I guess I am rooting for the Dodgers this year (sigh)

Gonna miss these guys

2008 Topps Heritage #408 Keystone Combo Utley-Rollins

My least favorite team as a Kid was the Dodgers, this year I am pretty sure I will be pulling for them though.

This is the first card I thought of when it became evident that the 2008 Middle Infield would be reunited on the West Coast. 

2008 Topps Heritage #408 Keystone Combo Utley-Rollins (b-side)

I like the card because it lives in the spot that was originally inhabited by a White Sox card that featured Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio. Both of those middle infielders went on to the Hall of Fame. A Dodgers 2015 World Series triumph would certainly help both Utley and Rollins HoF resumes.

 I plan on visiting the original Fox-Aparicio card in the future until then you can check this out:

2008 Topps Heritage #408 Keystone Combo Utley-Rollins 
1959 Topps #408 Keystone Combo Fox-Aparicio

Sources and Links
2015 Playoff Contenders Index
Chase Utley Player Collection Index
Jimmy Rollins Player Collection Index 
2011 Topps Heritage #72 Rollins Utley

HoF Luis Aparicio Celebrates 81st Birthday

The White Sox are in Baltimore not playing a baseball game. This post was supposed to be a happy one where we make up for missing out on Luis Aparicio's 80th Birthday last year.

I get to Baltimore a couple of times a year, typically just ballgames but also concerts, touristy weekends and guys outings - My bachelor party was there.

I have friends that live and work in the city and I think about their physical and mental safety. Hopefully some degree of normalcy will soon return.

1966 Topps #90 Luis Aparicio

In between two stints with the ChiSox Luis Aparicio spent five productive seasons with the Baltimore Orioles including the O's first World Championship Season, 1966.

During his Oriole years Aparicio made two All-Star teams and led the league in Stolen Bases twice. His 57 steals in 1964 remains the Orioles single season record. On the defensive side of the ball he led AL Shortstops in Fielding Percentage four times and won a pair of gold gloves.

1966 Topps 
For it's 2015 Heritage set Topps elected to place Orioles Rookie Second Baseman Jonathan Schoop on card #90 which Aparicio occupies on the original. Not sure why Topps elected to go with Schoop over the obvious position match of JJ Hardy. The only think I can come up with is there is the middle infielder connection and Both Aparicio and Schoop have similar batting stances on their respective cards.

Sources and Links
Phungo Luis Aparicio HoF Index
2015 Heritage/1966 Topps 
Cardboard Connection
Baseball-reference

1958 Topps #483 Luis Aparicio All-Star

Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio turns 79 today.

He may have only had a career .262 average, but the 11 time all-star had plenty of other solid numbers. 

-  His Nine Gold Gloves are 3rd most all-time (Ozzie, Omar Vizquel)
- 1956 Rookie of the Year
- Starting Shortstop on the 1966 World Series Champion Orioles
- 2677 Caree Hits
- 506 Stolen Bases - led League 9 times
- Career Defensive WAR of 31.6 Ranks 6th all-time
- 2581 games at SS (2nd all-time to Vizquel)
- 8016 career assists at SS (2nd, Vizquel)

Cardboard

1958 Topps #483 Luis Aparicio All-Star

I have never been a fan of 1958 Topps, but I do enjoy the all-star subset. By definition all the players in the subset are stars with several being titans of the hobby. 

For The Collector
This card went $1 at the National in Baltimore this past August. This card as a good bit of surface wear (unfortunately a lot is across Aparicio's face) but you know what Folks a HoF card for a buckfrom 1958 that hasn't been chewed up by a dog is stealing.

The Luis Aparicio Topps Rookie is from the 1956 Set #291.  There have been several Aparicio RC auctions that ended under $10 recently for cards w/ marks and bad backs.  The low for slightly better cards was $14 for one with soft corners but otherwise good. At least a dozen cards came in between there and $20. For a mere $649 you can take home a PSA 8.5 NM-MT+ version which was the high-end for the card. The card went as high as $95 unslabbed.

Phungo HoF Index
1966 Topps #90 (As an Oriole)
For a look at non-Topps and other Aparicio Rookies check Old Cardboard HoF RC Detail 

Sources
1958 Topps All-Star Index
Baseball-ref.com
Old Cardboard
Topps Baseball Card Database 
ebay.com

Philly Card Show Report - 2010 03 13 - Vintage Hall of Famers

For a previous post on the March 2010 Philly Show featuring Vintage Phils Cards click here.

Today I am featuring HOF cards that I picked up.

1964 Topps #29 Lou Brock
1962 Topps #475 Whitey Ford All Star

Cool to find a Lou Brock card from before he was traded to the Cardinals. I think each of these rough cards went for a buck a piece but don't remember now. The early vintage All-Star cards 1958-1962 are all usually pretty reasonable except for 1961.


1957 Topps #215 Enos Slaughter
1973 Topps #341 Jim Palmer

The back of the Slaughter card was well "slaughtered" but it was in the 3 for $1 bin and I couldn't turn it down. The Palmer is from the first iteration of the Boyhood Photos in 1973. This card was also in the 3fer bin.


1967 Topps #241 1966 AL RBI Leaders
1969 Topps #175 Jim Bunning

I am not a big League Leaders card fan, but this one was to big to pass up. Both of these were in the $1 bin.




1971 Topps #380 Tony Perez
1974 Topps #61 Luis Aparicio

Two more HOFs I think from the 3fer bin but can't remember. Aparicio was known for playing the White Sox but finished his career playing for the Red Sox. I believe this is his final Topps Card from his playing days.