"Just playing" vintage vs. deadly serious vintage

This is a long-delayed revealing of cards I received from Chris of Project '62 a few weeks ago.

The plan was not to post these until I got a package off to him. Easy enough. I had the package sealed and ready to go. But then I screwed up the zip code on the package, then I forgot to include a couple of cards, then life stuff happened, then a dinosaur broke into my house and ate all my packaging tape. Meanwhile, the package sat there through it all, groaning like a child with nothing to do.

Finally, it has something to do. It is out the door. And I can finally show the great cards that I received.

This trade came about because Chris had some 2010 Heritage Dodgers for me. I'm no fan of the set, but I've got to have those Dodgers. So we'll do this quick and painless like:

There you are. Fake vintage. Just playin' vintage. Fascinating, huh? Why are we still buying this stuff?

But, to my surprise, there were much better cards in store. Real vintage. Dodger vintage. The best kind of cards ever. I'll start slowly and work myself up to the best.

First is a simple 1975 Topps Charlie Hough card. This card has been shown on the blog a few times. But I needed an upgraded version for the Dodger binder. Only Lopes and Mota to go.

I need this Sutton card to fill out the '71 Dodgers collection. This particular card appears to have been used as a voodoo doll. But it'll fill a space for now.

Only the truest of Dodger fans remember Hector Valle. He played in nine games his entire major league career, and they're all featured in the stats on the back of this 1966 card. This is his only card.

Double Dougs! One has the cartoon scratched off on the back and one does not. Chris also sent me a Dick Tracewski from the '64 set.

It would not be a card package from Project '62 without a '62 card. I have seen this card many times, but never owned it until now. There is nothing that makes a ballplayer look like a 5-year-old more than having him field while wearing a batting helmet.

Here is the '62 team card, which appears to have undergone some weather event. The great part about this card is the majority of the team members are looking off to their left. But others are looking straight ahead or down. I didn't know they put outtakes on baseball cards.

I know you're reeling from all the vintage, so Ill show another fake vintage card. It's an Obak mini of "Farm System Innovator" Branch Rickey, who "innovated" a lot of teams, but is best known for signing Jackie Robinson.

I haven't purchased any Obak. I've seen precious few Dodgers/future Dodgers in the set. I think there might be a Duke Snider. But that's the reason I haven't been too interested.

OK, back to the vintage. This particular 1959 Topps card sat in a row of cards in a pawn shop I used to frequent. Time after time I'd look at the card and never pulled the trigger. Now, the shop no longer stocks cards. But I have alternative methods of acquisition now.

These three cards I came very close to purchasing online. I had them in my shopping cart and everything. Fortunately, I didn't cash out. Can you imagine how crushed I'd be if I ordered these and then Chris' cards arrived in the mail? You would have heard me howl, no matter where you live.

Going way back into the vault to 1958. This card is in very nice shape.

I'm not crazy about the '58s. A lot of the head shots are freakishly huge, and the Dodgers got stuck with yellow backgrounds on every one of their cards. But it is so cool to get cards from '58 in the mail.

See? Way cool.

I did receive some other non-vintage cards in the package. Wants from Topps 205 from a few years back and Topps Total. But how do you expect me to feature those cards when I get this:

This is my first 1955 Bowman card. When I was a kid, I thought these cards were the best because of the TV design. But they were issued way before my time, so I never saw them in person. Even now, I don't recall seeing an actual '55 Bowman in person. I don't know why these cards have eluded me, but I know they have because until now I didn't know their dimensions were larger than 2 1/2-by-3 1/2.

Chico Fernandez played for the Dodgers for just one year. He was mostly a shortstop for the Phillies and Tigers. But he will be forever known as the first '55 Bowman I ever held.

I think Chris has earned himself another package of cards.