Collecting Heritage

By Chuck Vanderbilt
@CollectinTex

For me, the release of Topps Heritage Baseball is an exciting time. Sure it's not a high end product filled with nasty patches and low numbered autographs, but it is a classic set with a large following. And it's the perfect set for me as a collector considering I tend to gravitate towards cards that represent the history of the game and the hobby.

Today is the official Heritage release date set by Topps. However, last week the retail version of Heritage began to pop up and a frenzy swelled amongst collectors trying to find it's early arrival at their local retail locations. This usually means a number of trips to Walmart and Target, which under normal circumstances would drive the average American absolutely insane. However, if you're reading this you know as well as anyone that this hobby can lead you on a fool's errand.

Like many others, after the word spread that Heritage was popping up I found myself checking my local retail spots when it was convenient. And each time I left empty handed. When Monday came around I had plans to go visit my grandfather in College Station, TX. Of course as a collector that is borderline obsessed with the hobby, I knew in my heart of hearts that I would was going to try and push my luck in College Station. I had no idea just how much luck was coming my way.

After arriving in College Station and visiting with family for a few hours, my grandfather asked me to run an errand with him. I happily accepted knowing full well this was my opportunity to hunt down some Heritage. So I set him up nice and easy. "Hey Grandpa, you think while we're out we can stop at Walmart real quick?". After I told him why, the confusion left his face and he obliged. It just so happened that Walmart was on the way. My grandfather stayed in the car while I ran in. I told him I knew where it would be and exactly what I was looking for, so it should be an in and out mission. And it was just that. There was no Heritage to be found. I was in and then I was out.

So empty handed we got back on track to run that errand for my grandfather. On the way I spotted a second chance. While I hadn't heard of anyone finding Heritage early at Target, when I saw it I knew I had to stop. I decided to wait until after we finished my grandfather's chore. On our way back we stopped at Target in a last ditch effort, but this time my grandfather decided to come in with me.

We walked straight up to the card aisle and I quickly began skimming all the options. To my dismay there was no Heritage to be found. I was ready to walk away empty handed, again. I then spotted six sealed shipping boxes just to the left of the cards. I looked at my grandfather and I could tell he was already a step ahead of me. He then quickly pulled out his trusty pocket knife and handed it to me.

I cut the tape on the first box. Pokemon?! The second, the third, and the fourth box didn't contain my prize either. We were four boxes in and I was sure that an employee or security guard was going to come up and kick us out. Yet no one seemed to notice, or if they did they surely didn't seem to care. I opened the fifth box and looked in, then looked at my grandfather. I had finally found what I had been searching for. Inside the box I found several $20 blaster boxes, a sealed box containing rack packs, and the large "floater" box full of individual packs. I know some collectors in that situation that would clean out the box. However, I grabbed the first blaster box I could reach. I then cut the seal on the rack pack box and took two. We checked out and headed back. The entire ride back we chuckled over what we had just done.

Once we got back I got ready to open my haul. If I had been at my home, I would have waited until I could open them alone and undisturbed. I wasn't going to be able to do that, so I sat at a small table with my wife, my grandfather, and his wife (my grandfather remarried  over the summer several years after my grandmother died from Alzheimer's) sitting and watching me turn into a kid as I began to open packs. All the while, my family talked about me and my hobby. I started with the rack packs, which yielded some nice cards and even a few cards of players I really enjoy collecting.

I then turned my attention to the blaster box, still fielding questions about my collecting habit, or addiction as my wife prefers to label it. As I began ripping into the box, my expectations weren't high at all. Those who open a fair amount of retail know just how difficult it can be to pull a card with any significance. About half way through the packs I pulled a "hit". I was pumped to find a Ian Kinsler hand numbered 7/99 Gold Clubhouse Collection Relic card. I was pleased as punch just to pull a card like that out of a blaster box. I showed it off to my family and then returned to opening packs thinking my highlight had come and gone.

At that point I wasn't expecting to see anything else of note. I was wrong. I came to the last pack and opened it without anticipation. When I got to the last card in the pack, time itself seemed to slow down. Bob Gibson was looking back at me and there was writing at the bottom of the card. I thought to myself, is there an insert with facsimile autographs in Heritage this year? I inspected the card closer. My family looked at me strangely. I was in a sheer state of amazement. The last card in the last pack of a blaster box was a Bob Gibson Real One Autograph. I could not contain my excitement, even amongst polite company. I did my best to not go off on a joyous, expletive laden, celebration.

The Card.

I shared with my family about Bob Gibson and the improbability of pulling such a card. We talked about how unlikely it was for me to find this card, of all cards, through the string of events that took place. What if I had found Heritage back home in Longview? Or at the Walmart in College Station? What if those shipping boxes weren't out sitting in the card aisle at Target? What if we decided to not open them? Or grabbed any other blaster box? It's difficult to get an on card autograph out of a retail product. Especially out of a product like Heritage. On top of that, it's markedly more unlikely that it will be your favorite player to collect.

Bob Gibson is hands down my favorite player to collect. He was my grandmother's favorite pitcher and it was my grandmother that got me into collecting as a child. She would tell me stories about "Gibby". Mostly about how damn good he was. And mean too. I don't collect Gibson just because of my appreciation of what he did on the mound as a Hall of Fame pitcher, I also do it because it is a connection to someone I love.

To pull a Gibson autograph under those circumstances, with my grandfather next to me is something I will always remember. To me, this was something more than good fortune. It's a story I will tell to my son Cohen time and time again. His great grandmother may not be here with us in the natural, but she isn't that far away. She is, in fact, right here. Through the collecting, through the stories, and through our heritage.

My first Bob Gibson autograph, given to me by Vera.

1952 New York Giants Yearbook

By Chuck Vanderbilt
Follow on Twitter @CollectinTex

Over the weekend I found myself doing what I can only imagine countless other collectors do, and that's thumbing through the same old local card shop. It had been a few weeks since my last visit, and I had high hopes to find something new to add to my personal collection. After a half an hour of perusing the familiar inventory, I came across an item tucked behind some boxes of wax. With a large cartoon character staring back at me, I had to take a closer look.

Here's what I found -

Though the magazine is dated 1952, the contents within highlight some of the biggest names and moments in franchise history including the "The Little Miracle of Coogan's Bluff" in 1951. For those who aren't familiar with this moment in baseball history, it is considered one of the most exciting moments in the history of all sports and is most commonly known as "The Shot Heard 'Round the World". The "shot" was hit by an unsuspecting Bobby Thomson and and with that swing of the bat, the Giants clenched the pennant.

Here's Thomson heading home -

The yearbook also highlights the entire 1951 Giants roster which included players that eventually became members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Here's Monte Irvin sliding across home plate-

Here's Willie Mays, the 1951 NL Rookie of the Year-

And here's the hero of the 1951 season, Bobby Thomson-

The yearbook also looks at the history of the Giants franchise including the Hall of Fame members as of 1951 and franchise record holders.

Here are some of those Hall of Fame plaques-

Giants record holders as of 1951-

Wouldn't a 1951 Giants team signed item be a great addition to any high end collection? This magazine brings me as close as I may ever come.

A stroke of the pen from the 1951 team-

Finally, here is a look at the back of the yearbook.

Collect 'em all-

MLB Network Provides Hobby Exposure

By Chuck Vanderbilt

Collectors who tune into MLB Network on a regular basis have probably seen the commercials for both Topps and Bowman trading cards. Topps was heavily promoted on the day 2013 Topps Baseball released. However, for those who don't tune in and watch closely, you might have missed the network's use of material from some of the hobby's best contributors. On three separate occasions, MLB Network featured a segment that they attributed to three different hobby favorites.

Here's who they've featured that I've been able to catch myself.

Baseball Card Vandals - If you're not familiar with Baseball Card Vandals, they sum up their premise perfectly in the following statement posted on their website, "Decent jokes on worthless cards, posted fresh twice daily". You can also follow Baseball Card Vandals on Twitter @bsblcardvandals

Cardboard Connection - A site we often refer to for complete coverage of the hobby received national exposure when the morning show Hot Stove featured images of cards from the 1980s that they attributed to the hobby website. You can follow Cardboard Connection on Twitter @sportscards

Check Out My Cards - A site focused on helping collectors buy and sell cards, Check Out My Cards had their COMC logo displayed on cards during a segment that surely sent unfamiliar viewers searching the Internet to find out what exactly the acronym meant. You can follow COMC on Twitter @CheckOutMyCards

Jackie Robinson Feature in Sports Card Magazine

Here's an excerpt from Chuck's latest Sports Card Magazine contribution about Jackie Robinson:

Jackie went on to attend Pasadena Junior College and eventually UCLA. While pursuing higher education, Robinson’s athletic abilities continued to shine on all fields. Then came the attack on Pearl Harbor and United States’ involvement in World War II. Drafted into a segregated Army unit, Robinson was eventually stationed at Fort Hood in Texas. While stationed in Texas, an incident occurred that may have saved Jackie’s life.


You can read the feature in its entirety HERE.

Posters Stolen by Nazis Bring in Millions

German collector Hans Sachs accumulated over 12,000 posters that were eventually confiscated by the Nazi Party on the infamous night known as Kristallnacht, or Crystal Night. The posters depicted many themes including boxing and racing. Recently over 4,000 of the posters went to auction and brought in $2.5 million.

You can find a gallery of some of the notable posters HERE.

Ernie Banks Feature in Sports Card Magazine

Sports Card Magazine invited Chuck Vanderbilt to contribute a piece on meeting Ernie Banks at the Tristar Houston Collectors Show over the weekend. Here's an excerpt:

At the age of 81, Banks continues to display an enthusiasm that is unmatched and even contagious. As I waited in line for my chance to meet him, I watched Banks look his fans in the eye, smile, and speak to each and every one of them. Banks gave them that special moment they were looking for and fans walked away grinning from ear to ear. They walked away with more than an autograph, they also walked away uplifted. As the line moved forward, my excitement grew and it was clear that others around me were also feeding off his energy.

You can read the article in its entirety HERE.

Going to the Show

By Chuck Vanderbilt

For those that don't live in a metropolitan area, attending shows for collectors can provide many benefits. That's why I, along with some fellow collectors, find ourselves piling into a vehicle and traveling hundreds of miles to attend them. There are several reasons why we do it. It's a chance to get outside of the everyday routine, a change of scenery, and who doesn't enjoy immersing themselves into their hobby. Of course, there's also the thrill of the hunt. That's why this weekend we will be headed to Houston to attend the Tristar Collectors Show at Reliant Arena.


There is a wide variety of collection targets just within our circle, and attending larger trade shows provides the opportunity for each of us to find something to scratch our respective itch. You know the one. The itch that will have you scouring eBay in the middle of the night. Whether it's wax, high end prospect cards, or vintage items, the variety of collectibles available at large shows for collectors is something many local card shops simply cannot match. Throw in autograph appearances by yesterday and today's stars and  you can see why so many flock to them.

Some collectors in our circle know exactly what they're looking for, while I tend to go in with a more of an open mind. Personally, what I enjoy most is the quest of finding a unique item to add to my collection. Sometimes finding such a collectible takes several laps throughout the showroom floor and I often see things  the second or third time I stop at a table that I somehow passed over. While not knowing what you're looking for might frustrate many collectors, I find not knowing what I'll bring home adds to the anticipation.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @VarsityCardShop as we will be doing giveaways and posting pictures throughout the weekend.