Monte Irvin, Harry Byrd, Art Schult and Andy Carey Purchases

Also picked up these four: #62 Monte Irvin, #131 Harry Byrd, #167 Art Schult and #188 Andy Carey.

Irvin was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1973, the first year that Negro Leaguers were considered. Byrd was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1952.  He won 15 games that year, which was about a third of his career wins total.  Considering the Philadelphia Athletics were a solidly second division team by then, they had a considerable amount of talent; Byrd, 1952 MVP Bobby Shantz, and All-Stars in Eddie Robinson, Gus Zernial and Ferris Fain.  Schult and Carey were both backups on the Yankees for several years and combined won three World Series with them.

These pickups bring me to 151/274 (55.11 %).  This might be it for a while, at least until I can pick up some more shifts and reload.  Since August alone, I've spent almost $2,000 on this project, so I need to take a breather.

Johnny Wyrostek, Clint Courtney, Dixie Walker and Harvey Haddix Purchases

It has been a long time since my last update.  Midterms start this week, and I've been chasing my tail for a lot of the last few weeks.  I've also been busy with several new purchases, of #79 Johnny Wyrostek, #127 Clint Courtney, #190 Dixie Walker and #273 Harvey Haddix.  

Wyrostek was a two time All-Star, and one of the tougher cards.  This was the second Wyrostek I've seen, and I am glad to report that I got it cheaper than the other one.  Courtney had a long running feud with Billy Martin that culminated in the two of them beating the crap out of each other under the bleachers at Sportsman's Park.  Walker was the ringleader of the Brooklyn Dodgers who demanded to be traded instead of playing with a black man.  When not circulating racist petitions, Walker was a five time All-Star who won a batting title in 1944.  He is the only man who was a teammate of both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.  Haddix went on to pitch a 12 inning perfect game that was ruined in the 13th inning.  This was his rookie card.

Edit: Walker is the only man to be teammates with Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson.

Mike Garcia, Granville Hamner, Hank Edwards and Jim Waugh Purchases

It's been a while since my last post, but I did knock off a couple of the difficult cards.  I picked up #90 Hank Edwards from another Net54 member, and #146 Granville Hamner got back from SGC a while ago.  The other two, #75 Mike Garcia and #178 Jim Waugh were eBay finds that I was able to get pretty good prices on.  In the year+ I've spent building the set, this was the first Edwards I've seen, and only the second Hamner.  As a side note, Hamner's nickname during his career was 'Granny'.  He must have been heckled something awful.

I have two more that are in the mail, a purchase and an auction win.  They should be here within the next few days, though it may be a while before I can get home and scan them.  These four bring me up to 143/274 (52.19 %).     

Phil Rizzuto Purchase

I picked up #116 Phil Rizzuto last week.  Rizzuto is the 12th HOFer, and 5th MVP I've added for this project.   He won the MVP Award in 1950, the year the Yankees won the second of five consecutive World Series titles.  He played with the Yankees until 1956, when he was unceremoniously released to make room for Enos Slaughter.

I'm now up to 139/274 (50.73 %).  I bought a couple more cards, one from eBay, another from a Net54 member, that should be arriving around midweek. 

Frank Campos, Don Hoak and Milt Bolling Purchase

The cards I bought from another Net54 member arrived today.  All of them are difficult, in varying degrees of toughness.  Bolling was the last card in the set, so he is very expensive, Campos is just tough to find, and Hoak died in 1969 and was a notoriously bad signer during his lifetime.  I'm glad to see that the Bolling looks like it is in fountain pen; I'm a sucker for fountain pen signatures.

The PSA grades on the top two are for the cards, not the signatures.  With these three and the Smith, I'm up to 138/274 (50.36 %), just over the half way mark.

Frank Smith Purchase

I purchased #116 Frank Smith a few weeks ago.  For a guy who lived to be 77, he is very difficult to find.  This is only the second Smith I've seen in the year-plus I've spent building the set, and on the other one the signature looks like crap.

Vern Benson Purchase

I picked up #205 Vern Benson earlier this week, and it arrived today.  Benson spent most of his playing career in the minors, but spent several decades in the majors as a coach and scout, and even managed the Braves for one game when Ted Turner and Bowie Kuhn were having a spat.

I'm now up to 134/274 (48.91 %).  I'm headed back to school next week, so I expect my pace of acquisitions and posts to slow.  I'll probably do an end-of-summer update before I leave.