Card of the week: 1967 Topps #1"The Champs"

This card is easily the favorite in my collection. The last card show I attended was heavey in vintage cards and I picked up this copy in good condition for two bucks. This card was issued as card number one in the 1967 set, for a few years Topps gave the first card to the previous years World Series Winner. What sets this card apart is the simple design and great photo of the manager, Hank Bauer and the hall of famers, Frank and Brooks Robinson. Hank was in his third season coaching the Orioles when he led the team to the title. He would leave the O's after the 68' season to coach in Oakland (something I wasn't aware of is Hank won eight World Series titles, seven has a player for the Yankees and the one managing the Orioles).

Most Orioles fans look to the 1960's and 70's as the golden age in Orioles history, when the team competed for the pennant every year. Unfortunatley today, many of the younger fans have never seen a winning season in Baltimore, let alone a playoff appearence. So far in this young season the Orioles have continued their losing ways but I am hopeful they can turn it around and finish with a winning record.

Right now the best alternative is pull out my vintage Orioles cards from the 1960's and 70's and read about the past winning seasons and championships the Orioles won.

On a side note, I am going out of town for a week to visit family in Nashville and run the Country Music Half Marathon, so this will be my last post until I get back. Hopefully when I return I can get my hands on some Topps Gypsy Queen since this set is dominating the hobby headlines today with good and bad news.

Quick Trade Post

I proposed a trade with No ones going to read this blog. Jeremy has posted his 2011 Topps want list and I was able to send him a large stack of cards he needed. I have bought a fair share of Topps this year and since I'm not building the set I still have alot of 2011 Topps to trade if anyone is trying to finsish off the first series.

In return I recieved a bunch of new Orioles for my collection. I have scanned my favorite cards from the stack.

I haven't bought any Obak, so the Grich is my first card, but I do like it enough that I want to complete the Orioles team set. The A@G minis are the highlight here and I like the horizontal design on the Roberts card. Brian has only played in a few games this Spring, due to his re acurring back issues. Hopefully he gets better or can manage the problem before the start of the season, last years O's fans witnessed first hand how valuable he is to the team.

He also sent some Turkey Red inserts from the 2009 Topps set. How many times has Topps made Turkey Red cards as a stand alone set or insert set the last few years?

The Frank and Brooks Robinson "Bird Belters" reprint is from this years set while the Brooks Robinson is a card your mom threw out from last years release. I also recieved another Donruss Highlights card of Cal Ripken I didn't have. Thanks for the cards Jeremey.