A Pinch of Lint and a Random Screw

One of my guilty pleasures is cruising Listia for baseball cards.  In case you've never heard of it, Listia is an auction site similar to eBay, but you "pay" with points, not money.  Points can be earned through surveys, completing tasks, "selling" items or outright purchase using real money.  

I've put a few items up for auction on Listia, and I've done more than my fair share of surveys, so I've accrued a respectable amount of points without having to put a cent into the Listia business model.  However, my main gripe with Listia is there is a lot of garbage to sift through.

Finding a card that you're actually interested in can be quite daunting.  I may not bid on a card for days on end because of poor selection and outrageous "prices."  Which leads to my other problem with Listia, inflation.  A point just doesn't go as far as it used to.  Auctions used to start in the 1-100 point range and would end in the 250-500 point range.

Now auctions usually start at the 499 mark, and end much, much higher.  I guess this is due to popularity of the site, but it is aggravating.  If any of you are Econ majors, it might make a good paper to study the Listia business model.  It some regards it reminds me of a runaway economy in the European Union where the currency has no standard.      

Alright, alright, enough with the economics drivel, let's look at some cards!

Last week, I was able to land three cards of my want lists.  One for a set I'm building and two for my HOFer/Superstar project.

For the equivalent price of two shirt buttons, a pinch of pocket lint and a random screw, I won this card for my 1987 Donruss set.

Next on the block, was this snazzy 1959 Lindy McDaniel card.  For this one I had to turn to the kid's couch cushions for some extra scratch.  I shelled out four cheerios, a piece of congealed milk, six ponytail holders and the lower torso of a GI Joe figure.  

 

Finally, through patience and my lack of card condition caring (paper-loss on the back of the card, meh), I now own a 1971 Catfish Hunter.  I pulled out all the stops on this one, and paid via the household junk drawer.  For this lovely card it cost me two AAA batteries, one of those rubber jar opener pads, a pen from my last hotel stay at the Courtyard Hotel and seven, I said seven!, trash bag twisty ties.  

 

Not a bad haul for worthless points and free shipping!   

Wanted! - 1959 Topps

Please note that this want list (and any of my want lists prior to 1971) is intended for my use.  While I would never turn down a trade to obtain one of these cards, I do not expect anyone to knock cards of this list.

#	Player	#	Player	#	Player
10	Mickey Mantle	270	Gil Hodges	395	Elston Howard
20	Duke Snider	292	Dick Williams	410	Billy Pierce
30	Nellie Fox	300	Richie Ashburn	413	Camilo Pascual
35	Ted Kluszewski	309	Sal Maglie	415	Bill Mazeroski
40	Warren Spahn	310	Luis Aparicio	430	Whitey Ford
50	Willie Mays	312	Don Newcombe	435	Frank Robinson
70	Harvey Kuenn	325	Ken Boyer	439	Brooks Robinson
80	Minnie Minoso	338	Sparky Anderson	440	Lew Burdette
115	Mickey Vernon	339	Roy Face	448	Vada Pinson
149	Jim Bunning	349	Hoyt Wilhelm	450	Eddie Mathews
150	Stan Musial	350	Ernie Banks	455	Larry Doby
155	Enos Slaughter	352	Robin Roberts	478	Roberto Clemente
160	Dick Groat	353	Curt Flood	479	Lindy McDaniel
163	Sandy Koufax	360	Al Kaline	480	Red Schoendienst
180	Yogi Berra	370	Pete Runnels	502	Alvin Dark
202	Roger Maris	380	Hank Aaron	514	Bob Gibson
205	Don Larsen	387	Don Drysdale	515	Harmon Killebrew
240	Hank Bauer	390	Orlando Cepeda	518	Mike Cuellar
260	Early Wynn	392	Whitey Herzog

Topps Cards That Never Were - 1959 Ted Williams

Since I began making these custom made Topps cards that never were, I have intentionally avoided one player.  Not out of desire to create his cards, but more of hesitancy that what I created would only be passable or adequate.  In my eye, the Splendid Splinter needed custom cards worthy of his accomplishments.  So, after 25+ creations and a lot of trepidation on my part, I’m willing to share my version of Ted Williams’ 1959 Topps card.

Why the apprehension in creating a Ted Williams card?  While I do consider Teddy Ballgame the greatest hitter ever (even better than Tony Gwynn, gasp!), I have a more important reason.  Ted Williams is my Dad’s favorite baseball player.  Ever.

That’s a big deal to me, especially compounded with the fact that Tony Gwynn is my favorite player, and that he and Ted Williams struck up a friendship late in Mr. Williams’ life.  Between those two players, my Dad and I have carved out a huge chunk of baseball history and lore to claim as our own.  That in itself deserves my respect.

As for the 1959 Topps card, it is not the final Topps card that should have been for Ted Williams.  In fact, I have two more coming on the heels of this one, his 1960 and 1961 Topps releases.  From what I can gather, it seems that Ted Williams signed an exclusive contract with Fleer to produce the Ted Williams Sets from 1959 through 1961.  This would seem to be the reason for no Ted Williams’ Topps cards in 1959, 1960 and 1961.  Someone please correct me if I am mistaken.

Of the three Williams’ in the cue, I consider this the least “worthy.”   I worked for hours on this card trying to get every last pixel right.  The template ended up looking great, but the photo doesn’t quite go with the era.  The picture is too clear and I can’t recall many swinging photos in the 1959 set.

I hope you like it!