Happy Birthday Mom!

1950 Bowman #204

1952 Bowman #148

I'm a few days late with this post, as I had to take a quick little work trip to Chicago.  Sadly, I was unable to fit a baseball game into my visit and return trips to Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park (aka Guaranteed Rate Field) will have to wait until (hopefully) my next Chicago trip.

But I digress.  Another tax day has come and gone and my Mom's birthday was on Monday.  As has been the tradition in recent years, I'm compensated for preparing my Mom's tax returns in the form of vintage Phillies baseball cards.  This is an amazing form of compensation and at the same time a horrible business model if I was actually in the business of preparing individual tax returns.  I'm always extremely grateful for the time my Mom takes to review my want lists and then track down Phillies cards I need.  She's very meticulous in her hunt, and the cards she provides are always in fantastic shape.

This year was no different than prior years.  I added two more Bowman Phillies cards to my collection as I creep ever closer to having a full run of vintage Bowman Phillies team sets.  The fantastic horizontal Granny Hamner card from the 1950 Bowman set means I'm just one card away (#177 Hank Borowy) from the complete team set.  And the Ken Heintzelman card from the 1952 Bowman set means I'm three cards away from completing that team set.

1952 Topps #44

1958 Topps #134

Next up were a few vintage Topps cards.  I've had a reprint of Con Dempsey's 1952 Topps card in my collection for over 30 years, and I now I've added the original.  My Mom also tracked down a 1958 Topps Phillies team card, with a pristinely unmarked back.

Even though I'm extremely thankful for my Mom every day, I like to officially declare my gratitude every year on (or near) her birthday.  Nothing I've accomplished so far would have been possible without the love, support, patience and baseball card purchasing of her and my Dad.  Happy birthday Mom!