10 August 2009

something something something gray borders, something something something complete

39 years after it first hit the streets, the 1970 topps complete set is now mine. i started putting the set together about 10 years ago or so. it's kind of a boring set, but it's my birth year so what are you going to do.

here are some of the last few cards i needed. enjoy.

al mcbean. i had one of these in my topps dodger collection, but not for the set. did you know that al's nickname was 'gay blade'? me neither. i thought zorro had that covered.here's a card that i have had for a long time, but i had to post it - it's gil hodges.
those are perhaps the palest eyes i have ever seen.

back to the cards that completed the set - norm cash. steve garvey used a norm cash model bat. meanwhile, i think norm's fly might be open.

woodie fryman.
another high number, of course. did you know woody was a tobacco farmer?
i wonder if he brought his own to the ballpark.

the late bob allison.
this one was/is hard to come by in this neck of the woods. allison is still a pretty popular former twin who was with the franchise for his entire career. he seems to have made a big impression on his former teammates as well as the fans, as jim kaat requests that ttm autograph seekers make a donation to the bob allison ataxia research center.

here's the last card i needed. american league rookie stars #702.

some no-names, but a yankee and a twin made this a tough find. i picked it up on ebay for 49 cents plus s&h. i love it when sellers don't title things correctly. i found it by searching for 'zepp topps'. there was no mention of the year or the high number status in the listing.

so, there you have it - this set is done, although there are about a dozen or so cards that i should probably upgrade. a collector's work is never done.

8 comments:

night owl said...

Very nice. Yeah, it is a dull-looking set. But a set from the early '70s is a set from the early '70s.

Captain Canuck said...

a complete '70 set? very nice. congrats.

Tony said...

Nice job completing the set. I like the 1970 set, nice,clean design. BTW, I'll mail out your cards this week.

mmosley said...

What's next?

My verification word was "hazing," so that is what I am doing.

Matt Runyon said...

Congratulations!

Carl Crawford Cards said...

Congrats! That's pretty awesome.

Wrigley Wax said...

Nice Work! 1970 was the first year I really collected baseball cards, I was 8 years old and spent lots of dimes on lots of packs (and got lots of doubles). When I think baseball cards, it is gray fronts and blue and yellow backs that first come to my mind. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, because to me, they are great! It is my all-time favorite set.

dayf said...

Good job, man. That's a pretty nice looking and underrated set. Good luck on the next one you decide to tackle.