Santa Crossed 7 Cards Off My Most Wanted List (#SBWTMABCTJ)

1952 Topps #223

1953 Bowman Color #65

1953 Topps #146

For the fifth year in a row, my Mom took it upon herself to personally demolish the majority of my "Ten Most Wanted - Vintage" list found on the sidebar.  Here's what it looked like prior to Christmas, and as you can tell by the seven cards featured within this post, the list now needs seven new residents.

The Pre-SBWTMABCTJ List

I've always received baseball cards for Christmas, and I'm very lucky that my Mom has kept the tradition alive started by her and my Dad many years ago.  In recent years, our family has gathered at my Mom's house the day after Christmas to spend time together and exchange gifts.  This year, I was happy to unwrap the Star Wars book I asked for and I was also thrilled to receive the Beatles 1+ CD/Blu-Ray collection from my Mom.  But there's just something about unwrapping small packages shaped like baseball cards in top loaders that brings me back to those special Christmases from the 1970s and 1980s.

(As an aside here, I think it's fitting that my Mom's main Christmas presents to me this year were once again related to the Beatles, Star Wars and baseball cards.  This is pretty much what my typical Christmas gifts have consisted of for the past 35+ years.)

For past after-Christmas posts, I've spread out the haul from the annual Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim (#SBWTMABCTJ) over several posts.  This year, I wanted to keep these seven cards together in one post in order to maximize their collective awesomeness.

1950 Bowman #30

1952 Bowman #4

1950 Bowman #30 Eddie Waitkus
This card brings me down to needing just six cards to complete the 19-card 1950 Bowman Phillies team set.  The first line on the back of this card is still bizarre to read today:  "Eddie had appeared in 54 games last season and was hitting at a .306 clip when he was shot and seriously wounded by a demented girl fan."

1952 Bowman #4 Robin Roberts
This is one of two vintage Roberts cards I received this year, both representing two of the most valuable remaining cards standing in the way of me having a complete run of Phillies Bowman cards from 1948 to 1955.

1952 Topps #223 Del Ennis
This card may be my favorite of the bunch.  Featuring one of my Dad's favorite players, this is now the nicest 1952 Topps card in my collection.  The card is well-centered with no front or back blemishes and it has three sharp corners with only a minor ding on the lower left corner.  I still have a ways to go to complete the 1952 Topps Phillies team set, but this card gets me a little closer.

I need to mention again how pristine this card is.  This is pretty much what I imagine the 1952 Topps cards looking like when they were pulled out of a nickel pack over sixty years ago.

1953 Bowman Color #65 Robin Roberts
This is the second Roberts card from this year's haul, and now the only vintage Bowman card of the Hall of Famer that I'm currently missing is his 1949 Bowman rookie card.  This is one of those cards that I've seen for sale at card shows for years, but I've never owned.  I'm thrilled to finally have this card as part of my collection.

1953 Topps #146 Granny Hamner
The card's front reads Granville, but the card's back points out three times that the player's nickname is actually "Granny."  The 1953 Topps Phillies team set is now well within reach for me, as I need just four more cards.

1957 Topps #70

1959 Topps #317

1957 Topps #70 Richie Ashburn
This was one of two "modern" baseball cards I received from the SBWTMABCTJ and this is the final Ashburn Topps cards I needed to finish off my complete run of his Topps cards from 1951 to 1959.  For good measure, my Mom also added in the next card.

1959 Topps #317 N.L. Hitting Kings - Willie Mays & Richie Ashburn
Like the 1953 Bowman Color Robin Roberts card, this is one of those cards I had admired for years at various baseball card shows.  This card commemorates the 1958 N.L. batting title race, decided on the final day of the season when Ashburn went 3 for 4 to top Willie Mays' 2 for 5.  Ashburn finished at .350 with Mays at his heels with a .347 average.

And there you have it.  Thanks to my Mom's continuation of an annual tradition, I now have the pleasure of crossing seven more vintage Phillies cards off my want lists.

2011 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim

Part 1 - Continuing a Tradition

Part 2 - 1971 Topps Set - 13 More Down

Part 3 - 1952 Topps Phillies

Part 4 - 1951 Bowman Phillies

Part 5 - Curt Simmons - Two New Bowman Cards

Part 6 - 1955 Bowman and Topps Phillies

2012 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 1941 Double Play Litwhiler & May
Part 2 - 1963 Topps John Herrnstein rookie card (featuring Willie Stargell)
Part 3 - 1940 Play Ball Phillies - Part 1
Part 4 - 1940 Play Ball Phillies - Part 2
Part 5 - 1950 Bowman Del Ennis

2013 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 1998 Upper Deck Scott Rolen
Part 2 - 1968 Topps Phillies Team Card
Part 3 - 1966 Topps Bob Uecker
Part 4 - 1955 Bowman Robin Roberts
Part 5 - 1965 Topps Johnny Callison
Part 6 - 1954 Bowman Richie Ashburn

2014 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 1952 Bowman and 1953 Bowman Color Richie Ashburn
Part 2 - 1950 Bowman Roberts, 1951 Topps Blue Backs Jones, 1955 Bowman Wyrostek
Part 3 - 1995 Collector's Choice Hayes and 1999 Fleer Mystique Burrell

2015 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Seven Phillies Cards from the 1950s Crossed Off the List

Posting will continue to be light as I continue my winter hibernation.  Happy New Year!