I’m always willing to try something different here, especially with the “weigh-in” posts that I pledged to maintain when I started this blog. This time around, I’m going to try merging two recurring themes of this blog: The Weigh-in and the “Let’s take an arbitrary number and see which cards have that number!” post. In this case, I’m using 63 as that arbitrary number and looking through my database to see what fun cards have #63 on the back.
These weigh-in posts are part of an ongoing goal of mine to streamline my collection, to get rid of the clutter and leave just the cards that I love, either individually or as a part of some greater project which I love. By posting quarterly updates on the organizing and streamlining of my collection, I get a good look at the big picture and – because I’m making it public – I find that doing this keeps me somewhat honest and helps with motivation and/or guilt.
It’s almost always guilt these days.
But before I get into the number crunching, let’s get to the first card numbered 63…
1978 Hostess #63 Dave Winfield
I think I appreciate Dave Winfield more now than I did when I saw him play, but part of that is the my knee-jerk reaction to anyone who played for the Yankees: “Aaaaaah, he’s not so great, he just gets hyped because he’s a Yankee”. 1978 saw Winfield named to his second of 12 All-Star teams.
There’s no questioning that I appreciate 1970’s Hostess more than I did in the 1970’s. Part of that is just because it gives me a chance to chase cards from years where I’d finished the Topps set decades ago.
Changes since the last weigh-in (from 4/4/2019 to 7/10/2019):
Net change in the collection: +299 (448 added, 149 removed)
Net change to the # of cards in the house: +445 (979 in, 534 out)
On the surface these numbers aren’t bad, but they’re still going in the wrong direction and there are storm clouds on the horizon…
1956 Topps #63 Roger Craig
1956 Topps generally falls into the ‘Nuff Said category for a list like this, but Roger Craig has seen the highs and the lows: He’s pitched in four different World Series, plus as a member of the Mets he was also a two-time 20 game loser (10-24 in 1962, 5-22 in 1963).
Totals since I started tracking on 10/16/2011:
Total # of cards purged from the collection, to date: 12,544
Net change to the collection, to date: +5,295
I don’t want to think about the last time this “net change” number was negative.
1970 Topps #63 NL RBI Leaders
The first of two Leaders cards I’m featuring here. Willie Mac lead the National League with 126 RBI, Ron Santo had 123 and Tony Perez was close behind with 122. For the record, Harmon Killebrew lead the Majors with 140, and Boog Powell finished 2nd in the AL with 121 RBI (just behind Tony P.)
Totals to date:
Total # of cards which have left the house, to date: 51,108
Net change to the number of cards in the house, to date: -16,806
I always try to focus on these numbers when I’m not making great progress… Even with all the added bloat of the last year or two, I’m still better than I had been at the start.
1970 Fleer Laughlin World Series #63 1966 Orioles vs. Dodgers
The Orioles swept the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series, and Frank Robinson was the MVP. The Dodgers lost the first game 5-2 and got shut out in the other three. Daaaaaaamn.
I was just a baby in 1966, but 2019 Joe heartily approves of this result.
Size of the collection:
Number of individual cards tracked in my Access database: 66,573
Number of cards that make up the sets flagged as completed in my Access database: 14,201
…which means I’ve got at least 80,774 cards in my collection
1975 Hostess #63 Steve Carlton
Another HOFer on a Hostess card. Gotta love it. 1975 was something of a pedestrian season for Carlton as he didn’t win 20 games, didn’t lead the league in any categories, wasn’t an All-Star and didn’t win a Cy Young Award.
Money spent on cards:
This quarter (this does not count money spent on show admission, shipping, supplies, etc) $177.21
Year to date: $540.31
Average per month for 2019: $90.05
The monthly average is continuing the trend of 2018, but is much higher than the monthly average of 2017 (the year I started tracking my spending).
1977 Topps #63 Tito Fuentes
It wouldn’t be a Tito Fuentes card without his trademark sweatband. Tito was the starting second baseman for the Tigers in 1977, and if there was a traded set that year, he would’ve been in it.
Size of my MS Access card database:
A few years ago I created an Access database and began tracking my collection in there. There’s quite a bit of work involved in keeping it up-to-date, so I like to satisfy my own curiosity by finding out how much information is currently in my database.
My database currently contains 927 (up 16 from the last weigh-in) and 229,442 card definitions (up 3,158 from the last weigh-in).
It’s important to point out that this is merely the number of sets and cards which are represented within my database; for example, although I have no cards from 1949 Bowman, that set represents 1 set definition and 240 card definitions.
1973 Topps #63 – RBI Leaders – Johnny Bench, Dick Allen
Interesting that the two Leader cards #’ed 63 are both RBI Leaders; only one was NL and this one is both leagues. Since this card only shows the two leaders, I’ll mention the #2 and #3 guys in each league:
NL: Billy Williams – 122; Willie Stargell – 112
AL: John Mayberry – 100; Bobby Murcer – 96
A few words about my lack of progress, numerically:
The fates have not been kind to me in 2019. Focus and discipline are what I’ve needed, but because there wasn’t a single retail set that completely grabbed me this year I’d try a little of this, a few blasters of that, without fully devoting myself to any one chase.
Also, after over a decade without a recurring local show, we’ve got one which includes fun nickel and dime boxes… I’ve also run across a number of smaller sets on some dollar tables, and it’s easier to buy a complete 1989 Topps Leaders set for a buck than to chase down those five or six cards I want. All this is great for entertainment value and trade bait, but not so good at helping me emphasize quality over quantity.
I normally have an 800-count box that I use for my “in box”, but now I’ve got that full of retail purchases and cards from my generous trading buddies. Also, since the July 10th cutoff date of this post, I’ve been to a regional show, a local show and received a shipment from COMC.
Oy.
I need to start “fasting” and keep organizing the cards I’ve already got.
…But GOOD NEWS for you, the reader… I’m done talking about my numbers and I still have two favorite #63’s to go!
2014 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions #63 – Rachel Homan
I’ve only got a dozen or so curling cards, so it’s a bit unexpected that one of them happened to be #’ed 63. As a skip, Homan is a three-time Canadian champion and one-time World Champion. As I pointed out the first time I posted this card, Upper Deck’s olde timey filters were not kind to Rachel, as this looks less like her than it should, and makes her look older than her (at the time) 25 years.
2002 BBM Hanshin Tigers Extra Edition #63 – Go Kida
I know very little about Go Kida, but even the most common of Japanese cards is exotic enough to be a favorite.
Thank you for getting this far! I promise there won’t be another weigh-in until October!
