Thursday, March 31, 2011

Sportslots.com splurge

A few weeks ago I tackled my wantlists and knocked down a few of them by a visit to SportLots.com.

Since I wrote about SportLots.com last time, they've made some changes.  Finding and sorting cards from specific sellers has gotten much better.  I purchased these cards from seller jessecar.  I've purchased from him before.  I'm a satisfied buyer.  In case you're wondering what I paid for these Hershisers I've listed the cards and prices at the bottom of this post.




85 O-Pee-Chee Base Set                  273     $0.18
86 O-Pee-Chee Base Set                  159     $0.18
88 Fleer Team Leaders                    13     $0.18
88 O-Pee-Chee Base Set                   40     $0.18
89 Tetley Tea Discs                      10     $0.50
93 Stadium Club Dodgers                  23     $0.18
93 Stadium Club Members Only Parallel   544     $0.50
94 Stadium Club First Day Issue         400     $1.75
95 Stadium Club First Day Issue          37     $1.00
95 Stadium Club Super Team WS            37     $0.35
95 Stadium Club Super Team WS           562     $0.35
95 UD Collectors Choice Silver Sig.     229     $0.18
96 Fleer Tiffany                         87     $0.18
96 Metal Universe Platinum               45     $0.18
97 Pacific Sluggers and Hurlers 8      SH4B     $2.00
04 Playoff Honors Awards               A-21     $0.75

I also picked up several other cards, mostly Negro League cards. Hopefully I'll be sharing them later.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Winnings from a Press Pass contest

About a week and a half ago Press Pass, Inc. sponsored a contest on their Facebook page.  It was a the-first-nine-fans-to-claim-a-spot-on-the-photo-would-win-some-random-prize contest.  I selected the middle row, right side.  I won this card.


2006 PressPass Premium Hot Threads
Kasey Kahne (card # HTT 8) #/165


Kasey only won one race in 2005.  It was the Chevy American Revolution 400 at Richmond in May. I have absolutely no idea when this firesuit was worn. I'll imagine that it was from this race.

I don't have a checklist for this set, so I'm guessing at the subset name.  The card is sturdily constructed without being fat.  It looks much better in person.

Thanks, Press Pass, for being generous.

I just won a mess of Jeff Burton cards on ebay.  He's my wife's favorite driver.  I'm sure that you'll be seeing some of them here in the coming weeks.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Ryans for Ryan

I'm working on a trade with reader Ryan. He wants some Nolan Ryan cards. I did some digging through my collection and found these five cards.

The top two are from the 1992 Mother's Cookies Nolan Ryan 7 No-Hitters set. There are eight cards in the set. One could also order an uncut sheet of all the cards.  Good marketing on Mother's part.  Making you purchase two different products if you wanted to complete the set as premiums.

The next two cards are from the 1993 Mother's Cookies Nolan Ryan Farewell set.  A 10 card set, available either by individual cookie package purchases or by sending in for the complete set.

The last card is from the 16 oz. sandwich package.  It is not a duplicate of one shown.  You can read the number through the packaging.  I'll leave it as a surprise for Ryan.

Mother's Cookies was based out of California at the time and featured baseball cards of mostly west coast teams as premiums from 1983 to 1998.


It appears that I do have an uncut sheet of the 7 No-Hitter set, but I can't find it right now.

So, Ryan, if you'd like these Ryans, drop me an email.  Thanks.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Huggins & Scott March Auction Catalog


Time for another auction post.  The latest Huggins & Scott auction will be in full swing next week.  The catalog arrived and I've had a chance to peruse it and select a few items that interest me.

Title: Large Collection of Ephemera with Ashburn Concentration
Lot #: 37
Description: Presented are multiple large containers filled with newspapers, magazines, pamphlets and miscellaneous ephemera with most having a connection to the Philadelphia Phillies and Richie Ashburn. More than a hundred 1960s and 1960s newspapers, including Sporting News, are present with each issue having an article or image of Whitey Ashburn. There are large format magazine such as Look, Life, Boys Life and the Saturday Evening Post – all featuring Ashburn in some way. Other highlights include a 1964 Cooperstown yearbook, a Dick Perez Baseball Masterpiece book (incredible artwork on the interior pages), various Phillies team photos, and an unused 1993 Phillies appointment book. There are sure to be treasures unearthed in this lot, so an in-house review is strongly encouraged. The overall weight of the lot is several hundred pounds, and freight shipping or local pick-up is required.
Opening Price: $100
Current Price: $0
My Thoughts: It is ephemera. Why wouldn't I like it? It seems that a Richie Ashburn collector that is parting with his collection.  Although if I purchased it I would feel like I'd be sure to end up on a Hoarding: Buried Alive episode.




Title: 1954 Willie Mays "Say Hey!" Baseball Game in Original Box With All Pieces
Lot #: 62
Description: While the origin of Willie Mays’ “Say Hey” moniker is not quite definitive, it caught on fast and stuck. The offered novelty attests to Mays’ immense popularity at an early stage in his career. Marketed by Oliver Toys in 1954, this Willie Mays “Say Hey!” Baseball game pays homage to the Harlem great. In its original cardboard box (VG with creases and separation at the upper left corner), the game is complete with all of its original parts.
Opening Price: $100
Current Price: $150
My Thoughts: I like old baseball games. I don't know that I'd like to play it, but board games intrigue me.




Title: 1934 Schutter-Johnson/Canadian Chewing Gum “Tarzan and the Crystal Vault of Isis” Near Set (46/50)
Lot #: 363
Description: Presented is a 1934 Schutter-Johnson/Canadian Chewing Gum “Tarzan and the Crystal Vault of Isis” near set of (46/50) cards. The serial of this feral apeman is accentuated by (5) professionally graded cards. Included are 1934 Canadian Chewing Gum: (13 cards, average VG, two have paper loss or writing) with #4, 8, 14, 16, 21-23, 29, 33, 34, 39, 42, #50 “The Parting” (VG-EX); 1934 Schutter-Johnson: (34 cards, median VG, two have paper loss or writing) with #1 “The Urge of Tarzan” (FR), 2, 3, 5-7, 9, 10, #11 (SGC 40), #13 (PSA 3), #15 (SGC 40), 17, 18, 20, 25, #26 (PSA 3), 27, 28, 30-32, 34-36, #37 (PSA 4), 40, 41 and 43-49. Missing only #12, 19, 24 and 38 for completion. Both versions of #34 are present.
Opening Price: $400
Current Price: $500
My Thoughts: Cow skulls, flying boys in white summer clothing, Lothar the Pterodactyl, a robot baseball team, a Lou Zocchi GameScience d36, pith helmets.  What's not to like?



Image and description credit: Huggins & Scott.  Used with permission.

Monday, March 21, 2011

River Styx Baseball League



Being a History of the Most Remarkable Teams Ever Organized Anywhere.


For fear of misunderstanding, it should be remembered that the Hades of ancient mythology was not, like our Hell, reserved for bad spirits only.  The shades of the good went there also, existing without discomfort, but the wicked shades suffered tortures.

By Jim Nazium.

Time was dragging heavily along the River Styx. The shades of the souls that had left the upper world and been ferried across the great river by old Charon had exhausted their means of entertainment, and as Ben Franklin, the shade who edited the local paper, said editorially, something would have to be done to help put in the time during the coming summer.
Thus it was that Mike Kelly, a shade who had enjoyed some little notoriety in the American National game before he crossed the Styx, came out with a proposition to organize the River Styx Baseball League, for the purpose of playing games during the summer for the entertainment of the numerous shades who gather at this well known way station on the line of the under world.
Some of the foreign shade who didn’t know anything about baseball didn’t think much of the idea at first. Henry Irving thought a dramatic club, with daily matinees, would be of more interest, while Demosthenes wanted to start a lecture course, and Spartacus and Hercules were for opening up an athletic club and holding prizefights.
The controversy was finally settled at a public meeting, presided over by Julius Caesar, by adopting all these suggestions, inasmuch as one form of entertainment would not interfere with the other, baseball forming the entertainment during the afternoons and lectures, theatricals and prizefights for the evening hours.
At a separate meeting held for the purpose of organizing the River Styx Baseball League and placing the contesting clubs in the field, Mike Kelly made a stirring speech, in which he showed that they had the material along the Styx for getting together the strongest circuit of baseball teams ever organized.
Gentlemen,” he said, “I think you’ll all be willing to admit that I was no slouch myself in my day. Some of the new arrivals here tell me that the papers up above are still printing stories about the stunts I used to pull off on the baseball lots. It was only yesterday that I met a ‘fan’ from Pittsburgh who had just come over the river on Charon’s old boat, and he told me that they are measuring catchers yet up there by the standard I set in the old days, and that this guy Johnny Kling, whom they mad so much fuss about getting reinstated, is a piker compared to what I was. I’m not handing this out, gentlemen, in a spirit of boasting, but just to show you that I know what I’m talking about when I say that we’ve got better material here, with a little coaching, than anything now wearing spikes in the big leagues up above.
I’ve been having some late baseball dope from the upper world slipped to me by the late arrivals here, as I’m a little rusty on the late news, and they tell me that the ‘fans’ are all dippy up there over the work of a Dutchman named Hans Wagner, from Pittsburg, and a guy named Ty Cobb, up in Detroit. Ive got the batting averages of these guys here, and you can take it from me we’ve got several fellows here who can wipe up the lot with ‘em when it comes to walloping the ball. Any guy in the house who wants to take a be on this can get it, and that goes all season.
What do you suppose Christy Mathewson or Three-Finger Brown or George Mullin would do when Hercules and Samson and Goliath came up to the bat in a row? The chances are that the infielders would be backing up against the outfield fence to keep from getting their blocks knocked off. There isn’t a baseball lot on the circuit up there big enough to keep the slams of these heavy hitter of ours inside the grounds. You can take if from me, if Samson or Hercules ever landed on their star pitchers up there they’d tear down the outfield fences.
Then here’s our friend Mercury, the wing-footed kid. What chance would any of those bum catchers up there have to throw him out stealing? I’m willing to gamble a hundred to one that Mercury can steal second and third on one pitch against any catcher that ever crawled into a wind-pad. And we’ve got some other fellows here that can go some, too. Here’s Philippides, who ran himself to death at Marathon, and we’ve got a lot of fellows here who did some pretty fair running at Bull Run. I guess we’ll be fast enough on the bases, all right.
Take it from me, gentlemen, you’re going to see baseball along this little old River Styx this summer the like of which you’ve never seen pulled before. Think of this for a batting order: Mercury, as a fast man, to lead off; the heady Plato to hit next and advance the runner, although Mercury won’t need any assistance in order to get around the bases; and then Samson, Hercules and Goliath coming next to clean up. Say! that’s enough to give any pitcher palpitation of the heart.
And just imagine what a shortstop we can make out of Geryones, our gigantic Greek friend, who has three heads, three bodies, six hands and six feet. I’d like to see any guy slam a hit through the infield with a shortstop like that on the job. You can take my tip, with three weeks’ coaching I’ll have Geryones covering that whole infield with his six feet and six hands and picking them off the first base line.
Then here’s Ulysses, who had the best throwing arm ever seen at the old Greek games, for a star pitcher, and I guess Goliath here can tell you that David is no slouch with that sling of his. With that control of his David ought to help a lot in the pitcher’s box.
There are others here too numerous to mention who ought to make a big hit in baseball. There’s Atlas, who has quite a reputation for handling the ball, and Ajax and Hiawatha, whom Longfellow here says can step a mile at a clip with his magic shoes on. Maybe that Hiawatha kid won’t cover some ground in the outfield. I only mention these few to show you, gentlemen, that we’ve got class here if it is only developed, and that the River Styx League won’t have to take a back seat for any of ‘em.
Our greatest trouble, however, will be to find a man down here to act as umpire. I would suggest that we send our friend Diogenes out with his lantern to look up a good man for the job.”
Then Ed Delehanty and Ezra Sutton rose and volunteered to help Mike Kelly coach the various teams of the league and show them the science of the game, and Charon offered the suggestion that as the scientific end of the game had made such wonderful progress lately it might be well to send a few representatives to the upper world occasionally to watch the big league games there and keep in touch with the situation. Being shades, these representatives from the Styx would be invisible, and could even sit on the bench with the different teams up there and overhear their conversation and secret discussions. Charon said he would risk having his ferry franchise taken away from him by breaking his agreement and taking these representatives back into the upper world, and if games could be arranged between the team winning the championship of the River Styx League and the one winning the world’s championship in the upper world, he was willing to take a chance at ferrying the team and any “fans” from the Styx who wanted to take in the games over the river and into the world they had formerly lived in.
This announcement created such enthusiasm for baseball along the River Styx that all opposition faded away and the league went through with a whoop.
The following Saturday “The Styx Weekly Gossip,” Dr. Samuel Johnson, editor, came out with an announcement in red ink on its front page that owing to the increased interest in baseball “The Gossip” had increased its staff by employing Charles Dickens, Home and Carlyle to dish up the sporting dope. This was considered quite a beat over Ben Franklin’s paper, “The Advocate,” But Ben came right back at his contemporary by hiring Thackeray, Dryden and Omar Khayyam to look after his sporting page. It was evident that the “fans” along the River Styx were going to get the baseball dope handed to them in proper shape.
As Mike Kelly had predicted, a great deal of difficulty attended the question of procuring an umpire. But this question, too, was settled by Diogenes coming into the league headquarters one day leading George Washington by the hand and reporting that George was willing to act in that capacity.
The organization of the league was finally completed with four clubs, the Elysian Live Wires, the Brimstone Reds, the Sulfur Stars and the Hades Hornets, playing on alternate days. Solomon was unanimously elected president of the league to settle all disputes, and Horatio, who had worked up a reputation by effectually holding a bridge against all comers, was appointed official gate keeper.
When opening day arrived the whole population along the banks of the Styx flocked to the grounds.
The game was scheduled between the Hades Hornets and the Sulphur Stars, and the following batting order of the teams appeared on the scorecards:

HADES HORNETS.
Mercury, l. f.
Plato, r. f.
Goliath, 1 b.
Samson, c.
Geryones, s. s.
Hector, 2 b.
Atlas, 3 b.
Spartacus, c. f.
Ulysses, p.

SULPHUR STARS.
Hiawatha, c. f.
Philippides, r. f.
Ursus, l. f.
Hercules, 1 b.
Cyclops, c.
Thor, 2 b.
Socrates, s. s.
Ezra Sutton, 3 b.
David, p.

When Umpire George Washington announced the batteries and threw out a brand new baseball, which David began to rub in the dirt before pitching, the great crowd fairly held its breath with expectancy. But when Mercury, the wing-footed kid, stepped up to the plate with his bat, and David, adjusting the ball in his sling, shot one over which Washington called a strike, the roosters cut loose with such a yell that Mary Queen of Scots nearly fell out of the grandstand.
Mars tried to jump on to the field to lick the umpire, as he said the ball was two feet over Mercury’s head, and Washington ought to have his examined if he thought it was a strike.
Then David lost the location of the plate and walked Mercury. The wing-footed kid never hesitated a minute, but started to steal on the first ball pitched, and showed such a burst of speed that he swiped both second and third before the ball chugged into the catcher’s mitt. Cyclops, the one-eyed giant catcher of the Stars, couldn’t even see him, let alone throw him out.
This looked like a clinch for the Hornets. But Plato bunted at the next ball pitched and popped up a little fly, which David nabbed and doubled up Mercury, that speedy kid having such a lead that he had no chance to get back to third.
Then Goliath came up with a telegraph pole for a bat and the outfielders began climbing the fences. But he never got a chance to swing his club, as David soaked him between the eyes with the first pitch and knocked him flat as a pancake. David explained that he never could help hitting that fellow Goliath between the eyes.
With Goliath on first, Samson came up to the plate with a jawbone instead of the customary baseball bat, and a dispute arose as to whether he should be allowed to use it to bat with. It was referred to Solomon to decide by Washington, and Solomon allowed Samson to go through with it, inasmuch as he done his best hitting with a jawbone.
David showed his noodle a little here by determining to walk Samson and take a chance on Geryones, the six-handed giant who followed. That kind of hitters all coming up in a row was enough to give any pitcher less cool and collected than David a brainstorm.
David’s headwork was all right, but he miscalculated Samson’s reach. On the third ball pitched Samson reached out and caught it square on the pickle with his jawbone. The ball burnt a blue streak through the atmosphere a mile over the centre field fence, and the Hornet rooters got up on their hind legs and let out a yell that caused the seismograph at Washington to jump clear off the map and started another earthquake panic in San Francisco.
But these rooters hadn’t taken into consideration that Hiawatha, the guy who could step a mile at a clip with his magic shoes on, was playing the centre field job for the Stars. At the crack of the jawbown Hiawatha went over into the next county in one jump, clearing the centre field fence by half a mile. With the aid of a powerful field glass, Umpire Washington followed the flight of the ball and saw a figure leap into the air from the hilltop two miles out in the country and pull it out of the clouds. Hiawatha had pulled off the most remarkable catch ever seen on any ball grounds, robbing Samson of a home run and the Hornets of two scores.
It had now become as plain as a wart on a debutante’s nose that it was no ordinary brand of baseball that was to be dished up on the “fans” along the River Styx, and Homer and Thackeray and the rest of the able sporting writers in the press box began to feel that they could let themselves out a little in their descriptive introductions. Ever Baron Munchausen began to feel that he would have to get busy and invent some new ones in order to keep in the public eye.
The Sulphur Stars failed to score in their half of the first, although Hiawatha, first up, bunted and beat the ball, but he stepped too far with that enormous stride of his and overran first and was touched out by the right fielder.
Not a clean hit was made by either side up till the eighth inning, owing to the remarkable fielding back of both pitchers. Hercules slammed one over left field at a mile-a-minute clip in the fifth inning, but Mercury flapped his wings and soared up into the atmosphere a few hundred yards and ran it down before it touched the ground. Geryones was all over the infield with his six feet, robbing the Stars of everything that looked like a hit. With this kind of backing up the pitchers pitched gild-edged ball. Socrates, while not so much of an athlete as his remarkable associates, could figure things out with such a nicety that he always played the batters well and manged to be in the right spot when the ball was hit.
In the eighth Thor came up with his famous hammer and hammered one at Goliath that the giant muffed. Socrates followed by outguessing the infield and scratching a hit into an open spot, and after Ezra Sutton and David had fanned Hiawatha hit a high fly that Atlas tried to catch on his shoulder after his fashion of handling a ball, but Washington wouldn’t allow the put out, and Thor counted the first run of the game.
In their half of the ninth the Hornets went them one better and won the game. After Mercury and Plato had fanned, David soaked Goliath between the eyes with a pitched ball, as he had done every time the giant came up. Then Samson walloped one with his jawbone that tore the cover off the ball, and before the outfielders could collect the fragments of the mangled sphere both Goliath and Samson had crossed the plate.
The Stars failed to score in their half, so the first game of the season in the River Styx League ended in a victory for the Hades Hornets.
That evening all four teams of the league attended a prizefight between Hercules and Antaeus as guests of the Elysian Athletic Club. It was sure a big day along the River Styx, and all the shades began to perk up and take more interest in their surroundings.
images and text from Library of Congress

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Hall of Fame Relic Card - Tom Seaver

A few weeks ago I posted about a Frank Robinson relic card. Now it is time for the second card I purchased from that ebay seller.


2004 Topps Tribute HOF, Tribute Relics
Tom Seaver (card # TR-TS)


Rookie of the year in 1967.  Three time Cy Young Award winner. 12 All-Star games.  He led the National League in Wins in three different decades (1969, 1975, 1981).  There are many more categories that he excelled in, but you can look them up yourself.

He won game 4 of the 1969 World Series as part of the New York Mets.  And I've got a a relic card of his.  For $4.57.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Pi Day

Today is Pi Day. March 14th. 3/14. 3.14. It helps if you have a teenager that's taking a math class.

So, to celebrate, I'm offering up a photo of Mike Marshall, pitcher in the Majors for 14 seasons.

1969 Topps
Mike Marshall (card # 17)
image lifted from this ebay auction

What does that have to do with Pi Day? His lifetime ERA is 3.141.  That's all.

No Pie in your Face cards.  No A&G Pi cards.  No Pie Traynor cards.  No Felix Pie cards.

Just Mike Marshall and his ERA.

Happy Pi Day.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Cards for Kids

I have more cards than I really know what to do with. For several years they've been sitting in boxes. On occasion I'll pull a box out and look through it, remembering days gone by when I thought it would be nice to complete that set.

Back in January I contacted the owner of the 1,000,000 Cards for Kids blog.  I pledged to take some of my cards to the East Tennessee Children's Hospital.  ETCH is dear to me as Caroline spent the first week of her life there.  Since then she's been in and out for various issues.  The doctors, nurses, and other staff are helpful and nice.  I've spent several nights there, wishing that our family was at home, but glad that the professionals were tending to Caroline.

So today I spent some time sorting through my card stash, bagging them up in groups of 50.  I was able to put together 50 bags.  That's 2,500 cards.  Cards I don't need but might bring an afternoon of joy to a child that might be having a rough time.


I'd encourage you to visit the 1,000,000 Cards for Kids blog and pledge your unwanted cards.  Then do it.  Call a local orphanage or a pediatric hospital to see if they'd be interested in the cards.  Then sort them out, bag them and donate.  You'll feel good and your spouse will like that you've cleaned some clutter out of the spare room.

A million cards is a lot, but if each of my followers can kick in a thousand cards or so, then we'd  be close to filling ten percent of the goal.

Mind you, I'm not posting this to toot my own horn, but to make you aware of a good thing.  Think of it as my public service announcement for the month.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

“Bloomer Girls” in Clinton county, New York - a partial bibliography

Soon after the Civil War women started to play organized baseball. I did a bit of research on the "Bloomer Girls", as they were called, in Clinton county, NY.

For more information about "Bloomer Girls" the Library of Congress has a sampling of articles from historic newspapers.

postcard
Library of Congress

“Bloomer Girls” in Clinton county, New York - a partial bibliography

from the NYS Historic Newspapers site ( http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/ ) arranged chronologically

“Local Paragrams.” The Plattsburgh Sentinel 18 July 1902: 5.
Available from http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn85026976/1902-07-18/ed-1/seq-1.pdf

“Saranac Lake Wants Girl Baseball Team.” Plattsburgh Daily Press 31 August 1920: 7.
Available from  http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn84031094/1920-08-31/ed-1/seq-7.pdf

“Saranac Lake Wants Girl Baseball Team.” The Plattsburgh Sentinel 31 August 1920: 1.
Available from  http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn88075736/1920-08-31/ed-1/seq-1.pdf

“Bloomer Girl Star Praised By McGraw.” Plattsburgh Daily Press 6 August 1926: 2.
Available from  http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn84031094/1926-08-06/ed-1/seq-2.pdf

“Bloomer Girl Star Praised By McGraw.” The Plattsburgh Sentinel 6 August 1926: 5.
Available from http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn88075736/1926-08-06/ed-1/seq-5.pdf

“Six Members of Bloomer Girls Team Injured.” The Plattsburgh Sentinel 10 August 1926: 4.
Available from  http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn88075736/1926-08-10/ed-1/seq-4.pdf

“Reds Look Like Contenders In 1940 Campaign.” Plattsburgh Daily Press 9 January 1940:2.
Available from http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn84031094/1940-01-09/ed-1/seq-2.pdf

“Vermont Team, Bloomer Girls To Play In City.” Plattsburgh Daily Press 10 September 1942: 2.
Available from  http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn84031094/1942-09-10/ed-1/seq-2.pdf

“Burlington Athletics to Meet Cards; Bloomer Girls the Old Timers.” Plattsburgh Daily Press 12 September 1942: 2.
Available from http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn84031094/1942-09-12/ed-1/seq-2.pdf

Barcomb, Peg.  “Old Rouses Point.” The North Countryman 7 April 1977: 3.
Available from  http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn84031178/1977-04-07/ed-1/seq-3.pdf

lithograph, 1904
Library of Congress

Friday, March 11, 2011

Trade with Peterson

I know that the Night Owl declared February for being the month to show trade posts without abandon. Too bad. This one completed in March so I'm going to show it in March.

Peterson, of the blog, Sign here...and here, and I traded some cards.  Not many, but enough to make it count.  I sent him some shiny chromy cards that were on his wantlist and he sent me this fantastic Catfish Hunter relic card.

Yes, it is a plain white uniform card.  And given recent shenanigans I don't even know that it was one that Catfish wore.  I know that Mr. McWilliam says that it is, but my faith in him has slipped the last few years.

But I like it.  I associate the one time perfect game hurler with the Athletics, but I'll take a Yankees' pants part.  I'm really not that picky.

2005  Sweet Spot Classic, Classic Materials
Catfish Hunter (card # CM-CH)


In previous posts about my HoF relic/auto collection I give a summary of the player's accomplishments.  I'll let you look them up yourself.  See, here's a link.  That page on baseball-reference.com is sponsored by athomeatfenway.com.  Which I read as "Atho Meat Fenway".  What a strange name.

Thanks, Peterson, for the trade.  I'm a happy man.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Well-Dressed Goalie

Today's subject is Frank Brimsek. Honestly I had no idea who he was.  Hadn't heard his name before.  Yes, that will elicit boos and hisses from the hockey fans.  I can live with that.  He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966.   Many of you weren't even born yet, so back off.   Frank played most of his career with the Boston Bruins.

2003-2004 Parkhurst Original 6
Frank Brimsek (card # 61)
image lifted from this ebay auction


I was doing some research on the "Bloomer Girls" baseball team and stumbled across this filler photo from 1940.


Plattsburgh Daily Press
January 9, 1940
The times have changed.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Trade with Rickey Henderson Collectibles

Sometime back I contacted Brad at Rickey Henderson Collectibles about a possible trade. I offered up a Starting Line Up figure, with cards.  Maybe some other cards, too.  I really don't remember.  I was looking for a Rickey relic.  Brad said that he was sure that he had some dupes and would get them out to me.  The Rickey relic and some other cards arrived a few weeks ago.  Let's see what he sent.

A few Hershiser cards that I wanted.  Some collectors only want their player wearing the uniform of a specific team.  Orel played with the Dodgers, the Mets, the Indians, the Giants and back to the Dodgers.  I'll take any of them.

1996 Score
Orel Hershiser (card # 96)

The following Donruss card, also from 1996, appears to be the same photo as the Score card.  Probably the same game and same photographer, but look at the writing on the ball.  Different position.  But I'm amazed at the consistency of Orel's pitching form.

1996 Donruss
Orel Hershiser (card #149)


I like the clean look of the back of the Donruss cards.  You can actually read the stats.  Speaking of clean, I have to clean my scanner glass.

1997 Donruss
Orel Hershiser (card #266)


And now the Rickey relic.  A very thick card with a nice slice of Rickey bat.  What?  Rickey played for Seattle?  When?  2000.  Who else did he play for?  Oakland.  Yeah, I know that.  New York.  Both teams.  San Diego?  Really?  Toronto?  Boston?  The Dodgers of Los Angeles?  Yep.  Yep.  Yep.  Anaheim?  Yep.  Back to Oakland?  Really?  Yep, a few times.

2001 Pacific Private Stock, Game Gear
Rickey Henderson (card # 158)

Brad also sent along another Hershiser and some Diamondback cards for my dad.

Thanks, Brad.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Dodgers from the quarter box

A few weeks ago I had a chance to visit one of my local card shops. I actually went to get some pages. But the cards were singing songs so sweet I could not resist them.  I poked through an actual quarter box and nothing really caught my eye.  So, I asked to see the three boxes of Dodgers, hoping to find a Hershiser that I wanted.  Didn't find one that I wanted, but I did find these.  There were no prices on these.  The shop owner looked at the cards and said, "How about two bucks?"  I tossed in a few NASCAR cards and said, "How about two bucks for that?"  He took it.  It worked out to a quarter a piece.


Sportflics has breakfast.  Some serious 3-D action on the front.  And a hologram on the back.  There are 29 cards in the set.  I guess you could purchase a pack (one card per pack) for 59 cents with a meal at Denny's.  That's a lot of cholesterol.

1997 Denny's 3-D Holograms
Jackie Robinson (50th Anniversary Commemorative) (card # 29)




Staying with the food theme, Kellogg's offered cards with their cereal from 1970 through 1980.  I didn't have any Ron Cey cards prior to this one.  There's a bit of brittle plastic breakage in the lower right hand corner.  That's okay.

1978 Kellogg's
Ron Cey (card # 24)



To celebrate 20 years of  Kmart they spent some money and produced a nice little box set.  Since I'm reading Jane Leavy's Sandy Koufax right now, I thought it would be nice to have one of Sandy's cards.

1982 K-Mart
Sandy Koufax (card # 4)



When baseball card packs sat on store shelves in 1989 Topps decided to use every bit of real estate to push their product.  This Lasorda card is one of 16 different Box Panel cards.  Four per box.  They were on the bottom, pictures face down so many that I've seen are scuffed.  Not this one.  A slightly different pose than card # 254 from the main set, which is a team checklist.

1989 Topps Box Panels
Tommy Lasorda (card # H)


Everybody wants to win.  Topps was continuing to push their gimmick.  This time it was the Ticket to History.  It was a sweepstakes, with the winner possibly winning something from the Topps Archives.  These entry forms were seeded into Topps products.  Read the fine print yourself.

2002 Topps Baseball Ticket To History
Entry Form

  

And yes, while I was pawing through the boxes I was only thinking of the Night Owl. No, I don't have a man crush. Everybody likes him. There's nothing wrong with that.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Respect

On occasion I will venture away from sports on this blog.  Today is one of those occasions.  If you've followed me for some time you know that I have a daughter with Down syndrome.  That might make me more sensitive to certain language.  I hope so.  The “R-word” or “retard(ed)” has found a place in common language and seems to be accepted by most, despite the fact that its use, casual or otherwise, is hurtful to millions of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and those that love them.

The word hurts, even if it is not directed at a person with intellectual and developmental disabilities. For too long, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have had to overcome the challenges society has put forth through stereotypes. It is time for a change.

I would like to ask the readers of this blog to take a moment to pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.

You can pledge at r-word.org.  I thank you and Caroline thanks you.

Caroline and Luke Sommer - 2010