Getting my kicks completing a team set from '66

The cash from my most recent Beckett Vintage magazine article came in and I went right to work.

I usually devote about a third of my magazine payments to card quests and I had a few lined up as soon as I knew I would be writing that article.

One card that I had my eye on was this 1966 Topps Ron Perranoski. As you know, I don't care about graded cards, but this was the best deal I could find for this specific card in decent shape, and it accomplishes quite the job.

It is a pesky high number and now that I own it, I have completed the 1966 Topps Dodgers team set.

This is an achievement in a few different ways. Looking at the big picture, I have now completed the Topps flagship Dodgers team sets from 1964 through the current year.

There is also precious little that I need to finish off all the Topps Dodgers teams sets of the '60s, although it will take me forever to do so. The easiest will be the two high number cards from the 1960 set that I still need. And then I'll probably nab the 1961 Campanella.

Once those are out of the way, all that's left are the infernal 1962 and 1963 rookie prospects cards, a couple of which I can probably forget about getting because of rookie floating heads named Rose and Uecker.

But those are goals for another day. Right now, I'd like to introduce you to the rest of the 1966 Topps Dodgers:

A lot of familiar names there, and that's because they were the defending World Series champions.

But don't bother looking for a World Series subset here, because Topps notably shunned the Dodgers' 1965 title, as it's the only set from the '60s in which Topps did not include a World Series retrospective (Topps would continue to show its Dodgers WS disdain by ignoring the previous year's World Series in its 1982 and 1989 sets).

The only subset that includes Dodgers in '66 Topps is the league leaders.

I am missing the NL ERA leaders card, which features Koufax (as well as Marichal and Vern Law). But I've never considered league leaders as part of the team set, so I'll continue to call this set complete while still looking to pick up that card.

The '66 team set was rather pesky, not just because of the Perranoski high number but because of that evil, evil, hoarded Bart Shirley-Grant Jackson card. The image you see above is just a copy of the card I own that I don't dare crack out of its graded prison, one of the few graded cards I keep intact.

The Perranoski, however, will escape when I get a moment.

The first card I ever owned from this set was the Sandy Koufax. It's probably the most beat-up card in the bunch -- except for the Nick Willhite, man, I've got to do something about upgrading that -- but I have no interest in laying down cash for a fancier one because this Koufax reminds me of my early ventures into acquiring cards of all-timers. I was learning how to collect with the big boys.

Yup, this set includes a lot of star power with Koufax and Drysdale, the Davis duo, the first switch-hitting infield, World Series hero Lou Johnson, and future starting rotation stalwart Don Sutton. Also, please don't forget that fine relief crew of Perranoski and Brewer as well as Osteen and Singer! Damn, the Dodgers can pitch!

I spent the rest of my card money on some more 1977 Kellogg's cards, for the most part. I'll show those some other time.

It was quite an adventure putting together this team set. I can't wait to get those 1960 and 1961 ones done, too.

And if I never acquire the prospects cards from 1962 and 1963, no matter. They're just rookies.