The Yard Sale Cards: Vintage & Early 80s

Finally, after much sorting, organizing, picture taking, and organizing said pictures, it's time to reveal some of the contents of my gigantic yard sale find from a few weeks ago. I decided to start with baseball and work from there and what better way to start than with some vintage!

One of my favorite sets from the 70s is the 1973 version. I always liked the white borders, the player silhouette, and the clean look at the bottom. I was pleasantly surprised when I found not one, but two 1973 cards in the miscellaneous boxes. The Reds in 1973 finished 1st in the NL West with a 99-63 record but were upset in five games by the Yogi Berra led Mets who won a rather weak NL East division that season with an 82-79 record. 

Here's something I definitely wasn't expecting to find, that being this 1968 Ron Santo. At first, I thought maybe it was a reprint, but nope it's the real thing. Aside from the 1967 set, I can't think of a set in the 60s that I don't actively like. In terms of favorites from that decade though, this particular set is right up there with 69, 62, and 63. 

I keep having this thought that I'm going to start collecting team cards, just because they're so unique. Now, I'm talking cards that actually have team photos on them, like this one, not any old team card. The Braves didn't exactly blow the doors off anything in 1977 with a 61-101 record, including one game where Ted Turner managed them.

Here are a couple random 1976 cards that showed themselves amongst the sorting. I'm not familiar with either of these players but a quick search on Baseball Reference shows them nearing the tail end of their respective careers in the late 70s. By the early 80s, both guys would be gone from the majors.

There were a few early 80s cards included as well and I figured I'd throw them in with this batch as well so they really don't get lost in the shuffle. 1981 Topps I think really gets overlooked as it's sandwiched between two really fun sets in 1980 and 1982, plus the rookie class isn't loaded with hall of famers but has some notable "fan favorite" type players. Doug Bair, pictured here, was not one of them.

Speaking of rookies, the "rookie set" if you will of Donruss was 1981. Sure it's not the best looking set ever but it's a set I really enjoy and have considered putting together a time or two. I love the variety of the players in this lot with notable players from Cecil Cooper, Mario Soto, and Pete Vukovich to people like Joe Charboneru, who won the AL Rookie of the Year in 1980 and then flamed out.

There's the first batch of stuff from the yard sale. It'll be a slow process putting some of these together as there is a ton of stuff to write about.