Hobby Articles

...And we're back.

For those who thought this thing was forgotten, it’s good to know that there's someone out there who hasn't given up yet. Right smack in the middle of the holiday season comes a special gift - another chapter in the story.

What has Bryon been up to for the last six months?

Well, at first, the Landis letter turned out not to be quite the mover and shaker. After initially not being able to find any good trades, he had to put the project on hold altogether as he relocated to another city and got settled in. Ultimately, he was able to get back to task and patiently await the right deal: a 1951 Bowman #134 Warren Spahn card in PSA 8 form.

After ending the project a year ago, Bryon decided to go for one last Hail Mary chuck, putting the Warren Spahn card back on the trading block with the stipulation that if he was unable to trade it away in a week, he would list the card on eBay, with half of the proceeds going to charity and the other half going to his daughter's college fund like originally planned.

Within a day, he was able to work out a trade for this '52 Mantle. That's right, a '52 Mantle. He made it! End of story, good night...

Ok, it's a '52 Berk Ross, not a '52 Topps, but it is a Mantle for sure and you can't go wrong with a Mantle.

For the second time in this project, Mickey makes a cameo.

If there’s someone who’s bigger than Mantle in baseball lore, it’s this man right here – the Sultan of Swat himself, Mr. Babe Ruth.

This is a strip card issued between 1919 and 1921, the #2 card from the set catalogued as W514.

The W514 set is considered the T206 of strip-card sets.

On September 25, 2011, Bryon decided to pull the plug on the project. He put the final card for sale on eBay.

Auction Link

When the gavel came down on October 2, 2011, the ending price was $910.

As originally promised, half of the proceeds went to his daughter's college fund and the other half went to charity (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital).

The end!