#214 3rd Series Checklist 219-327 / Special Autographed Photos Checklist

This is the first of two checklists in a row, and I'm going to skip the part of these checklist posts where I typically prepare a lengthy state of the union or state of the set summary.  The last checklist post came just a few weeks' ago, and not much has changed since then.  I'm writing this on the evening of Sunday, January 15th, tired from spending the bulk of the day un-decorating the house and putting away Christmas.  It's never fun, and today was no different.  But I am trying to improve my overall mindset when it comes to the month of January.  I don't like the attitude of "let's get this over with," and I've always had the tendency to embrace and enjoy Christmas, and then look forward to the spring and baseball once the holiday season had ended.  As I get older, and as I continue to practice mindfulness, I'm trying to be more grounded in the present and not wish away days, weeks, months.  Even if January is the worst month.  (I could use some more practice.)

Building the Set / Card #34
December 3, 2022 from The Philly Show (Huggins & Scott Auctions)

At the outset of The Philly Show, more formally known as the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania, we needed just four cards to complete our 1965 Topps set.  I wrote a full summary of the show in this post over at The Phillies Room.

The show so far had been an all-timer.  Major purchases were made (1965 and 1969 Topps Mickey Mantle, 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson rookie card, Diamond Stars Rogers Hornsby), our 1965 Topps set was completed and I admittedly wasn't ready to leave just yet.  With a little more cash in hand, I decided to find a few more cards for our now newly-collecting 1969 Topps set.  

I found a box of vintage semi-star cards at the table of Higgins & Scott Auctions from Silver Spring, Maryland, with a "50% Off" sign attached to it.  It was truly a hodge podge of minor stars, checklists, multi-player Rookie Stars cards and other assorted randomness.  After confirming the cards were indeed 50% off the sticker prices, I found eight interesting cards needed for our set and parted with my final $50 of the day.  This checklist card, the second checklist we've already added to the set, was $5, and I consider that a fair price given it's clean and completely unmarked.

The Card / Checklists

Rather than have a star player make a cameo here, as all of the other checklists in the set do, Topps went with nothing but numbers, check boxes and names here in order to fit in the 33-card "Special Autographed Photos" set on the back.  This is more commonly referred to today as the Deckle Edge set, and I'm tracking those here as I add each player's base card to our set.  If I had been collecting this set back in 1969, the presence of these 33 cards would have led me to believe they too were part of the overall set and I would have tried to track them all down.  Topps would add two updated cards to the set with Jim Wynn and Joe Foy replacing Hoyt Wilhelm and Rusty Staub in subsequent printings.

With no star making a cameo on the card, this is the only card in the entire 1969 Topps set that doesn't fall into any team sets.

#213 Gerry Arrigo - Cincinnati Reds / #215 Rico Petrocelli - Boston Red Sox