The Legend

The Legend

Monday, December 28, 2015

Yes Suhr!

eBay can sometimes test the nerves. Whether it be a non responsive seller, poor shipping or just the length of time to receive your card it will eventually test your patience. Such was the case with this card.

1933 Goudey Gus Suhr

This card took just shy of 4 weeks to make it to my house. It was won over around the 23rd of November, but didn't arrive until the week before Christmas. I didn't raise much of a stink as these are busy times so I cut the seller some slack. It just always erks me when the seller expects payment within a certain period of time, but can't send the card until 3 weeks after the auction was won. Also, the card was just slid into a top loader without any other protection. 

With all that being said, the deal on the card was pretty good. For about $15 I was able to get a cool Goudey card in reasonable condition. I've been branching out more and more trying to find unique Pirate items. More times than not this usually means a vintage item.  In the past month I've added 5 vintage cards on eBay. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to showoff a few more.

As far as as Gus Suhr goes, he was a very productive player for the Pirates in the 30's. 

Here is a couple interesting tidbits I found in the Baseball Almanac

"A .279 career hitter who is arguably the best fielding first baseman in Pirates history, California's Gus Suhr had a memorable nine-and-a-half-year Pittsburgh career that included two National League records. The first was a 70-game errorless streak at first in 1936; the second was 822 consecutive games played in a streak that ended on June 5, 1937, when he left to attend his mother's funeral."

Thanks for reading!




18 comments:

  1. Wow, nice! I'd love to have one of those old Goudey cards in my PC.

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    1. Most of the Pirates I have found have been pretty affordable. Many fall in the $10 range.

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  2. Nice card. I hate those types of eBay sellers as well. Especially when you contact them and they're like "well to me this is just a hobby and I have a personal life" like I'm supposed to care that eBay isn't their full-time job or that they *gasp* have other things to do.

    BTW, if you want some cool Pirates stuff, try switching to when they weren't the Pirates and just either Pittsburg [SIC] or the Alleghenys ;).

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    1. I probably could have got the guy more motivated to send the card by going through eBay but it just wasn't a huge priority. Thankfully he came through. I think getting the card to someone in two weeks or less is respectable and not that hard.

      You know you are talking old things when their was no "h".

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  3. Totally agree with ZZ here -- I couldn't care less that they think it is a hobby to them to sell cards. If they are selling cards, it's not a hobby -- it's a money making venture which requires them to be a responsive business person.

    That Goudey is very cool. Part of me wishes I had a reason to collect cards from before 1953 -- which, I suppose, I could do if I went with minor league Milwaukee Brewers cards. Still, you could find some very cool items from those pre-WWII days.

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    1. Most of the time when I buy old stuff it is more impulse rather than plan. I may go into a search saying "hey it would be cool to have a card from this set" but that is about as far as it goes. Rarely do I search a specific player.

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  4. Thankfully the vast majority of people I've dealt with on Ebay have been very professional. However, there are always those blissfully unaware knuckleheads...

    Anyway, a Goudey is always a good get. One really can't go wrong with pre-WWII vintage - happy hunting!

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    1. I probably had a handful of transactions this year where I wanted to slap the seller. Considering that I do 95% of my purchases on eBay that is not too bad. Only once did I not actually get the card. Most of my issues is with shipping.

      I like the Goudey cards. I'm finding some pretty good deals, but that is probably due to the fact I'm not that concerned with condition.

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  5. If that was all they packed the card in, than I hope the shipping was less than a buck. For every poorly shipped item, I've been fortunate 4x over with sellers that do awesome job in packing.

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    1. I think the seller charged a $1.50 on shipping. A very reasonable rate, but you still hope to get some type of soft sleeve.

      Like you most of my transactions are very smooth.

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  6. Guys like Suhr are what makes collecting the vintage stuff so much fun. Never heard of him before now, but what an interesting career!

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    1. Anytime I get a pre war card I always get sucked into reading articles on sites like Sabr and Baseball Almanac. It is fun, but you can lose track of time.

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  7. I can never understand why people can't go through the simple task of protecting a card with a toploader. Especially a 1930s Goudey card. Glad to hear the story had a happy ending nonetheless!

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    1. Laziness! Probably realized he didn't have the right stuff to protect the card properly but felt the pressure to send the card as he had already waited three weeks.

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  8. I just grabbed a Historic Autographs of Gus. Awesome grab. That sucks it took so long for it to get there for you. At least it eventually arrived safely.

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    1. I've seen that card pop up a few times, but couldn't find a deal. That is awesome you got it.

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  9. Gus is a pretty boy indeed - his cardboard that is. Ebay offers so many great deals and steals. Too bad there are a few careless sellers in the mix. I usually give them 10 biz days before contact begins.

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    1. For the amount I order from eBay something is bound to go wrong at some point. Fortunately most of my ordeals still resulted in me getting the card.

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