A little help from my friends

 It's always nice to get some help with a set or player collection from a fellow blogger. Jon of A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts left a comment on my last blog post offering to send me some 1959 Topps cards, no strings attached. Getting 62-year old cards for free was a pleasant surprise.

He sent me nine cards on my want-list, so I'm now at 170/572, or 29.7%. I'm hoping to reach the 200 card barrier by the end of this year, and I plan on getting at least a good chunk of that on COMC's Black Friday. 

The Lou Skizas is in very nice condition. Jon said he hoped that they would all meet my condition requirements, and none even came close to being rejected. I mean, my requirements are not strict, but they're in great condition, especially for freebies.

Unfortunately, I got Dick Ricketts at a card show back in February. It was still on my want-list for some reason- whoops. 

Ah, the always alliterative combo cards. Calling Dave Sisler a batter baffler was a bit of an exaggeration, as he had a career ERA of 4.76 at the time. He did have a 2.48 ERA out of the bullpen for the Tigers the next year.

Here's something to think about before you spend $$$$$ on prospect cards: Whitey Lockman, up to 1950, looked like a future hall of famer. Whitey came up in 1944 as a teenage centerfielder, and had an elite .341/.410/.481 slash line. Yes, it was war-time, but he was 18. With Jersey City that year he hit .317/.479/.563. He was in the army in 1946, and injured in 1947, but he played very well in 1948, with a .286 average, 18 home runs, and 117 runs scored. Still just 21. He kept it up in 1949, with a .301 average, 11 home runs, and a WAR of 4.3. Nothing dramatic happened that I know of, but he never played that well again. He hit .295 in 1950, but without power, and he moved to first base in 1951. His average stayed in the .290s, but it was empty, and in what should have been his prime, from his age 27 to 30 seasons, he hit just .258. And by 1959, at 32, he was playing for the Baltimore Orioles. You really never can tell. 

Thanks Jon for some much appreciated help on my set!

I also received some team and player collection cards from gcrl of cards as i see them as part of an almost-free-card-Friday. For two TCMA Dodgers, I got three Yankees and two players I like.

I'm so haphazard in my modern card collecting that this was my first card of Gerrit Cole as a Yankee.

I heard DJ was playing through an injury, and his .268 batting average certainly makes that seem likely. Oh well. 

This was also my first post-Rangers card of Yu Darvish, and my first card of young Yaz. Both had amazing 2020 seasons (8-3, 2.01 for Yu, Mike Yastrzemski finishing 8th in the MVP voting) and disappointing 2021 seasons (8-11, 4.22 for Yu, .224 average for little Mikey.)

Weird how the only logos on these cards are for Pepsi and Bank of America.

Yay! A card of my favorite active player! Who was actually healthy all year! It was such a relief for Judge to be actually playing everyday. It wasn't 2017, but he hit 39 home runs. If Judge can keep that up for five more years, and then play well for another five, we're talking Hall of Fame territory. I guess you can't read too much into the future of injury-prone 29 year-olds, but I can dream.

So that's it for today. Thanks for reading, and thanks Jon and gcrl for the cards!