A Post post (Part 2)

I don't know if it's because they were the last year that Post did them (in this form), or if just less quantities were produced, but it seems like the 1963 Post set is a lot less prevalent than those from the previous two years. No matter what the reason is though, prices are definitely higher on 63's than they are for it's previous predecessors.

I haven't been to a show now in a few years, but going by online prices, '63 commons are usually at least double the price of those from '61 and '62. Some of the bigger names are the same, if not more. And of course, then there's the short prints, which I'm not far enough along with my set build to be looking for yet; but I would imagine that they're are gonna be up there in there in price too. I'll concern myself with those later though, for now I'm more than content to keep picking up cheap commons where I can.

Not being very far along with the set, I've had some decent luck as of late with said cheap commons (and one cheap HOFer as well), so following up last Sunday's post, here's what I've been able to add to my '63 set since October (not counting the three that are currently sitting in my COMC account)...

I don't know the reasoning behind the change, but it's a bit interesting to me that Post led off the '61 and '62 sets with the Yankees, then switched it up for 1963 by giving Minnesota the nod (bumping the Yankees to second).

After a strong showing in '62, Jim struggled a bit in '63, finishing the season at 10-10. He'd bounce back the following year though with a 17-11 record. In fact, the next couple of years were really good for him, as he wouldn't end up having a losing record until the 1971 season.

I wonder when was the last time that someone named their child "Cloyd"? Seems like that should've been considered a form of child abuse.

Tom finished 11th in the A.L. MVP voting for 1963. Looking at some of the numbers for the guys behind him, I think 11th was awfully generous by the voters. Yankees bump?

As was the case with the Dick Groat in last weeks post, it was very difficult for me not to add this one to my Frank Lary collection.

Frank was very much on the downward trend by '63. So much so that the Yankees even got the better of their arch-nemesis by going 2-0 against him.

One can't help but wonder how much different Jim's career would've been had he not been stuck in the Dodgers farm system for as long as he was. In a different reality he may've spent a better part of the 50's chasing home run titles with the likes of Willie Mays and Duke Snider.

Speaking of guys whose careers were impacted by later starts in the majors. I have no doubt that Ed's name would be more familiar (to casual fans) had he been called up sooner.

I thought prior to this post that 61's scanned the worst (for me), but after this many cards in, I stand corrected, 63's scan much worse. Look what's been done to my nice Bob Friend!

1963 was Bob's last winning season (17-16) in the bigs, or anywhere else for that matter.

I have a small favor to ask... it's been bugging the shit out of me, but I swear that Carl looks like someone else in this photo, or someone else looks like Carl in this photo; but I can't think of who! Does anyone else see it? If so, please put me out of my misery.

Roger led the majors in losses in both '62 (24) and '63 (22). Not a category that one wants to lead in. 

And I don't know if it's just me, but getting the first and last numbers from a vintage set always feels like a minor accomplishment. I don't have #1 (Vic Power) yet, but at least I now have #200.

I suspect that this '63 set is gonna be a slow build. As of this typing, I'm sitting at a very unimpressive 22/200. I am doing a bit better on my '61 (70/200), and '62 (73/200) builds though. I keep thinking that I should be further along on those two, and by that I mean it feels like I've got some more around somewhere, but I've gone through all of my player collections twice in the last year or so, and there's no more Post's hiding anywhere. Must just be a weird mental thing. That not withstanding, I've been getting a lot of enjoyment from these sets the last couple of months, and feel that they're very responsible for my recently renewed card interest; which truth be told, had been lagging something fierce.

A Post post (Part 1)

For someone whose generally as unfocused in all aspects of their life as I am, I've been surprisingly focused when it comes to card collecting the last few months.

I think I'm past the days of being distracted by shiny objects, and aside from a handful of guys, player collecting hasn't been doing much for me, so I'm pretty much left with just sets to focus on. And that's what I've been doing.

One of my primary focuses has been on the '61-63 Post sets. I've acquire maybe 30 across the three sets since October, and while most of them have just been commons, they've all been new to me, and even more importantly; each one of them is one card closer to completing their respective sets.

Not wanting to bombard folks with too many cards in one post (like I used to do), I thought I'd break the Post's into two posts, '61 and '62 today, and then, since there's more of them, give the 63's there own post next weekend.

Don Cardwell played on a lot of bad teams and more often than not, finished seasons with a losing record. In fact, all but three of his fourteen seasons were finished with a losing record. His first winning season would come in 1961 when he went 15-14 for a Cubs team that finished 64-90-2.

I generally strive for a bit better condition on my Post cards than this, but for less than two bucks I couldn't not get Saint Ron. Of course, one of the nicest things about Post cards is that they are one of the few types of cards that you can trim; and not be called all kinds of bad names my folks on the internet. And for the record, I did clean these edges up a bit before it went into the binder.

I've got a few more 61's sitting in my COMC account, but it'll be a while before I get those. I've done a bit better with the 62's though...

Usually overshadowed by brother Ken, Clete still had more than a respectable career; and one that most guys going into the pros would love to have. He also ended up with one more ring than his brother, though I'm sure playing for the Yankees played a bit of a part in that.

The good folks of Post wound up being a bit off with their prediction. Early finished the '62 season with a record of 7-15, which left him sitting at 299 wins. #300 would come the following season (his last). Between his gout and the mileage that he had incurred, those last two seasons sound like they were an absolute slog to get through. Of course, if he hadn't lost a few seasons to the war, he probably would've reached 300 a few years earlier, and most likely would've been retired before this set was released.

This card isn't a short print, but does tend to sell for a bit more than your average card in the set. Don't ask me why though. It's not a HOF bump, because there are a number of those from the set that sell for less. And to my knowledge, there aren't a lot of rabid Early Wynn collectors out there. I guess if anyone knows what's what, I'd love to hear about it.

After a poor start to the '62 season, Willie was traded to Cleveland after just 11 games. He put up serviceable numbers with the Indians, but still started the next season in the minors. He got called back up but struggled mightily during limited playing time, and would be done in the majors by seasons end.

1962 saw Albie set personal bests in games played (which naturally led to bests in plate appearances and at-bats), runs scored, doubles, and triples.

Harmon might just be the most common HOFer from this set, and is therefor often the cheapest. I probably could've held out for a nicer copy (I did clean this one up a bit though), but this one came in a small lot. I have no doubt a better one will probably be gotten in another lot (there's one in practically every '62 Post lot that ever shows up on eBay) at some point, and when it is, this one will be given away to whoever needs it.

Joe is one of only 18 players to hit four home runs in a single game, which he did against Brooklyn in 1954. I tend not to have a great memory when it comes to watched sporting events, but I do vividly recall watching Mike Cameron accomplish this feat back in '02. Of course, that game was also memorable because Seattle scored ten runs in the first inning, with four of those runs being a pair of back-to-back home runs by Bret Boone and Mike Cameron.

It's nice to have the both of the Boyer boys out of the way, at least for '62. I've noticed a big push in recent years for Ken to make the HOF. Admittedly, I'm terrible at figuring out who should and who shouldn't be enshrined, but with that being said, I've looked at his numbers on multiple occasions and am not seeing what the pro-Ken crowd is. I do see a really good player, just not one whose career screams HOF.

Despite my recent focus on set collecting, there are occasions where it's very difficult not to add certain cards to player collections instead. This is one of those instances. It's not terribly expensive, so I can get another one at some point, but the temptation to add it to Dick's pages was very strong.

I mentioned at the beginning of the post that I have some more Post's sitting in my COMC account, which were gotten during the recent Black Friday sales. I saw a number of a people lamenting online this year over the lack of deals during the sales, which is funny, I did quite well as far as finding things that I thought were good prices go. I'm not gonna try to bullshit anyone by saying that this years offerings were as good as they were ten years ago (those days are not coming back), but all-in-all I did pretty well. The lack of free shipping this year was kind of a letdown though. I was still gonna have my stuff shipped after the sales ended, but after thinking about it some, I figured I might as well wait until after the new year to do so. At least that way I'll be able to avoid the rush, and possibly be able to add a few more cheapies to the shipment in the meantime.