Comments on: Bump Wills

By: Eric Enders

Eric Enders — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:09:08 +0000

18. The Bill Ripken is classic, but the Aurelio Rodriguez error card is still the best one of all time.

By: Monkey Head

Monkey Head — Thu, 17 May 2007 00:19:58 +0000

17. I remember noticing things like "Topps had his ERA at .346, when it should be 3.46!" and waiting for the value to skyrocket. A friend of mine got the Billy Ripken fuckface card and turned down something like $100 for it. The best error card I ever had was a Keith Comstock that had "Padres" in the wrong color.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:54:18 +0000

16. 15 Well put, El Lay. All this talk about keeping a keen eye out for rare mistake-filled objects makes me recall a common comic book ad from my youth that featured two Lincoln pennies with the message that one of the pennies contained a flaw that could earn the owner of said penny "MILLIONS!" I could never figure out the difference between the two pennies but began checking my change for lucrative deformities, which I never found.

By: El Lay Dave

El Lay Dave — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:40:26 +0000

15. 14 I managed not to state that I wasn't so much trying to make an extremely minro correction as to express a strange sort of satisfaction that we no longer hold the less valuable card. Somehow we always felt a little cheated that we happened onto an interesting error card - feeling lucky - but found out it was worth less - feeling disappointed - than the mundane, but somewhat scarcer, correction.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:26:45 +0000

14. 12 I don't know, I think ol' Bump had his moments. In addition to setting the mark that still stands for most career stolen bases by a Ranger, he also was on the Topps All-Rookie team; combined with Toby Harrah to hit back-to-back inside the park home runs; inadvertently caused teammate Lenny Randle to punch their manager, Frank Lucchesi (who was planning on benching Randle in favor of Wills); and was almost certainly the only man ever to beat out Ryne Sandberg for a second baseman job (the rookie Sandberg played third during Wills' one and only year with the Cubs). 10 Thanks for clarifying my erroneous estimation of the relative value of the two versions of this card, El Lay Dave. Chalk it up to my mistake-makin' ways. And on that note, not that anyone could possibly care, but in 8 I meant to say "northwestern Vermont" and not "northeastern Vermont". Whew, I'm glad I set that straight. Now I must return to less important matters...

By: El Lay Dave

El Lay Dave — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:14:30 +0000

13. 11 LOL – you answered the question before I asked it in Dodger Thoughts.
http://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/663136.html#136

Thanks for the great story.

By: JL25and3

JL25and3 — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:01:30 +0000

12. That card – in either version – is almost certainly more valuable than anything bump Wills ever did in his career.

Loved the Billy Ripken link. I remember his card very well, and some of the others he shows are excellent. I’m surprised he didn’t include the famous Csonka-Kiick SI cover.

By: berkowit28

berkowit28 — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:56:55 +0000

11. Yes, my father did see Jackie Robinson play, in 1946 it must have been. Jackie Robinson was a very big deal in Montreal, as you probably know - I've read about huge crowds who went to meet his train, and so on. And even more so for my father, who was left wing politically at that time and a strong supporter of all things progressive, as they called it then. Jackie was a hero. I remember hearing about Pee Wee Reese, too. (I'd never heard of Tommy Lasorda, however...)

By: El Lay Dave

El Lay Dave — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:52:12 +0000

10. I remember my youngest brother, twelve at the time, opening a Topps pack and discovering this card, which we had not yet heard about. I don't remember who noticed first, but we immediately recognized the error in the card and potential monetary value. Lacking the fancy card protectors of today, we carefully stored the card as we could best manage, inside the frame of some random family photo sitting on his dresser. We also discovered later that the error card was, sadly, the less valuable. He may still have that card, in the same picture frame, in a dusty box in the corner of his garage. I'll have to ask. By the way Josh, the article you linked concludes that "Today [May 2004] either version of the [Wills] card has a high value of $3 in mint condition", so they seem to have settled into roughly equal value. I don't remember what packs cost in '79, probably 25 or 30 cents, so maybe 1000% return over 28 years. (28 years!? Holy smoke!)

By: chiros13

chiros13 — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:13:06 +0000

9. I remember opening way too many packs looking for the elusive "All" Hrabosky card. I think I did find one, but like Bump, the corrected version might be worth more.