Trade post : some Mr Hoyle vintage

I've already explained that the reason I collect Blue Jays cards is because my mom's from Toronto (she came to France when she was 19, met my dad and never came back). I collect Knicks cards because the Raptors weren't around when I started collecting and I spent a year in New York when I was 11.
Anyway, one of the frustrating aspects of collecting Blue Jays is that they only got there in 1977. Which means: no vintage. And I absolutely love vintage ! There's something about holding a 50 or 60 year old card (yes, card, what did you expect me to write ?) that moves me. I love cards from the 90s because they bring me way back with waves and gushes of nostalgia. But I see vintage cards as a piece of history, which is why I don't mind at all if they're in bad shape. At least, it means they had a good life and changed hands many times. Of course, that should't keep me from getting cards from before 1977, and it's exactly what I'm doing !

Mark doesn't blog. But he follows blogs a lot. He lurks in the shadows and often participates by posting comments. He approached me after I myself posted a comment somewhere (maybe on Bob walks the plank), telling me he could probably help me with some of my needs (it's not every day that a man (or a girl, for the matter) approaches me with such an offer). He saw on my want list page that I wanted at least one card from each year, and also in one of my comments that I was looking to get as many 'In Actiont' cards from the 72 set, so he sent a little of everything, alongside some 90s Blue Jays from my want list.

So let's take a look, and keep in mind that I'm holding all those design in my hands for the very first time, as I wasn't into vintage at all 20 years ago. I didn't have sufficient knowledge back then and saw the cards as very expensive pieces of cardboard I could never own. Plus, all that grading confused me. I was familiar with the designs because, well, I look at cards a lot (and Archives happened), but it's awesome to look at the real actual thing.

1962 ! of course, it reminds me of 1987 Topps instead of the other way around. And yay, a manager card ! It's a great design, I'll try to track down Mays and Maris cards from that set one day.

1963 ! And a Houston Colt 45s card, so that's a plus.

1964 ! Zoilo Versalles is a great name. Sounds a lot like Versailles, which is very near where I live. And for those of you who skipped World history class, that's where French kings (and Marie-Antoinette, for those who didn't skip the movie) spent their days and nights in that huge castle, 3rd most visited monument in France after the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.

1965 ! One of the best designs ever, and I think it's the first time I see that Twins logo. Is it me, or is that glove gigantic ?

1966 ! Another Twins player, another great name.

1967 !

1968 ! I don't know about that design. It looks like some very outdated wallpaper. Still, it's a well centered Yankees catcher (didn't play much, though) with a well centered glove.

 1969 ! They had some extra circles from the previous year, so they re-used them, but them on the upper right side and called it a day.

1970 ! This being my first Senators card, I had to research it a little bit. And what a mess. So the Senators went to Minnesota to call themselves the Twins in 1961.But the same year, they awarded an expansion team to Washington and they named themselves...the Senators. After all, why not make things confusing ? It's the 60s. Everybody's confused. They were such a bad team that they were the Major's laughingstock, and I suppose they don't appear in the 1971 set, since that's the year they moved to Arlington, to become the Texas Rangers (granted, the Texas Senators would've made as much sense as the Los Angeles Lakers or the Utah Jazz). Anyway, that's a God ugly design if I ever saw one.

1971 !That's much better ! I only know Hal McRae, though. People who collect only sharp looking cards must have a really hard time with those black borders.

1972 ! An iconic set, and I wonder how people looked at it back then. I mean, what a change from previous years. Considering how they toned it down the following years, I wonder if it means that they got complaints from parents worried that their kids would start popping acid.

1972 again, that time with great In action cards .

1973 ! another great set with amazing photos. Can't wait to get my hands on more of those.

I mean, come on, look at that beauty ! I think I saw it on dimebox Nick's blog a few weeks ago, and it's been on my want list since. Amazing card with an amazing cameo.

If you're reading this (and I suspect you are), thanks a lot for those great cards, Mr Hoyle, I absolutely love them !