Luis Aparicio: An affordable HOF'er

Luis Aparicio is the living proof that you can still purchase great HOF'ers, even graded, for less than $15 on ebay any given sunday.

During his 18 seasons MLb career, he achieved many distinctions:

• 1956 Al ROY
• 10 time All Star
• 1966 World Series champ with the O's
• 9 Gold Golves at SS (five of them in a row)
• He lead the AL in stolen bases 9 straight seasons and went back home with 506 in his career (34th all time leader)

Finally in 1984 he was elected to the HOF receiving the highest % of votes among his class that also included Harmon Killebrew, Don Drysdale, Pee Wee Reese and Rick Ferrell. He's also a proud member of the Venezuelan Baseball HOF in which he was inducted back in 2003.

The only Aparicio card I own so far is this 1963 Topps but in the next couple of weeks I'll be making a run after a graded copy (even if it's a PSA 1) of his 1956 RC. In the meantime, enjoy:

The first Dominican who ever made to the show: Ossie Virgil

It's been a couple of months since I wrote something on this blog. That doesn't mean I forgot about the hobby, is just that lately I haven't been able make it down to my nearest vintage flea market (a 3 hours drive from home) and therefore I had to rely on Ebay for some graded cards that I can afford and mean something to me.

Since my last post, I've added a few cards to my PC and new long term project. One of those pieces is none other than Osvaldo Jose Pichardo Virgil a.k.a "Ossie Virgil", the first Dominican who ever made it to the show.

Born in 1932, Osvaldo debuted in September 23rd, 1956 playing just 3 games in what was left of the season but he opened the doors of a brighter future to 490 other Dominican players who have debuted since then and later became legends like the Alou brothers, Rico Carty, Juan Marichal and many others.

The social and economic impact baseball has in our society is incommensurable. Just think about how many prospects are currently making their way through the MLB teams farm systems established in the DR. Hundreds of them.

In a funny misspelled note, according to Ossie's Topps RC, he was born in "Corpus Christi" which is wrong. His hometown is "Monte Cristi", one of the poorest provinces in the DR.