestrian Contest
34. Pigeon Shooting
35. Pistol Shooting
36. Pole Vaulting
37. Polo
38. Putting the Shot
39. Quoits
40. Roller Skating
41. Rowing
42. Running Race
43. Shuttlecock
44. Skating
45. Skittles
46. Snow Shoeing
47. Swimming
48. Throwing the Hammer
49. Tobogganing
50. Yachting

There is another piece that goes along with this set.  Goodwin put out an album, designated A38 in the ACC.  It has very colorful front and back covers (pictured below) and the pages have images of all 50 cards in the set.  A collector in 1889 could paste their cards in the album and try to complete the set with a very nice finished product when the album was completed.

Front Cover

Back Cover

Here are some pics of the other pages and the inside cover.

Inside Cover

The last page shown here is especially nice as it has a baseball scene on the page and includes the spot for the football card.  

The albums are tough to find complete and sometimes collectors will see individual pages when a complete album has been separated.  Also, people will sometimes cut the card images out of the pages and sell those.  Those cut outs will have the other side of the page as their backs instead of the checklist that is found on the actual cards so they are quite easy to identify.  

So that's about it for this set/  I find it to be a cool set.  I like the artwork and different assortment of sports and games.  The album is pretty cool too.  

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

1910 E98 Ty Cobb PSA 10 Gem Mint

 Leland's Auction, the Mint25 auction, has several great items in the small 25 lot auction.  But one card stands out to me.

With my affinity for the 1910 E98 set, I'd be remiss if I didn't post about this card.  I did a post about the E98 set here if you're interested to learn more about it.  

Here's a short version of that post:

E98 was issued in 1910 as a 30 card set.  The issuer is unknown even to this day as there is no name on the back of the cards.  The backs have a checklist and read, "This card is one of a set of the following 30 BALL PLAYERS" at the top with a checklist underneath.

Some cards can be found with an Old Put Cigar stamp on the back and this led to the set beings referred to as the Old Put set. but there is no evidence to support that this is an Old Put issued set.  An example of the Old Put stamp is shown to the left.

The set is loaded with Hall of Famers with 17 out the 30 players being enshrined in Cooperstown.  Some of the biggest stars of the day were included such as Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Cy Young and Christy Mathewson.

The other big news about this set is the Black Swamp Find of 2012.  Often referred to as BSF, the Black Swamp Find included hundreds of examples of E98s that were in superior condition to previously known cards.  Most of the cards graded out at 8, 9 and 10 levels.  

Well, here is one of those Gem Mint 10 examples.  A Ty Cobb with a red background.  This card is stunning.  Before the BSF, E98 was a tough set with cards commanding some good prices and not showing up for sale very often.  They were just more rare than most of the other E-card sets.  And certain color backgrounds were tougher to find than others.  

Then the BSF happened and the population of E98s grew considerably and their scarce status was changed to more of a commonly found issue.  Some collectors, myself included, like the pre-BSF cards more than the BSF cards even if they are in worse condition.  I just like the wear on a 112 year old card more than the pristine look of these PSA 10s.  How can a card this old be in such nice condition?  

Also, they pre-BSF cards are still as scarce as they were before the BSF so I consider them tough cards still.  Especially certain players like Vaughn and Coombs.  

But, even though I prefer the lower condition pre-BSF cards, I still think this PSA 10 Ty Cobb is stunning and should be shown off.  So here it is...

Image courtesy of Leland's Auction Mint25 Auction

Just look at the centering, the crisp white borders and the red that pops off the card.  It's a thing of beauty.  This card is being sold in the Leland's Mint25 Auction.  It is currently at $155,131 after nine bids with over 7 days left to go.  I'm curious what this will end at next week.  Only time will tell though.

This card must have been regraded as there is no mention of the Black Swamp Find on the PSA flip.  All the BSF cards that were graded have the Black Swamp Find pedigree named on the flip.  Also, this card is in a PSA slab that was not used in 2012, thus the regraded assumption.

Just for fun I want to share my E98 near set of 25 cards here.  I love this set and hope to complete it some day.  I know there are some that should be upgraded, but I don't care so much about condition.  That said, I am hoping to upgrade a few of them eventually.

Here are some closer pics of a few of them.

The Hal Chase above is an upgrade candidate, but I'll never trade or sell this one even if I do upgrade it.  I love that this was once owned by Lionel Carter so I won't get rid of it.  

What do you think about the E98 Anonymous Set of 30?  What are your favorite subjects/cards in the set?  

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

What Is The Hobby Becoming?

 The Hobby is becoming unrecognizable to me these days as people with seemingly unlimited funds are driving up prices for everything and collectors are getting priced out of the market.

I love the sportscard hobby, specifically prewar and postwar vintage baseball cards.  I dabble a little in the modern side of the hobby as well, but not very often and I don't spend a lot in that market.  But I'm a collector, and I'm pretty much priced out of a lot what I was chasing and picking up now.  

What happened in the last few years?  Well I'll tell you.  Investors.  Investors came in and started buying a few cards that they speculated would increase in value.  Then more investors saw the sportscard market as an investment opportunity and they started buying the same cards the early investors were buying.  Eventually enough investors came in and the competition for these cards began.

Once the demand got big enough, auction houses were selling cards at record prices all the time.  Many times the same card would be bought from one auction house and then a couple months later you'd see it in a different auction and it would sell for a new record price.

So this had an effect on the whole hobby and we saw prices rising for prewar cards and postwar vintage cards across the board.  Now, I reside in the low grade market and those cards are going up in price too.  Not as much as the higher grade cards but the effect has still influenced the low grade market.  For example, T206 commons in VG or less condition used to sell for $15 - 20 but now they command $30 - 40 easily.  And HOFers are seeing even greater increases.  Especially cards of Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth. Honus Wagner, etc.  These cards have gone up thousands of dollars in the last few years.  They are breaking records for sale prices on a monthly basis.

What does this mean for the average collector?  It means I can't buy the Hank Aaron RC or Ernie Banks RC to complete my 1954 Topps set any time soon.  Those are two cards that have spiked in value considerably and are now out of my reach completely.  I likely will not be able to finish my E98 set either since I still need Cobb, Wagner and Young.  Those are priced out of my range as well. (I also need Collins and Lajoie but I'll should be able to pick them up eventually.)

I'm reading about collectors everywhere being priced out of the market now.  Some of them are just calling it quits and getting out of the hobby altogether.   Others are changing their focus to other lesser priced sets and type cards.  These are sets that weren't very popular to begin with and haven't risen in price as much where a collector can still afford them.  Still some collectors are lowering their condition standards and are going after the lower grade cards.  This is why the lower grade market is being influenced by the whole investor debacle.  

I'm still buying when I find a good deal or I see something that's cool that is priced lower.  I think about selling in this market and waiting for the bubble to pop and prices to come back down a bit;  Then buy up some of the cards I sold at a lower price but I'm not a fan of selling my cards.  They are in my collection because I like them and I don't want to let them go.  But, the idea of getting some good money for these cards is a persistent and persuadable thing.

So is this bull market bubble going to pop one day and the investor will get out of sportscards and their seemingly unlimited funds will leave with them.  Thus taking the demand away and driving prices down across the board.  The collectors will be winning auction lots at lower and lower hammer prices as less money in the hobby means less bids and cards sell for less and less.  

I believe this is the case to be honest.  I think investors will get out of the hobby eventually and with their money gone it will result in lower prices for all segments of the hobby.  What do you think?  Put your answer in the comments and let folks know your thoughts on all this.  How has this changed your collecting?  I'd love to hear from some of you on this topic.

Enjoy the hobby.. it's an ever changing environment.