Thursday, April 30, 2020

Spahn is a Giant!


One of the neat little things I've acquired lately is a card of the Great Warren Spahn. Capital "G". 
Ok, so it's not so little. It's big. Like, giant. A 1964 Topps Giant in fact.

These are fantastic cards. And can be had for cheap. A Spahn like this one, in near mint condition can be had for under $5. Unless you live outside of the U.S. In which case American sellers will charge you a MINIMUM of $24 shipping for just one card.
But that's post for another time.

I recently read a post about someone laying the smack on modern cards. They're garbage. They're the same every year, etc... I think it was Owl, maybe? Anyway, the point is, is that I can't argue. Sure I want the shiny new cards of Freddie and Ronald. But …… after I get them and they go in the binder.... that's usually the end of it. That's where the appreciation stops. Where if I find a 1965 Topps #487 Woody Woodward (still missing that one), I'll coo over it for weeks. AND I'll revisit said card repeatedly over the next few months. I'll remember how and where I got it. How good it made me feel to fit it in it's home. It's not a binder. It's a home.

Maybe that's just me.

So for those not familiar with the 1964 Topps Giant series, it's a 60 cards set, including 7 short prints.
For size comparison, Tom Glavine popped by to help out.


Do any of you have any of these at home in your collection?

5 comments:

night owl said...

T'was me!

Yes, I've gained a couple of the '64 Giants while you were on sabbatical. One is even a non-Dodger. They're so in-your-face awesome and cheap that they're the most underrated set of all-time:

https://nightowlcards.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-truly-underrated.html

Also: "It's not a binder, it's a home." Preach.

Fuji said...

Beautiful card. I added the set to my collection a few years ago and it's one of my favorite sets in the collection. You'll be happy to hear that it's housed in a binder. I mean a warm, cozy "home".

https://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2016/07/161-over-budget.html

Jim from Downingtown said...

Waxaholic,

I've got 18 of those csrds, that you can read about here:

http://mlb1960s.blogspot.com/search/label/...giant%20cards


I was also lambasting current cards (on one of Night Owl's posts IIRC, as well as on my own 1967 blog). It's a 3-part issue for me: 1) Topps' uninspired designs, 2) their business practices of putting out repetitive stuff, knowing a segment of people will buy anything that's out there, 3) I just don't care about today's players as much as I did about the players when I was young.

I realized the 3rd point when, after looking forward many years for the arrival of the 1967 Heritage set, by the time the 1966 Heritage came out it dawned on me "I like the card formats (actually the Heritage sets are a poor imitation of the original designs), but it's the players on the cards that I don't know or care about". So I didn't buy any Heritage versions of my 1966-70 wheelhouse era.

I'm well aware that Topps will not miss my financial contributions, but I feel better knowing that I've spent (possibly more) money on vintage cards I like (while supporting the small businessmen rather than Topps).



gcrl said...

I had a classmate give me the al kaline from this set back in the second grade. It was so beyond what I had previously considered a baseball card to be and I loved it.

Chris said...

I love the Topps Giants cards! I have seven: Ford, Kaline, Frank Robinson (my favorite of the group), Marichal, Killebrew, Yaz, and Cepeda. I had a Bill Freehan but I bought it for someone as a Secret Santa gift.