From the Favorites Box: Jules Verne, 1952 Topps Look 'N See #97

A series where I post some thoughts about favorite cards. Previous cards in the series are available here.

Jules Verne is one of my favorite authors. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island have been important parts of my library since childhood.
 

And I'd like to say the timing worked out so perfectly that this Jules Verne card from the 1952 Topps Look N' See release was exactly the 20,000th card I acquired for my collection. However, being that I didn't even know how many cards I had in my collection until recently, I can't make that claim.

Anyhow, back to the card itself. At about 2" x 3", it's smaller than a standard-sized baseball card. But if the front still looks familiar, you're onto something. The Topps baseball card design from the same year, 1952, sported quite a similar look. 

Just replace the solid yellow border around the name with a marquee, and replace the "Famous Writers" icon with a team logo, and there you go.

The card backs are different, though, with a brief write-up on the luminary pictured on the front. Also included is a cool little feature where you've got to decode the answer to a question using a piece of red cellophane. (If you look closely at the card back you can just make out some inconspicuous shapes printed in light blue ink, hiding behind the main paragraph.)

So, what inventions did Jules Verne predict in his books?

Well, I happen to have a piece of red cellophane for just such an occasion, so when this card arrived in the mail I went to work.

After placing the cellophane on top of the card I did see something that resembled a hidden image and text, but it was barely coming though. Faded ink over 65+ years? Maybe.

Regardless, it certainly wasn't clear enough to share here on the blog. So the next thing I tried was to place the card face-down, along with the cellophane, into my scanner to see if the digital result was any more legible. Nope. Not much different at all. But then I thought, Hey, wait! Photoshop!

So, after much tinkering with red semi-transparent layers and then some color balancing and contrast adjustments, I was able to produce a decoded version that was good enough to share, although still not the easiest to read. 

The answer to the question? (Get ready before you scroll down, it's really bright)

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

I wonder if this is where Takara/Hasbro got
the idea for their Transformers decoder

After your eyes adjust, you'll see the answer is submarines, airplanes, and television. (That's a little school of fish underneath the submarine.) It's interesting that you can still just barely see the "Look 'N See" text peeking through the red filter, running across the card just below the school of fish. I don't know. Maybe cellophane paper was better in the 1950s.

Back to the set: There are 135 cards in all, including authors, poets, inventors, explorers, scientists, and more. Trying to complete it, however, is not on my to-do list, mostly because the cost of certain cards outweighs my desire for them (in halfway decent condition, Amelia Earhart, Teddy Roosevelt, Rembrandt, and Babe Ruth cards usually run about $50 apiece).

I'm happy to have a card of the father of science fiction in my collection, though (and in my favorites box), and wouldn't mind picking up a few other cards from the set.

Thanks for reading!



*It turns out I have just over 20,000 cards in my collection, so although this particular card may not have been number 20,000, it is one of 20,000.

Stastny Brothers

Can you imagine three brothers all playing ice hockey on the same local team, and on the same forward line? Sure, that's likely happened numerous times. But what about all three brothers playing for their country's National Team? Okay, that's much less plausible. And then what about all three turning professional and playing for the same NHL team? No chance, right?

Well, remarkably this happened. And after a recent eBay pickup, I'm pleased to have autographs now for all three brothers. Here they are:

In hockey conversation, Peter is the brother you'll hear about first, simply because he was the most talented. Just how talented? How about this stat:

Wayne Gretzky scored more points from 1980 through 1989 than any other player in the NHL. Guess who's second on that list? Yep, that's right. Peter Stastny.

That's not to say his brothers were slouches, however. Check out the stats on the backs of their 1984-85 cards:

And that's not even the half of it.

Many hockey fans—and sports fans in general—are familiar with the story of Soviet or Cuban athletes defecting in order to pursue their professional careers here in North America. But I think fewer fans know that athletes from Czechoslovakia under the Soviet influence faced the same dangerous path.

And in 1980, the Stastny brothers—Peter, Marian, and Anton—had quite the experience getting here.

The best article I've found on the subject is here, at BSN Denver:

https://www.bsndenver.com/stastny-brothers-defect-for-nhl/

Please give it a read. Just remarkable.

Catching for the Improv Team

A few weeks ago, while researching the 1956 Topps Baseball set for a separate blog post, I came across this card:

1956 Topps #159, Clint Courtney

Immediately I thought he bore resemblance to another man who put on the baseball uniform, albeit on the TV screen. Any guesses?

Here are a few hints:

Like Mr. Courtney, he was also a catcher (but for the Improv team).

He was heckled by an opposing team's celebrity catcher. (Get your shrimp here! Big-mouth shrimp on special today!)

For a time he held a front office position with the New York Yankees: Assistant to the Traveling Secretary.

He knows where to find a good calzone.

Give up? 

Here's the answer:

To tweak the card, I created new red and yellow text boxes, found a similar font for the player name, position, and team, and replaced the Washington "W" on the cap with a Yankees logo from the cap of another player in the set. Additionally, I brushed out Clint Courtney's signature that appeared at the bottom of the card.

Here's a picture of George in his Improv uniform, from "The Understudy" episode of Seinfeld. See the resemblance? Uncanny. (I flipped the image so George is facing the same way as Clint.)

And once I found that image, I figured it was too perfect to leave the card as it was. Next, I had to try to make a complete Costanza custom, with George's face on the left side instead of Clint's, and a small image of the Costanza–Midler collision added on the right.

 

 

It took a lot of tinkering to try and mimic the 1956 Topps design (the card you see above is my eighth attempt). I'm just not skilled enough to match the originals, which were painted by artists who used photographs as reference. Regardless, the card gives me a chuckle. I hope it does the same for you.

Introducing The 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee Dating Game!

It seems like the O-Pee-Chee Company became a bit lackadaisical when it came to the player bios on the backs of their 1982-83 hockey cards. Either that, or they were trying to get every eligible bachelor in the NHL hitched.

Why, you ask? 

Well, many of the player bios in the 1982-83 set were created using the following template:

Player X is [married / a bachelor]
His last amateur team was [insert team here]
His hobbies include [insert hobbies here]

Wonder if these bachelor bios helped anyone find Mrs. Right? Wonder no more! Welcome to the first episode of The 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee Dating Game, where we'll randomly select three eligible bachelors from the set and you, the reader, will choose which one has the most groovy appeal. [APPLAUSE]

First, let's review the set.

There are 396 cards in all. Once we remove the League Leaders, Team Leaders, and In Action cards, that leaves us with 330 individual player cards.

Of those 330 cards, we have 64 bachelors, 112 married men, and 154 cards that don't specify—either because there wasn't enough space on the card back or because their status just wasn't mentioned.

Now, let's start the premier round and introduce our first three bachelors! [APPLAUSE]

Bachelor number 1: Center from the Edmonton Oilers, Ken Linseman
Bachelor number 2: Defenseman from the Hartford Whalers, Chris Kotsopoulos
Bachelor number 3: Left Wing from the Boston Bruins, Normand Leveille

Now let's find out more about them, straight from the back of their hockey cards:

 

 

So, readers, who's the winner of the first episode? 

Bachelor number 1: Airbrushed Ken Linseman, who (appropriately enough) enjoys art?

Bachelor number 2: Toronto native Chris Kotsopoulos?

Bachelor number 3: NHL rookie Normand Leveille, who is fluent in several languages?

The Trading Card Database (i.e., Being Organized)

As collectors, I think we enjoy being organized (or at least we enjoy the idea of being organized). Knowing what we have; knowing where things reside; sorting things by number, by team, by player; separating our collection into smaller collections.

Arranging our things in certain ways just comes with the territory, no matter what we might collect. 

When I rediscovered my trading card collection just a few years ago, it was somewhat organized. Sets were in binders that were labeled. Other cards were in storage boxes that were mostly labeled. And some cards were in shoeboxes that weren't labeled. All in all, not bad for teenage me. But aside from a few need lists, nothing was catalogued on paper or on a spreadsheet. So I didn't really know exactly what I had. That's where The Trading Card Database has come in very handy.

I signed up in December, and began entering all my cards into the system. It's been interesting to view the stats so far. You can sort by year, by team, by player, by set, or by brand, and see how much of each you have. For example:

After entering the bulk of my cards, the data revealed more clearly that my collection was made up of complete sets, a few hundred singles (rookie cards, etc.), and some unopened material (wax packs, racks, and cellos). I'm not much of a team collector or player collector.

The data also helped me recognize that my collection included a lot of duplicates. And partial sets that I really had no intention to complete. And random cards. And other cards that I'd just rather send to collectors who need them. So, all those cards are now part of a separate list.

That's a lot of cards to trade!

And here's a great feature of the site's Transactions page: Once a trade is confirmed as a Transaction and both parties mail out their packages, the cards you send out are automatically removed from your collection. And once you confirm that you've received the cards you traded for, those cards are automatically added to your collection. No sorting through spreadsheets to update your collection column by column, cell by cell, card by card (this is especially convenient if you make a large trade). 

But the best feature I've found so far? This one:

Looking for a particular card for your collection? TCDB will generate a list of members who have that card available for trade/sale. 

Have some cards to trade or sell? TCDB will generate a list of members who are looking for those specific cards.

This really expedites the process. And there's even more to the site that I haven't explored yet.

I'm sure some of you already knew this information. But if you've made a firm resolve to better organize your collection and don't currently use any software or spreadsheets, I think The Trading Card Database is an excellent option. (By the way, it's free to use.)

If you're currently a TCDB member and would like to make a trade, there's a link to my collection toward the top of the toolbar on the right side of this blog. Feel free to look through my available cards, and maybe we'll be able to set something up.

And as always, thanks for reading.

From the Favorites Box: Mike Modano, 1990-91 Upper Deck #46

A series where I post some thoughts about favorite cards.

A year after the smashing success of their inaugural baseball card release, Upper Deck followed with a hockey set. And similar to their baseball set, the photography in the hockey set did not disappoint. (See also #47 Theo Fleury, #64 Ray Bourque, #91 Mario Gosselin, #176 Viacheslav Fetisov.)

You know who else didn't disappoint in his inaugural season? Mike Modano. In 1989-90, the smooth-skating, fiercely talented American impressed with 29 goals and 46 assists for a total of 75 points. Minnesotans knew they'd done well drafting Modano in the first round in 1988 (first overall), and the image on this Upper Deck card provides an early example of just how much he'd take the state by storm.

Not only is the photo perfectly framed, and not only does it capture Modano coasting along the boards, celebrating a goal with arms raised (and showing that classic North Stars logo), but check out the guy in the background behind the glass.

HUZZAH!

Mike Modano elicited this reaction from the home crowd for 4 seasons in Minnesota, then for another 16 in Dallas (and then one in Detroit). He's still the all-time goals and points leader among American-born players. 

And for all these reasons, 1990-91 Upper Deck #46 has a spot in my box of favorite cards.

Bo Knows Street Trades

Bo Jackson? No, but close: Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life!

I contacted Bo last month to let him know I had a few vintage cards from his want lists. We began organizing a small trade, but when Bo realized that we were both New Yorkers (and both worked in Manhattan), he suggested we meet up in person. That way we could add a lot more to the trade without worrying about shipping costs.

In one of the many examples of kindness and generosity among collectors, as soon as I mentioned that I was going to start building a 1978 Topps baseball set, Bo added a heaping amount of 1978s to the stack. So many, in fact, that they became the bulk of the trade.

Here are just some of the nearly 150 cards that will help me get started on the set. 

Bo also added a sizeable stack of players I followed back in the '80s and '90s. Thankfully, I had a decent amount of vintage and modern cards to send back his way. 

Great to meet you, Bo! Thanks again, and keep up the good work over there.

And if any of you kind readers would like to trade, just let me know. I've posted a want list here at Nine Pockets, and have lots of cards available to send out (mostly baseball and hockey).