'73 UPDATE 5

selenaowenn Haziran 08, 2022

GREAT SHOT, INTERESTING CROP.

My man Art Smith of Sports Cards Plus returned to the monthly card show this weekend, so that meant resuming the pursuit of completing the '73 set.

I put a major dent in it, filling pages with those blasted high-numbers. I picked up 49, leaving me 30 short and reaching 95.5 percent completion.

THESE TWO FINISHED OFF THE ATL SUBSET.

To be honest, when I started building this set just over a year ago, I wasn't especially crazy about these cards, but I couldn't pass on a good starter set deal on eBay. With the more cards I add, especially the high-numbers, the more this set appeals. The photography is kooky in an interesting sort of way.

Is that Pete Rose whacking it at The Stick?

When I'm not trying to figure out what's going on with a card's main subject(s), I find myself looking a lot at the backgrounds, playing detective.

FLASHING GUNS AND SIDEBURNS.

Is that Pearl Bailey in the stands at Shea, eating a dog in one hand and slugging down a Ballantine in the other?

SEEN BETTER AIRBRUSHING.

You can literally waste hours figuring out what's going on or imagine what's going on with a lot of these cards. I can't wait to finish the set and begin a long and enjoyable process of digesting each page, like putting on a bib and digging into a killer meal at Cafe Martorano. (This local South Florida institution is the Babe Ruth of Italian restaurants: big, brash and one-of-a-kind.)

THE FLAG ADDS A NICE DIMENSION.

Other than Johnny Bench (No. 380) and some multi-player rookie cards, I'm just down to semi-stars and commons, almost all in the 600s. (I picked up No. 220 Nolan Ryan on eBay a couple months ago.) My album's getting heavier. Art will be at this year's National and returns to the area in September, when I'm hoping to get the remainder of the set. Then it's on to the blue team checklist cards and upgrading a handful of other cards.