this may well be the greatest double play card of all time

it's also easily one of my top 5 favorite baseball cards ever.  yes, it's a 1953 bowman color pee wee reese card.

this one looks a bit dark only because it is still encased.

i'll get it out of there eventually.  i think i got such a good deal on it because the grading is so far off.  plus, i think some people don't realize how easy it is to remove cards from these cases and pass on them because they are tough to store or display.

i actually have two copies of the card, and i took this one out of the psa case it came in.

it was a psa 1 because of the pinhole in the top center part of the card. here's the back:

yee-haw.  the only negative about the card is that it's a staged photo.  everything else is awesome.  even the red sleeves on pee wee's shirt - they really make the colors 'pop'.

so, you see my quandary.  i still plan to do the 'greatest double play card of all time' tournament, but we all know going in that it will be tough to top that card.  so, should i even bother?  i say yes, because there are other great dp cards.  there are also other vintage double play cards, like this 1956 topps jerry coleman card

that i picked up recently, along with this 1956 topps roy mcmillan card

plus, mcmillan has jim gilliam lurking on his card!  that's good stuff.

this next one has me perplexed.  it's a 1972 topps alan gallagher in action card

when i saw it, i assumed it was a dp card.  but, after acquiring it, i looked gallagher up, and in addition to him having six middle names, it appears that he played third base exclusively while he was with the giants.  this looks like maybe he was covering second base for some reason, but i guess it's not a double play card.

i will assume that this one is, though - gallagher's teammate tito fuentes got his own in action card in the 1972 topps set.

tito was the giants' second baseman in 1971, and i'm not sure if he has any middle names.

moving on, i was able to pick up this 1983 thorn apple valley cubs card of larry bowa for cheap

tim foli looks pretty comfortable just lying on the dirt.  not a very aggressive slide at all.  the problem is that foli was an angel in 1982 and 1983 - he last played for pittsburgh in 1981 (although he would return in 1985).  so, i think maybe that is richie hebner taking it easy while bowa turns two.

hebner's teammate and foli's replacement dale berra turns two on his 1984 topps card

that may well be hubie brooks sliding in, by the way.

while ron oester forces out another pirate (looks like mike brown) on his 1987 topps card

this last dp card isn't vintage, but it's another dodger shortstop so i'll show it.  it's a 2002 topps total jeff reboulet card

nicely cropped by topps to keep the ball in the frame.

so, i still plan on holding the tournament.  i think i will purge my double play image folder during the week of/after christmas when nobody is reading and then work on finishing the seeding.  i was thinking about having people fill out their own brackets and offering a prize for whoever most closely matches my bracket, but that might be more trouble than it's worth.  stay tuned.