Another Card Show in Indiana

I was fortunate that a card show existed in Indiana yesterday.  It was about 45 minutes from home so I decided to check it out after doing some work around the house in the morning and getting in a short run.

As I left for the show my wife called to let me know that Bobby Hull was signing at a mall close to our house.  Not a big deal since I don't really have an interest in autographs.  There was not much traffic, it was easy to find, the parking lot was crowded and the show offered free admission.  That was a nice start. 

It was a solid crowd, there were at least 50 tables and the facility did a good job of keeping the spacing between rows.  Still all good.

I took a few laps around and the two things I noticed most were new insert cards and unopened boxes, mostly the blaster boxes seen at Target or Walmart.  I did see a few graded Kellogg's cards but that really isn't my thing.  

No photos since I didn't buy anything.  I don't know if I will go back to another show there.  I was debating going to the show or to the Baseball Card Exchange.  Next time I will go to BBCE.    

1980 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs - #16 - 18

 Working my way through the set that causes me more eye strain than any other.  Here are the next three cards to read.

#18 - Graig Nettles

Kellogg's starts with great compliments on his power, run production and defense.  The card mentions that the Yankees rewarded him with a long-term contract.  

I like that the card mentions that his defensive stardom was not even noticed when he played in Cleveland.

Not on the card - the Yankees traded nettles before the 1984 season.  

#17 - Jason Thompson

I don't remember seeing him play too often as a Tiger but I remember him as a Pirate.

Kellogg's starts the story, like it often does, by mentioning that he didn't do as well as in past seasons.  He was a pitcher in high school and he only played in 79 minor league games.  His home run power got him called up.  

He had a solid career with over 200 homers and three all-star selections.  

#16 - Bob Bailor

Bailor got on his second Kellogg's card in 1980.  He was the Blue Jays first pick in the 1976 Expansion Draft so his name was well known.  There were certainly some guys on the Blue Jays who had better seasons that Bob.  

He was a good base stealer in the minors.  His .310 average for the 1977 Blue Jays was the highest ever for a first-year team player.  Maybe that got him another Kellogg's card.

Not on the card - he stole 90 bases in 11 years with a season-best of 20. 

Snowstorm Set #2 - 1977 Topps

 I taught on that day, but the time that I saved by staying home was used to check out some of my old cards that I haven't seen in a long time - probably at least 20 years.

When I went through the 1977 Topps set I realized that I didn't recognize lots of the cards.  I always knew that I had a lot less of them even though I did manage to complete the set.  I started thinking about why.  

That was my first summer as a caddie, so I was no longer riding my bike to stores that sold baseball cards.  Add to that a few injuries which kept me off my feet for a few weeks, high school sports and a teenage appetite and I guess I bought less cards that usual.  That didn't stop me from buying lots of cards in 1978-79 and 1981.  

Here are some of the 1977 cards that stood out in my quick look at the set.

A nice start to the set.  Lots of George Brett cards in this set.  One of my favorite Cubs too.

It didn't take long to find a card I didn't recognize.

I remember the back of this card since Topps had already celebrated this achievement against the Cubs on a 1976 card.

It seems like this should be a Joe Ferguson card.  I don't even remember Joe Ferguson as a Cardinal or Red. 

School dress code required collared shirts.  Good to see the White Sox comply.

Jim looks so happy. 

Tito and his bandana are in full view on another one of his cards. 

The All-Star logo works well again in 1977.

"You'll need to upgrade this card in your set since there is a huge gum stain" said no one ever to me in 1977.  

I don't know Mike but I love that scoreboard in the background.  They used to do a race before games and I have a picture of myself running with the scoreboard in the background.  

I don't know what happened to this card but it definitely is a mess.  I actually might upgrade a few cards in this set.  

The Sutter card was not a big deal when 1977 started, but Cub fans quickly liked this guy.  

This is how a Tom Seaver card should look.  

Not as many mis-cuts in this set for me.

Lemon's card doesn't show off the hat at much at this one of Francisco Barrios.

George Brett again.  

He got 3+ hits in six consecutive games.  

Ouch.  He was no longer a Cub at this point.  Traded.  Ugh.

Fidrych has it all here - Trophy and All-Star.  He was the talk of baseball for a while.

Zoinks.  This Brock card is worse than the Tommy John.  Since I plan to keep these cards forever, I might upgrade this one.  

Ouch again.  He leaves the Cubs and saves the American flag as a Dodger.

The Turn Back the Clock subset featured some of the great moments from different years.  From 1957 this is the best that they could find?  We new from a previous Topps subset that Mantle and Aaron were MVPs that year.  They didn't do something to warrant inclusion?

Everyone knew that Murphy was a catcher.

It looks like Kingman is admiring a homer.  Us old guys like to complain about younger guys doing that, but it must have existed a little bit back in the 1970s.

This does not look like Klu Haywood at all.  

Where was my quality control in 1977?  Kirkwood's card is a mess.

I just like this Niekro card even though there are hundreds of other shots just like it over the years.

Ken and his brother.  George is everywhere.

Bunting doesn't fit the analytics today so don't put it on new cards.  I do like this shot of Yount. 

One of the most well-known cards in the set and for good reason.  What a great shot. 

Nice to list Matt as an outfielder instead of as a pinch runner.  

Lots more games than at-bats for Matt.  I really like the layout of the back of the card.  

Not much to say about this Nolan Ryan card.  I just like it with the clouds.  

A Snowstorm Gave Me a Chance to Check out My 1970 Topps Set

I didn't feel like doing much after shoveling so I grabbed another set to check out between classes on an unplanned virtual learning day.  I will stick with the plan - just give my thoughts without any research.

The off-center cards in this set can look bad like the one below.  The line from above doesn't look good.  

The color of this checklist made it much easier to read than some other 1970s sets.  I didn't mark most of these ones.  For all of you youngsters (thanks Steve Stone), notice that it is the 1st Series. 

I had forgotten that they used cursive on this set.  No one uses cursive and I doubt that my students could even figure out how to write the letter z in cursive.  

The White Sox uniforms from the 1970s are all over the place.  They are blue, then red, then dark blue with softball shorts.  

The leader cards are great looking on the front.......

....but even better on the back.  Look how many leaders are listed 

When there is a tie, sometimes four leaders are shown.  How about this one with six?

The Kessinger card is one of those cards that just makes me happy to be a collector.  It looks just like it did when I was a kid.  

How do these line get so close to a card that is not that far off-center?

Lots of cards from this set show players at the bat rack. I do like that, but........

....way too many cards that are hatless or air-brushed like Sparky's.  That was always an easy thing to do when new teams joined the league.

We always were fine with getting managers that were once star players.

Like the Kessinger, this card really makes me want to go out and get more cards from 1970.

I always like the helmets without the ear flaps.

Getting a checklist that previewed cards that would be showing up later in the year was a tease.  Seeing that there would Sporting News All-Star cards was awesome, even if we only could see five of the position players on this checklist.

I really liked the card backs - a cartoon, full stats and a bit of text.  

Finally, the remaining all-stars.  

Two years in a row with great all-star cards.

The backs of the cards were great too. 

The Koosman does't look right to me.  Why?  The one I had in my box for years had the eyes burned out by someone who gave it to me.  

Hawk and his batting gloves.  

Floating heads in the team picture.  I want to look it up but I won't. This isn't the only time this has been done on a team card.

This is a pose we see more of in newer cards.  Someone maybe noticed their arm in this card.  

A classic pose.  I wouldn't like this for a common card, but for a Hall of Famer, that is fine.  

Photographer to his/her boss - "How can we make Mickey Lolich look really short on his card?"

The cartoon mentions that Selma was a cheerleader for the Bleacher Bums in 1969.  I have the record that they recorded from that season.  A bit premature since they didn't even win the division.  

Is Gene's real first name Fury?