45 To Go

I am excited about my latest pick up for the Red Man Tobacco set I am attempting to assemble. As you can imagine, there are quite a few Hall of Famers on the checklist and are also the more expensive. Last week, I was able to acquire a copy of the Larry Doby card, who is my first Hall of Famer on the American League side of the checklist.  

Here is the front of the card.  

No tab, which is fine.  I am not being picky about the tabs. The surface of the card is clean, but three of the corners are soft with wear.  It's also a baseball card that is more than 70 years old.  Not sure how picky I should be about things like corner wear.  I am going to live with this one for the time being. Really happy with a clean surface.  

The card back is decent shape outside of some red spots. Not sure if that's marker or something else. 

Overall, very happy with my first American League Hall of Famer.  

Six Pack of Stadium Club Part 4

Six more really cool Stadium Club base cards from the 2015 product.  Not really a theme last night, but six really cool cards.  Here they are:

#13 Ernie Banks - Cubs

I like some of the off the field cards that Topps included in this product.  This Ernie Banks card was really cool.  I remember a few years before he passed away the Cardinals made a big push to get Stan Musial a Presidential Medal of Honor.  I did not realize that Ernie Banks had also received this honor as well.  Really cool card and awesome honor for Mr. Cub.  

#259 Greg Maddux - Braves 

If we are going to go off the field then how can you not include this great photo of Braves great Greg Maddux playing golf.  That's a great 1990s outfit in the picture too.  Are those denim shorts?  I am not sure if Maddux is in the same league as Smoltz on the gold course, but he still looks like he knows what he is doing.  Curious as to where this picture came from.....

#279 Joe DiMaggio - Yankees

This was a card that I noticed the second time I flipped through the set.  I like baseball numbers.  You say Joe DiMaggio and the number that pops in my mind is 56.  As in 56 game hitting streak.  However, the 45 is a significant number in that record.  Before DiMaggio set the mark for the longest hitting streak at 56 games, he bested the former mark of 45 which belonged to Baltimore Orioles star "Wee" Willie Keeler.  Cool card that has really grown on me.  

#282 Fred McGriff - Braves 

The Crime Dog had a really cool swing with a great follow thru.  It's not quite Ken Griffey Jr., but I would recognize this swing anywhere.  I always felt like Fred McGriff would have been a little bit more important if he had not played in the steroid era.  He was never a guy who hit 40 or 50 home runs, but he did hit 30 to 35 every year.  A bunch of those 35 home runs seasons came years before players like Canseco really escalated the home run totals.  

#290 Dwight Gooden - Mets 

Just a really cool picture.  

#298 Larry Doby - Indians 

Really cool card with Larry Doby and Jackie Robinson.  Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, but Doby was not far behind.  Really cool picture of the two of them together.