So about a week and a half ago I tweeted this picture seconds after exiting one of my local thrift stores.  At that time I located a bag full of “vintage” cards, the years obviously consisting of 1975 to 1980.  Was it a “true” vintage find?  I guess that is up for debate.

But what’s for sure is that the cards within were worth more than the $5.99 price tag that was on the bag. For less than the price of three 2012 Topps retail packs, I was going to get my vintage baseball fix and hopefully find some rookies for my collection.

Boy did I hit the jackpot.

As it turned out, there were more than 60 1975 Topps Minis in package.

SIXTY!

A package consisting of that many 1975 Topps Minis would have sold to me for double the sticker price based on principle alone.

No huge names in the mini lot, but some recognizable ones:

Yogi Berra, Sparky Anderson, Manny Sanguillen, Bill Buckner, Bob Boone, Jose Cruz, Steve Yeager, Greg Luzinski and more.

The best, in my opinion, is this bad boy:

1975 Topps Mini Mario Mendoza rookie

A mini rookie card of the player whose name is probably best known for being associated with a poor batting average — the Mendoza Line.

Obviously that was not all that was in the package.  Before we get to the rookie cards, here are a few more random cards.

1971 Kellog's football cards

While researching these three football cards, I became aware that Tom Barrington — running back for the Saints — only has two cards in existence.  One is a Saints team issue, the other is THIS card.  Pretty awesome.  I should get the team issue and call myself a super collector.

2001 Private Stock Premiere Date Freddie Mitchell rookie /99

Too bad I didn’t get a hold of this card like five years ago when he was actually relevant.

2004 Bazooka Alex Rodriguez game used jersey

Super random … a mint game used jersey card in a bag of vintage cards.  Weird.

1974 Topps Walter Alston w/ LaSorda, Gilliam, Adams and Basgail

I love this card because it features two legendary Dodger managers, one at the end of his coaching career and one at the beginning. Alston led the team from 1954 to 1976.  Lasorda was the skipper from 1976 to 1996.

1976 Topps Dave Duncan

This is NOT Dave Duncan’s rookie card, but this is awesome.

And now …  THE ROOKIES:

Count ’em!  More than 60 rookies cards for my ultimate rookie collection.  I’ve noted this before, but I am working on a project that involves obtaining a rookie card* of every player who stepped foot onto a Major League field, or had a rookie card produced.  This lot goes a long way in filling those years from 1976-1980.  No huge names, but some recognizable ones.  Here are my 5 favorite from the bunch:

1974 Topps Bucky Dent rookie card

1974 Topps Jerry Hairston rookie card

1979 Topps Danny Darwin and Billy Sample rookie card

1980 Topps Dickie Noles rookie card

1980 Topps Jerry Don Gleaton rookie card.

If you want to see more of the rookies, you can check out my on-going project:  The Rookie Card Project.

And finally, not pictured, are roughly 300 “commons” from 1974-1980.  Any one working on any of these sets or interested in trading for teams?

This entry was posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:35 am and is filed under Thrift Treasures with tags 1975 Topps Mini, baseball, baseball cards, Dodgers, Mario Mendoza, rookie cards, Thrift Treasures, Topps, vintage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.