My Newest Set Quest: 1969 Topps Baseball

I've been looking for a "vintage" set to build for a while now. Everytime I thought I found one, I would find a reason not to build it. Whether it be the size (some sets were almost 800 cards), price or some other problem, the sets I was picking just didn't work out.

William, the mad scientist behind the blog foul bunt, has had a series of posts about his quest to assemble to '69 set. This blog was the reason I decided to join the blogosphere, so I always pay attention when William posts. With each new post, my interest grew in the set. Finally, I decided to take the jump and start putting the set together.

I initially thought that my first card was going to be the Mantle. I saw some auctions on eBay for the yellow name version of his card - the last card of his active playing days - that were sitting in the $30 range for a low-grade PSA verified card (I'm sorry, but I don't trust random people on eBay. If I'm buying a Mantle, it has to be verified authentic. The grade doesn't matter that much to me). Unfortunately, every single card shot up into the $70-$80 range before it ended. definitely out of my range for the time being.

So, I visited Duane's a few weeks ago. I was on the hunt for Bowman Platinum and Allen & Ginter, but I also wanted to see what Bob had in terms of the '69 set. (In case you don't remember, see Bob's story here - heartbreaking stuff).

I was in luck. Bob had a few 1969 cards at his table. After sorting through what he had, I pulled 16 cards to start with. Here are the first eight:

I left the cards in their loaders for two reasons. First, it's a damn hassle to take cards out to scan and then put them back in. If that means I'm lazy, well screw you. Not everyone has that kind of motivation at 9:30 in the morning! But second, I wanted to show the prices of these cards. I firmly believe that most of these would grade out at least at a 7, maybe even an 8. I feel like those are more than fair prices for cards in that condition. But Bob, bringing up the fact that he has all of these cards because of his son (read the story linked above), said that he wanted to share them with someone working to build the set. He charged me a mere quarter of what he had the cards labeled for, and then told me he would have more the next time I visited.

I love that man, and my heart still breaks for him.

I didn't scan in the other cards I bought not because I don't want to show them, but because I simply didn't have time to scan them in. However, all of the cards I have have been noted in my official 1969 Topps Needs List, found here. Go check it out and let me know if you have any extras!