#7 Wayne Terwilliger

#7 Wayne Terwilliger
Progress: 1st of this card
248 of 407  60.9% complete
80% of the non-hi #'s!!!
How acquired: $4.00 on ebay
Condition: Good
This Wayne Terwilliger fell into my lap for a price that I consider nothing short of a steal.  All of the Yankees and Dodgers in this set consistently sell for higher prices than similar players from other teams, and I've found it's even more pronounced with the Dodgers.  I had a self-imposed budget of $8 for this card, and was coming to terms with the notion that it wasn't going to be enough when this one ended up in my grips.  A rare "victory" as I enter the final 20% of the non-hi numbers (1-310).

Stats: 9 seasons, 501 hits (Hope he saved the ball for hit #500), 22 HR, .240 avg., 1,224 wins in 12 seasons of minor league coaching, wrote an autobiography in 2006; "Terwilliger Bunts One"

Best Hall of Fame Showing: N/A

Speaking of the non-hi numbers, that's all I'll be doing before moving on to 1953.  Which isn't to say I don't want to complete this set, but I simply lack the financial means to try to tackle the final 97 cards.  Forget about the 10K+ a low grade Mantle would set me back, I just can't justify the prices for the commons.  "Victories" would be anything less than $100 per card.  I know I've stated I don't care what condition these are in, but that's not entirely true.  I've discovered I can't accept extremely trimmed cards.  I don't care if the card is ripped into quarters and taped together, but I need it (or most of it) to be there.  Take this #378 Les Fussleman hi number card that just sold on eBay: 

That just doesn't work for me, even though it's in pretty nice shape but for the lack of edges.  Maybe at under $5 I could make exceptions, but not at $26.00, and I've seen cards worse than this go for nearly twice this amount.  So I've come to the decision that my limited collecting budget can be better spent pursuing other things.  There are a couple hi numbers I want, and will likely pursue (Bill Dickey sitting atop that list), but I've got a solid jump on 1953, and will be looking to move on once I complete 1-310.  

If you've been paying attention, you've probably noticed my "need list" is well ahead of my posting, so what follows my be a spoiler for those of you who haven't looked at the list, but here are the final cards I'm looking for in the first five series and what the cheapest "buy it now" price on eBay is.  Aside from the Willie Mays, it seems shockingly achievable to be done in the next year, and I've been slowly building a Willie Mays "war chest" by selling recent Topps inserts on eBay the last couple of years with my 50 free listing each month.  At this point I've also run into a common annoyance of price anomalies, cards that just seem to cost way too much given the player on the front.  And all of the remaining cards are well above the average price I've paid so far, but that's also due to the fact that prices for all of these have been rising over the last nine years I've been working on this set.

Remaining Needs #1-310 (lowest BIN price)

#1 Andy Pafko (57.01)
#29 Ted Kluzzewski  (10.69)
#37 Duke Snider  (26.25)
#181 Bob Swift  (29.75)
#203 Curt Simmons  (10.00)
#216 Richie Ashburn  (34.99)
#233 Bob Friend  (7.31)
#244 Vic Wertz  (5.25)
#253 Johnny Berardino  (10.00)
#260 Pete Castiglione (9.69)
#261 Willie Mays (355.00)
#262 Virgil Trucks (7.75)
#268 Bob Lemon  (23.00)
#272 Mike Garcia (9.75)
#277 Early Wynn (42.00)
#278 Allie Clark  (5.00)
#286 Joe DeMarstri (13.97)
#287 Steve Bilko  (18.25)
#289 Tommy Holmes (33.00)
#291 Gil Coan  (15.30)
#294 Walker Cooper (8.75)
#299 Ray Murray  (8.99)
#306 Lou Sleater (8.50)
#307 Frank Campos (15.30)

That's 25 cards to go, which means I'm actually 92% of the way there, not 80%.  I've only posted 80%, and have a decent back log to get to.  Completing the 1970 Topps set has really freed up my budget and allowed for some serious progress in the last six months.  It's a little sureal to be this close to "finishing" something I started off with no real ambition of actually doing.