Thursday, January 11, 2018
#291 Gil Coan
#291 Gil Coan
Progress: 1st of this card
299 of 407 73.4% complete
How acquired: $5.50 on eBay
Condition: Fair
The coloring of Coan's eyes on this card is sort of impossible to ignore once you notice it. It's an otherwise pretty cool looking card. Coan looks like a slugger (he wasn't). This particular copy clearly has been knocked around a little bit, and even managed to pick up a pen mark on the back somewhere along the way. Despite the heavy creasing and faded colors, this Coan is more than acceptable for my purposes.
Per Coan's wiki page, he is the oldest living former Giant as of 2016, having been born May 18, 1922. Someone pointed out in the comments of a recent post, that I got a good price on a recent card. He explained the player was still alive and signed cards sent to him in the mail. That's a factor I never considered when wondering why some of these cards seemed to cost so much. I don't think that was the case with this Coan, but it was a welcomed bit of information that I'll certainly take into account going forward.
Stats: 11 seasons, 731 hits, 39 HR, .254 avg.
Best Hall of Fame Showing: N/A
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The comment about the player signing through the mail was mine. I actually never considered that as part of a reason why a specific player's card might be more expensive than otherwise thought, but it could be a bit of a factor. Reprints of the '52 and especially the '53 set cards are readily available inexpensively, and a lot of collectors might be just as happy to get a signature on one of those. Me, I'd prefer getting it on an original but I know that the reprint sets were/are popular items to get signed. Mr. Coan is still alive and signs at age 95. Maybe 40 or so guys are still alive from the 52 set so not many chances to get these cards signed these days.
ReplyDeleteGil Coan got the first base hit in the modern history of the Baltimore Orioles. And for that he'll always have a place in my heart!.
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