C.A.: 1960 Leaf Rip Repulski

(With the busy week ahead, I'm not sure how many posts I'll get in this week. Per usual I'll try my best. My goal every day is to post. Anyway, here's one now! Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 359th in a series): 

 

This card arrived in my collection yesterday. It's another box checked in the slow, slow quest for all of the Dodgers in the 1960 Leaf set.

 

This set doesn't get a lot of love. The photos are black and white. It's all portrait shots. It gets made fun of because Leaf packaged it with a marble instead of gum. But I have always liked it. I grew up on the late 1970s Renata Galasso/TCMA set that mimicked the 1960 Leaf design. I loved those TCMA cards. I thought the design was clean and satisfyingly old-school.

 

The first five Leaf Dodgers weren't tough to get, not even the Duke Snider. Black-and-white photos, you know.

 

The final three are another matter. Those who know this set are aware that the second half of the set (cards 73-144) are scarcer than the rest. The second series hasn't been quite as elusive since a bunch of those cards were found in the late 1990s, but they're still tricky.

 

So I was very pleased to find Rip Repulski here for a price I could afford. You can see how sharp it looks. Yet it was categorized as "poor/fair"  in the listing.

 

I suppose this is the reason. There is noticeable paper loss on the back. Makes reading the bio a little tough. But this is a minor flaw in the way I collect. In fact I considered this card a steal.

 

Rip Repulski has been a favorite since I landed his 1956 Topps card as part of the grocery bag haul of 1950s cards we received from my dad's co-worker around 45 years ago. What a name! What a cartoon on the back! 

 

Now if there was paper loss on the back of that card, THAT would be a problem.

 

Repulski spent just two years of his career with the Dodgers, logging most of it with the Cardinals and Phillies. So the 1960 Leaf card was one of the last ones I needed of his Dodgers days. And knowing it was a high-number card gave me fits for years.

 

So now that the 6th Leaf Dodger is in my collection, that leaves the final two. Stan Williams is out of the question as far as ebay is concerned right now. I'm not paying 100 bucks. Joe Pignatano is a little more reasonably priced. We'll see if I pull the trigger, considering it's holiday season and comc Black Friday time and all that.

 

But today is a day to celebrate this card and the great name of Rip Repulski.