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Researching the season you collect?

I am putting together the 1965 set. This is 6 years before I was born. One of the reasons I chose the set was that my favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals, beat the the Yankees in the world series. As I obtain cards for the set, I review the stats on the card. Also, I check out the player's career stats and 1964 league/team stats and news stories. Now I am looking for books on the 1964 season and considering getting some other memorabilia from that season, maybe newspapers, magazines, etc.

Does anyone else do this? If so, what sources do you use or what other types of memorabilia do you collect?

Brian
Where have you gone Dave Vargha
CU turns its lonely eyes to you
What's the you say, Mrs Robinson
Vargha bucks have left and gone away?

hey hey hey
hey hey hey

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    qualitycardsqualitycards Posts: 2,811 ✭✭✭
    Brian - Then shouldn't you be collecting the '64 set since this was the year you covet? In '65 the Dodgers beat the Twins in the series. All Met fans go after the '69 Mets even though the stats and photos are from '68. And try picking up cheap Tigers cards from the '68 season as well, most can only be had for insane prices. Same with the '61 Yankees, the '55 Dodgers and so on....jay
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    theBobstheBobs Posts: 1,136 ✭✭
    I covet the results of the 1964 season, which is better found in the 1965 set than the 1964 set. So, I chose the 1965 set because the 1964 world series subset and that the 1964 stats are on the 1965 cards.

    I understand some people might not do it this way, but this approach works best for me and how I view/enjoy the cards and the process of collecting. To me, baseball is about context, history, stats and drama.
    Where have you gone Dave Vargha
    CU turns its lonely eyes to you
    What's the you say, Mrs Robinson
    Vargha bucks have left and gone away?

    hey hey hey
    hey hey hey
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    qualitycardsqualitycards Posts: 2,811 ✭✭✭
    ...And if you want a great book about the '64 season which highlights the Yanks/Cards World Series, pick up David Halberstam's "October 1964". It has excellent stories about the demise of the Yankees (they wern't back in the series til '76) and how the Cardinals almost had a dynasty, behind Gibson, Brock etc... Excellent reading...jay
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    theBobstheBobs Posts: 1,136 ✭✭
    Thanks Jay. I will certainly pick that up.
    Where have you gone Dave Vargha
    CU turns its lonely eyes to you
    What's the you say, Mrs Robinson
    Vargha bucks have left and gone away?

    hey hey hey
    hey hey hey
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    mikeschmidtmikeschmidt Posts: 5,756 ✭✭✭
    How can we talk about 1964 without mentioning the Phillies prolific fall from grace....?
    I am actively buying MIKE SCHMIDT gem mint baseball cards. Also looking for any 19th century cabinets of Philadephia Nationals. Please PM with additional details.
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    VarghaVargha Posts: 2,392 ✭✭
    Ahh yes, Gene Mauch was forever etched into history because of that. The Angels choking in 1995 to the Mariners is the only collapse in recent baseball history that comes close IMO.
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    theBobstheBobs Posts: 1,136 ✭✭
    Marc, do you collect/research anything regarding 1954 or 1955 beyond building the 1955 bowman set?

    Same question to you Vargha, but substitue 1950/1951?
    Where have you gone Dave Vargha
    CU turns its lonely eyes to you
    What's the you say, Mrs Robinson
    Vargha bucks have left and gone away?

    hey hey hey
    hey hey hey
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    Vargha,

    How About the 78 Red Sox in comparison to the 64 Phillies? God that was painful to watch... Almost as BAd as Billy Buckner fielding ground balls in the WS!

    Jeff
    Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain.
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    VarghaVargha Posts: 2,392 ✭✭
    Not really. I am interested in finding out more about those players, however. The 10/26/01 issue of SCD had a pretty cool article about that season and some of the Dodgers and Giants on the 50th anniversary of Bobby Thomson's "shot heard around the world".
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    VarghaVargha Posts: 2,392 ✭✭
    Jeff -- Red Sox and Cubs fans are in a league of their own for suffering. As a Mariners fan, it has only been 26 years for us.
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    mikeschmidtmikeschmidt Posts: 5,756 ✭✭✭
    I consider myself one of the top experts in the world on the 1955 Bowman advertising cards/samples. But besides that, my knowledge and history of 1954/1955 is primarily focused on the Fightin' Phils.

    In terms of baseball history -- I find myself much more interested in studying turn of the century baseball as opposed to the year which I collect -- which is pretty much a decade of Yankees v. Dodgers.
    I am actively buying MIKE SCHMIDT gem mint baseball cards. Also looking for any 19th century cabinets of Philadephia Nationals. Please PM with additional details.
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    dudedude Posts: 1,454 ✭✭
    It's all very simple for me. I only collect the years that I collected as a child (67-72). I can't say I remember all that happened during those years, but I do remember quite a bit.

    Not too long ago, I went to a library and looked at microfilm to find the box score and write up regarding the first baseball game I ever attended. I remember it was in 1967 on a Saturday, the Pirates vs. the Reds at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and the final score was 6-1 with the Pirates winning. I also recall Roberto Clemente throwing out a runner at home coming from 3rd on a bloop single. When that play happened my father told me you'll never see that happen again, and so far, he's right.

    To figure out which game it was I attended, I looked in my 1967 Smith and Streets Yearbook for the schedule and narrowed it down to July 5, 1967. So I looked at the July 6, 1967 Sports page of the New York Times and found it all in an article with the box score. The score was indeed correct and it did account for that amazing play by Clemente. The runner was Lee May.
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    theBobstheBobs Posts: 1,136 ✭✭
    Marc,

    Have you read the Bill James Historical Abstract? He provides excellent essays on each decade of baseball starting in 1870 if memory serves. I'd consider it a must read for researching turn of the century baseball.
    Where have you gone Dave Vargha
    CU turns its lonely eyes to you
    What's the you say, Mrs Robinson
    Vargha bucks have left and gone away?

    hey hey hey
    hey hey hey
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    mikeschmidtmikeschmidt Posts: 5,756 ✭✭✭
    Bill James has always been one of my favorite writers (though it is not what I would consider light summer reading!!)

    If you are so inclined, pick up his historical abstracts from the early to mid 1980s. Some great writing in there.

    No offense to current players and modern baseball -- I guess I just feel more in touch and more enamored with baseball years of a long past era. Being born in 1976 doesn't really give me many memories before the baseball strike of 1981 -- and the greed, corruption, steroids and spoiled players/owners of the last 20 years.

    There are still some great things about baseball (interleague baseball has been a success) -- and there are still some amazing players (Puckett, Ripken, Ausmus, Abreu, Sosa, etc.), but I nonetheless find eras past much more enjoyable.
    I am actively buying MIKE SCHMIDT gem mint baseball cards. Also looking for any 19th century cabinets of Philadephia Nationals. Please PM with additional details.
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    Marc - Ausmus?

    RayB69Topps
    Never met a Vintage card I didn't like!
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    dudedude Posts: 1,454 ✭✭
    Ray,

    Regarding Ausmus, I was thinking the same thing. All I know about Ausmus is that when someone comes barreling into homeplate, he'll gladly move out of the way. So maybe he wins some humanitarian award for not injuring any runners. image

    I know Marc well enough however to know that there must be a very valid reason to mention him, so I'm sure he'll explain. Maybe it's Ausmus' ivy league education.
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    mikeschmidtmikeschmidt Posts: 5,756 ✭✭✭
    Actually my 12th grade English teacher was the Mother-In-Law of Brad -- and when I referred to him as an "amazing player" -- I did not mean so for his on-the-field contributions, but more for those off-the field contributions that he has given to society at large.

    What I was generally referring to when I said the amazing players of today -- I truly meant players who were exemplary players on the field (e.g. may not be superstars -- but they are definitely not crybabies). He tries and works very hard -- and he is one of the most personable baseball players there is off the field. He is a gentleman and a scholar. Though he may not be a powerhouse at the plate or as defensive as Johnny Bench -- I do think that he has contributed greatly towards the development of pitchers like Roy Oswalt.

    At any rate -- things make perfect sense in my world, but I often have a hard to explaining my craziness to others...
    I am actively buying MIKE SCHMIDT gem mint baseball cards. Also looking for any 19th century cabinets of Philadephia Nationals. Please PM with additional details.
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