Merry Christmas!

 I hope you all had merry and card-filled Christmases. My Christmas was nice and peaceful, and the most card-filled Christmas I've ever had.

I found a lot of cards for my parents to get me on Net54. It had  289 cards from 1948-59, in low and mid-grade condition, for $110, or just 38 cents a card. 

I was looking forward to it a lot, and thankfully I was not disappointed. There were a lot of great cards, and I had a blast going through them all. It kept me happy for an hour, and was a really good deal.

Just a week after getting my first 1948 Bowman, I got two more, Barney McCoskey and Bill Wight. Barney McCoskey hit .312 in his major league career, and in 1948 hit .326 while striking out just 22 times.

The three 1949 Bowmans are Dick Kokos, Whitey Platt, and Floyd Baker.

For a lot of these early cards, they're cool to have even if they're in bad condition or nobodies. For price comparison, the cheapest 1949 Bowman on COMC is $3.35.

These guys are Jerry Coleman (Yankee!), Cliff Fannin, Johnny Wryostek, Sam Dente, Pete Suder, and Buddy Rosar. Buddy Rosar was backup catcher for the 1941 Yankees. He had a very good season in my Stratomatic league this season, hitting .278 with 3 homers and 5 doubles in 36 at-bats. The 1941 Yankees were 14-6, first in their league, but lost the World Series in six games to the 1927 Yankees.

These two, Jack Banta and Dale Coogan, were actually high numbers. They're also in pretty decent condition.

The 1951 Bowmans were a pretty rough lot except for Chuck Diering, but I was super excited to get my first card of Ted Kluszewski. Nice Preacher Roe, too.

Nobody special here, but I'm working on 1952 Bowman, and am now up to 26/252. 

These two are high numbers. Bob Chipman had a decent twelve-year career, with a 51-46 record and 3.72 ERA. 1952 was his last season. 

Everett "Skeeter" Kell was George Kell's brother, but wasn't even nearly as good. 1952 was his only major league season, and he hit .221 with zero homers. I think it's funny how the top left border was drawn in by some kid.

Clockwise, these guys are Bob Addis, Ted Gray, Gil Coan, and Roy McMillan. Nothing special, but they're nice.

It's easy to forget that Johnny Pesky played for the Tigers. Actually, he also played with the Senators in 1954. Now that's weird. 

1952 Topps, even beat-up no-names, is always cool.

Peanuts Lowrey is a member of the Elmer Valo family, as a .273 hitter who hit just 37 homers and struck out just 226 times in 1401 games. Members of the Elmer Valo family are utility outfielders with no power who walk about twice as much as they strike out. Another member is Greg Gross.

I love 1953 Topps!

Morrie Martin was #227, a high number, and the cheapest copy on COMC is $13.08. 

I love the 1954 Topps cards with white backgrounds. They just look so calm and peaceful, and it's nice how you can't tell where the border begins. They're minimalist. 

Luke Easter was a really cool player. He was 31 when he started his pro career, but played until he was 48. He had some very good seasons with the Indians, but spent most of his career in AAA. 1954 was his last season with the Indians. He played just six games with them before going to the minors, where he continued to hit great for almost ten more years. He hit .279/40/128 at 41 with Buffalo, and .307/38/109 at 42. At 46 with the Rochester Red Wings he still hit .281, with 15 homers and 60 RBIs in 249 at-bats.

The head shot on Bob Turley's 1954 rookie card was also used for his 1955 and 1956 Topps cards, when he was with the Yankees. 

Carl Scheib was a very interesting player. He came up with the Athletics in 1943 at sixteen, and was a very good hitting pitcher. For his career he was 45-65 with a 4.88 ERA, but hit .250 for his career. In 1951, he hit .396 with 2 homers in 53 at-bats. He pinch hit 64 times in his career.

Warren Spahn is in pretty terrible condition (most of the back is missing), but I'm not complaining.

I'm also happy to get another Wally Moon. Moon had a difficult time in St. Louis, as he was replacing Enos Slaughter. Here's an interesting story from the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract:

"According to Ray Robinson in Baseball Stars of 1960, Moon made a catch in 1957 of a drive by Willie Mays that was the equal of anything Willie himself might have done. A Cardinal fan, applauding half-heartedly, remarked that "Terry Moore would have made it look a lot easier." 

This is my first 1955 Topps Double-Header. Here it is, unfolded:

It didn't want to stay open, so I had to put two piles to weigh it down.

I'm trying to get every card from The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, and Bubble Gum Book. It might happen, someday. 

I was surprised to see Richie Ashburn in here. Warren Spahn and Robin Roberts were mentioned in the listing, but not Ashburn. 

I'd been wanting a card of Vernon Law for a while, so I was glad to see this. Also happy to get another card of Hoyt. 

Clockwise, starting with Zernial, these guys had nicknames of "Ozark Ike", "Vinegar Bend", "The White Rat", and "Scrap Iron" / "The Toy Bulldog". 

There were plenty of 1959 Topps cards, over fifty new ones, but I wasn't that excited about them. Unlike the earlier sets, I do have some condition standards for 1959 Topps, so I'll want to upgrade a fair number of them. 

I'm at 268/572, or 46.9%. 

I like how someone stamped "Aug. 13, 1964" on poor Ernie Broglio. 

I also got a very generous present from my sister, a 1958 Topps Whitey Ford.

It has some wax staining on the back, but is in very nice condition otherwise. My sister usually gets me good presents, but this is the best in memory. 

Overall, I probably had my best Christmas ever. I hope all of you had great Christmases too, and will have a happy new year.