Anniversary: 45 Years ago Harmon Killebrew Joins 500 HR Club.

August 10th marks the 45th Anniversary of Harmon Killebrew's 500th Homer. The milestone occurred in the first inning of a Twins 4-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles

2015 Topps #H-74 Harmon Killebrew 500 Home Runs.

 

The event was honored in Topps 2015 Highlight of the Year insert.

 

2015 Topps #H-74 Harmon Killebrew 500 Home Runs. (b-side)

A brief synopsis on the back of the card also notes that the hit was part of a pretty big day for Killebrew in which he had a pair of Home Runs, both lead changers, and 3 RBIs.


Sources and Links
Phungo Harmon Killebrew HoF Page
Baseball-ref

 

Phungo HoF Index: Harmon Killebrew

This is an index to our cards and postings related to Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew

1967 Topps # 460 Harmon Killebrew

Harmon Killebrew HoF Index
1967 Topps #334 (Twin Terrors with Bob Allison)
1993 Hillshire Farms Home Run Heroes (auto)
2015 Topps Highlights #H-74 500 Home Runs (1971 0810)

2016 Topps the Originals: Duos

Today we take a look at the rather random Dual Player cards of 1967 Heritage
 

1967 Topps #334 Twin Terrors Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew
Four our cover card we picked this one because the Dual Player cards typically feature 2 players and it’s a Twins Card – get it?

However I am thinking Topps may dump the 'Terror' portion of “Twin Terror” for this cards Heritage counterpart.
 
Future Hall of Famer and 500 HR club member Harmon Killebrew was an obvious choice to represent the Twins. Bob Allison’s qualifications were a bit more wanting, he was coming off of a 70 game 1966 season in which he hit 8 Home Runs, well down from the 28 he averaged from 1959-65.

Flip

#334 Twin Terrors Allison Killebrew (b-side)

Nice bios of each players on the back of the cards. Although 2/3 of the text is dedicated to the lesser accomplished Allison. Regardless it is about twice as many words as I expected to see on the upcoming Heritage Card.
  
More Duos

 The Tigers card features a couple of mega prospects one of which is in the Hall of Fame. 

 

The White Sox came up with one of the weaker combos in the subset. Don Buford is acceptable but Pete Ward is coming off a 1966 season where he batted .219 with 3 dingers.

But for mre the Indians card is the worst of the 1967T Multi-Player subset. "Tribe Thumpers" is NOT alliterative!

Menke would spend some time as Hitting Coach for the Phillies, We probably should dedicate a post to him at some point.

Pretty strong one here - Donn Clendenon batted .299 with 28 Home Runs in 1966. He was just a step behind Willie Stargell (.315, 33 HR), but both were outpaced by teammate Roberto Clemente who won the MVP award in 1966.

We will Definitely be returning to this card in a future posting. 

Over at the 1967 Topps blog there is a write up on the #423 Giants Fence Busters Card that features Mays and McCovey.

Checklist
1967 is a decent edition of this subset, you may recall the 1966 duos were very random and consisted of just five cards. There is a great deal of Randomness in 1967 as well, but it's size (12 cards) and talent makes it a stronger set.

Team	1967 Topps	2016 Heritage
Cardinals	#63 Card Clubbers Brock/Flood	#63 Stephen Piscotty - Matt Carpenter
Indians	#109 Tribe Thumpers Colavito Wagner	109 Francisco Lindor - Jason Kipnis
White Sox	#143 Sox Sockers Ward Buford	#143 Josh Reddick (Oakland Athletics)
Mets	#186 Mets Maulers - Kranepool Swoboda	#186 Curtis Granderson - Juan Lagares
Tigers	#216 Bengal Belters Cash Kaline	#216 Ian Kinsler - Miguel Cabrera
Pirates	#266 Pitt Power – Stargell Clendenon	#266 Starling Marte - Andrew McCutchen
Phillies	#309 Hurlers Beware Callison Allen	#309 Maikel Franco - Ryan Howard
Twins	#334 Twins Terrors Allison Killebrew	#334 Miguel Sano - Byron Buxton
Braves	#396 Altanta Aces Menke Cloninger	#396 Nick Markakis  (solo?)
Giants	#423 Fence Busters – Mays McCovey	#423 Brandon Belt (solo?)
Indians	#463 Hill Aces McDowell Siebert	#463 Josh Hamilton - Texas
Orioles	#521 Bird Bombers Powell Blefray	na
Orioles	#1 Robinson Bauer Robinson	#1 Moustakas Escobar Hosmer

Last week we got a glimpse at the 2016 Heritage Checker for comparison. We have added the list here for comparison. To me the originals win on almost every card - the exceptions are possibly #109 Indians, #216 Tigers (close call), and amazingly Phillies (2008 WSC puts Howard over Dick Allen). 

Quick note on the Mets card, Topps has a run of Rookie Pairs that run from 161-190 that they interrupted to match Granderson/Lagares with Kranepool/Swaboda. One may make the argument that the Heritage card should win the Met battle, for me the 1999 SI Greats of the Game card w/ Ed Kranepool eating the Fried Chicken Dinner gives the edge to 1967T.

Sources and Links
1967 Topps/2016 Heritage Index
Harmon Killebrew HoF Index
1967 Topps Blog
Cardboard Connection 
Terapeak
Baseball-ref
Pnilly Inquirer

Card Show Report 2012 04 21 - Neshaminy Mall

1967 Topps #460 Harmon Killebrew

1967 Topps #480 Willie McCovey

1967 Topps #500 Juan Marichal

On Saturday I hit the local card show at the Neshaminy Mall.  It surprisingly turned out to be one of the better Mall shows I have been to here.  This show had a bunch of things I liked.  at least a dozen, maybe 20 dealers.  Several of them brought Vintage - so many had bargain vintage that I barely glanced at the dime Boxes. 

Faux Blaster

Instead of picking up a a Blaster of Gypsy Queen or Heritage at some big Corporate Big Box store here is what I put my $20 directly back into the economy by passing it on to a bunch of crumudgeons selling cards at the show...Ok they aren't all crumudgeons - but...well you've been to card shows before.

.

Base Cards

Big old Stack of 1971 Topps

I have been sort of working on this set in the back of my head.  But this haul should bring actively building the set more to the fore.  These are mostly commons, over 100 mostly in the lower series' but at 12/$1 they could not be passed up.  Couiple of semi-stars Dock Ellis, Messersmith, Rico Carty, Ken Brett and a few Semi-Hi numbers.  Those went for $11.  

Inserts

 

In addition to the 1967 Hall of Famers at the top of the post, I found 3 other HoF cards from various years.  

1963 Topps #43 Veteran Masters Casey Stengel & Gene Woodling

1957 Topps #59 Dick Williams

1957 Topps #85 Larry Doby

The three cards above came out of 2 separate $1 bins.  The 1967 Topps HoF cards also went for a buck.  Not only are Killebrew, Stretch, and Marichal Hall of Famers, but those cards are in a Semi-High Series.  Pulling those cards in at a buck each is like stealing.

1957 Topps #374 Don Cardwell

1963 Topps #551 Billy Klaus

1966 Topps #506 Bo Belinsky

The Three Phils are all Hi or Semi-Hi numbers.  Bo Belinsky is sort of a semi-star Hi number. 

There you have it for the same price as a Blaster, I picked up over a hundred 1971 Topps cards PLUS 9 Vintage Hits all featuring Hall of Famers or High Numbers. 

Definitely a Good Show! 

Links
Willie McCovey Index
 

Card Show Report 2011 12 03 - Philly Show, Valley Forge PA

The December edition of the Philly Show was a real success for Team Phungo.  I was real happy with results of the vintage bins I checked out.  Here are some of the Highlights: 


1959 Topps

Ernie Banks All-Star $6.00
Al Kaline Baseball Thrills $3.50
Commons Gus Bell 0.50, $1 for the Rest - I did spy a Solly Drake for 50 cents after I had already picked up the one above. 

The quest to complete 1959 Topps set is in the home stretch.  Going into the show I needed 20 cards to finsh the set, knocking out 35% of the cards on my want list in a matter of  a few hours was a complete victory.


 Phillies Vintage Bowmans

 This is a section of the Phungo collection that I plan on taking more seriously.  I have completed the 1948 Bowman Phils Set (all 2 cards of it) and have a lot of the 1955 set. The rest of the years are pretty sparse.  Most of the above cards went for $2-$5 each.  The commons were $1 or $2 while the High Numbers went for $5.  The Highlight in there is the 1955 Del Ennis Card ($2.50).

Other Phils Vintage

1963 Fleer Clay Dalrymple ($2)
1940 Playball Syl Johnson ($5)

The Dalrymple is my first 63 Fleer.  $5 for a card that is older then my parents is a buy. The 1940 Phillies Play Ball Set is likely hard to build, it is 15 cards.  One of the 15 is Chuck Klein, which I would imagine commands a bit of a price tag.


Hall of Famers

1969 Topps Willie McCovey
1969 Topps Phil Niekro 
1970 Topps AL HR League Leaders (Killebrew/F Howard/Reggie)
1970 Topps NL Battling LL (Pete Rose, Clemente, Cleon Jones) 

The first 3 cards were all 3 for a buck - The Rose/Clemente LL card went for a dollar. A stinking Dollar for Pete Rose and Roberto Clemente on a League Leaders card - That is like stealing.

The McCovey Card is in rough condition but the others are pretty decent the 1970 cards are in real good shape.

etc

1965 Topps Masanori Murakami RC (0.50)

This is a card I have always wanted but never was interested in throwing down real money for.  Masanori Murakami is the first Japanese player ever to play for Baseball in the US at the Major League level - 30+ years prior to Ichiro.  Murakami had some success with the Giants in his only season in the Majors but was forced to return to Japan due to a contract squabble involving his Japanese team.

Murakami is still alive at the age of 67.  The Giants honored him with a bobblehead at a game in 2008.  More info on his wiki.

Links
Willie McCovey Index
 

2011 Topps Heritage NOT Hot Box

As usual, I am a little behind - everybody is checking out Gypsy Queen and I am busting Topps Heritage, but at least I am busting a box from the current year.

Backstory

I was initially on the fence about building 2011 Topps Heritage - A recent Posting by A Cardboard Problem speculated on the rumour that the Hot Boxes (containing green tint chrome cards) were packaged differently.  At the CSA show in Oaks PA a few weeks back I found one of these Potential Hot Boxes.  In the name of Trading Card Research I was compelled to break the box.

Unfortunately, The Box was not a Hot Box but remained a fun box to open and I am happy to be building 2011 Topps Heritage.  It is the first Topps Baseball Set I have elected to build since 2008 Heritage.  I am pretty sure that at some point I will look into 2009 Goodwin Champions, but right now that project is still in the thinking about stage.

Box Toppers

The Box had two toppers - A 50th anniversary of Don Clendennon and a David Price Baseball Fiver. 

Not sure how I feel about Topps QC on this one, The Clendennon card is in reasonable shape if I was picking it up at a show as a 50 cent common, but this card is in fair shape and horribly cut.

Don't get me wrong the Anniversary cards are my favorite box topper, I just think that at 1 in every other box Topps could do a little better on the buyback end.  I was also hoping for a baseball buck and Price is a nice one to get.

Base Set

Low Numbers 194/425 (45%)

Phillies 7/17 (41%) 0/2 Hi Number

Hi Numbers 8/75 (10%)

Babe Ruth 5/10

checklist 3/6

Hits

CCR-JJ - Josh Johnson Clubhouse Collection

#143b - Jackie Robinson Story SP

Chrome

C12 Batting Leaders (Refractor 212/562) 

C27 Omar Infante (1941/1962)

C35 Casey Blake (1690/1960)

I don't get including the leaders cards in Chrome.  It is only a 100/200 card set why bother with duping a couple of floating heads on a single card.
 

Baseball Flashbacks

BF-4 Robin Roberts - would of liked him more in a Phils Uni for this one. 

BF-5 Yaz

New Age Performers

NAP-2 Jim Thome

NAP-7 Joey Votto

I love Thome, but I don't think of him as a New Age Performer at this point in his career.  Votto might be my favorite non-Phil young player of the moment.

News Flashbacks

NF-4 JFK/Cuban Embargo

NF-9 Jamaican Indepence

gotta love any card that celebrate Ganga and Reggae Music

 

Then and Now

TN-5 Mantle & Prince (this is a dupe of a retail I already pulled)

TN-7 Killebrew & Bautista 

every year this is my least favorite insert in heritage - although they are the easiest to make fun of. for example I refer to the Mantle/Fielder card as a celebration of Drunk Vegetarians - which reminds me of every "art student" I knew in college.

 
Phungo Says

 
Yes I was disappointed this was not a Hot Box, but I am happy with my decision to build 2011 Heritage.  I remain a fan of heritage,  and have always enjoyed the 1962 Topps set.  For the most part the inserts are interesting and the 50 or so Heritage cards I already picked up had enough unique cards to get me over the half way point in the set.         

 

STS Profile Harmon Killebrew

Well, obviously the 1st inning of Spot the Sig! was much to easy.  The Double went to the Autograph Expert from Autograph Cards Zman40 .  

NOTE:  If you're participating in STS! be sure to read the special announcement at the bottom of this post.

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Autograph

1999 Hillshire Farms Home Run Heroes Harmon Killebrew

The Hillshire Farms auto series is familiar to most collectors.  You can get several cheap autos of Hall of Famers and major stars from the series.  The cards are not liscensed through MLB or the Hall so they do not contain team nicknames or logos, but the picures are good, the signature is on card, and the design is sharp. 

Harmon Killebrew

All but 1 season of Killebrew's 22 year career was spent with the Washington 

Senators/Minnesota Twins Franchise.  His 573 career Home Runs is still good enought to rank 11th all time, He led the AL 6 times including his MVP year of 1969.  The Killer only got to participate in 1 World Series,in 1965, when the Sandy Koufax led LA Dodgers defeated the Twins in seven games.

For the Collector

Recently on ebay the above card went for $11 shipped.  Several of his auto cards have sold in the $20-$30 range recently.  Some of the ones I like include 1999 SI GOTG ($22), 2005 Sweet Spot ($28.49).  The 2005 Donruss Signature Postage Stamp Auto (#4/5) sold for a whopping $125.50.

Topps issued Harmon Killebrew's Rookie Card as part of their 1955 set (#124).  A soft cornered wrinkly version of this card went for $22.03 on the bay a week ago.  Several nicer versions of the card went in the $31-$40 range.  The card peaked out at $279.06 (PSA-NM).  This card was also reprinted as part of the 2010 Topps CYMTO series.

WIlliam at Foul Bunt has been reviewing the 1955 Set and just posted the Killebrew Rookie Card as well as some additional bio-career information.  

Harmon Killebrew is also one of the Hall of Famers who is part of the somewhat difficult 1959 High Series (#515)- Low recent auction on Ebay was $17.50 for a decent looking card - a few cents cheaper for a yucky one with tape residue.  You can do better if you wait around long enough, A few years ago I found a passable one at $7.25 on ebay.  

  

STS Standings After 1 inning

As we know Zman40 Picked up the Double he also added a walk for picking up the bonus by guessing Ryan Howard, Here is the complete list from a record setting first day of STS entries.  Anybody who has a runner on First guessed a Player that Team Phungo Saw homer in 2010.   

  

Autograph Cards - Representing the Kansas City Royals:  Men on 1st and 2nd

Night Owl Cards - Los Angeles Dodgers:  1st (Jayson Werth)  
Plaschzke/Argyle - Brooklyn Dodgers: 1st (Shane Victorino)
Phillies Room: 1st (Raul Ibanez)

The Dimwit - Astros; 1st (Chase Utley) 

Nachos Grande - Reds: 1st (Martin Prado - An away player who homered TWICE)
Steven:  1st (Prince Fielder - Another Away Player well done) 
Orioles Magic: 1st (Eva Longoria) 
Rhubarb Runner - Twins: 1st (Jim Thome)
  

The Angels ln Order - LA Angels:  On Deck (Werth but he was already guessed)

DawgBones - Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs: On Deck (Chooch)

UncleMoe of 2008 Topps Set : On Deck (Jimmy Rollins)
Play At the Plate - Rangers (Albert Pujols)
Laurens of Card Buzz- California Angels: On Deck (Dom Brown)
Nathan - A's: On Deck (Adam Dunn)
 
I think I got everyone - If I missed you or misrepresented your squad, please let me know.  And, Thanks to everyone for such a strong showing on opening night of Spot the Sig!

Special Announcement

Apparently there is some sort of football game on Sunday Night so we will be hosting the 2nd Inning of STS! on Saturday Night.  

Links
Harmon Killebrew HoF Index