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FREE: WOW! Original 1955 Topps JOHNNY GRAY rookie (KC Athletics) Great condition, given to me by Johnny!

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Description

The listing, WOW! Original 1955 Topps JOHNNY GRAY rookie (KC Athletics) Great condition, given to me by Johnny! has ended.

This is a 1955 Topps JOHNNY GRAY card in great shape.

Johnny Gray pitched 4 seasons in the bigs. He was a rookie in 1954 with the Philadelphia Athletics, their last season in Philadelphia before movie to Kansas City in the 1955 season. He would go on to pitch for the Indians in the 1957 season and then back to Philadelphia in 1958.

I won't pretend Johnny was great, but he is family, so I like him anyway.
I can confirm that on August 11, 1954, he struck out Mickey Mantle twice in the same game.
This was his rookie card and his ONLY Topps baseball card ... for that matter, the only card ever produced of him that I know of. He gave me three of them (one signed), and I am keeping the other two. :)
So, yes ... the original player did at least HANDLE this card, lol.

The card is off-center, bottom-to-top, but it has a great sheen, the corners are still decent for a 1955, and there are no creases. The back is clean.
Check out the picture.

Thanks for looking, happy bidding, and GOOD LUCK!

I ship for free in the US.
I do not ship elsewhere, sorry.

Questions & Comments

The autograph is not original, it is printed onto the card. The card is a flashback card and not an original.

Jan 20th, 2013 at 12:37:53 PM PST by

The card IS an original from 1955, there is NO reprint available for a 1955 Johnny Gray. Some other players have been reprinted, but not Johnny Gray. If YOU know of a 1955 Johnny Gray reprint, PLEASE feel free to let me know as I would be highly interested in owning one.
In addition, I have not claimed this card to be autographed; as I and any knowledgable collector knows, ALL 1955 Topps have a facsimile autograph on them. I do have one hand signed; this is NOT that card, otherwise the card pitcured would have TWO signatures on it, the facsimile that is on every 1955, and another that is better centered.
You might not have noticed these things, but 1) I sell a LOT of vintage cards on Listia, and have a really good grasp of vintage cards, players, etc, and 2) I noted that Johnny is a member of my family (check my Facebook link; take note of the name). Johnny gave me the cards personally a few years back as he knows I am a baseball fan and a vintage baseball collector. He is now well into his 80s and lives 600 miles from me (I am in Nothern Virginia, Johnny lives in Florida), and I do not know that I will see him again in this life; with this all in mind, ask yourself, why would I give my signed one away for virtual credits on Listia?
Next time around, reasearch a little before you come in and make an attempt to discredit my auction or anyone else's.

Jan 20th, 2013 at 1:19:56 PM PST by

I'm interested, but check out what picture?

Jan 17th, 2013 at 7:20:44 PM PST by

They're up now. Sorry, I only listed the auction an hour ago, but my camera battery needed some charge.

Jan 17th, 2013 at 7:46:06 PM PST by

:-) cool card

Jan 17th, 2013 at 10:50:07 PM PST by

I am pretty proud of it, but I do have two more. I think more than anything, I just wanted to share it with somebody.

Jan 18th, 2013 at 6:31:40 AM PST by

this is a great card :) i like ur auction fanned ya and watching

Jan 21st, 2013 at 11:39:25 AM PST by

Thank you and best of luck!

Jan 21st, 2013 at 12:47:32 PM PST by

cool auction!

Jan 23rd, 2013 at 7:39:11 AM PST by

Thank you!

Jan 23rd, 2013 at 8:14:10 AM PST by

watching!!

Jan 24th, 2013 at 11:17:34 AM PST by

Best of luck to you.

Jan 24th, 2013 at 1:51:04 PM PST by

Love vintage cards.Need to earn but watching.I won a card that appeared to be signed,Im a dummy and thought wow signed,is it real?I remembered on "Pawn Stars the guy said you could tell if there was a gloss over it-it wasnt.The ink would be on top of glossy finish.I tilted it and declared it not.lol

Jan 25th, 2013 at 8:31:02 AM PST by

This is not a signed card. All the 1955s have the facsimile signature. I do have a signed one, but this isn't it.
I watch some Pawn Stars; the items are cool, but i wish the transactions did not seem so staged. Most of the time I know what's up with sports items before the "expert" comes in on that show, lol. The had a 1967 Chicago Bears team ball on there a couple of weeks ago that had sigs from Butkus, Halas, Sayers, and Piccolo on it, but the last two were clubhouse signatures. I think that considering the OTHER sigs on it that they have not considered and the fact that the ball was team issued with a Halas authentic on it, the $1000 offer was about 40% low (should still be in the $1600-$2K range) and the $100 offer they made, pathetic. That would not be "sitting around" if he put just $800 on it, which would justify an offer of at least $400-$500.

Jan 25th, 2013 at 10:08:02 AM PST by

I saw a selller trying to auction off a 1977 Roger Metzger autographed card.I emailed him back and told him that all 1977 Topps Cards had a Facsimile(fake)auto.He said his had two signatures.The picture he had up only had one!!!

Jan 27th, 2013 at 5:25:32 PM PST by

Yeah, you gotta know SOMETHING about these things. But even if you don't, Google is your friend; you can look up an example of the same card. With very few exceptions, I can't think of too many I haven't been able to Google. I see a LOT of facsimile listed as autographed on here.

Jan 27th, 2013 at 5:29:49 PM PST by

WOW! Original 1955 Topps JOHNNY GRAY rookie (KC Athletics) Great condition, given to me by Johnny! is in the Collectibles | Trading Cards | Sports Trading Cards category