I Need More Wall Space

After another month long disappearance, I'm back to blog land.  And this time finally with a renewed interest in collecting and (hopefully) cards.  Flea market season seems to have brought out the best in me.  But I do feel pretty crappy that I disappeared before I got to show off the best pickups from the big Robert Morris show, including my Pirate card additions and two awesome framed pieces.

In the time since I went away, I have found some really amazing pieces at flea markets.  As my card buying as tapered off, my appreciation for other Pirates memorabilia has picked up steam.  The down side?  Wall space.  Namely my lack of it.  Most of the wall space in our current apartment is already accounted for.  We're looking to move later this year, possibly into our first house.  The plus?  Wall space and finally a man cave of my own.  The down side?  Makes putting new stuff up on these walls kind of tiresome when you just hope to take stuff down in a few months.

But boy will I have an awesome basement one of these days...

This was a pickup from the RMU show, and is probably tied for being my second favorite addition from the show with this piece.

It looks like the print came from the Pirates 100th anniversary in 1987, and aside from the somewhat questionable inclusion of Tony Pena captures all the Pirates greats to that point.  I might take slight issue with the size of Clemente in comparison to Pena, Stargell, and Maz.  But otherwise the colors on this print really stand out, and the blue/red and black/gold color schemes create some interesting contrast.

I'm a history junkie, and I think there's something that really attracts me to pieces that acknowledge a lengthy span of history.  One of the things I love about the Bucs is that their history largely parallels the rise of the city of Pittsburgh.  To fit all those eras and players into one space is just really interesting to me.

Now I just need to find somewhere to hang it...

The Big Show Pickups, Part II

The Pirates 1925 World Series poster I posted earlier today was a huge pickup, and the only piece of pre-war memorabilia in my collection.  But it's a little lacking in the color department.  Fortunately for my future wall space, the remainder of my pickups make up for that.

I'll let the picture speak for itself.  This was one of three items I picked up that weren't professionally framed.  Details on the piece have been hard to come by.  Todd had no idea where he found his copy, and online searches have been fruitless.  But I assume the lithograph is some kind of all-time team.  The players featured span all 8 field positions, a manager, and 3 pitchers - lefty and righty starter and fireman Roy Face.

From left to right starting in the back row: Danny Murtaugh, Harvey Haddix, Roy Face, Vern Law, Honus Waner, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente  Front row: Ralph Kiner, Manny Sanguillen, Paul Waner?, Pie Traynor?, Bill Mazeroski

The colors immediately caught my eye, and I love the span of history covered on the piece.  The most recent player is Pops, who retired in 1982, so I imagine the piece is from the mid-late 80's.  I assume anything more recent would have replaced Sanguillen with Jason Kendall, or included Barry Bonds. 

The lithograph reminds me of a mural located under a bridge in downtown Pittsburgh.  The mural was right along my route that I walked almost daily during my first year of college when I would spend my down time reading and writing at the Point where the three rivers converge, so it brings back some nice memories for me.

At first glance I thought the background on the lithograph was some kind of desert scene.  But upon a closer look I realized it's actually the stands and backdrop of Forbes Field with Pitt's Cathedral of Learning towering near the center.

Better yet the litho cost about as much as a blaster.  I'd love to get it into a frame immediately, but I'll probably hold off until I can get it professionally framed and matted.  But I can guarantee this will be a centerpiece of my Pirates display for a long time to come.

Old Players, New Cards

I think many (most?) card collectors also appreciate the history of the game.  And while there have been some great sets dedicated to that history, but I've always found them lacking...something.  Topps Archives and Fleer Greats of the Game were beautiful sets, but their checklists were largely built around who could be included as autographs.  The early 90's Upper Deck All-Time Heroes sets lacked the extra hits of modern sets.  The various SP Cuts sets lacked exciting parallels.  The point here?  Something was always missing for my collecting tastes.

And then it happened.

Panini Cooperstown.


Admittedly, I still have a lot of ground to cover on the set.  But it seems to have just about everything: an amazing base checklist covering everyone but the Topps' exclusive players, great parallels, hits that make the big money collectors go wild. 

The parallels from this set seem to be pretty tough to track down - the Traynor is from COMC and the Kiner from ebay, both under a buck - but hopefully I'll be able to find a few more.  The b&w photos really seem to pop with the vibrantly colored parallel borders, making these some of my favorite cards in recent memory.