Joy of a completed page – 1952-53 Parkhurst

I got my first 1952-53 Parkhurst in late summer, 1983, from a little card shop in Burlington, ON.  We had just moved to the province and part of the consolation prize was the sudden availability of vintage card shops the like of which I’d never seen.  The shop was five minutes from closing and once I picked my jaw up from the floor, I hurriedly grabbed a handful of gold, part of which was a really nice ’52-53 Jimmy Peters.

The ’52-53 set has long been a favourite, and in 32 years of poking away at it, I now have 76 of the 105 cards in the set.  What I didn’t have until now, though, was a complete page. Thanks to the Fall Expo, now I do.

These are cards 46-54 in the set.  As one can see, they’re smaller than standard and tend to slide around a 9-pocket sheet.  They’re similar in size to 1952 Bowman baseball.

So which card gave me the trouble?  There’s the Armstrong RC, which is tough, and the Delvecchio, but no, I’ve had both since the mid 1980s.  Solinger, Flaman and Sloan have been with me close to 30 years as well.

No, the complete PITA card – the one that escaped me for years – is the lone Hab in the bunch, Dollard St. Laurent.  I finally found a decent Dollard at the Expo.  Overpaid a bit, but it’s worth it just to finally see a complete page of nine.

This set really isn’t close enough to justify a final push – not just yet.  I hope I can get 5-10 more this year and get over 80%.  Then we’ll see.

I love the backs of these. Given the lack of space, to get that much text and a line of stats is pretty awesome.  Such a great set.