Some More COMC Boxing Cards

 In addition to the 1951 Ringside I posted the other day my COMC order included some 1938 F.C. Cartledge Famous Prizefighters cards.  These were boxing cards that had a really low cost so I grabbed them up.  

It is a set of 50 cards with two number 13s and two number 19s, so 52 cards total.  I own seven of them now.  They are tobacco sized cards and in 1938 England you got one of these cards with each Knock Out Razor Blade you bought.  Cards 1-30 are all drawings and 31-50 are photos.  

I don't know any of these boxers because as you can see on the back of this Isaac Perrins card he was born in 1750 and died in 1800.  Since the the camera was invented in the early 1820 I assume the first thirty cards are all drawings because all of those boxers represented predate photography.  It is pretty cool that if you got 50 cards even if there were doubles they would trade you a whole set in an album.  They charged .03 for shipping and handling but that is a pretty good deal that no baseball card manufacturer ever would offer.

Even today I'm not a fan of sports cards where people are in their every day clothes.  At least I assume that was every day clothing back in the late 1700s.  He doesn't look like a boxer to me he looks like a random schlub.   It reminds me of those early Bowman RCs were guys are in their high school clothes. 

To me even though it isn't an in action card like the first one I pictured the fact that he looks like he is dressed to fight makes a big difference to me.  I doubt I ever "chase" this set down and try to build it.  I'll just keep plucking them up one by one when I see a cheap one offered. 

2023 TRSTSOCAAT #152 Nick Pivetta

Back to my 2023 Topps review after the short COMC mail day posts.

I was excited when the Red Sox picked up Pivetta during Covid year.  He was a guy that had put up good numbers then had a bad year.   He usually isn't lights out but he is competitive every time on the mound and has been a reliable starter and reliever since we got him.  Not great, not bad, just steady every team needs a pitcher or two like that.

I hate the Red Sox City Connects uniforms!  I know they are supposed to represent the Boston Marathon but the gaudy yellow is absolutely terrible.  Some people like them because the Sox have had good luck when wearing them (30-8 all time) but I hate them.  

It may just be me but does Pivetta not look like motocross/supercross/rallycross/racer of anything with (and without) wheels, Travis Pastrana?  

1951 Ringside Boxing COMC Mailday

The other day I said that I might post some of the boxing cards I got if people were interested and since I got a comment about them here they are.

51 Ringside Boxing cards is a 96 card card set that was released in two series.  The first series seems to be way more plentiful because while I have about a third of the set almost all of them are from the first series.

Most of the boxers in the set I have never heard of.  It has many famous boxers like Marciano, Lamatta, and Lewis but there are way more Goldstein's than stars.

Of the cards I got in this batch Beau Jack is the only guy I heard of, probably because of his four fights with Bob Montgomery.  Although he was a two time champion his most famous fight was his fourth bout with Bob Montgomery in 1944.  It is known as the War Bond fight and the only way to get a ticket to the fight was to buy war bonds.  Purchasing a 100,000 war bond got you a ringside seat. They sold almost 16,000 tickets and brought in $36 million, a record at that time.

Every now and then I will search COMC for 51 Ringside cards and sort by the lowest price.  Each of these cost me $3 or less.  I used to get them for less than $2 but the prices on common boxers has kept rising over the years.

1951 Ringside has that little logo showing the guys who were champs.  Out of curiosity I looked up Bartolo.  He was called The Pride of East Boston and won the title in 1944.  He lost the title in 1946 to Willie Pep who is considered by many to be the greatest Featherweight of all time.  He is probably most famous for winning a round without ever throwing a punch. 

Oddly enough when I think 1951 Ringside I think of the backs of the cards.  To me, they have the best numbered cards of all time, baseball, football, you name it; these are my favorite numbered cards.  They are big, they stand out, and they feature a boxing glove outline.  

A New To Me Virdon

 We interrupt the 2023 TRSTSOCAAT posts with a COMC mail day.  I bought this in August of 2022 but it didn't come in the mail until this week.  It sat in my inventory for almost two years before I requested shipping.  I requested the shipment on 4-19 and it got here on 6-12.  I waited two years to ship it so there was no reason to pay the extra for fast shipping.  

1986 TCMA All-Time Huston Astros #12

I didn't know that this card existed until the day I bought it.  I knew there was a 1986 TMCA All-Time Astros Bill Virdon and I have had it for years, however I didn't know that there was a variant until I saw it listed on TCB.  I went straight to COMC and made my purchase.  

The variation is the MLB logo at the bottom.  It isn't even listed in The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.  Without someone adding it to COMC I would likely never have known it existed.  

This is one card of eleven I had shipped from COMC and I may post some more of them but nine of them a boxing cards so I don't know how interested anyone would be to see them.

2023 TRSTSOCAAT #146 Alex Verdugo

Alex Verdugo was always kind of a strange player to me.  He played like one of Boston's Dirt Dogs but he sure didn't act or look like a Dirt Dog.  With his abundance of gold necklaces he was just way to flashy.  When it happened, he was seen as the best part of the Mookie trade but Conner Wong as since past him as the best part of the Mookie trade.  When I say best part I just mean the best guy coming to the Red Sox because no Red Sox fan likes that Mookie trade.

This looks like an out.  A long fly ball but an out just the same.  It is weird that you can't see gold necklaces flying here because I don't ever remember him batting without having to fiddle with them between pitches.  

This year he was part of a rare Red Sox-yankees trade.  I don't know at all how he is doing in New York but the guy we got for him as been good.  Wiessert has a nasty nasty looking Bugs Bunny like sinker and is one of the biggest reasons the Sox bullpen is doing as good as it is. 

2023 TRSTSOCAAT #92 Triston Casas

I let a week slip by without a post.  At least it wasn't a couple years again.  

I mentioned before every year there is someone on the team I refer to as The Kid.  Casas is the current The Kid on the Red Sox team.  Actually I refer to him as The Big Kid because he looks huge on TV.  He is 6-5 244 but somehow looks like he's in high school still.  He put up 24 HRs in 2023 which is not bad for a rookie though you kind of expect more from a first baseman his size.  He reminds me a lot of Jim Thome.  Both are lefty first baseman about the same size, they strike out at about the same rate, and they get on base at about the same rate.  But mostly it is that they both always seem so happy.  Thome hit 20 HRs his first season and just kept getting better.  If Casas can keep improving, well you never know...  If he can stay healthy that is...

 

My first thought when looking at this card is he starting a home run trot.  But after some closer inspection I think he's watching a short right field pop up.  Triston is looking up and far away but the crowd behind him doesn't seem to be responding.  Nobody is standing and nobody has their phones out taking a picture.  How weird in 2024 that I can look at a baseball card and use the fact nobody is taking pictures on their phones to come up with what is happening on the card?