Coming Out of the Abyss : A Collector Begins to See the Light

 

So…

            I did one of those things.

            You know those things some collectors do?

            I’ll start from the beginning.

            Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote a blog post here saying that me and Topps Heritage cards were breaking up again? No…no…I didn’t break down an buy a hobby box of Heritage after all. Although I still don’t trust myself. I did receive a fat pack of them for my birthday, though. Thanks monkey! I even got an Acuna, Tatis Jr. and another Oneil Cruz rookie card in the same pack.

            Not too shabby.

            What I did is…you know those collectors, right? The ones who don’t buy the hobby box but then go on Twitter etc., and show you all of the cards that they bought for the same cost as said hobby box, and how much happier they are with that purchase?

            Those guys.

            Yeah…I’m going to be one of those guys this week.

            Look, I might’ve said I was breaking up with Topps Heritage. But I didn’t say I was going to not spend the money that I would’ve spent. That would be silly! Instead I decided to take the equivalent (or around their) and put them to some purchases that I really wanted and had been longing to make. At the time, Heritage presale hobby boxes were going for around $101.00. So, I used that number and factored in the $12 shipping that I’m usually hit with when I buy hobby boxes online. That gave me a foundation of $112.00 to work with.

            Let’s see how I did.

            I’m not one to beat around the bush, so here’s the big fish first.

            Pretty cool, huh?

            I’ve wanted a 1966 Roberto Clemente since I was a kid. I don’t remember what year it was buy Topps gave out a promotion at MLB games that was a booklet showing you teams base cards from every year Topps had produced them up to that time. On the cover of the booklet for the Pirates they used the 1966 Roberto Clemente card. I’d obviously seen the card before at card shows but seeing it on that cover made me really want the card for my collection.

            Fast forward some 35+ years later…

            And it’s in not too bad of shape.

            Or what I call affordable shape.

            The next thing I did was fill in some gaps I had for a few Pirates that I collect.

            Added some Al Oliver cards to the collection.

            Some Manny Sanguillen cards…including his awesome 1968 Topps rookie cards.

            And I added some cards for Ed Ott.

            In fact, between this and what I already had, I think I now have all of Ed Ott’s Topps Pirates base cards.

            And…yes…I’m aware that the toploaders are probably worth more than the Ed Ott cards themselves.

            I made sure to finally get myself the 1982 Topps Traded solo rookie card of Johnny Ray, who was my favorite Bucco from 1982 until he was traded to the Angels in 1987, and my world became about Bobby Bonilla.

            If you were a kid in Pittsburgh when you were my age, you were probably aware of how amazing Steve Blass was in the 1971 World Series. You were also probably aware of the fact that just a few seasons later, Blass found it next to impossible to throw a strike and was out of baseball before the end of the 1974 season. If you were a kid in Pittsburgh when you were my age, you knew Steve Blass as the funny, informative color man on Pirates TV and radio broadcasts from 1983 to 2019. A Pirate with 60 years in the organization and the announced inaugural member of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame.

            Yet I didn’t have a single card of his in my collection.

            Well…I changed that.

            And I also added some rookie cards to some Pirates who had a real impact on those playoffs bound 2013-2015 teams.

            And let me introduce you to the founding set of cards for my, and I promise, promise, promise Pittsburgh Penguins ONLY Hockey card collection.  Anyone who’s read THIS blog post will question my sanity.

            And, of course, because I like it when players appear on designs that they shouldn’t have been initially on…I had to get these two.

            That said, had Fleer been allowed to produce the entirety of their 1963 set, Willie Stargell could feasibly been a part of it.

            That Bobby Bo card is the first one I have of him in a Dodgers uniform.

            And then there’s this card.

            A long while ago I wrote a blog post on Curt Roberts who is often, even officially by the Pittsburgh Pirates, listed as the first Black player in Pirates team history. BUT…and there’s a BIG but here...that distinction could very well go to Carlos Bernier. Bernier, a player from Puerto Rico, played one season, 1953, in Pittsburgh. Because he was of Puerto Rican descent, the Pirates did not consider him either white or Black. Although, it should be noted, Carlos Bernier considering himself to be Black.

            That being said…look, Charles F. Faber at SABR can do a MUCH better job with this than I can.

            I got Carlos’ card, one I could afford, and the ONLY original era Bowman cards (1954) that I currently have in my collection, because I wanted to celebrate both him and Curt Roberts, whose cards I did previously have in my collection.

            Last but not least…I went outside my Pittsburgh box once…I present to you Mr. Dick Allen.

            I recently finished reading Mitchell Nathanson’s fantastic bio on Dick, God Almighty Hisself: The Life and Legacy ofDick Allen, and found myself enthralled with the man depicted in the book. Let’s just say Dick was a true original in baseball during an era when an original was hard to come by. And he was his own man. Back when we were kids, Dick Allen was the type of older player whose cards some of us actually had because they were affordable. When I got back into collecting, I knew that I wanted Dick’s cards in my collection. Most of what I had previously were the cards from the tail end of his career. This is the first time I’ve ever had anything of his from the 1960s, and Allen’s tumultuous, and believe me when I say tumultuous time in Philadelphia.

            So…was it worth it?

            Buying these cards instead of that Heritage hobby box?

            100% yes.

            In a more direct way, buying these cards, Dick Allen cards aside (although he is from a small town less than 100 miles from Pittsburgh), has helped sharpen my focus as to where I want my collection to go. And that’s…well…home. Pittsburgh. I could feel it happening slightly. I tend to write on here about Pittsburgh players. A lot of my card examples are Pirates and Steelers. Building sets is one thing. Or not building sets if you read my post last week. Building on history is another.

            What I’m trying to say is I want my card collection to focus more on the teams from the city of my youth. The place I still call home. Pittsburgh. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this ComC purchase reflected exactly that. I’ve been thinking an awful lot about this. And instead of building sets, save a few, I’m going to be focusing my collection on all things Black and Gold. Putting together team sets from years gone by. Putting together a PC of Pirates, Steelers, and I guess now, Penguins players who’ve meant something to me. And Not just the Clementes, Stargells, Bradshaws, and Mario Lemiuexs. But players like Ed Ott. Johnny Ray.

            Maybe even this guy.

Thanks for reading! Happy Collecting!

NEXT FRIDAY: I'm going to add some fuel to this week's fire....Pittsburgh sport team card pick ups from my trip to Pittsburgh and other Pittsburgh sports related goodies!