Slum22's 500 HR Club Card Thread (Another Huge update 12/27 with scans Hammering Hank RC!)
slum22
Posts: 2,594 ✭✭✭✭
Growing up collecting in the early 80's and early 90's I was always fascinated by the history of baseball. I especially loved the 500 HR club, which was so exclusive until the steroid era lowered the bar for many new entrants to the club. Back then the most recent member was Reggie Jackson and there wouldn't be another until Eddie Murray joined the club. While I dreamed of owning cards of guys like Mantle, Mays and Aaron the closest I ever came was having my parents buy me a box of the 1988 Pacific Legends baseball cards (loved that set). Some of my favorite memories growing up involve going to cards shows and getting autographs in person from all the living members of the 500 HR club of the time (Aaron, Mays, Robinson, Killebrew, Mantle, Matthews, Banks, Jackson, Schmidt and McCovey--I only missed out on Williams). Fast forward to present day and while I don't follow baseball nearly as closely as I did growing up I have resumed card collecting. My favorite sport is now basketball and while I initially only collected basketball in my return to the hobby, seeing a lot of collections on here encouraged me to expand to football next and now baseball as well. My baseball focus is on the 500 HR club members from before the steroid era (so everyone up to Eddie Murray).
My plan is to update this thread with my newest additions to my collection as it grows. I will update the thread on this first post with the newest card as I go adding scans to the existing collection on here to have an easy place to see the whole collection. As always, I will write too much about the card and what it means to me
Thanks for looking!
**UPDATED 11/26/14 with new card**
The newest card in my 500 HR club collection is this very nice Mantle. I have been on a bit of a Mantle kick lately. Always wanted his cards growing up but could never afford them. Looking to pick up centered copies of all his Bowman and Topps cards. This one wasn't originally on my list of cards to get for him. But, since it may be the best 4 I have ever seen, I decided to throw a bid up and it ended up a winner.
**UPDATED 12/27/14 with new card**
It's been almost exactly a month since I added a card to this collection. I have been after this card for most of the year. It has been a saved search on eBay for a while now but I haven't been able to find a good value for eye appeal and cost until last week. I was lucky that this card's auction ended on a bonus eBay bucks day. I would have been happy just paying the price I won at, so getting the additional eBay bucks back is a great bonus for next month. This has been a tough card to find centered so I am excited to add one with very good centering for the grade. This immediately goes into the prized position in my 500 HR Club RC collection.
Without further ado. Big thanks to fellow board member Mike (54Topps) for giving me a great deal on this McCovey RC. I was browsing eBay using one of my saved searches for this card and this one popped out at me. I checked the seller location and noticed it was in the town over from me! I had just met Mike a couple weeks ago having sold him something on BST and I texted him to find out if this was his card. Sure enough it was! Small world. We cut a deal via text message and I got this card at my office yesterday. Very happy with this card especially the centering. I am really trying to get high end centering for the cards in my collection and I think this one fits the bill.
Here are the cards I had already in the collection in reverse order of when I got them:
I always loved the design of the 68 Topps set and when I saw this beautiful Mantle a few weeks ago I decided to set a snipe and go for it. It wasn't an aggressive snipe so I was pleasantly surprised to win the card. A little higher grade than I was planning to go on my Mantle collection but I am glad to have it. Can't go wrong with centered, high grade Mantles. The 1961 McCovey was purchased back in the 90's when I was a teenager in the 90's from one of those Teletrade phone auctions (anyone remember those?). It was listed as NrMt and I bought it sight unseen. I subbed it this summer and they were pretty good graders back then as it hit a 7.5. The only card from my collection that I self-submitted. The 56 Mantle was my first dream card as a kid. I always loved the design of the card and the history of it being his triple crown MVP season card. Never thought I would own one back then. Once I got this one, I got hooked on Mantle cards. It's going to be an expensive hobby. The Reggie, F. Robinson and E. Murray RC's are all pickups from this summer and fall when I decided to go for a 500 HR RC collection. I've since expanded the collection to non-RC's adding the Mantles. Excited to have 4 RC's down. This will be a long process but I look forward to having fun with it!
My plan is to update this thread with my newest additions to my collection as it grows. I will update the thread on this first post with the newest card as I go adding scans to the existing collection on here to have an easy place to see the whole collection. As always, I will write too much about the card and what it means to me
Thanks for looking! **UPDATED 11/26/14 with new card**
The newest card in my 500 HR club collection is this very nice Mantle. I have been on a bit of a Mantle kick lately. Always wanted his cards growing up but could never afford them. Looking to pick up centered copies of all his Bowman and Topps cards. This one wasn't originally on my list of cards to get for him. But, since it may be the best 4 I have ever seen, I decided to throw a bid up and it ended up a winner.
**UPDATED 12/27/14 with new card**
It's been almost exactly a month since I added a card to this collection. I have been after this card for most of the year. It has been a saved search on eBay for a while now but I haven't been able to find a good value for eye appeal and cost until last week. I was lucky that this card's auction ended on a bonus eBay bucks day. I would have been happy just paying the price I won at, so getting the additional eBay bucks back is a great bonus for next month. This has been a tough card to find centered so I am excited to add one with very good centering for the grade. This immediately goes into the prized position in my 500 HR Club RC collection.
Without further ado. Big thanks to fellow board member Mike (54Topps) for giving me a great deal on this McCovey RC. I was browsing eBay using one of my saved searches for this card and this one popped out at me. I checked the seller location and noticed it was in the town over from me! I had just met Mike a couple weeks ago having sold him something on BST and I texted him to find out if this was his card. Sure enough it was! Small world. We cut a deal via text message and I got this card at my office yesterday. Very happy with this card especially the centering. I am really trying to get high end centering for the cards in my collection and I think this one fits the bill.
Here are the cards I had already in the collection in reverse order of when I got them:
I always loved the design of the 68 Topps set and when I saw this beautiful Mantle a few weeks ago I decided to set a snipe and go for it. It wasn't an aggressive snipe so I was pleasantly surprised to win the card. A little higher grade than I was planning to go on my Mantle collection but I am glad to have it. Can't go wrong with centered, high grade Mantles. The 1961 McCovey was purchased back in the 90's when I was a teenager in the 90's from one of those Teletrade phone auctions (anyone remember those?). It was listed as NrMt and I bought it sight unseen. I subbed it this summer and they were pretty good graders back then as it hit a 7.5. The only card from my collection that I self-submitted. The 56 Mantle was my first dream card as a kid. I always loved the design of the card and the history of it being his triple crown MVP season card. Never thought I would own one back then. Once I got this one, I got hooked on Mantle cards. It's going to be an expensive hobby. The Reggie, F. Robinson and E. Murray RC's are all pickups from this summer and fall when I decided to go for a 500 HR RC collection. I've since expanded the collection to non-RC's adding the Mantles. Excited to have 4 RC's down. This will be a long process but I look forward to having fun with it!
Steve
0
Comments
Here are a few of mine.
Currently collecting 1934 Butterfinger, 1969 Nabisco, 1991 Topps Desert Shield (in PSA 9 or 10), and 1990 Donruss Learning Series (in PSA 10).
Sure do remember Teletrade - owned by Greg Manning Auctions - I believe - I think the whole operation went belly up?
The McCovey card is just about as nice as you can get. It's like 7 is the new 8. Congratulations on the pickup.
As for the 500 HR Club, love the thread. I started many years ago an autographed baseball 500 HR club project. Obviously the big boys Ott, Ruth and Foxx will be toughies if I ever get to that point of completion but it's been a fun ride so far picking up the others.
Good luck with your quest!
www.questfortherookiecup.com
Jmaciu's Collection
It looks like you have a nice start to your new collection. I wish I had kept all of my 50's and 60's cards.
James
Jbrules--Thanks for the comments. That's one of the great thing about the boards. While it may be hard to find people to talk about cards with in daily life, these boards provide a lot of people who share the same experiences and interests.
Mike--I agree that there are a lot of 8's in 7 holders these days. To be truthful though, I think this one is accurately graded. It doesn't show up in the scan as well but the upper right corner (when the card is horizontal) probably keeps it in a 7. The scan looks like an 8, the card in hand is a 7 at worst, probably a 7.5 on most days and an 8 on some. Probably not worth the effort to bump for a .5 grade, so I will enjoy as is.
Yankeesman--You, Mike and myself are dating ourselves with our memories of teletrade. Life before eBay! Are you collecting single signed balls of the 500 HR members? I have a multi-signed ball with 9 members I believe (the ones who were alive back in the early 90's minus Ted Williams). Along with the multi-signed ball I also got individual signed balls of most of the members (unfortunately not Mantle as he was too expensive to get so many autographs, $55 back then was a lot for one autograph). I'd love to see some of your autographs if you'd like to post them here.
Jim and John--Thanks for the kind words as always. I look forward to seeing some updates on your collections soon. Nice Veni you posted the other day Jim. John, how about an update on the 69 set?
James and Don--My unopened gang! James, thanks for keeping me company on the boards here. Hope you are back to your regular schedule. Don, thanks for all the advice on unopened and for sharing some of your collection with me!
Chris and Dan--You guys along with Jim have inspired my collections and my posts with the threads of your collections. Chris, we need another FB rip update. Your boxes were on fire! IIRC, we left off with you hitting 2 each of Montana, Marino, Elway, Rice and 4 Bo RC's. Insane pulls. If I ever had that kind of luck, I may go from an unopened collector to a ripper too.
Nice pickup Steve!
Jim
James
James
Jmaciu's Collection
Well Done!
WTB: PSA 1 - PSA 3 Centered, High Eye Appeal 1950's Mantle
Jmaciu's Collection
I'm just now catching up on this thread and saw your question about my 500 HR club autos. So far I've been trying to collect as many as I can on single signed baseballs. When it gets to Foxx, Ott, Ruth, etc. that's probably going to be cost prohibitive (unless I win the lottery lol and then all bets are off!). I'll try and post some scans but don't want to appear to be hijacking your thread. Great pick up!!!!
www.questfortherookiecup.com
Jbrules--Congrats on your Aaron 4 as well. I was targeting a 4 or 4.5 as those grades seemed the most budget friendly with decent eye appeal that I found. Feel free to share your 4 on here if you'd like.
Yankeesman--No worries about hijacking my thread. That's why I am adding cards to the original post as I go, so I have a place to see all the cards I get in a timeline. Whether you start your own thread or want to post here I'd love to see your 500 HR club auto project. I will have to put together some pics of my 500 HR auto ball and put them on the thread as well.
Jim