1964 Topps Coins (Part 2)

I bought these 4 coins sometime in the past 2 years, but only found them in a box of unrelated stuff last week. (I moved last year, and some of the last-minute packing was done randomly.

Topps' 1964 coin set was made up of the "regular coins" and "All-Stars". Some players were featured on both types of coins. I've noticed that the All-Star coins tend to be in much better condition, while all the regular coins have heavily-tarnished edges and backs, as well as some on the front. Maybe different metals were used?

These 4 coins bring my 1964 collection to 9 coins, joining these which I got a few years ago. (I also have the Tony Taylor coin.) I didn't collect Topps' baseball coins back in the day, because I didn't collect baseball cards in either 1964 or 1971.
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1964 Topps Giant Cards (Part 4)

Wow! Aside from a bunch of 1965 Topps cards, I have bought so little product in the past few years that it's surprising that I could lose track of some of the items I did buy.

Today I found these 5 Topps Giant cards from 1964 in a box with other stuff. I don't remember where or when I bought them, but I do know it was since my last adventure. I already had 13 of these cards, and now I can add 5 more to the set. (Now all I need to get are some pages to put them in. I've seen the correct size at a store I frequent, but only in boxes of 100. No thanks!)


All three of these players were stars for their teams, but by 1967 would be on the downside of their careers.  Unfortunately for Phillies' fans, Dick Groat and Dick Ellsworth would do their regressing while with the Phils.  Leon Wagner was a slugging outfielder whose power vanished overnight in 1967.

The last two cards are for Ken Johnson and Jim Gentile. Both are wearing soon-to-be-retired uniform styles. In 1965 the Colt .45s became the Astros, and the Kansas City Athletics switched to green/gold/white uniforms about this time. After 1967 they moved to Oakland, so the caps would change again.

My 1964 Giant card scoreboard:
3 - Colt .45s
2 - Athletics, Dodgers, White Sox
1 - Angels, Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, Indians, Mets, Orioles, Phillies, Twins
0 - Giants, Pirates, Red Sox, Reds, Senators, Tigers, Yankees

I also found four 1964 baseball coins today, which will be a topic for a future post.
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Latest Card Haul

I was planning on this next post being another episode in my quest for 1964 Topps Giant baseball cards, as I was returning to the same store where I made 3 previous purchases. Alas, when I started looking through the display case, only Pete Ward (who I already have) was there, so I turned my attention to other 1960s-vintage cards.

I always keep a small want list of 1966 and 1970 cards in my wallet, because I never know when I'll need it. Today it came in handy, as I scored a high-numbered 1966 Senators Rookies card that I needed. I also upgraded my '66 Dave McNally, which I had posted to my 1966 blog a few weeks ago.

I only wish I had a portable want list for the '64 and '65 cards, because I had no idea who I needed (especially the '64s). I didn't really intend to work on those 2 sets, but these excellent-condition cards were dirt-cheap, so I couldn't pass them up. I just selected a bunch of guys that I never heard of before, plus Dick Williams, Birdie Tebbetts, and the trophy-laden Al Weis, which I knew I didn't have. For the '65s, I was pretty sure I didn't have Farrell, Pinson, and Demeter.

On the football side, there were too many to pick from, so I chose two 1965 Philadelphia Gum Cards: Tony Liscio (Rayfield Wright's predecessor at offensive tackle), and Ben Wilson. I knew of Wilson from watching Super Bowl II highlights on cable. He had a monster day moving the chains for the Packers that day, on their way to a 2nd consecutive SB championship. Almost all of my pre-1967 football cards are Philadelphia Eagles, so this is a new direction for my football card collecting.

This represents the first base-set baseball cards I've purchased since November 2010 (except for the 1970 Seattle Pilots team card, shown in this recent post on the 1969 Pilots). Since then, I've only been getting '64 giant cards, coins, and early-1960s Philadelphia Eagles' cards.

Maybe this will push me to expand my '65 and '64 baseball sets.

1964 Topps Coins

I picked up these 1964 Topps coins while out on a recent antiques expedition with Mrs. Jim from Downingtown.

My only prior coin in this set is Phillies' 2nd baseman Tony Taylor. The 1964 coin set includes two types of coins - "regular", and all-stars, with some of the same players appearing on both. These are actually before my (childhood collecting) time, although I do have a few 1971 coins from back in the day.

I've now doubled my "Warren Spahn collection", having recently acquired his 1964 Topps giant card.

It occurs to me that the only sports "cards" I have bought since 2010 are oddballs like these coins, about a dozen 1964 Topps giant cards, and some early-1960s Philadelphia Eagles.

I've sworn off buying/collecting current-issue cards (for a variety of reasons), and only collect vintage stuff. My 1966 and 1970 baseball sets are about 85% complete, and someday I will resume finishing those sets.

1964 Topps Giant Cards (part 3)

As mentioned earlier, recently I went back to the same antique store, and gave Pete Ward and 3 of his pals a ride to my house.

"Callison was the hero of the 1964 all-star game." So, these cards were printed late in the season!

Left unpurchased was a Pete Ward duplicate, Luis Aparicio (have it), Al Kaline, and a few others which I've forgotten.  Kaline's on deck!

1964 Topps Giant Cards (part 2)

Last weekend, I returned to the scene of this purchase (which was also the scene of this purchase), and came away with these:

These six cards were the remaining stock for the same dealer where I bought my first 1964 giant cards earlier this year.

"Oh well, that was that" I thought. But as I made my way from the cashier to the front door, I passed a showcase that had another stack of these cards, with Pete Ward on top. So, I'll be back there in the near future to collect Pete and his friends.

1964 Topps Giant Cards

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Here are my first cards from the 1964 "Giant" set issued by Topps. These cards measure 5 1/4" by 3 1/8".

I bought these a few weeks ago, while visiting an antique store with Mrs. Jim from Downingtown. (This was the same store where I bought the Mickey Mantle Day button a few months back.)

The store had about a dozen of these cards, but I only bought three: the two Colt .45s cards, and Rocky Colavito - because I had never seen him in an Athletics' uniform. (It seems weird to see an Athletics' player NOT in green and gold. I have several of those old red-and-white Athletics in my 1963 card collection.)

Anyway, with my entrance into another insert/oddball set, I felt compelled to add a per-year count of the non-base cards in my Card Census section on the sidebars of my 1963-70 blogs.

The next time I go to that store, I'll probably get the rest - even Ron Hunt!
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Vintage Phillies tickets

More from the junk drawer...


Here we have a World Series ticket from 1964 (sorta). This ticket is huge - measuring in at 7 1/2" x 2 1/4". I got this on eBay a few years ago.




Ok, not the 1960s, but here's my ticket to the first-ever game at Veterans Stadium. My brother and I rode a charter bus from the 69th Street SEPTA terminal in Upper Darby to the game. We took our seats (high in the 700-level in right field) and marveled at the size of the place. Soon, a helicopter would drop the first ball to the Phillies' catcher.

The picture on the ticket was the standard "artist's rendering" of the stadium used at that time. The actual stadium didn't have quite the overhang shown in the picture, nor was there the elevated walkways across the local streets. Over time, the yellow raincheck stub became detached. On the other end of the ticket, another similar yellow stub was torn off by the ticket-taker upon entry to the stadium.




Here's another ticket from late in the 1980 season. Only $4.50 to see the Phillies on their march toward their 1st championship ever!