How's the weather up there?

Today were going to take a look at a couple of 1970-71 Topps basketball cards (or as the kids call them... "Tall Boys") that I had in last year's COMC accumulation.

In year's past, I've had quite a few more (from this set as well as the '69-70 set) built up by the time I take advantage of the free shipping after the Black Friday sale, but I think I've just about exhausted the supply of cheap singles that I still need from the site. And trust me when I tell you, COMC is not a good place to buy anything other than commons from this set, as the stars and even most of the semi-stars tend to be very overpriced.

Before getting to the cards, I feel the need to mention that I actually took the time to scan some cards for once, including these, so if you wonder why some of the images look kind of crappy, that's why!

As mentioned on the back of his card, Jimmy Walker was an absolute stud at Providence, so much so, that his all-time scoring record (set in three seasons) stood unbroken all the way until 2005. Spent nine seasons in the NBA, and was a two-time all-star with Detroit. He is also the father of Jalen Rose, although he left before Jalen was born, which in my mind, negates any of his athletic accomplishments.

Em Bryant played for three teams during his eight years in the NBA, and won a championship with the Celtics in 1969. He played in all 18 of Boston's games during '68-69 playoffs, and saw his minutes double to almost 34 a game. Seeing more playing time, his scoring average increased to 11.0 ppg, and he chipped in 20 points during the finals game 7 victory over the Lakers.

Shaler played for four different teams during his 4 1/2 years in the NBA, before moving over to the ABA for a season and a half to play with the Chaparrals. His best season came as a member of the Trail Blazers during their 1970-71 inaugural season, when he averaged 8.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, as well as 2.7 apg.

After retiring, Mr. Halimon came back to Portland at some point and started driving a bus for Tri-Met. After hearing about him being a bus driver in the early 2000's, a friend and I decided to try and find him, which we did, even going way out of our way just to ride the bus he was driving. I hadn't returned to card collecting yet, so I wasn't even thinking about trying to get an autograph or anything, it was just more about being in the presence of a former Blazer than anything else. That day is kind of a blur at this point, but I do remember thinking that he looked really well for his age. Also, while trying to do some research for this post, I saw that he was also named as Tri-Met's bus driver of the year in 2010, which had to be pretty cool for him.

Another Oregon connection with Loy here, who played college ball at Oregon State. His NBA career only lasted for two seasons, both with the Bulls. It's unknown to me as to why his career ended up being so short.

Not only is this the last card in the set, but it's also the last card in the eight card subset that recapped the 1969-70 NBA finals in which the Knicks defeated the Lakers in seven games.

Looking at my checklist, I see that I am now 44 cards away from completing this set, which means I'm like 75% done, and oh how I long for this set to be done. I'm hoping that this weekend's card show will produce a few more reasonably priced needs, but you know what they say about hope...


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.