A Hall of Fame Swap

A couple of months ago, I decided to make a trade on TCDB.com after seeing several Hall of Famer cards on the tradelist of a great trading partner, Jade from North Carolina. I had been hanging on to a few Hall of Fame cards that I got earlier this year, not really knowing what to do with them. They are great cards, but they didn't really have a good spot in my collection. Along with these was a rookie card of a "Hall of Very Good" member. I decided to make a run at some cards Jade had, using these Hall of Famers as a springboard. 

I'll start with the four cards I traded, and I think after seeing these gems, you'll realize I got some great stuff in return. 

1961 Topps Yogi Berra

1962 Topps Stan Musial 

This is a fantastic card and was probably the toughest one of the bunch to part with. 

1963 Topps Hoyt Wilhelm

1981 Topps Traded Fernando Valenzuela 

So, what did Jade have that tempted me so much and made me willing to give up some great cards? I'll build up from least to most exciting, with the last two cards being equally awesome in my opinion. 

1955 Bowman Edwin Hurley 

My first umpire card from the set.

1955 Bowman Gil Hodges 

I usually don't like creasing on my cards, but I am a little more lenient with a vintage Hall of Famer.

1955 Bowman Robin Roberts

One of the many things I like about this set are their unique card backs. This one treats us to the best fielding play Robin Roberts ever saw. 

1955 Bowman Bob Feller

I feel like this is one of the more iconic cards of the set, so again, I don't mind some creasing and paper loss in this case. 

1955 Bowman Al Kaline

The highest book value of any of the cards I've shown on this post, this 2nd year Kaline is a treat. Someone penciled in RF on the front of the card, but it's still fantastic. 

I still don't think I'll ever finish this set (see Mantle, Aaron, Mays), but with these cards and some recent other trades and acquisitions, I now own over half the set (166/320). I never could have predicted that many years ago when the Virgil Trucks card caught my eye on eBay one day. 

What Will I Do With All These Donruss Puzzle Pieces?

It's a question that many of us perhaps have struggled with over the years. You can't avoid them. You probably have a bunch laying around. Or maybe you toss them in the trash every time they come around. The Donruss puzzle pieces. 

I'm not sure when I came across the idea, but I thought it was a good one: Put the puzzles together and then put them in a frame. An intriguing thought, though I never really liked the look of framed puzzles generally. Well, whoever came up with this idea is a genius. Maybe it's because they are baseball-themed instead of some boring pastoral landscape, but I think they look fantastic. Fantastic enough that I have been working on putting together the entire series of puzzles that Donruss/Leaf released from 1982-1991. 

Here are the puzzles I've completed:

1986 - Hank Aaron

1987 - Roberto Clemente

1988 - Stan Musial

1990 - Carl Yastrzemski
1991 - Willie Stargell
1991 - Harmon Killebrew (Leaf)
1991 - Rod Carew (Studio)

I just received the final pieces of the Yogi Berra and Lou Gehrig puzzles, so I'm hoping to get those put together soon. I'll finish the Babe Ruth, Warren Spahn, and second Rod Carew puzzles as soon as I decided to have my baseballcardstore.ca orders shipped. If I had kept every piece I had ever accumulated of the Spahn puzzle over the years, I'm sure I could have put like 10 of them together by now. 

The next challenge will be finding a place for these new puzzles, since most of my real estate is taken with other 8x10s and a couple 3 x 5 foot Cubs flags. One of those 8 x 10s is a recent pickup, of the first person I'd put in the Hall of Fame if given the chance:

The legendary Buck O'Neil (from his time as a Cubs coach). 

If you're curious about the framing of the puzzle, it's easy enough and cheap enough to do in my opinion. You'll need a certificate-sized frame (easily found at the dollar store or big box stores). Assemble the puzzle face down, and then glue a piece of letter-size card stock to the back. It will overlap the sides but is pretty much flush top to bottom. For the Hank Aaron puzzle above, which is blue, I used my usual white card stock, but then colored in the margins left to right to make it blend in better. I'm sure these would display well in a binder, too, if space is an issue. Some of mine might end up there someday. The Clemente and Aaron are too awesome to not display, though, so they'll stay for sure.

There are four puzzles for which I have zero pieces:

1983 - Mickey Mantle

1983 - Ty Cobb

1984 - Duke Snider

1984 - Ted Williams

If you have any of these, I'd love to swing a trade. 

Which one player would you put in the Hall of Fame if given the chance?

Thanks for stopping by.