Vintage Fridays: Dave Philley, 1956 Topps #222

Earlier this week, my booty from the Topps Million Card Giveaway finally arrived, some six weeks and change after I ordered them for shipping. Of course, I waited until the very last day to place my order, so there's another lesson about procrastination.The important thing is that the cards all arrived in reasonably good condition. I'll do a full show and tell a little later. This Dave Philley card was the oldest of my new additions, acquired in a trade with Ryan of recently-relaunched Phillies blog The Fightins. He said that he didn't care what he got in return, as long as it went to a good home. I took him at his word and offered a 1988 Topps Indians Team Leaders card...yes, seriously.

But that was just on the Topps website. I had been holding onto a Chase Utley relic card that I pulled from a pack of 2010 Topps last year, and when Ryan and I met up in Philly back in February I completed the trade by giving him the Utley card. I think we're both happy with the exchange. This is a pretty well-kept card considering that it's 55 years old - a bit off-center, some mild surface wear, light creases in the top and bottom right corners that are only really visible on the back, and the entirely understandable fuzzy corners. Now I have Dave Philley's first Orioles card, featuring the smooth swing that allowed him to put together 28 multi-hit games in half a season after the O's acquired him from the Indians in July 1955. If I had any criticism of this card, it would be the backdrop of (I assume) Yankee Stadium. Considering that this is more of a portrait than a photo, it would've been nice if they had taken a little creative license and depicted Dave in Memorial Stadium. Eh, what can you do?