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Collector's Corner Showcase, Volume 14: gracecollector (Don Zimmer Tribute)

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AmishDave

Featured Contributor, Collector Showcase, Senior M
Sep 19, 2009
12,383
37
Ely, MN
First off, as soon as Don Zimmer passed away, I knew I needed to get Brad to get amongst this, solely for his Zimmer collection. I've admired every piece he's shown in the past and the stories that have come with them. I, myself, was a huge Zimmer fan. How I got introduced to him was his run as the Cubbies manager in the 80's (it helped have a retired couple, from Chicago, who were die hard Cub fans, living two, not three, doors down from us at the time) and just remembering what a presence he was in the dugout and anytime that he had to trudge onto the field.

Weather you remember Zim from his playing days, his managing days, the Pedro incident or just the great smile he always seemed to have on his face, it gives me great pleasure to have Brad give you info on his Don Zimmer collection for this weeks Collector's Corner Showcase.




General info:

Hello FCB, I'm Brad Wackerlin aka gracecollector. I started collecting in 1980 at the age of 8 and it's been a consistent hobby ever since. I'm mostly known for my player collections. I got steered towards player collecting in 1990. I was paying my way through college working at a hotel/convention center in Champaign IL as I was attending the U. of Illinois. There were montly card shows in the convention center. It being right at the time period when card brands were starting to explode, with UD, Donruss, Fleer, Sportflix and others issuing multiple sets against Topps. I quickly realized I couldn't collect every set anymore. I was studying advertising and dabbling in graphic design, so I've always been interested in seeing all the different card designs out there. I decided the best way to do that was to collect one card from most every set, and so I started collecting Mark Grace. I've always been a Cubs fan, and Gracie was just coming into his own, plus he was a home-grown prospect and had made a huge impression on me in 1988 with the "Boys of Zimmer." Plus, he was cheaper to collect than Sandberg and Dawson, and I was a poor college student!

Anyway, that got me into player collecting. Over the years, I've picked other players that let me collect throughout the entire span of baseball history. I go from Cap Anson, to Rabbit Maranville, to Hack Wilson, to Buck O'Neil, to Don Zimmer, to Mark Grace, to Vladimir Guerrero. Those player collections pretty much span every decade for me. More ways to see all the great baseball card designs throughout the nearly 140 years of MLB.

With the recent passing of Don Zimmer, I'm going to focus on my Zim PC for this Collector Spotlight. It may surprise some of you that my Zim PC is actually more complete than my Mark Grace PC, though not as large. I have roughly 90% of all non 1/1 Don Zimmer cards listed by Beckett's database, including 1/1 cards. For Grace it's 81%. Last year, I achieved 100% completion of all Zim cards issued prior to the 1/1 years, 101 items spanning 1952-1995. I have 165/210 cards including 1/1's on Beckett's checklist, and 156/172 non 1/1s.

So just some general info about me before I answer the spotlight questions. I'm 42 years old, live an hour west of Chicago in Huntley IL, recently moved into a house built in 1898, work for a telecommunications equipment manufacturer doing their printed and online marketing collateral, am married to wife Amy whom I have two great boys with - Connor age 10 and Cooper age 6. I'm very actively involved in Cub Scouts and love the outdoors, especially hiking, geocaching, camping and fishing. The family includes 1 dog, 4 cats, and 3 rabbits. Any extra time, I love reading and baseball history. I'm a member of SABR, and my license plate reads "CUBS GUY," so honk if you see me.

My other hobby is creating websites for my collections, and this has become my favorite facet of collecting these days. I put a lot of time into sharing my collections with others, and sharing my accumulated knowledge of card collecting on FCB. The websites are a great way to be able to access my cards whenever I want, and share scans. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do creating them. Links are under my signature.

Okay, I'm a writer by trade, so thanks for hanging in this far. Onto the questions...


1) When did you start collecting Don Zimmer and why do you collect Zim ?

I like collecting cards from every era, all the way back to the 1880's. Zim has cards from every decade from the 1950s to the 2010s. I started collecting Zim in 2011, starting with his vintage cards. It was fun to be collecting those unique 50's regional issues and 50's vintage Topps cards. My fondness for Zim dates back to him managing the 1989 Cubs, with a young Mark Grace, to an improbable playoff appearance.


2) What was the turning point in your collecting Zim? What put you over the edge and made you completely focus on Zim?

Zim had only about a 200 card checklist when I started collecting him, split right at 100 vintage cards (pre 1995), and 100 modern cards (2000 and later). I thought I had a good shot at hitting all 100% of the vintage. After I landed the Bell Brand potato chip card, and then his rare Victoria 1952 Cuban League card, I was hooked on the vintage. I did achieve 100% of his vintage checklist last year.


3) What has been the high point in collecting Zim? The low point ?

I'd say the high point was when I had Zim sign his 1948 Western Hills high school yearbook at the 2012 National Convention in Chicago. He got a kick out of seeing it, and it's now a pretty unique collectible. I also got my picture taken with him at the event. The low point was his passing last week. It makes me sad we lost such a baseball treasure. If there was ever a poster boy for "the baseball lifer," it would be Zimmer.

yearbook3.jpg

bradzim.jpg



4) What deal did you have slip through the cracks, that you regret ? Why didn't it work out ?

I was very close to buying an engraved wristwwatch Zim once owned that was presented to him by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It was at a reasonable price too, but I was hoping for a little discount, and I ended up passing on it. My fault for being cheap. Wish I had it now.


5) What's your favorite piece / card in your collection ? Why ?

Always hard to narrow it down to one item. I love the signed yearbook, and his original 1961 National League Contract to play with my favorite team, the Chicago Cubs, complete with original mailing envelope. My favorite card is a recent discovery. It's a 1960 Topps Advertising Panel card. It's badly cut from a 3-card panel, but as far as I've been able to learn, it's the only example of this card known. It was never checklisted with other 3-card 1960 Topps Ad Panels known, and the other 2 players that would have been on this panel (the top and middle cards) are still unknown. I love a good baseball card mystery, and this card is a favorite because there is still info to discover about it.

60TOPPSSALESMAN.jpg
60TOPPSSALESMANB.jpg



6) What's your wife / significant other / family think of your obsession (or collecting) for Zim?

She basically thinks it's a waste of money and space (her general complaints about my card collecting). She tolerates it reasonably well these days, though. I cut back from buying new wax to focus on my player PCs, so I'm spending less these days and that makes her happy.


7) What's your white whale or just a card you can't seemingly track down or acquire?

Beckett lists a 2001 Bowman Chrome Rookie Reprint Autographs #/100 on their checklist, but I've never seen any proof of the card existing and seriously doubt it at this point. Emails to Topps regarding its existence have been routinely ignored. So that card is Whale #1 , but #'s 2 and 3 would be the 2005 Topps "Dem Bums" Cut Signatures 1/1, and the 2005 Topps 1955 World Series Dual Match-Ups Autographs #ZR Don Zimmer/Phil Rizzuto 1/1.


8) Have you met the player you collect and what was the experience like ?

I met Zim at the 2012 National Convention (see question 3), and at the Andre Dawson and Friends Charity Softball Game, where he was an honorary coach. The signed program from that game is pretty impressive. Don was nice both times, but he was up there in years, and a little confused. The National Convention was a better experience.


9) What is your biggest pet peeve about collecting Zim?

There's still this ongoing controversy about Zimmer's through-the-mail autographs. Zim even said in his autobiography that his wife Soot signed many of his signatures. I know what the two in-person Zim autos look like. But they don't look anything like his early autographs. I still don't know what an authentic Zim auto from the 1950's - 1980's should look like. There's even controversy that the facsimile auto that Topps used on it's 1950's cards of Zim is actually Soot's handwritting, as Zim once said Soot signed all his contracts that were mailed to his house. I don't trust any of the authenticated JSA/PSA autos from this period. The only auto's I trust are his pack issued ones from 2001-2014, as they match the ones he signed in front of me.


10) How have forums / eBay / COMC helped your collecting of Zim? How have they hurt ?

Haven't really met any other Zim collectors on the main forums, so not as much help as I've received for my other player collections. I love sharing my collection pickups on the boards, but kind of feel no one is really interested in my Zim pickups. Has anyone even read up to this point? :smile:


11) How much competition do you face in your collecting of Zim? How often do you check forums / auctions sites for Zim ?

Not much competition at all, which is one reason I picked him to collect. More competition from set collectors than player collectors. I've only ever encountered one other person who had a Don Zimmer PC, but there may be others. I'm an eBay junkie... I check for my guys up to 5 times a day.


12) Any thoughts of ever giving up the collection ?

Not really, don't think I'd get much in return. I could give up on it easier than my Grace PC though. I do feel now that I've found all his vintage cards, collecting him will be a bit less interesting, as the new cards don't hold the same appeal to me.


13) How has the generosity of FCB'ers or other forum / site members helped your collection ? Elaborate.

FCB has been great lending me a hand on my other player PCs for Grace and Vlad Guerrero, but there's just not much help it can provide on Don Zimmer. The benefit I get from FCB is just being able to share my strange player PC with a handful of other baseball junkies like myself. The camaraderie around here makes the hobby fun.

A few collection highlights:

His first card, 1952 Victoria
52VICTORIA.jpg
52VICTORIAB.jpg


Iconic 1955 Bowman Rookie Card:
55BOWMAN.jpg
55BOWMAN.jpg


Tough Regional Potato Chip issue:
58BELLBRAND.jpg
58BELLBRANDB.jpg


A favorite, as I'm a Root Beer connoisseur:
58HIRESROOTBEER.jpg
58HIRESROOTBEERB.jpg


Two 1962 cards that are some of his hardest cards to find, both tough short prints. The Jello card was printed on boxes of an unpopular flavor.
62BAZOOKA.jpg

62JELLO.jpg


First Manager card:
73TOPPS.jpg


First Memorabilia and Auto cards:
01FLEERRS100JERSEY.jpg
03UDYANKEESIGAUTO.jpg


Rare autos:
05TOPPSPRISTINEPEU.jpg
05TOPPSPRISTINEPEUB.jpg

03TOPPSATFF64BUYBACK.jpg

09TOPPSROHAUTO.jpg


First Heritage appearance:
07TOPPSHERITAGEREDAUTO.jpg


Triple Threads:
07TOPPSTRIPLETHREADS18.jpg


Impressive 2009 Topps Tribute Rainbow (1/1 Red and only missing one press plate for complete rainbow)
09TOPPSTRIBUTE.jpg
09TOPPSTRIBUTEBLUE219.jpg
09TOPPSTRIBUTEBLACK99.jpg
09TOPPSTRIBUTEGOLD50.jpg

09TOPPSTRIBUTERED1.jpg
09TOPPSTRIBUTECYANPLATE.jpg
09TOPPSTRIBUTEMAGENTAPLATE.jpg
09TOPPSTRIBUTEBLACKPLATE.jpg


First pack-issued Sketch Card:
14FAMOUSFABRICSBIGAPPLESKETCH1.jpg


Last on-card auto before passing:
14TOPPSARCHIVESAUTOPURPLE10.jpg


My thoughts on Don's passing:
I think baseball is a little poorer with the loss of Don Zimmer. Bud Selig said "Don was the kind of man you could only find in baseball," and he was right. Don was a link to baseball's past. He once shook hands with Babe Ruth, played alongside Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, was an original New York Met, played in Cuba Winter Leagues and the Japanese Professional League, coached and managed at every level of the game, and was in the end a great ambassador. He was just about the toughest competitor anyone ever played with - coming back from two life-threatening beanballs to the head and bravely stepping back to the plate the next season. He loved the game. He was old school gruff, and that cost him a few friends, but everyone who ever played alongside or under him admired that he always told it the way he saw it and wasn't a butt kisser. Zim was never a superstar. He was a scrapper, and a true original, and he will be missed. If you'd like to learn more about him, please visit my website at: http://www.baseballcardstars.com/zimfiles/index.html.

Thanks for reading,
Brad Wackerlin (gracecollector)
Huntley, IL
 

MrMet

Well-known member
Apr 6, 2010
13,556
612
The Poconos
Awesome read,
Love how in depth you got. It's been fun playing baseball detectives with ya and now I know more about the person behind the screen name which I think is cool.
BTW Do you know if Zim has any certified autos of him in a Mets uni?
 

LWMM

Well-known member
Feb 21, 2009
1,062
46
10) How have forums / eBay / COMC helped your collecting of Zim? How have they hurt ?

Haven't really met any other Zim collectors on the main forums, so not as much help as I've received for my other player collections. I love sharing my collection pickups on the boards, but kind of feel no one is really interested in my Zim pickups. Has anyone even read up to this point? :smile:

Yep.

Great stuff, I especially like that portion of the ad panel. How did you find it? Also, what are the 16 non-1/1s you're missing?
 

metallicalex777

Super Moderator
Aug 7, 2008
13,903
117
Seattle, Wa
What a finely written article, way to go Brad! It is always great to see your Zim and Grace PC. Your Vladdy PC is getting nice too. I like the rarity of the Jello card with it being on an unpopular flavor. Do you know what flavor it was?
 

michaelstepper

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2010
8,211
519
southeast Alaska
Great read Brad! Possibly the best one yet. And yes, I do very much enjoy seeing your pickups.
I always enjoyed the stories and seeing zim in any of the games televised nationally. Even as a guy from southeast Alaska, watching Yankee playoff games and following years, it was easy to see what Zim meant to everyone and baseball.
Probably one of the hardest things I watched was his "apology" news conference for his actions with pedro. It infuriated me to see him do that and I felt bad for him.
 

gracecollector

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
6,559
215
Lake in the Hills, IL
Thanks for all the nice comments everyone. To answer the questions asked:
[MENTION=4428]MrMet[/MENTION] - Zim has exactly one autographed 1/1 card as a Met. In 2003, Topps All-Time Fan Favorites had buybacks of every Zim Topps card. The 1962 buyback is the rarest as a 1/1, and that's his only Mets card. I only have 2 of these "AutoProof" cards.

03TOPPSATFF61BUYBACK.jpg
03TOPPSATFF64BUYBACK.jpg


[MENTION=3094]LWMM[/MENTION] - The ad panel showed up on eBay, along with some other cut cards from other panels. The three card panels are extremely rare, selling for $1000-$2500 intact and depending on players.
[MENTION=2055]metallicalex777[/MENTION] - I've never been able to find out what Jello flavor Zim's card was on. I hope to see an intact box some day. I should add that to my white whale list along with another: a 1964 Bazooka Stamp panel with Zim (10-stamp strip). I've seen a few Bazooka panels but they run in the $500 area. Never seen a Jello box though, can't imagine what it would sell with. I'd also like to find a 1962 Bazooka Gum box with the original 3 card panel, which was a short print with Harmon Killebrew. I forgot about the time I let that 3 card panel slip through my fingers at $145, when it's a $300-$400 item.
 
Last edited:

Gwynn545

Well-known member
Aug 29, 2008
5,526
44
North Seattle
Awesome article, and great writing! Truly an enjoyable read!! Sadly, I am one of those people that knew of Zim as the "Pedro" guy, other than knowing of his name as a baseball guy. Everything I've learned since then has come through Brad's posts and website.
 

Topnotchsy

Featured Contributor, The best players in history?
Aug 7, 2008
9,446
168
Awesome piece! Although we may need round 2 for his ***** League collection etc...
 

MrMet

Well-known member
Apr 6, 2010
13,556
612
The Poconos
[MENTION=1845]gracecollector[/MENTION] any Zim Met autos that aren't 1/1s, maybe one that I could afford for my Mets collection one day down the line, lol
 

yankeesjetsfan

New member
Jan 26, 2011
46
0
Fantastic collection and a wonderful tribute to Zim.

Mike

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Freedom Card Board mobile app
 

blueeagle82

New member
Nov 11, 2015
1
0
I've been wondering for a decade now about who else might have hunted down the All-Time Fan Favorites 2003 buybacks. For reasons I don't remember, this was the set that got me back into collecting for a while and I started chasing down the entire set including the Zimmer autos. I think I managed to find and procure about 10 of them. I'm going to have to go pull those out now just to see what I have.



As an aside, the piece was a great read just on collecting in general. So thanks for the insight.
 

nkdbacks

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
865
51
AZ
A great read, thanks for sharing! I've never seen the 2009 Tribute set before - those look really sleek together. I focus so much on your Grace collection that Idon't get to appreciate the Zim collection as much, so really great to see the focus on this.
 

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