Sam Mele Return, Sammy White and Rip Repulski Purchases

I've been working a crapton the last couple weeks and haven't had time to post.  I have another Sam Mele return to report, this one on his 1964 Topps.

I mailed this on July 25th, and it came back on August 3rd.  The year after this card came out, he managed the Twins to the World Series, where they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I won a pair of auctions for my 1953 Topps project, bringing in #139 Sammy White and #172 Rip Repulski.  White was an All-Star this year, and caught Mel Parnell's no-hitter a few years later. Repulski was an All-Star in 1956 and won a World Series with the 1959 LA Dodgers.  They both are not easy to find signed, so I was pleasantly surprised to get them pretty close to the opening bids.

I'm now up to 133/274 (48.54 %).  I have a deal in the works with another Net54 member for some other cards, and hopefully they'll be here before I leave for school, on the 7th.  Stay tuned...

Jim Wilson Purchase

I picked up #208 Jim Wilson last week, it's just taken a few days to get it scanned and uploaded. Wilson threw a no-hitter on June 12, 1954, against the Philadelphia Phillies.  Robin Roberts was the losing pitcher in that game.  He later became an executive with the Orioles, Astros and Brewers.

I have a few more purchases coming in soon, and have an auction ending on Monday, so there will be a few more additions this week.

  

Joe Black, George Spencer and Don Lund Purchases

Over the past week I've picked up #81 Joe Black, #115 George Spencer and from the high numbers, #277 Don Lund.  Black was the 1952 N.L. Rookie of the Year, when he won 15 games and saved 15 more.  He never had another good year after that due to arm troubles, but managed to hang around as a player until 1957, then for a few more years as a scout.  Spencer was a member of the 1951 Giants, for who he won 10 games.  Don Lund played for the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, and I remember reading somewhere that before his death he served as a consultant for the producers of 42.

This brings me to 130/274 (47.45 %).    

Johnny Antonelli Purchase

I won this a while ago, but I'm just getting around to posting it now: #106 Johnny Antonelli.  He's one of the last living members of the 1948 Boston Braves and the 1954 New York Giants.

This brings me to 127/274 (46.35 %).  My goal was to reach 125 by year's end, which I have now done.  I'm hesitant to set a new number goal because I'm trying to knock out the tougher cards first, and by definition those are hard to find.  Reaching 50 % completion would mean getting to 137 signed cards, so I think I'll go with a new goal of 138, or 50 % +1. 

  

Jim Hegan and Harry Simpson Purchases

I also picked up two more tough ones recently; #80 Jim Hegan and #150 Harry Simpson.  Simpson died in 1979, and Hegan in 1984, so they both are pretty difficult to find.

Chalk this up to 'a sign of the times' but I'm noticing that the biographies on the card backs omit references to the Negro Leagues.  Case in point, Simpson's bio says that his first year in organized baseball was 1949, when that was actually his first year in the integrated minor leagues; he had gotten started professionally with the 1946 Philadelphia Stars, and played with them through 1948.

Bubba Church Purchase

After much searching, I finally found a bold signature of #47 Bubba Church.  For some reason, the Church's that I've seen all were either faint or badly blurred.  From the scans it looked like it was signed in fountain pen, but it's actually signed in Sharpie.  A bit of a disappointment, but for the price I got I'm not complaining.

Al Zarilla, Ed McGhee and Harry Perkowski

A purchase from Mickey's also arrived today: #181 Al Zarilla, #195 Ed McGhee and #236 Harry Perkowski.  I've noticed that I've been able to pick up a  lot of the tougher signatures cheaply due to them being personalized, recently with McGhee and McDermott, and a few months ago with Bob Hooper.

I have a couple more eBay purchases that should arrive over the next few days.  I'll do an update then and see if I've reached my goal of 125 signed 1953 Topps.