1962 Topps Stamp Panels Wally Moon/Brooks Robinson

A quick one-card post today, just to keep the blogging juices flowing. I've been lagging a bit lately in my effort to resurrect my card blog. It's hard to gather the mental bandwidth to post sometimes, especially when I don't feel like I've got much of value to say to anyone.

In pursuit of the Wally Moon PSA Master Set I've picked up most of the mainstream stuff. That leaves me with oddball issues that can be hard to find. This Wally Moon/Brooks Robinson stamp panel is the latest one I've marked off my list. It is one of two two-stamp panels that Wally Moon appears on. The other features Wally Moon and Frank Malzone, and is a lot harder to find than this one, at least in PSA-graded form. I may end up having to purchase a raw example to send in and grade. I currently have the #1-ranked Wally Moon Master Set on the PSA Set Registry, but that's because no one else has bothered to register their cards. I'm sure there are some hardcore vintage collectors out there who could blow me out of the water if they bothered to register their cards. Anyway, I'll keep plugging away at it until I'm done.

1955 Topps Doubleheaders Wally Moon

Another one-card post today, although this one is a little less modern and shiny than the Ticha Penicheiro Prizm I showed off yesterday. I continue to make progress on my Wally Moon master set, gathering the cards that are a little more off-the-wall than his basic releases.

This card came from eBay, which is where 99% of my singles are sourced. It's a 1955 Topps Doubleheaders card of Wally Moon and Joe Cunningham. The card is designed so that the player on back can be folded down and the legs will match up with the front of the card. This one graded out as a 5, likely due to some centering issues and a couple of marks on the back. It still presents pretty well, and most importantly, fills a spot in my graded master set of Wally Moon cards. I'm a little glad that Wally Moon got front billing on this card rather than being relegated to the little half-photo on the back of the card. 

1964 Topps Venezuela

I've documented a bit of my progress on my Wally Moon collection recently. I have most of the low-hanging fruit already in my collection, so I now have to gather the rarer stuff. Some of it is not readily available in PSA-graded form, so I've gathered some cards that will eventually be sent off to PSA once I'm confident I've got just about everything in-hand. That future PSA submission will include Wally Moon cards, as well as the remaining cards I've gathered for the 1891 N20 Allen & Ginter 50 Prize & Game Chickens set I've been working on for the last decade. None of these cards will grade very well, but that's not really the point for these set builds.

I recently found myself looking for Wally Moon's 1964 Topps Venezuela card, which is similar to his 1964 Topps base card, outside of the printing on the back. Venezuelan releases were printed on poor cardstock, and most of the ones that have survived are in poor condition. This copy is no exception, with rounded corners and fading. It still shows Wally's unibrow in all its majesty, though.

The card backs on the 1964 Venezuelan cards are printed in black, as opposed to the U.S.-released cards that were printed in orange. It's a relatively easy way to determine which is which for this year. Several years ago I purchased a 1962 Topps NL Batting Leaders card that purports to be the Venezuelan edition that I hope will grade as such in spite of being virtually identical to the U.S. printing.

Based on the available offerings during my search, it worked out cheaper to buy a lot of Venezuelan cards rather than just the Wally Moon single. It's strange how it works out that way sometimes. So I got Ryne Duren and Harvey Kuenn Venezuelans as well.

Again, these are in pretty rough shape, but that is expected with these cards that are nearly as old as my parents, who were born in 1962. Ryne Duren I wasn't super familiar with, but he made the All-Star Game a few times and won a ring with the Yankees in 1958. Harvey Kuenn was a familiar name, who was a perennial All-Star with the Tigers and managed the Brewers for a couple of years after his playing days.

An Addition to the Wally Moon Master Set

One project that's received a little energy from me lately is my Wally Moon PSA Master Set, which is basically all of his card appearances from his career, encased in PSA graded holders. I already have his Basic Set, which is just a run of Topps base cards from his career. The Master Set adds other card appearances, team issues, stamps, things like pins and buttons, and food issues.

I am not worrying too much about condition for this collection, as higher grades on vintage cards command more money than I'm willing to shell out for this project. A PSA 5, like this 1962 Topps NL Batting Leaders card, is just fine by me. Especially for a card that features Roberto Clemente. Some of the tougher cards to get in this run are tough because Wally Moon shares them with another player, like Roberto Clemente or Brooks Robinson. I'd imagine those players have more competition than my Wally Moon project does. I currently hold the #1 Wally Moon Master Set in the PSA registry, mostly because no one else is chasing it. According to my checklist, I still need 12/36 items to complete the run, along with 2 items I have that need to be sent in for grading.

Blog Bat Around: My All Autograph Team

Zippy Zappy came up with the most recent Blog Bat Around idea, trying to build the best autograph roster possible using cards from your collection. His rules require you to trim your list down to a starting roster full of position players, a designated hitter, a starting pitcher, two relievers, and a closer. I looked at that and decided that instead I would try to build a full 25-man roster. I ran into a little trouble with filling out my pitching spots, but in the end I was able to build a full 25-man roster. It's made up of a mixture of my favorite players as well as the best guys I could find for a given position. If you just want to see which players I picked to match Zippy Zappy's format, you can skip past all the pictures and go to the bottom of the post.

Catcher - Craig Biggio

Craig Biggio played most of his career as a second baseman, but he played a few hundred games at catcher. That's good enough for me to justify placing him here in my roster. This beautiful autograph relic card came to me as a prize in a contest over at Collecting Cutch.

First Base - Wally Moon

Here's another guy who I'm playing out of position a little bit. He played 136 games at first base and his 1963 Topps cards lists his position as OF - 1B, so I'm putting him here. I just had a lot of outfielders on my list, and not a lot of good autographs featuring first basemen.

Second Base - Jose Altuve

I'm lucky I got this card recently, as it is my first autograph of the Astros' star second baseman, Jose Altuve. It's a nice-looking card, and it hasn't been featured here on my blog yet. He fits right in on an all-time roster, as the defending AL MVP.

Shortstop - Omar Vizquel

I think this card is still in my collection. I pulled it from a box of Topps High Tek. Vizquel may not quite be a Hall of Famer, but he'll be a solid defensive presence for my team. I kind of wish I had a Carlos Correa autograph for this spot, but I don't.

Third Base - Yangervis Solarte

Third base was kind of a black hole in my collection when it comes to autographs, so Yangervis Solarte is my guy here. So far this year, he's the 32nd-best hitter in fantasy baseball, although I imagine that ranking will fall a bit as time goes on.

Left Field - Frank Robinson

Frank Robinson was primarily a right fielder, but he made 834 appearances in left field. He won the 1958 NL Gold Glove award for his play in left field, so I think he'll do all right there for my team. I waited three years for Topps to send this Topps Archives redemption for a framed mini autograph, and by the time they sent it they couldn't be bothered to put the frame on it.

Center Field - Fred Lynn

Fred Lynn gets my center field spot. A lot of the autographs in my collection come from Topps Archives products, and this one is no different. This is probably one of the first autographs I pulled when I got back into collecting in the middle of 2013, and it even came out of a retail blaster. I have typically had terrible luck with retail breaks of Archives, but not this time.

Right Field - George Springer

Going back to the home team for The Raz Card Blog, we've got George Springer in right field. That's where he's made the majority of his appearances so far, so I didn't have to push him out of position to get him onto the roster.

Designated Hitter - Aaron Judge

I have a nice power bat in my DH spot, with Aaron Judge looking to follow up his monster rookie year with another great season. I pulled this autograph from a blaster of Gypsy Queen before Judge-mania really set in and baseball cards disappeared from store shelves.

Catcher - Evan Gattis

My back-up catcher is Evan Gattis. I had to find an excuse to get this card into this post, as it's one of my favorites from my collection. I went crazy on 2014 Topps Stadium Club, and this was a card I pulled from the product.

Bench - Bo Jackson

The potential of Bo Jackson was undoubtedly greater than the reality turned out to be, but I was at a very impressionable age when Bo Knows was everywhere. If there was a Hall of Hype, he could be one of the first guys inducted.

Bench - Josh Reddick

I couldn't get all of my main player collection guys onto this list, but I think Reddick will fit in just fine on this roster. I watched him hit a grand slam tonight to go along with another home run, so he's got power in his bat. He is better known for his glove, though, making acrobatic catches at the wall. I have autographed cards featuring him as an Astro, but I like the way this one from his time on the A's looks.

Bench - Francisco Lindor

I probably should have picked an infielder who plays more positions for this bench spot, but Lindor has been about as good as it gets at the shortstop position over the last couple of years. I guess my manager will have to work out those playing time issues.

Starting Pitcher 1 - Randy Johnson

I've got a pretty decent staff ace here in Randy Johnson. This is the other card in this post that hasn't been featured here on the blog yet. I got it a couple of months ago, but just haven't found the right moment to post it. He put up a lot of numbers, and was probably one of the most intimidating guys to ever step foot on the mound.

Starting Pitcher 2 - Phil Niekro

My second starting pitcher is another Hall of Famer, knuckleballer Phil Niekro. Batters should be suitably bamboozled by his offerings the day after facing Johnson's flamethrower stuff. 

Starting Pitcher 3 - Luis Tiant

I went with Luis Tiant as my next starter. I considered a couple of other guys for his spot, but I couldn't deny his career numbers and kept him in the rotation.

Starting Pitcher 4 - Roy Oswalt

Oswalt was one of the key pitchers during the Astros' last run to the world series, and for several years he was a perennial Cy Young contender. He never quite got there, with a large part of that thanks going to Randy Johnson. Not a bad guy to have as your fourth starter. 

Starting Pitcher 5 - R.A. Dickey

He might be the one guy who doesn't quite fit in here, but I can't keep R.A. Dickey off of this team. He does have a Cy Young to his name, although the rest of his career hasn't quite lived up to that. I still like collecting his cards, though, and I want him on my team. Maybe he and Niekro can share knuckleball tips with each other.

Relief Pitcher - Michael Fulmer

I had to bump a couple of starters down to my bullpen. Hopefully their egos can handle it. I'll start off here with the 2016 AL Rookie of the Year. He should be able to handle long relief duties for this team.

Relief Pitcher - Jim Abbott

Jim Abbott may not have had the greatest career on paper, but I couldn't leave this fan favorite off of this roster. He was a career starter, so hopefully he'll be able to eat up some innings out of the bullpen.

Relief Pitcher - Kent Tekulve

Kent Tekulve is the first lifetime reliever in my bullpen, and he was a pretty good one. He spent a couple of years in the Cy Young conversation, made an All-Star appearance, and was a key part of the Pirates' 1979 World Series team. But the real reason he's on this roster is that he always looked awesome on his baseball cards.

Relief Pitcher - Rollie Fingers

Here's another Cardboard All-Star, Rollie Fingers. He's got a great baseball name and the mustache of a silent film villain. He had a Cy Youg award and some World Series rings, but if he gets into the Hall of Fame, there are probably a lot of other relief pitchers who should be in ahead of him. This Blog Bat Around isn't about who should and shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame. I'll still collect his cards and put him on my autograph team.

Relief Pitcher - Charlie Morton

Charlie Morton is another lifetime starting pitcher, but he pitched four innings of relief to close out Game 7 of the World Series last year, so you know he can handle the pressure. His career has been a bit bumpy, but he seems to have found himself in Houston, with a 17-7 record so far as an Astro.

Relief Pitcher - Billy Wagner

Billy Wagner is one of just six players with over 400 career saves, so he gets a spot in this bullpen. I probably should have made him the closer on the team, but he didn't quite make the cut, and instead will play the role of set-up man in my bullpen. He's a 7-time All-Star and a great Astro, so I had to include him on the roster.

Closer - Goose Gossage

Goose Gossage doesn't have as many saves as Billy Wagner, but he's in the Hall of Fame, he has 9 All-Star appearances, he's got a World Series ring, and he threw the ball really hard. He's pretty opinionated, but the eccentric closer is kind of a stereotype in baseball. You've got to be a little off to thrive in the pressure cooker of finishing off baseball games.

So that's the best 25-man roster I could come up with from my autograph collection. I'll type it all out here, and bold my choices if I stuck to Zippy Zappy's restrictions.

C - Craig Biggio

C - Evan Gattis

1B - Wally Moon

2B - Jose Altuve

SS - Omar Vizquel

3B - Yangervis Solarte

IF - Francisco Lindor

LF - Frank Robinson

CF - Fred Lynn

RF - George Springer

DH - Aaron Judge

OF - Bo Jackson

OF - Josh Reddick

SP - Randy Johnson

SP - Roy Oswalt

SP - Phil Niekro

SP - Luis Tiant

SP - R.A. Dickey

RP - Michael Fulmer

RP - Jim Abbott

RP - Kent Tekulve

RP - Rollie Fingers

RP - Charlie Morton

RP - Billy Wagner

CL - Goose Gossage

edit: I was so focused on the relative merits of baseball players that I forgot to include a card featuring the signature of a baseball player's relative! In the celebrity baseball fan spot of my roster, I am selecting Kate Upton, spouse of Justin Verlander, one of Houston's current ace pitchers.

Now my roster is complete. You can't have a good baseball game without some fans in the stands.

What's the Big Idea?

Wow, I really mailed it in here on the blog during March. It was my lowest blog post output since April of 2016, when I was away from home and the internet for most of the month. I didn't have any good excuses last month, except that I just haven't been feeling it. I've felt a little out-of-touch in general over the last couple of months, and that feeling has extended into my blogging, too. I hope that I can break out of that funk soon, but it might be time to head back to the doctor and see if maybe my medication isn't doing the job anymore. I would describe what I'm feeling as a pretty consistent low-grade anxiety attack. Enough about that, though. Let's get to the meat of the post, The Big Idea.

I've been toying with the idea of starting a Wally Moon player collection for a while. He is pretty famous among collectors for his bushy unibrow, a feature that also appears on my face. I was thinking about his cards, and then I went on the PSA website and noticed that the Wally Moon Basic Set only has 12 items on it, his Topps cards from 1954-1965. That led me to eBay, where I lost control of my impulses and wound up with a complete run in a matter of days. A series of offers and coupons didn't help my self-control any, and I wound up making a little progress on the Wally Moon Master Set, to boot. I've already shared these pictures on Twitter, but I'll share them here as well.

This was probably the prize of the bunch. It's Wally's rookie card from 1954 Topps. I didn't get an amazing deal on it, but I got a pretty good deal and it's a nice-looking piece of cardboard.

I especially like the backs on these vintage cards, although Moon's cards tend to recycle the same group of factoids over and over. 

The 1955 card features the same headshot as the 1954 Topps card, but a different image off to the side.

Moon's 1956 card has another repeat of the headshot, but this time the the other image is an exciting play at the plate. I picked up the Gray Back variation to fill this spot in the Basic Set. 

Finally, 1957 gives us a different picture to look at, with Wally wielding a bat and staring into the camera.

The back of the 1957 is a little less colorful than previous designs, but I guess they can't all have cartoons. This is the first card to have more than a couple rows of statistics.

His 1958 card is a little bland with that green background, but I also really like the way this card looks. I can't explain why, though.

Cartoons also return for his 1958 card, but at the expense of the multiple years of statistics that appeared on his 1957 card.

There isn't really an ugly card in this run, and Moon's 1959 issue is another nice-looking piece of cardboard. It is also the first one in the run to show him as a Dodger. I am not really a fan of the Cardinals or the Dodgers, but I am a fan of Wally Moon.

This card back mixes a small cartoon with a full stat box. I am a fan of this layout, especially in the pre-internet days when cards were the primary source of information about a players stats. I lived through the later part of that era, and I remember selecting favorite players largely by comparing the numbers on the back of cards.

We break into the 1960's with this garish pink and yellow number. This is the design used for Moon's 2017 Topps Archives autograph card, although Topps used blue and red instead of pink and yellow for that one. They also used different pictures, but ones that are remarkably similar to the ones on this card.

This is where my impatience kind of bit me. This one is graded an 8, but it has the (PD) qualifier due to printing marks all over the front of the card. That knocks it down two whole grades in PSA's calculations. I really don't mind the marks all that much, but I may upgrade this someday. I like the person in the background of this photo, partially obscured by Wally's arm. It would be nice if today's Heritage cards had some people or cars or something interesting in the background.

Here's another card with full stats on the back, along with a cartoon, but no biographical paragraph.

Again, I got bitten by my impulsive nature here, and bought a card with a cracked case. It's a nice-looking card, but that crack in the case is unsightly. There are a few variations of this card, but this is the one I got. There are also Venezuelan variants of this card, which are hard to come by.

The back of the case for this 1962 card is also cracked. One of the tougher cards from the Wally Moon Master Set is going to be the Venezuelan version of the 1962 NL Batting Leaders card, which also features a guy named Bob Clemente on the front. Condition isn't going to be a deal-breaker on that one. I'll just be happy to get a copy of it, graded or not.

Jumping into 1963, here's another really good-looking card. My parents were only a year old in 1963, so I don't have the familiarity with designs of this vintage that some collectors do. One enjoyable thing about grabbing these cards is that I get to look at some designs that I'm not well-versed in.

The card backs from here on through to 1965 feature big blocks of stats.

While his earlier cards featured a hint of a smile here and there, his last few cards show a ballplayer who is all business.

I am running out of things to say about the card backs. This one has a scratch-off trivia question, but the answer can be seen by holding the card up to the light at an angle.

This 1965 card marks the end of Wally's Topps run, as he would retire after the 1965 season, and wouldn't get a card in the 1966 set.

This is the card back that is most familiar to me out of the bunch, as I bought and sorted a ton of 2014 Topps Heritage in an attempt to collect the set by busting packs. That didn't work out for me, but I did see a lot of card backs that looked a lot like this one. 

I found a few other items for my Wally Moon collection, and I'll add some of them here at the end of this post. This is a Topps Stamp from 1962. I think these also are available in panels, with different pairings of players. I started with this single, though, because it was relatively cheap.

I also picked up the White Back variation of Moon's 1956 card, again because it was pretty cheap. 

Finally, here is a 1961 Post Cereal card. This is the perforated version, but there are also hand-cut versions out there. I think I need both types if I want to build the Master Set. I do want to build the Master Set, but I've cleared out most of the low-hanging fruit. I can't afford to build the rest of it at this blistering pace.