What might that be? The Dodgers' second straight World Series title? The Bills' win over the infernal Patriots last weekend? Finally killing off the yellowjacket infestation underneath the siding in August?
Nah.
My biggest win of the year was landing the prize in the vintage giveaway over at The Diamond King a couple of weeks ago. In keeping with the season, DK has been giving away a bunch of cards from his collection. I waited out the numbered and prospect lots and I was rewarded. Vintage! Sweet, sweet vintage.
As a veteran vintage collector, I saw cards in the lot that I already owned, but that didn't stop me from entering because there were several cards I didn't own, including cards on freshly made want lists! Plus, I could always do a giveaway myself with the extras.
There was so much variety in this group that it took me awhile to figure out how to present it here. I'm still not sure that this won't turn out to be rambling without any direction. But it's new vintage in my collection so I think you'll understand.
Let's start with what caught my eye first.
Kellogg's 3-D. My kind of cards. I've written about these just a few times. I have completed all of these but that's OK. Upgrades are possible -- these are very nice -- and the rest will be giveaways or set aside for a couple of mailings I will do in the next month (I owe Bo some cards).
That's not all of the Kellogg's cards, there were also ones from the first year I was pulling these out of boxes of Frosted Flakes.
Beautiful '70s Orange 1977. All the feels with this set. But the best part of these is the Jose Cruz card there.
Look how crispy clean that is. It looks extra nice to me because this is the card that cracked while sitting in my collection. I wasn't treating it badly or anything and it simply shattered.
A comparison. I've been questing for a replacement for at least a year while never being able to pull the trigger. This upgraded Cruz alone was worth entering the contest.
My next-favorite selection from the lot are these 1969 Topps Deckle Edge cards and another reason why I knew I had to enter the contest. I posted a want list and updated my TCDB wants for this set barely a week ago and now I've got more than half of the set already!
My first association with these cards -- and the 1969 set in general -- are when I was sitting on the porch with my brother and our friends and the one friend had inherited a bunch of cards from his older brother. I didn't think much of black-and-white cards of guys with no logos on their hats. But after all these years since, I'll say they're an acquired taste.
Speaking of acquired tastes, here are some more 1968 Topps Game cards. A month ago I had a grand total of one. Now I have eight! I think when I picked up the last couple I might have commented that they are kind of indestructible with the rounded corners, but I guess that's not the case, is it, Mr. Poke a Hole in the middle of Ron Santo's card.
Staying in the 1960s with yet a few more oddballs that I've never really thought about collecting. These are from two different 1961 sets. The top are Fleer Greats and the bottom are Golden Press Hall of Fame. Slowly acquiring both out of the blue. In fact the Pie Traynor showed up in my house a month ago and here it is again. You may see it in the giveaway.
I should have grouped the cereal cards together -- see, this wasn't easy organizing! My 1960s Post collection consisted mostly of Dodgers and a couple Yankees. These make me a genuine Post collector, I think. I barely know who the above guys are but Post will fill me in.
I need to show some Topps cards or somebody's going to get upset. Getting a Gaylord Perry rookie card is not an everyday occurrence, nor is landing a card of Babe Ruth in a sports jacket. Throw in Ueck and Yaz and everything is lovely.
1965 Embossed is not Topps' finest hour but they're still 1960s cards that I didn't have before (well, except the Dodgers). The bottom row aren't in the greatest shape. But, good news, I have an even worse copy to show!
Supposedly this is Don Drysdale (even when these cards are in perfect shape that question is asked). My question is not only how long was this card in somebody's attic but how long had the roof been leaking?
Between the Kellogg's and the deckles I knew this was my kind of contest, but these clinched it. You don't see early 1970s Fleer World Series cards on any card blog other than mine and maybe Cardboard Junkie. I've shown these plenty in the last year because I completed both the 1970 and 1971 ones in 2025.
A couple of these (1907 and 1946) are upgrades.
Good ol' buybacks. The only ones I collect are the 1975s and I have both of the above already.
What I liked most about this vintage lot is how random it is. Two 1981 Topps Scratch-Offs, one scratched and one not? Sure, I want them!
And these! Totally random. One threw me, the other I had deciphered right away. That Frank Robinson Kellogg's "card" was cut, very neatly, off the back of a Kellogg's cereal box. The Rocky Colavito was a stumper. It turns out it's from an unlicensed set of stickers in 1983. Starliner/Touchdown Stickers. I'm amazed there's an early 1980s set that I've never heard of.
Nifty. All of these are welcome upgrades. Often I don't even know I need upgrades until I get some duplicates. Although chances are good that the '79 set could all use upgrades as it was right during that period where I was taking care of my cards but not quite efficient at it yet.
And finally ...
Cards I already have.
Many of these will be redistributed, to fellow collectors, in the upcoming giveaway. I'm not sure who would want the '79 George Brett that someone signed for Brett, but you never know -- I've certainly learned that over 17 years on the blog. Some others have condition issues but let's focus on those twin Don Mattingly rookies for a second.
A very nice and generous giveaway -- and that goes for all the giveaways -- from Kevin over at The Diamond King. I hope he still has some cards left for his collection.
So, I'll be doing a giveaway in the fairly near future, probably after the holidays as it's just a little too crazy right now (festivities, weather, work, vehicles, medical junk, cat hounding the tree, etc.). But it's nice that people like The Diamond King planned ahead. I do love a good blog giveaway.
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