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I'm composing this post on the Sunday morning before Labor Day, and if my math is correct this post will publish in early October. The haul of cards I purchased from The Battersbox Memorial Day sale and the Father's Day baseball card show at the Moorestown Mall have occupied my free time throughout the summer, and again I'm grateful for the ability to spend a little bit of time each day staring at and looking at old baseball cards. I'm thrilled we've crossed the half-way point to having a complete set and while there are still quite a few star cards to go, I'll admit I've started daydreaming about which vintage set I'll start collecting once this quest is over. I think I'll turn my attention to the 1959 Topps set next, as I've always enjoyed the design of that set and because I want to continue going backwards in time through the Topps flagship offerings. A few weeks ago, the surprise announcement was made that Topps baseball cards would be coming to an end (as we know them) with Fanatics taking over the Major League Baseball license in 2025. I wrote about my immediate feelings about this announcement over at The Phillies Room in this post, and I'll excerpt some of that here:
On Thursday afternoon, as the Phillies were sleepwalking towards another loss and as I was dealing with the latest work-related drama, news came out that Topps would be losing its baseball card license in favor of Fanatics, beginning in 2026. I didn't like the news when it came out, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around what this means for my beloved hobby. For me personally, it means I'll spend more of my disposable income on vintage cards, which is how I've been trending the last several years anyway. I'll continue to buy Topps factory sets through 2025, and then I doubt I'll feel the need to start a new run of Fanatics flagship sets in 2026. But who knows?Is this good for the hobby or bad? Much like Tom Hilgendorf* here, I have no idea. I'm sitting here staring off into the distance feeling a little confused, feeling a little cynical and feeling a little . . . old. Hilgendorf and I will continue to ponder this in the coming months and years and if nothing else maybe this means we'll get to spend a little more time together, along with the other cards in my vintage baseball card binders.
On the personal front, everyone here is healthy and getting ready to go back to school. Doug will be entering high school (!) and Ben will be starting sixth grade. Jenna will need to wait a bit longer to get back into her class room as Hurricane Ida caused extensive damage to her school in Wenonah. I'm still traveling into my office in Center City Philadelphia at least once a week, and I've accepted the fact I'll probably never again work from the city five days a week. It's a different world now than when we started collecting this set, and no matter what we're going to keep moving forward and doing the best we can.
Building the Set
June 19, 2021 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #328
Following our youngest son Ben's flawless performance of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy at his piano recital, our family headed to the Moorestown Mall in New Jersey to browse a real live baseball card show. Traditionally, I only venture into malls for baseball card shows and I can't honestly remember the last time, pre-pandemic, I had stepped foot into a mall. The show was small, hosted by S&B Sports Promotions, with about a dozen tables and not much vintage to offer, but it was a sight for sore eyes. It took us only about 15 minutes to scout the whole place out and I was lucky enough to find a friendly dealer with 1960s and 1970s Topps cards in great shape, in order and (best of all) reasonably priced. I took my time going through his 1965 Topps commons, settling on 29 cards we needed and adding a card from the star pile to give us 30 new cards total. I spent an even $100 (after a generous dealer discount) and this checklist card was one of the most expensive in the lot at about $8.
June 19, 2021 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #328
Following our youngest son Ben's flawless performance of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy at his piano recital, our family headed to the Moorestown Mall in New Jersey to browse a real live baseball card show. Traditionally, I only venture into malls for baseball card shows and I can't honestly remember the last time, pre-pandemic, I had stepped foot into a mall. The show was small, hosted by S&B Sports Promotions, with about a dozen tables and not much vintage to offer, but it was a sight for sore eyes. It took us only about 15 minutes to scout the whole place out and I was lucky enough to find a friendly dealer with 1960s and 1970s Topps cards in great shape, in order and (best of all) reasonably priced. I took my time going through his 1965 Topps commons, settling on 29 cards we needed and adding a card from the star pile to give us 30 new cards total. I spent an even $100 (after a generous dealer discount) and this checklist card was one of the most expensive in the lot at about $8.
The Card / Checklists
We still need quite a few cards to complete the set's fourth series, and I'm going to predict the last card we add to our set will be the Mickey Mantle (#350) card. My mind momentarily thought Sgt. Slaughter was in the set, but the "S. Slaughter" at #314 is actually Sterling Slaughter. Donn Clendenon (#325) has his first name completely omitted on the back so that Topps could fit it the card's number.
*A 1976 Topps card of Tom Hilgendorf was featured in the original post.
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