what's your damage?

sure, mint condition cards are nice, but sometimes it's ok to have a card that has obviously seen some action in your collection.  i personally have quite a few - mostly vintage, of course - and the type of wear varies.

my 1955 topps johnny podres card

hits many of the condition negatives.  rounded corners - check.  frayed edges - check.  surface wear - check.  but his teeth are still white, and 1955 topps dodgers are kind of tough to find at a reasonable price.

my 1957 topps sandy amoros

displays obvious paper loss along with some corner dings.  it still has nice color so why complain?

how about my 1963 topps nl pitching leaders, featuring sandy koufax?

along with a couple of other guys in the hall with him.  this card has the round corner, surface wear, and it's actually missing a corner!  that's card damage!  still, 3 hof's in the vintage bargain bin will not be ignored.

this used to be my 1962 topps gil hodges

but i sent it to mark at stats on the back since gil is listed as a metropolitan.  a pen mark and a purposefully punched hole (suitable for inserting yarn or something) give the card some hard earned character, don't you think?

not all damage is self inflicted.  i guess it's not really damage then either.  there are printing miscues, like my 1975 topps rod carew

not as dynamic as my miscuts i sent to ben henry, but still pretty awesome.  i think that's von joshua's card that is joined to rod's card, but i'm not 100% sure.  maybe night owl can chime in with some 1975 topps expertise.

this 1979 o-pee-chee len barker card

suffers the fate of many other o-pee-chee cards - the rough cut!  o-pee-chee used rusty shears to cut many of their sheets, apparently.

and then there is this - my 1981 o-pee-chee ron cey card.

it's crooked, and the printing plates didn't line up properly.  maybe if i use 3d glasses it will look better.  nope.  still endearing though.

i guess the moral of the story is, send me your dodger cards, no matter their condition.  i'll find a way to appreciate and even celebrate them!

note that i didn't feature a trimmed card.  that will get it's own post tomorrow featuring one of my favorite cards of all time.  stay tuned.