#tbt: A Trio of 61s

Every few months, my local mall has a cardshow where you can find some nice vintage cards for very cheap.  I generally get great deals from one seller in particular.  Below is a trio of 1961 Topps that I purchased for $2 combined.

Gene Baker

Vern Law

Smoky Burgess

Buc Hill Aces: 1961 Edition

The Pirates pitching staff looked incredibly strong last year lead by veterans AJ Burnett, Fransisco Liriano, and closer Jason Grilli.
Back in 1960, the World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates, had 2 other aces that catapulted their record to the best in the NL with a 95-59 record.
The Pirates pitching staff in 2013 allowed 577 runs compared to the 1960 pitching staff which allowed 593 runs.  If the Pirates are going to continue their success in 2014, they will have to depend on the arms of Gerrit Cole, Fransisco Liriano, Charlie Morton, and the effectiveness of the bullpen.  It's only been one game so far, but it looks like the Buc Aces are back!

Here's hoping for success from the aces in 2014, so that the Pirates can be champions much like Vern Law and Roy Face pictured above.
I bought this card for $6 when I went on vacation in February.

I went to Virginia Beach and all I got were these old pieces of cardboard...

Last week, my girlfriend and I were traveling to North Carolina to see Luke Bryan and Lee Brice perform.  It was my Valentine's Day gift to her and I made sure we had really good seats (6 rows from the stage to be exact).  On our way down, she told me to google to see what card shops we may hit in Virginia Beach since she wanted to go to a Western Wear country store anyway.  We decided to hit up Heroes Sports Cards & Collectibles before they closed up for the day.  

I'm not going to lie, I was very hesitant to stop in and check it out since we were on a time restraint, but I sure am glad we did.  

Within a few minutes of walking around, I found the vintage section of the store.  I pulled out my phone and loaded my vintage want list from the website.  I hit a homerun on the 1960 needs.  I was able to add 11 new cards to the collection, allowing my needs to drop to only 7 cards for that team set.  1960 is one of my favorite vintage sets so grabbing this many cards including the high number Paul Giel really helped make the trip worth it.

Above are the rookie cards for Manuel Javier and Jim Umbricht along with the Pirates coaches card from the 1960 set.

I also picked up a single 1961 Topps card I needed for my set.  This card commemorates Bill Virdon's great catch in game 1 of the 1960 World Series when the Pirates won 6-4 over the Yankees.

Here's the back of the card with the highlights for the game.

Most of the cards I grabbed were in the $4-$6 range, the lone exception being the High Number Paul Giel, which ran me a little more than the price of a discount blaster.