2014 03 08 Card Show Valley Forge PA: 1952 Topps HOF Larry Doby

Last week as part of the Year of the Horse series we profiled Ellis Valentine and his famous half face mask card. One of the interesting things that was noted in a linked Jeff Pearlman interview is the an early mentor of Valentine was Larry Doby. 

1952 Topps #243 Larry Doby

In 1947 Three months after Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Larry Doby became the first African-American player in the AL. On July 5, 1947 Doby pinch hit in the 7th inning of a game between the White Sox and Indians.

A year later Doby was a key member of the Indians squad that won the 1948 World Series. During the series he led the team in hits and batting average. 66 years later it remains the Indians most recent World Championship.

Larry Doby would go on to lead the AL in Home Runs twice (1952, 1954). His 1954 performance was good enough to place him 2nd in the MVP voting (Yogi Berra). Doby led the league in WAR in 1952 and oWAR in 1950. The MVPs those years went to Phil Rizzuto (1950) and Bobby Shantz (1952). It should be noted that Shantz's pitching WAR did outpace Doby 9.6 - 7.0.

For the Collector
I picked this card up at the Valley Forge Card Show for $8.  A 1952 Topps card of an Iconic Hall of Famer for $8 stinking bucks. That is my victory of the year.

2014 03 08 VF Card Show
1952 Topps #243 Larry Doby
1969 Topps #6 LL HR Dick Allen McCovey Banks  
1973 Topps #503 Phil Niekro
  
Sources
Baseball-ref
baseball Hall of Fame

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.

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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