Contest Winnings

Jim, from The Phillies Room, ran a contest a few weeks ago. It was about uniform numbers. I used Baseball Almanac to assist me. It worked. I won.

Jim quickly sent over some Hershisers, an Erskine, and some Negro League player cards that were all new to me. Enjoy them with me.

1996 Topps Stadium Club, Orel Hershiser (card #350)

1998 Pacific, Orel Hershiser (card #71)

1988 Pacific, Carl Erskine (card #350)

1983 Donruss, Hall of Fame Heroes, James Bell (card #25)

1983 Donruss, Hall of Fame Heroes, Satchel Paige (card #11)

1983 Donruss, Hall of Fame Heroes, Monte Irvin (card #15)

Thanks, Jim.

Al Kaline Bat Card

Al Kaline spent all 22 of his seasons in the Majors with the Detroit Tigers.

2003 Topps Gallery, HOF Edition ARTifact Relics, Al Kaline (card #AR-AK)

He was selected to be in 18 All-Star games and collected 10 Gold Gloves. 399 Home Runs and a .297 lifetime Batting Average. He hit .379 in the 1968 World Series where he helped the Tigers beat the Cardinals. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980.

Back in August of last year I won this card on ebay for the cool sum of 99 cents. $3.26 S&H still kept it under my self-imposed limit of $5.

1989 Topps Coins

In 1989 Topps brought some interesting things to market. Double Headers All-Stars.
Heads Up! Test Issue. Sticker Cards. Stickers. Gallery of Champions ingots. And Coins.

This set was made up of 60 pieces sold in packs of three coins each. An album to house them in was also available via mail order.

That's it. I've scraped the bottom of the barrel. I'm tired and uninspired. I've got another blog post due as a concert review and I've gone to the idea well and it is dry. Actually, I have a few ideas, but I'm too sleepy to execute them.

On the upside, I've been inspired to revitalize another one of my blogs. It was on hiatus for a year. It went there when I started this one. But, I've got a few weeks of posts already in the magazine just waiting to be chambered.

North Country Baseball presents information about baseball in and around Clinton Co., New York, before 1900. Clinton Co. is where I was raised. And my father. And his father. The blog basically contains newspaper snippets of teams from the area. No, it isn't earth shattering, but I have an interest in history and 19th century baseball. It isn't scintillating. But it is on autopilot for a while. Enjoy it.

And, I prepared five packages to head out in the mail on Saturday, so I am somewhat productive. And I've got some cards set out to scan and post about. But not this evening.

Thanks for reading.

Hershiser Oddball Ball

I picked this up on ebay several years ago. Every so often I take it off the shelf and dust off the plastic holder. My desk at work is so cluttered with paper, CDs, computer parts, and monitors that it would quickly get lost in the fray.

This is a 1996 Burger King Fotoball of Orel Hershiser. I think I spent about $4 on it. Every so often they still pop up and are available for about the same price.

In 1995, Hershiser was the ALCS MVP as well as team co-leader with sixteen victories. A three-time All-Star, he threw for a MLB record 59 scoreless innings in 1988 while also earing Cy Young and Sporting News' Player of the Year honors.

You'll notice a similarity between this ball and the 2010 Upper Deck cards. They are not licensed by MLB, just the MLBPA. Unlike UD, Burger King stayed far away from mentioning or showing any team connection.

Card Show Dealers

So, I've teased you and shown you some cards. Now let's look at some of the dealers that sold them to me. First off, here's where the card show was held. The Knoxville Expo Center.

This has been the third show that I've attended there. Every February and October Inside Pitch presents a show there. Mark Dill is the dealer that I met a year ago. He used to work with a friend of mine. That friend, Kathy H., bought my house when it was on the market a few years ago. Mark lives in the area and has a nice selection of, well, everything. I emailed him before the show asking if he was attending and could he bring any 1964 Topps Giants that he had. He brought a small stack and I was able to pick up five of them that were on the Collective Troll's wantlist. I also picked up the bulk of Beardy's O's cards here. And that Topps Super.

Keith Mackey runs Vintage Football Trading Cards. He's been in the business since 1982 and he specializes in vintage Football cards. This is where I got all but one of my Bill Wade cards. Keith was very helpful in helping me locate the Wade cards in his boxes. He's organized and had several of each card that I was interested in. He laid them out and let me select the one that I wanted. When asked if I could take his picture, I think he said, "Sure, maybe some cute girl will have dinner with me." At least that's what I heard.

Steph Wallon is the dealer from whom I purchased the AAGPBL auto card. Yes, Mr. Wombat, he had the boxes of $2 relic and auto cards that didn't speak to me. I apologize for the blurry photo of Steph. He was a pleasure to talk with and I wish that I had a bit more money to spend on his offerings.

Wes Starkey runs Bully Ball Cards. Everything that I saw on his tables was clean. Everything. Clean. I picked up one of my Bill Wade cards here and one of Beardy's Orioles. Did I say that everything was clean? Very well priced for he was offering. Another joy to talk to. He has a nice selection of graded wax packs. They brought back many memories.

One other dealer I need to mention, but I didn't get any photos of, is Chandy Greenholdt. He's the silk guy. And the Topps Freedom's War guy. And the Motorola guy. And the Topps Look 'n See guy. He has quite a few items on ebay. When I asked him about any 1964 Topps Giants he quickly said that he didn't have any with him, but immediately told me that he has many of them, save the short prints, at home. In a box, in one of three rooms filled with boxes. He then listed all of the short prints from that set. I knew immediately that this guy knew his cards. Aside from the 50 cent boxes of oddball stuff he had a table of cards that he just bought from a collector. Old Judges, Goudeys, T207s, 1950's Bowmans and Topps. Just fantastic stuff.

There were other dealers there that had some nice things, but my time was limited as was my money. One dealer had several boxes of relic and auto cards for $3 each. Several Hall of Famer relic cards, but I wasn't in the HoF mood on Saturday. I didn't have my list with me. I wasn't fully prepared.

This was a toy/comic/card show. I got to see several old TV and movie related toys and puzzles that were fun. Lots of screen cowboy items. A few tables of NASCAR scale models. A few comic book dealers.

When I talked with many of the dealers I asked what their take on the show was. The majority of them said that the show was dead. Not much traffic and those that did stop at the tables didn't buy much. Now, this was just 3-1/2 hours into the show on Saturday. They still had another day to go. One of the dealers said that one of the malls in the area had a four day card show at the same time and that might have hurt attendance. The entry fee for an adult was $5. Inside Pitch has a dollar off coupon on their website which I took advantage of. The flea market was in the same building with no entry fee and there are usually a few tables of cards there.

Although there were several dealers that dealt in more modern cards, I just glanced over them and didn't dig too deep. I should have looked at the dealer that had supplies, but I'm okay in that area right now.

Overall, a good show for me. I had some goals that I met, helped the Collective Troll and Beardy winnow down their wantlists, and stayed well within my budget. I'm happy.

If you'd like more contact info on any of the dealers that I've profiled here, please leave a comment. And make sure there's a way that I can contact you (email on your blog). Or email me at:

mark dot aubrey at gmail dot com

More Card Show stuff

It took me some time to scan the haul and collect my thoughts about the card show. I don't know that they are even all collected here.

Several readers expressed interest in the Ethel Green silk. Some research shows that this is probably part of the Silk Film Stars 'set' that was issued in the early 19-teens by tobacco companies. The American Card Catalog designated this set as S72-1.

Ethel Green was some sort of actress or vaudeville performer. She was popular enough to get two different poses for this set. I found another, more complete (less frayed) image of this silk from some auction site. The seller is asking about $20 for it. I kind of like mine a bit better. From the stitch marks perhaps it was sewn on to a handkerchief or a pillow. I often wonder about the provenance of the ephemera I scoop up. How did it get from the original point of origin to my hands?



I got this next card from the same seller. The paper is thin enough that you can see the printing from the other side. I wasn't familiar with this set so I thought I found something very rare. I figured that it might be from the 1970s, but wasn't sure.

Here's the set description from the 2009 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards...

This set of (mostly) Hall of Famers was issued in conjunction with the annual convention of Motorola electronics dealers. Cards were issued singly in a wax wrapper with a piece of bubblegum. Sepia player photos are featured in an oval at center. Player identification and a career highlight are in the white frame around the photo. A sales message appears in a white box at bottom. Overall borders are rust colored. Backs have information about various Motorola products.

That must have been one swinging convention.



dkwilson, over at It's like having my own Card Shop is interested in cards featuring players holding multiple bats. I found this 1960 Fleer Johnny Mize. Seven bats. Seven.

This is back when cards were made out of raw cardboard. Tree pulp and everything. I wouldn't be surprised if a squirrel or two got caught up in the grinder and are part of somebody's collection.



There was a dealer that had boxes and boxes of autograph and relic cards for 2 bucks each. I leafed through them. Many minor leaguers, many being set issued on-card autos. No, I don't remember which manufacturer. I had no connection to them so I let them lay in the box.

This one sort of spoke to me. I liked the movie, A League of their Own, mostly for Jon Lovitz. What a ham. The dealer said that he got this card signed when he was living near Carlsbad, NM. Last fall I picked up the book, A Whole New Ball Game by Sue Macy from a library discard sale.

I'm slowly reading it, even though it was written for young adults. The author has enough meat in the story to make it a worthwhile read for older adults. When I'm finished reading the book it probably will find a way out to a certain collector in NM. And her mom.


Back to the silk trader, I found this 1950 Topps Freedom's War card. Yes, that is some sort of hole punched in the upper left hand corner. Very clean punch. The card is rather crisp. I think that Topps was trying to instill some sort of patriotism in the young boys that might collect this set.

I'm assuming that the cards, when assembled in order, provided some sort of storyline. I'm also assuming that "The Reds" that surprised their outfit and and the "two Reds" that got blasted referred to Communists, not the baseball players from Cincy. A nice double-tap by the Captain.



This is another one of those cards that I just wanted when I saw it. I didn't know they existed before Saturday. 1952 Topps Look 'n See.

Washington Irving was a famous American. He wrote stories. Not many other Americans have done that. Mostly we just plagiarize.

I haven't tried to place the red paper over the card to find out the answer. I keep forgetting. I'll try to remember tonight. If I do, I'll share the answer.


In an upcoming post I'll feature some of the dealers that were at the show. Pictures and everything.

Card Show update

Overall, a good card show. This will be a teaser post, since I'm too tired/lazy to do a complete one. I was all over the place. I met a few new dealers and reacquainted myself with one.

Here's a small sampling. More scans and photos in the coming days. I was able to pick up 7 Bill Wade cards. A buck each.

And a 1970 Topps Super. Short Print of Willie Davis. A buck.

I was helping Beardy out with his Orioles collection. A mess of 1968 Topps O's are going his way, along with some other O's from the 1960s. I noticed that this one featured two different cap logos. My guess is that the May photo was from the previous year or earlier, knowing that Topps liked to recycle images. A buck.

This is a very frayed Old Mill Tobacco Silk of Ethel Green. The advertising is no longer present. Fifty cents.

Let's see. What else? I picked up five 1964 Topps Giants that the Troll needs. I picked up a few oddballs (baseball and other). Featured items include an author, diodes, a gun a-blazin', a ball player holding seven, count them, seven, bats, and an on-card signed card of a member of the AAGBL. And no, I don't know if I put the commas in the correct places.

Card Show today

I heading out the door. Report later tonight.

A couple of names and a few bats

One can learn a lot by looking at the backs of cards.

1994 Ted Williams, Eddie Yost (card #90)

Sure, the stats are nice, but look at the name. Or names. Edward Fredrick Joseph Yost. Eddie Freddie Joey Yost.

1970 Topps, Gil Garrido (card #48)

Gil Gonzalo Garrido. Or Gill if you believe the front. Gil Gon Gar. He's man enough to carry two bats. I'm thinking that this card is one that Mr. Cardshop would like.

Athletes In Action - Graham Roxburgh

Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's my wife, Angie, worked at Wheaton College. She started in the Advancement Office (fund raising) and then moved to become the secretary of the English Department. While working in the Advancement Office she often interacted with the student workers. One of them was Graham Roxburgh.

Graham graduated from Wheaton in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Biblical Studies. He went on to work with Athletes In Action, a group that uses the medium of sport to bring God's Word to the people of the world.

Graham is now the Head Coach of Women's Soccer at Trinity Western University. According to his CV page, he's done quite well for himself, bringing home a CIS National Championship, winning a few Canada West Gold Medals and, well, coaching effectively.

He's still involved with Athletes In Action, traveling with teams around the globe.

I don't remember Graham that well. I didn't interact with many of the students even though I worked at Wheaton for a few years. Angie's not home right now so I can't ask her to tell any stories. Maybe she'll leave a comment.

UPDATE: Angie just made it home. I asked her about Graham. Apparently we had him over for Thanksgiving in the early 1990's. I don't remember that at all. Sorry, Graham. And he also has a gift for fundraising via the telephone. This one I remember, but that story isn't for me to tell.