I pulled this card out of my mailbox on Friday. It arrived from mr haverkamp and it was nice of him to knock off a Nebulous 9 need, as this card truly, truly finishes off the 1964 Topps Dodgers set for me.
The card arrived in a small, slightly rumpled, plain white envelope, not tall or wide enough for me to see when I looked into the mailbox at first glance.
When I took it out of the box, I noticed the time stamp on the envelope: Aug. 28.
Hmmm. This was Sept. 11. Fifteen days to arrive at my address -- even from California -- is a stretch.
The note inside tipped me off further to a delay. Jim is a Giants fan -- yes, very sad, I know -- and he says "here's to a (hopefully) awesome Giant-Dodger September!"
Well, at the time I pulled the envelope out of the mailbox, the Dodgers were 8 1/2 games in front of the Giants and had effectively put them out of any realistic hopes of a pennant race (although these are the devil magic Giants, so one never knows). No fan of any team 8 1/2 games out looks hopefully forward to a battle with the team 8 1/2 games above them with just three weeks left.
So the question remains: Did it really take 14 days to get to my mailbox or did I not see it sitting in my mailbox for like 10 days? (A more realistic arrival time from California would be around Sept. 1 or 2).
I suppose it doesn't matter. Yet, the idea of a spectacular card like this being under my nose for 10 days without me knowing it was a bit unsettling for a little while there.
But I'm over it now.
I'm staring at Koufax, Marichal, Spahn and Maloney on one card.
Comments
As recently as last year, I had always disliked the '64 set, with their huge plain white borders and large team name, both which stole surface area from the photos. But I'm considering taking a run at (if not necessarily completing the set, then) adding to the 61 cards I already have.
Just last week I picked up 20 singles from the 1965 set, which I really like (as most of us do). The '64 set will be next in line.