Three Cincinnati Royals Autos

Cincinnati had an NBA team? Yes! For fifteen years! It was Oscar Robertson's main team. It went away before I was born, so as a kid I had to suffer rooting for Michael Jordan and Shaq and Grandmama and whomever else I felt like.

For a history lesson, in 1923 there was a semi-pro team called the Rochester Seagrams, sponsored by the distiller. They changed their name to the Rochester Eber Seagrams in 1942 and the Rochester Pros in 1943. Then in 1945 the star player raised money to join the NBL as a true pro team and lawyered the Seagrams people out of the franchise somehow. They immediately changed the name to the Rochester Royals. They defected to the BAA three years later, and the two leagues merged one year after that to form the NBA.

 

The Rochester Royals won the NBA title in 1951 but it wasn't enough to keep the books in the black, so they eventually moved to Cincinnati in 1957, where they would stay until 1972. 

 

 

Tom Van Arsdale was a 3x All Star with the Royals, 1970, 1971, and 1972. His twin brother Dick was also in the NBA. This is a 2014-15 Panini Prestige Premium - Old School Signatures #54 /175

Adrian Smith played 8 years for the Royals, after a year playing for the wonderfully named Akron Wingfoots. This is a 2016-17 Panini Gold Standard - Gold Scripts #6 /99

 

Bob Arnzen played one inauspicious year for the Royals, though did find himself in the greatest bball set of the 70's. This is a signed 1971-72 Topps #94.

In 1969 and 1970, while being coached by Bob Cousy, the Royals traded away Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson. Everyone hated this. Hated it so much, the entire city gave up on the team. So the owners moved them to a joint operation in Kansas City and Omaha. Can't have two Kansas City Royals franchises, so they changed their name to the Kansas City-Omaha Kings. Kansas City soon usurped the Omaha portion, but still allowed them to play in St. Louis a few times. Finally, in 1985, our itinerant royalty found their final home and became the Sacramento Kings.

Go Redlegs.

Vintage Football Trade Pickups

I highly recommend you vintage baseball fans add other sports to your arsenal. Lots of great stuff to be got for much less of the moneys. Or in this case, many fewer of my vintage baseball doubles.

 

 

Like these excellent 1955 Bowmans. Each in hypermint-10 condition. This is great looking set of which I only have 44 of the 160. Unacceptable.

 

 

Couple of Hall of Famers in this Topps pile - Ron Mix and Paul Krause. 1961, 1968, 1969, 1971, in that order, for those unaware.

 

 

Two from my favorite 70's football set, 1972 Topps. Upshaw is a Hall of Famer and famously the NFLPA head for a while. Lyle Alzado was in "Ernest Goes to Camp", and that kicks ass.

 

John Hannah is probably the best guard of all time. His 1975 Topps is now mine. And we have a 1977 Fleer, bottom left. Fleer made sets of all action shots in the 70s, which seemed to be against the law at the time based on every Topps set. Also, I think those 74's would look better if the photos abutted the field goal posts. I hate that black box and white strip. Also, the posts really highlight the 'standard vintage card miscutting threshold'.

 

Some great players to pick off some 70s set needs, including Mean Joe Greene watching some kid grab his Coke and contemplating murder.

 

Chip, chip, chippin' away.

 

Go Redlegs. 

Columbus Clippers Ba-By

That is, last names "Ba" to "By" of "Every player who played for the AAA Columbus Clippers who made The Show" project. Not Dick Vitale's patented "Ba-By".

 

This group includes such regal baseball names as Aaron Boone, Bret Boone, Bobby Bonds, Bam Bam Balboni, Jay Buhner, Shane Bieber, Homer Bush, and Colter Bean.

 

There have been precisely 100 such players with a last name that starts with B. I have 99 of them. Caleb Baragar pitched in 49 games for the Giants in 2020 and 2021, but this was deemed unworthy of MLB baseball card glory. He has 6 minor league issues to his name, of which I have none. If you do, please tell me.

 

Also included is manager Brian Butterfield, who had an inauspicious 12-25 record at the Clippers' helm in 2002. 

 

 

Go Redlegs. 

The Big Donkey

When I was in Little League, I swung at everything. It's baseball, man. Get stick, swing stick. Had to swing. Loved the ones up high. Coaches would say I need to improve my plate discipline. This just resulted in me deciding to take the first two pitches no matter what, then going right back to mashin'. Once kids got good enough to actually pitch, I was toast.

 

Which brings me to my favorite player, Adam Dunn. My boy hit .204 with 41 homers one year. He also struck out 2,379 times in 2,001 career games. He is also one of only 41 people to hit 450 career dingers. That's more than all but 26 Hall of Famers. Legendary.

 

He hit a home run from a ballpark in Ohio that landed in Kentucky. Watch that here. And watch Secret Bases's treatment of his career here. Worth the ten minutes.

 

As for my collection, it's both vast and modest. Vast, as in I have 1,584 different Dunns. 1st among TCDB users by a lot.

 

 

But modest, because there are certainly more serious superfans out there, as my collection has precious few rarities. And somebody(s) outbid(s) me. Always. By many, many dollars.

 

Dunn being one of the stars on the Reds during the card glut of 2002-2008 resulted in a hell of a lot of cards. But it all started with his only card of 1998, a Billings Mustanges Minor League team issue:

 

This popped up on feeBay and I snagged it for way too cheap. The other guys must have all already had this one. And probably not graded a paltry and pathetic 9. I also have two printing plates, 2006 Upper Deck Ovation and 2013 Topps Turkey Red:

 

 

 

 

 

These randos are all /10:

 

 

 

 

 

And thus ends the rare card run. The other 1,577 cards are a lot of stuff like this

 

 And this:

It's was fun for a while when I could bring em in as fast as I could grab em. But I'm really only acquiring a few new ones each year any more. Y'all will be seeing several of my Adam Dunn cards and things. Lots of silly stuff.

 

Big Ol' Donkey, he's as pretty as the angels when they sing
I can't believe I'm out here at the ballpark in this swing
Just a-swingin'

Go Redlegs.

 

 

$100,000 Worth of Aristides Aquino Cards

For those of you who don't remember the specifics, Aristides Aquino was left for dead in Billings, Montana, changed his batting stance to one where he was fully facing the pitcher, blew the roof off the minors, then, in 2019, became the first player in the history of baseball to hit 10 homers in his first 16 games and the first rookie to hit 14 homers in any month, much less his first.

 

During those 16 games The Punisher was hitting .353 with an OPS of 1.361. His card prices were going bonkos and I had a Panini Elite autograph parallel /100. I picked it up for a buck fifty when he was just a fledgling single-A guy, and sold it for well over a hundred during this run. I've only done this for him and Rece Hinds because the prices were too insane to ignore.

 

Then the league figured out he couldn't hit breaking balls. Like, at all. Outside of that first month, Aquino played in about 200 games and hit about .190. Not good, Jim.

 

This means that his autos were practically being thrown away on COMC a few years later. Enjoy what was, at one point, one hundred thousand dollars worth of Aquino autos. Give or take.

 

   

 

Dear Cincinnati. Please stop hitting like Aristides Aquino and please start hitting like Aristides Aquino.

 

Go Redlegs. 

Complete Junk Wax Set - 1990 Pro Set Super Bowl MVPs

I loved this little set as a yoot. Great artwork. Tough S.O.Bs. It's the reason I know the order of early Super Bowls and what went down. It was so long ago that this represents less than half of the games, which gives me pause to reflect on aging... woof, better stop that.

 

I have a memory of these coming in a little box, but this is classified as an insert set. Pro Set, in general, was distributing their cards any and every way they could, so maybe it was both. How many boxes of Pro Set are withering away in garages right this moment? I'll leave that to the philosophers. 

 

 

Go Redlegs.
 

Single Card Post - 1964 Topps #50 Mickey Mantle

My grandpa traded four used tires for this card in 1995 at a South Carolina jockey lot. 'Jockey lot' is a southern term for flea market, by the way. 

 

What a legend. And so is Mick. 

  

 

 

 

 

Is it mint? Hell no. Is it my favorite card? Hell yes. It's my only base Mantle and I don't foresee that changing. I do have five others from his playing days that will be posted someday. But for now, enjoy the '64 goodness.

 

Go Redlegs.