#79 1st Series Checklist 1-88

This is the fourth checklist I've added to our set and for some reason it was rather difficult to find at a reasonable price.  We're approaching a full year of lockdown due to the worldwide pandemic, and I'm convinced now quite a few one-time and new collectors have entered the hobby over the past year as a welcome distraction from reality.  I've noticed card prices have gone up, especially for vintage cards, and I'm finding even newer Phillies cards in auctions where I would have been the sole bidder a few years ago are going for prices higher than what I'm willing to spend.  I don't view this as a bad thing.  New or returning collectors have helped bolster the hobby at different points over the decades and I don't see the 2020 surge as anything but a net positive.

Speaking of net positives . . . We inaugurated a new President in January with my friends, family and the vast majority of the country breathing a collective sigh of relief.  The outgoing President decided to help instigate an attempted coup in early January and we watched in horror as the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol unfolded on our TVs and through social media.  There's a lot of work to be done, but it feels as if we're getting closer to the end of this pandemic as vaccinations are slowly being administered throughout the country.  All in all, I can sense relief, hope and even the occasional calm which had been missing from so many of our lives over the past year and since the former President came in to power in 2016.

I'm grateful I decided to collect this set when I did, as it's provided me with hours of distraction during a historically bad year.  I'm also grateful I have the means to collect this set when so many others are suffering financially.  That's not lost on me and my wife and we have continued to give back and teach our sons the importance of helping others whenever we can.  Life's just a big unmarked checklist, and you don't want to get to the end without the good stuff checked off.  (That's probably the most profound, or corny, thing you'll ever read on a blog about the 1965 Topps baseball card set.)

Building the Set

December 25, 2020 from Valley Cottage, NY - Card #211

This is one of 32 cards (mostly commons) I received from Jenna and our sons on Christmas morning, as I was asked to do some surrogate shopping on their behalf and I gladly obliged.  This was one of the last two cards we needed for a complete first series, and I found this card from eBay seller OLDBBCARDS Vintage Sports Cards, located in Valley Cottage, New York.  This checklist cost me $7, but it was one of the cheaper options for the card available on eBay before the holidays.  Needing just this and the Dal Maxvill (#78) card to complete the first series, I swapped patience for convenience.

The Card / Checklists
I'm going to do a first series summary post soon, similar to what I did for the 1956 Topps set over on that blog this past year.  Topps still wasn't sure what the Colt .45s would be changing their name to, so we get Houston Rookies (#16) instead of Astros Rookies on the front of the checklist.  On the back, and given the placement of the card's number, Topps couldn't even fit a "C." in front  of Cannizzarro (#61).

Previous Card:  #78 Dal Maxvill - St. Louis Cardinals

Next Card:  #80 Turk Farrell - Houston Astros