Oaks Card Show Express Report

The Oaks Card Show has free admission on the first day, I only had a small window but decided to pop in since the price was right.  Here is a brief synopsis of very off-condition vintage cards that were found - Lots of 1951 Bowman.  

 1951 Bowman #256 Ken Silvestri 

1951 Bowman #260 Carl Erskine
1951 Bowman #56 Ralph Branca
1951 Bowman #122 Joe Garagiola  

1966 Topps #195 Joe Morgan

1960 Topps #173 Billy Martin 
1963 Topps #439 Don Zimmer

The 1951 Bowman Cards were $1.00 each as was the '66 Joe Morgan.  The Martin and Zimmer were in a 3 for a buck bin. 

The 1966 Topps Joe Morgan is his 2nd year Card and the first card of his where he appears solo.  It is in ok condition - some creasing.     

The Silvestri and Erskine cards are both HI numbers in the 51 Bowman series.  Any Bowman Brooklyn Dodger is probably worth a buck unless it is in really horrible condition.

Joe Garagiola was a big part of my youth as he commentated on the game of the week when I was a kid.  Glad to have finally picked up one of his cards. 

So yeah I had a real successful show on Friday and fully intend to get back to the show for a fuller day on Sunday.   

Happy New Year - Year of the Dragon

On Janary 23rd the Year of the Dragon will commence.  Today we are going to check out some famous Baseball Dragons:

1940 Ron Santo
1964 Barry Larkin

We start out with this years Hall of Fame inductees Ron Santo and Barry Larkin,  Pretty cool Larkin card - Cooperstown Collection issued 2 decades prior to his actual election.  Like Santo, Willie Stargell is also a 1940 Dragon and a Hall of Famer.    

1976 Pat Burrell

It is starting to appear as if Pat the Bat will not hook up with a team for 2012.  He had a mixed career in Philadelphia, but won a World Championship in the end and then went on to win another championship with the Giants in 2010.  Pretty nice finish.  Form Phil Randy Wolf is also a Dragon from the 1976 birth year.

1952 Fred Lynn
1988 Clayton Kershaw

Our next pair of Dragons features young Phenoms.  Well Fred Lynn was a young Phenom when he won both the Rookie of the Year and MVP award in the same year (1975).  Clayton Kershaw is of course the reigning Cy Young award winner. Fellow Dodger Dee Gordon is also a class of 1988 Dragon.  

1916 Enos Slaughter
1928 Billy Martin 

These two are both Fiery Dragons.  I picked up the 57 Topps Slaughter card out of a 3 for a dollar bin a few years back - of course that is because the back is marred to the point of being non-existent.  Billy Martin's longtime teammate Whitey Ford was also born in 1928.

1880 Christy Mathewson
1904 Chuck Klein

We finish with a couple of retro cards of Hall of Famers who played in the first half of the previous century.  The Mathewson card is from the Great Ones insert series of 2011 Gypsy Queen.  Chuck Klein comes from a 1970s Fleer issue. 


1964 Dragons
I just wanted to note that the 64 Dragons are quite the PED class and include Canseco, Palmiero, and Bonds.

Sources and Links
Ron Santo HoF Index
Pat Burrell PC Index