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Sunday, October 25, 2020

Unchartered waters

I know very little about vintage basketball cards.

Most of us can take a look at any baseball card from the 50s, 60s, or 70s and know exactly what year the set is from. But if you showed me a basketball card from that timeframe? I'd have no idea.

In my quest to stay somewhat interested in cards right now, I've started to look at some vintage basketball cards. Given I'm a Syracuse University alum, I thought it was time to pick up some Dave Bing cards. Bing is one of the greatest NBA players of all time, despite being very under-appreciated. 

I hope to pick up a RC, but I started with a couple cards from other points of his career. Anyone know what year this is from without looking? Me neither!
It's from 1970-71 Topps. When I bought it on eBay, I expected it to be the size of a mini. Wrong! It's bigger than a traditional card. How would I know? I was very surprised when I opened the envelope and saw it.

See what I mean? Making uneducated purchases. Many would call that dumb. Including me.

Here's the second Bing I bought. Any idea on the year?
Well, it's later in his career, as he's a Celtic. But it's from 1978-79 Topps. It doesn't look much like it's baseball counterparts from 1978 nor 1979, although I do see some early '80s baseball cards in a few of the design elements.

It's kind of dumb of me to make these types of uninformed purchases, but we're only talking a few bucks. If anything, it's fairly enjoyable to see a completely new design from an era where we're all familiar with what the baseball cards looked like.

I'll probably work to complete the Dave Bing Topps run, as vintage basketball is picking up steam from a lot of collectors and investors. Might as well snag 'em now while I can...even if I'm buying cards I know very little about.
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8 comments:

  1. Elliptical ManOctober 25, 2020 at 10:23 PM

    You might consider using TCDB for researching singles and CardboardConnection for researching checklists and hobby box hit rates.

    Or you might not.

    ReplyDelete
  2. night owlOctober 25, 2020 at 11:03 PM

    I watch zero pro basketball and I know most of the '70s NBA designs, esp. 78-79 as it's the only time I bought a pack of basketball cards.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Billy KingsleyOctober 26, 2020 at 12:06 AM

    I knew them, yes, but of course I'm closing in on 95 thousand different NBA cards. so you could say I know a little about them.

    I suggest adding the 1996-97 Topps Stars cards to your collection or wantlist. It was a set issued to celebrate the NBA's 50th anniversary. Each player has three cards, and each card has Chrome, Refractor and Atomic Refractor parallels. There are also Rookie Reprints and Chrome and Refactor parallels to them, but unfortunately no atomic Refractors.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mark HoyleOctober 26, 2020 at 4:47 AM

    I used to collect basketball pretty heavily. Have complete sets through the 70’s.

    ReplyDelete
  5. FujiOctober 26, 2020 at 9:42 AM

    My first encounter with the 1970-71 Topps set was when I bought my Maravich rookie at a flea market a few years ago. As for the other one, I recognize the design... but wouldn't have been able to tell you that it was the 1978-79 design.

    ReplyDelete
  6. acrackedbatOctober 26, 2020 at 1:41 PM

    what's basketball? lol. nice-looking vintage!

    ReplyDelete
  7. JonOctober 28, 2020 at 8:44 AM

    It's been my experience that a lot of "fans" have no idea who Dave Bing is/was, so I can't imagine his rookie setting you back too much. I know I got mine a few years ago for like a $1, and have to think that similar deals can still be had, at least if it's ungraded.

    ReplyDelete
  8. CinciCuse BillOctober 30, 2020 at 3:39 PM

    As I'm sure you know, there are a lot of SU hoop player cards that can be chased! Chase on!

    ReplyDelete