I introduced my quest to collect the 1960 Fleer Baseball Greats back in February:
I’ve been scouring Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, some online vendors and a couple of local card shops in my pursuit to collect this unique set. .
Thus far I’ve found 26 of the 79 cards (I’m not really looking for the error cards, and from what I’ve seen, the prices are ridiculous for them). Ever the frugal one, I’ve paid an average of about three dollars per card. I’ll eventually have to pay a bit more for some of the cards (Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams) but am starting with the “low hanging fruit” purposely. Upon completion, my intent is to donate it to a local charitable sports memorabilia auction.
As a reminder, this is a set full of baseball greats from the first half of the twentieth century. The only current player carded when this set was printed was Ted Williams.
I’ve picked up a few gems since I last posted. A coupe of my favorites is a duo of Yankee Hall of Famers.
For a total of $4.70, I was able to pick up Gomez and Ruffing in separate Ebay transactions. These hurlers topped the Yankee mound corps when they won four straight American League Pennants and World Series Championships from 1936-1939. During these seasons they combined for a 146-71, 3.28 record. Lest you think the 3.28 ERA isn’t that impressive, the lowest AL league ERA during that period was 4.62 in 1939. Both hurlers amped their games up in World Series play – 9-1, 2.66. Ruffing was particularly dominant over this stretch, winning at least twenty games each season.
When you think of the Bronx Bombers of the 1930s, you go to guys like Gehrig, DiMaggio, Keller, Dickey, etc., but the pitching was top notch as well.
The journey continues on, with my plan to attend my first card show in many years later this month.
