1956 Topps Mickey Mantle

Here is one of the Mick's early cards.

2 More Rub-Offs!!!

My quest to complete the set of 1966 Topps Rub-Offs got a little closer to fruition recently as I picked up two more.  I got Earl Batty and Felix Mantilla.  Here are the fronts:

And here is the reverse.

There were my 105th and 106th in the complete set of 120.

Only 14 more to go!

2016 Tour of Somerville

Well, once again I made my annual Memorial Day visit to watch the tour of Somerville Bicycle Races in Somerville New Jersey.

It was a little different this year as we moved from Bridgewater to Garwood last summer.  So my usual 10 to 15 minute drive is now about 45 minutes but it is a nice ride.

It turned out to be a great day weather wise as the predicted rain showers ender early in the morning and the day was dry.  There was not a big crowd there this year so I went to the finish line to watch one of the early races.

Here is a video of the racers going by.

 

 

What is interesting is the pack of riders actually create their own mini "jet stream" of wind!

 

 

MATCHBOX Motorway No. 12

Went antique shopping with my wife today and found a great item related to Matchbox Cars.

It is this Matchbox Motorway from about 1967 or 1968.

 

It was a really great price and when I got home, I checked it out and other than the boxes for the cars, it appears to be complete.  There were even 4 extra cars!

 

 

 

Basically, a motor pulls a spring that is under the track.  A pin is attached to a car and the pin fits in a grove in the track that catches the spring.  The car is then pulled around the track.

 

I will be testing it out soon and will let you know the results.

I Have Moved

Well, it has been almost a year since my last post.  We moved about 25 miles from where we were in New Jersey.  We are closer to our new grandson (within walking distance) and I'm also closer to work.

Moving is a tough time along with selling and buying a house.  My wife did a great job in quickly setting up the house and got everything up and running in spite of numerous setbacks!  I, on the other hand, took a bit longer.

Here is a picture of my new room about 3 weeks after we moved in.  We were on vacation for a week so I had not yet begun to set it up.

It looked worse the week before! 

It took me a couple of months to get things set the way I wanted them but here is the same view today.

I had fun setting up my displays as I added some new items and rearranged others.

Happy that it is finished. 

2015 Tour of Somerville Cycling Races

A beautiful weather wise Memorial Day Weekend here in central New Jersey.

I made my annual trek to downtown Somerville for the bike races.  Not really a trek but less than a 10 minute car ride!

There are about 5 or 6 races for different classes of riders.  All are very entertaining and the riders put in many weeks are hard work, some even a lifetime's worth.

Here is a video I took as the riders in this race approached the home stretch in one of their many laps around the course.

I only saw one accident during the day and it did not appear that there were any significant injuries.

1968 Topps Empty Baseball Card Box

For Christmas, my step-daughter and her husband got me a gift certificate from Ebay.  I recently found an item that I've been looking to acquire  at a decent price and ended up winning it.

It is a 1968 empty box that contained the individual packs of baseball cards that year.  I am especially fond of it for 2 reasons:  The first is that as an 11 year old in 1968, it was at the peak of my collecting youth.  Second, there is a picture of Mickey Mantle on the box.

Incidentally, the packs I put in the box are not from 1968 but rather 1979.  I can't afford even one 1968 unopened pack of baseball cards.

The box will forever be special to me for another reason.  I won it on the day my step-daughter gave birth to her first child, a precious baby boy named Wyatt.

Thank you Jason and Laura for both gifts!

1966 Topps Rub-Offs Set - 80% Complete

I just picked up this 1966 Topps Rub-Off of Eddie Fisher, it is the 96th one I have gotten which means that I now have completed 80% of the total 120 in the set.

Most of the remain ones I need are very difficult to find.  They do not come up for sale or auction frequently and end up selling for a higher price.

These rub-offs were printed in rolls of 20 and my theory is that one of the rolls was printed in shorter quantities than the others thus accounting for the difficulty in trying to acquire the last 20.  Just my own theory.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Wow!  Another year has flown by.  Wishing all a happy Holiday Season and the best of the New Year!

September 11, 1974

40 years ago today I was at Shea Stadium in New York to watch a baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets.

My father's company sponsored bus trips to Yankee and Shea Stadium a few times each year.  We would go a couple of times each year.  This night, it was me, my dad and mom, my brother and my cousin. 

The night before, Lou Brock of the Cardinals has stolen a base to set the all time record of most stolen bases in a season.  I was a little disappointed as I was hoping to see him set the record at our game.  It seemed like a missed chance to see something historic happen.  Little did I know.

It was a good game and the Mets were winning 3 to 1 in the top of the ninth inning.  With 2 outs, Ken Reitz of the Cardinals hit a 2 run home run to tie the game.  The game went into extra innings.  Neither team could score.  At around 1:30 AM Mets manager Yogi Berra was thrown out.  Some people who were with us went back to the bus to sleep.  The Cards scored a run in the top of the 25th, yes 25th inning.  The Cards won in 25 innings, 4 to 3.

It was the longest baseball game in history played to completion.  (There was a famous 26 inning tie in 1920).  The game ended at 3:12 AM!

We got home a little after 5:00 AM.  I went home and slept to about 10 AM, skipping school.  My cousin went right to his morning job at the newspaper store and went home to bed, also skipping school.  I think my dad went to work and my brother had to go to classes as it was his first day of college.

So, I ended up seeing history made!

August 10, 1984

30 years ago today I was at the L.A. Coliseum in Los Angeles to watch a day of track and field completion at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

That Olympics I attended Men's Basketball, Baseball (which was a demonstration sport) and Team Handball.  I also found time to take in a California Angels vs. Oakland Athletics Baseball game.

It was a beautiful Friday and my seat was 3 rows from the top.  Since I am not a great fan of heights, it took about 2 minutes once I sat down for my head and stomach to settle in.  I was fortunate enough to watch the Women's 3,000 Meter Race final with America's hopeful, Mary Decker.

The race started in late afternoon.  On the 3rd lap, the runners were still tightly bunched together, running as a pack.  Decker got entangled with Zola Budd and fell to the ground.

She tried to get up but could not and was unable to finish the race. Budd was constantly booed by the crowd as she passed each section.  She finished 7th, with tears coming down her face.  Budd was at first disqualified but later reinstated.

Decker said "I worked my whole life for something that was gone in an instant," They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  This picture says it all.

Matchbox Superfast #23 Volkswagen Camper

Here is my orange Matchbox Volkswagen Camper.

Here is my blue one.

 

 

On Friday night one of the towns has old cars on display and I saw the actual Volkswagen camper the Matchbox car was modeled after.  Check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

Check out the interior.  You can live in this!

 

 

 

 

It was a fun and inexpensive way to spend a beautiful summer night.









1966 Topps Rub-Offs - 75% Completed!

For those of following my quest to complete the Baseball Card Insert Set of Rub-Offs included in Topps baseball card packs in 1966, I have reached 75% completed.

Just received the following Rub-Off of Dick Radatz.

This is my 90th Rub-Off so I have "only" 30 more to got to complete the set of 120.

I say "only" as the rub-offs I still need seem to be very hard to acquire.  I have seen them in not great condition or very expensive in decent condition.  I'm trying to get them at about $5.00 each with a little extra for shipping.  I guess I will have to increase my bids to get the ones I still need. 

Originally, I wanted to complete the set in a 2 year period.  That was 4 years ago!   As they say on certain HGTV shows, I went past my timeline and I'll be over budget!

May 27, 1994

I have had the luck of attending some sporting events where something of national importance or historic to the team and/or the sport happened.  Three of those events are celebrating a milestone anniversary this year.  I'm going to post them ion the order that they happened during the year.

The first was on May 27, 1994, 20 years ago.  I was at Madison Square Garden in New York City to watch Game 7 of the National Hockey League's Eastern Conference playoff game between the visiting New Jersey Devils and the home team, the New York Rangers.

The Rangers had won Game 6 to force the deciding game.  The Rangers had not won a Stanley Cup Championship since 1940, a drought of over 50 years.  I had been a Ranger fan since 1972 so it was a long drought for me too.

It was a tight well played defensive game.  Finally, in the second period, Brian Leetch scored on a beautiful spin-o-rama move.  The game remained the same score to the end of the period.  The fans were optimistic but this was the Rangers we were talking about, they always seemed to find a way to lose.

The third period was a great period but game time was not moving fast enough for Ranger fans.  With just 7.7 seconds left in the game, Valeri Zelepukin scored for the Devils to tie the game at 1 each and sent it to overtime. 

The intermission was very quiet in the Garden.  Everyone thought the Rangers were going to lose again.  But in the first overtime, the Rangers had some chances to win, but didn't.  After the first overtime period ended, the mood was brighter as fans thought someone has to win, it might as well be us.

At 4:24 of the second overtime period, Stephane Matteau scored on a wrap around shot and the Garden went wild.  Possibly the greatest game in New York Rangers history and I was there. 

The Rangers went on to win the Stanley Cup in 7 games against the Vancouver Canucks.

2014 Tour of Somerville

Today I made my annual visit to Somerville, NJ to watch some of the cycling races.  It is about a 10 minute drive and the weather was beautiful today.

I bought a bottle of water from home and got a hot dog for lunch.  It was greasy and out in the sun on the grill for who knows how long.  It was FANTASTIC!!

The Tour of Somerville races are known worldwide and attract the top cyclists.  There are different levels of races depending on their skill levels.  There is also a race for youngsters (ages 15 - 18) and as the announcer said, for those "long in the tooth", age 45 or older.  One cyclist was over 80 years old!  Here is a picture of one of the races.

 

Here is another shot.  They are really this close to you at times!

 

 

 They are going 25 to 30 miles per hour as they go by!!

There was an accident about 50 yards from me during one of the races.  Think of going 25 miles an hour and hitting a wall, with basically no protection but your helmet.  When you see and hear the crash, you pray for the safety of those involved.

1966 Topps Baseball Card #568 - Athletics Rookies Unissued Proof

Here is another proof baseball card from my collection.  This is an unissued proof card of the Kansas City Athletics Rookies Card #568 featuring Paul Linblad and Ron Stone.  This unissued card does not have their positions listed.

My card is on an uncut sheet of 12 proof cards of 1966 Topps 7th Series Baseball Cards.

Here is the issued card with the player's positions listed.

 

 

More 1966 Rub Offs!

Just picked up 4 more 1966 Topps Rub Offs.  Here they are.

 

This brings my total to 88 rub offs.  There are 120 in the complete set so I have 32 more to go.

Merry Christmas!!

Wow, another year has past.  I found some pictures of Christmas past.

 
The one on the left is my mom and dad from 1952.  They were not even married yet.  The one on the right is my brother from 1956.  He was 2 and I did not arrive on the scene for another week.

The following 2 pictures show my first Christmas, 1957 on the left with mom and my brother  and my second Christmas, 1958, on the right, with my dad and brother.

Here is a color picture of me, my brother and my mom from an early Christmas.  The bottom picture shows the gifts from Santa that awaited me and my brother in 1963.  Note the star at the top of the tree.

 

Here is my 2013 tree.

 

 Merry Christmas!!!!



More Rub-Offs!!!

Picked up 6 more 1966 Topps Rub-Offs recently:  Max Alvis, Curt Blefary, Willie Horton, Jim Maloney, Pete Rose and the Washington Senators Pennant.

  

This brings me to 84 of the total of 120 in the set.

Two More Rub-Offs

Faithful followers will remember I'm trying to assemble a complete set of 1966 Topps Rub-Offs one at a time.

I just got 2 more, Bill Mazeroski and and Dick Farrell.

This brings me to 78 in total, only 42 more to go to complete the set!!