A Thing of Beauty

Back in November I ran into Buddy Gilbert at a SABR meeting.  He was an attendee and I was a speaker.  We've met a few times before.

Buddy and my Dad

He's a hoot.  So's my dad.  They didn't get a chance to talk for any length of time.  Buddy was telling me that he was about out of his baseball card.  The place where he usually purchases them just had a few and they wanted $4.00 a piece.  I told him I'd see what I could do.

Off I went to COMC and was able to snag a mess of them for about a dollar each.  I called him to see if he wanted me to purchase them.  He was tickled about it.  I ordered them during their Black Friday sale for the free shipping.  They arrived in mid December.

My daughter, Caroline, and I delivered them to him.

He told her some corny jokes and they laughed a lot.  He's got a booming voice that scared her a bit.  She got over it quickly and now they're friends.  I asked Buddy if he had any memorabilia from his time in baseball.  He pulled out a few boxes of signed balls and started to tell some stories.

But this is a card blog, so back to the cards and the title of this post.  I asked Buddy to sign two of the cards for me.  He pulled out his special signing pen and went to town, being careful not to put them back in their penny sleeves until the ink dried.

Look at those signatures.  This, from a man who is 81 years old.  It is a thing of beauty.

In the coming weeks I'll be headed back to Buddy's house to talk more baseball and to help him digitize his scrapbook.  I'm guessing I'll have more stories to share.

Auto to the Max

A few weeks ago I was given a small box of baseball magazines and media guides by a friend that plays vintage base ball in the area.  One of them was a program for the 2005 USA Baseball National Team.

A lot of talented young players.  Like Max Scherzer and Matt Wieters.   I don't think that Bill & Sheri In The Morning! were young then.  Certainly not now.

My friend that gave them to me apparently asked Max for his autograph.  Max put pen to program.

Congrats, Max, on winning the NL Cy Young Award.

Signatures for Soldiers

Some time ago I became aware of Signatures for Soldiers.   The goals of the group are rather simple.

• Raise money to help disabled veterans in need
• Increase awareness of the needs of disabled military veterans
• Increase the participation of the general public in supporting disabled veterans

To do this they work with athletes, mostly baseball players, who sign cards for them to resell.  Sigs4Soldiers then donates the funds to Military Missions in Action.  The primary focus of MMIA is to provide home modification services to disabled veterans to allow them to live independently (services are not restricted to those injured in combat nor is it restricted to disabled veterans from the most recent combat conflicts). MMIA has assisted veterans from the current conflict back to WWII.

I wanted to help them out so I selected a few cards. 

Who doesn't like a Cub in uniform?  Well, probably a fair amount of people.  But I wanted one.

1994 Pinnacle - Jose Guzman

You can never have enough Expos.

1990 Upper Deck - Bill Sampen

I like that Sid Bream signs his cards with a scripture reference.

1991 Topps Stadium Club - Sid Bream

Here is what love is. It is not that we loved God. It is that he loved us and sent his Son to give his life to pay for our sins. -  I John 4:10 (NIRV)

1993 Topps - Sid Bream

When you look for me with all your heart, you will find me. - Jeremiah 29:13 (NIRV)

1989 Bowman - Sid Bream

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in. I will eat with that person, and they will eat with me. - Revelation 3:20 (NIRV)


I'm not at all familiar with Rob Ducey.  All I know is that he played in Japan for a while for the Nippon-Ham Fighters.  I had to have this card.

2013 BBM - Rob Ducey

These cards were either $2 or $3 each.  A fair price and the funds go to a good cause.  The process was rather straightforward.  I contacted Tim Virgilio, let him know which cards I was interested in, used Paypal to complete the transaction and in a few weeks (this was over Thanksgiving) the cards showed up in my mailbox.  In just over a year Tim has raised over $5,750 for MMIA.

Nick Diunte has a nice interview with Tim from earlier this year at his Baseball Happenings blog.

If you like autos, please consider picking some up from Sigs4Soldiers (facebook link - twitter feed) and helping out MMIA (facebook link).

My first Jeff Burton auto

So here's the Listia listing for this card:

94 jeff burton wheels rookie shoot out card!!!
#887of 1500!!!
FREE SHIPPING IN THE USA!

Bidding started at 100 credits.  There were two people watching the auction.  I was one of them.  The days ticked by.  I was the first bidder.  I was the only bidder.  I won.

1994 Wheels
Rookie Shoot-Out Autographs
Jeff Burton (card # RS3) - #/1,500

I didn't realize that it was an autographed card.  Apparently neither did the seller.  I have Jeff Burton's rookie card (a 1991 Maxx).  I have a Jeff Burton memorabilia card (2001 Press Pass Premium - Hot Treads). Trifecta complete.

What I did on my summer vacation

"What? You've been gone? I hadn't noticed." That's what I'm expecting to hear. Well, I've been here, there, and everywhere.  I've got tons of posts in my mind's queue.  Finding time to scan and compose, that's been another story.  Enough whining on my part.  Here's one thing I did last week.

I attended the 18th Rickwood Classic.  Four other guys climbed in my van and away to Birmingham we sped.

They honored Negro League players.  I was able to get several of them to sign a postcard (not yet scanned) and I spent a few innings talking with them (audio files not yet posted).  Russell Patterson gave me his card.  He wanted to sign it but his pen had dried up.  I got his signature on the postcard.  I'm not that worried.

Russell "Crazy Legs" Patterson

About the third or fourth inning I sought out Fergie Jenkins, the Guest of Honor.  He was in an air conditioned room, signing autographs for free.  One per person.

1984 Fleer
Ferguson Jenkins (card # 494)

He was very generous with his time, posing for photos, personalizing items.

I took the opportunity to ask him about baseball cards.


This photo was pre-game.  Since the Rickwood Classic honors the Negro Leagues, the teams wear throwback uniforms.  The Birmingham Barons wore the 1948 Birmingham Black Barons uniforms.  Tennessee Smokies wore a stylized uniform of the mid-1930s Knoxville Giants.  I get a bit of credit for supplying some photos that the Smokies management used for the pattern.  And apparently I'm a "Knoxville baseball historian" according to the Smokies Radio Network.  I helped Nick Roark with some info on the Giants for a story that he did prior to the game.  I hope to work with him in the future.

After the game the fans were allowed to take the field.  I really like this photo.

One of the guys I attended the game with shot tons of photos.  They are amazing.  Cliff's photos from the day can be found at his smugmug account.  Go look.  You'll be glad you did.

Orel Auto?

Adam, from the thoughtful Thoughts and Sox blog, sent me a single card a few weeks back. I opened it and set it aside in a special place so I wouldn't lose it. Then I forgot where that special place was.

He sent a 1990 Upper Deck Orel Hershiser card that was signed.  He said that he received it in a trade and didn't know if it was a legit autograph, but that he wanted me to have it.

It didn't look right to me.  I only have one signed Orel card and I was too lazy to find it.  So, off to ebay.  Now, I know that everything on ebay isn't a sure thing, but I trust the following two cards to actually have been signed by Orel.

First there is the 2012 Panini National Treasures Signature Materials.  This is the signature that I've grown accustomed to seeing.

Then we have the 2009 Press Pass Fusion Cross Training dual autos of a girlish Kirk Gibson and Orel.  Again, a true signature.

I'm not a hand writing expert, but I think that what Adam sent falls a bit short on the Sharpie scale.  There's no L in the Orel and I'm not going to try to decipher the last name.

Please know that I'm thankful to Adam for sending this my way and this post is not intended to downplay his generosity, but I'm going to say, "No Orel Auto today."  Thanks for thinking of me, Adam.

My Lunch with Ezra

Who? Ezra McGlothin. You might know him as Pat McGlothin. Or you might not.

Pat was a pitcher in the Dodgers' organization in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A few SABR members got together for lunch with Pat at his house. I was fortunate to be there.

Although I had a digital audio recorder, I failed to have it start recording.  Don't ask and yes, I'm kicking myself for not verifying that it was actually running.

Pat spent about an hour answering our questions and telling stories.  He played in the majors for 8 games, 7 of them in 1949 and 1 in 1950.

He has a large collection of signed baseballs. You can see Ted Williams' auto on the one that he's holding.

I made a postcard sized card for him to sign. He was very gracious.

While we were there he opened his mail and signed a card that someone had sent him. Placed it back in the self stamped return envelope. He said that he was amazed that people still wanted his autograph, especially since he hadn't played professional ball in almost 50 years.

He only has four cards that I'm aware of.

• 1950 Big League Stars - # 10 (Pat McGlothin)
• 1952 Parkhurst - # 53 (Ezra McGlothin)
• 1952 Victoria - # 135 (Pat Mc Clothin)
• 1990 Target Dodgers - # 1027 (Pat McGlothlin)

I asked him if any of the first three card companies had contacted him before issuing the cards.  He said no, that there was no contract, no money.  They just put the cards out.

He faced Ted Williams in a Naval base game in September of 1944.  Pat struck out Ted five times in a 19 inning game.  In that game Pat also had 3 RBI and 1 Run.  Wearing a wool uniform.  In Corpus Christi, Texas.

When I asked him what the highlight of his professional career was, he thought and said that his three no-hitters.  Asking his about his biggest disappointment was, he said that the time that it took for his arm to heal after elbow surgery.  They removed some bone chips and his arm got tired very easily after that.  He went on to play and manage the Knoxville Smokies in 1954, his last year in professional baseball.

You can see Pat's record at Baseball-Reference.com.  The local NBC affiliate ran a story on Pat last year.  Here's the video link.

Thanks, Pat, for the day.  And the autograph.  And sharing your memories today.

The Easter Bunny Was Good To Me

The Easter Bunny visited my house.  Chocolate.  More chocolate.  And baseball cards.  Three packs of Topps 2012 Baseball.  From Target.

Let's see what I pulled.  Lily Tomlin sliding in on Stephen Drew.  This one's going to my dad.

2012 Topps
Stephen Drew (card # 246)

The Bearded Trio.  One of the last cards with Pujols as a Card.

2012 Topps
2011 NL Home Run Leaders (card # 77)

And we know that it came from Target because there's a red border.

2012 Topps
Target Red Bordered Parallel
Tim Federowicz (card # 253)

You'd think Brandon would have his hand further into his glove.  It looks like it is getting ready to fall off.

2012 Topps
Gold Futures
Brandon Belt (card # GF-3)

Ah, a Golden Moment.  That I want to share with a Yankee.

2012 Topps
Golden Moments
Robinson Cano (card # GM-39)

A pair of small, wood bordered Joshes.

2012 Topps
1987 Topps Mini
Josh Johnson (card # TM-34)

2012 Topps
1987 Topps Mini
Josh Hamilton (card # TM-42)

Look, they both have some tongue thing going on.  I don't want to speculate.

2012 Topps
Timeless Talents
Barry Larkin / Asdrubal Cabrera (card # TT-13)

This one came out of the first pack I opened.  I've never pulled an auto from a pack.  Never.  I was rather excited.  I don't know a thing about Chris Coghlan.  I don't like the new Marlins' logo. I think that Ted Williams had something to do with it.

2012 Topps
Golden Moments Autograph
Chris Coghlan (card # GMA-CC)

A great worship service at church. Lunch with family and friends. And some cards. A very nice Easter.

Nachos Grande's Autograph Survey

In honor of Autograph Week, Chris, from the Nachos Grande blog has asked a few questions:


1. What is the best autograph you own?
I'd probably have to say Ryne Sandberg because I got that in person.

2. What is the best autograph that you've ever pulled from a pack of cards?
I don't buy or open enough packs to have ever pulled one.

3. What is the worst autograph you've ever pulled from a pack of cards?
See the answer to #2.

4. Do you try to get autographs through the mail? If so, what sort of success (or failure) stories do you have?
I've contemplated it, but have never actually done it.

5. Who was the subject of your first ever autograph?
Not sports related at all, but in July of 1971 Lt Col Eugene W. Loy, 4007th CCTS commander, piloted the first FB-111A to Plattsburgh Air Force Base. I do remember getting the crew's autograph on a promotional picture.

Probably the first sports related auto that I got was B.J. Armstrong.

6. Do you actively collect any autographs (certain players, teams, brands, etc)?
Being a Hershiser collector, I've got one of his and wouldn't turn down any more.

7. Which is better: Autographs or Relics?
I'm thinking that Autographs are better, especially based on the recent charges of fraudulent jerseys.

8. What do you think of cut autos?
It depends upon the design.  Some are nice.  Others... not so nice.

9. What is your favorite autograph design (say in the last 5 years)?
Allen & Ginters look nice with an auto.  I don't have a specific design in mind, but I prefer on-card.

10. If you could get the autograph of any five people (dead or alive) who would you want a signature from (and why)?

This one took some time to ponder.

• Alfred Hitchcock - I admire him as a director
• Walt Disney - A true part of Americana and a neat signature
• John Hancock - duh
• Shoeless Joe Jackson - I don't think that there are that many of his signatures out there
• William McKinley - just so I could give it to Beardy

Which one of these is not like the others?

Something just isn't right.

A few months back I was contacted by an online presence that sells sports stuff. I took a look at that time and decided that I wasn't interested.  Normally I reply with a pleasant, but firm "Thanks, but no thanks."  I must have forgotten this one.  Last night the online presence contacted me, following up.  I took another look at their site, a bit deeper this time.  I found the three items above.

This time I replied to the presence, asking if they could explain the differences between the items.  Since the price of these signed baseballs range in price from $81.60 to $144.74 I was concerned that someone might be getting fleeced.

The reply that I received was:

Thank you for pointing that out. I'll forward your email to our webmaster to have it sorted out.

Have the webmaster sort it out?  What?  Maybe somebody in Quality Control?  Maybe owning up to the fact that there is a problem and that they've been selling funny autos?  No, that won't happen.  It would seriously damage their reputation.

I'm not so naive to think that this doesn't happen at other places.  Other stores, ebay, even big auction houses.

I don't think I'll be accepting that link.

Oh.  The answer is the second ball.  It is not like the others.

A Visit From UT Football!

If you're a parent of a child who is in kindergarten then you know the type of school papers that the teacher sends home. You've all seen them. They go up on the fridge for a few days until the next one comes home.

Despite my smarmy tone of the opening sentences, I'm very proud of the work that Caroline is doing. Last week they were working on the capital letter N. Since then she's been spelling her name CaroliNe. Kind of cool.

Also last week they had some special visitors to their class. Some of the University of Tennessee Volunteer football players. I don't know who set it up or exactly what the purpose was, but this came home in her school bag...

We have:
Corey Miller, #80 - freshman DE
Myles McKee, #18 - freshman QB
J. M. B???, ?
Chase Ketron, #8, freshman DB
Brent Slusher, #89, senior TE
Jacques Smith, #55, freshman DE

I'm stumped by the J.M.B. auto.

This will end up in Caroline's kindergarten scrapbook.

Negro League Player Signed Ball

Back in July, I attended the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference in Birmingham, Alabama.  I blogged about it previously.

After the player panel and before we headed out to Rickwood Field, there was a short time to get some of the players' autographs.  I didn't plan ahead.  I had nothing for them to sign.  Well, maybe my program book. The lines started and I was lost.  Then, a fellow SABR-ite pulled out a small bag of fresh baseballs.  I asked if I could buy one from him.  He politely sneered, handed me one and refused any form of payment.

I took the above photo with the 'smart scene' option on my camera.  The picture is accurate.  The ball is very white.  The rest of the photos I took with the "Flower" option.  I don't know what that means, but I guess it was for close-ups. I'm not pleased with the creaminess color of the ball, but I was having trouble with the auto focus on the 'smart scene' setting.  I'll try to get better photos later.  I just wanted to share what I had now.

Joseph Marbury

I met Joseph "Bull" Marbury at Rickwood Field.  He was kind enough to spend some time as we walked into the Rickwood.  I asked him about the travels, the food.  I also sat with him at the Baron's game and we talked of baseball today versus when he played, what teams he followed and which players he liked.  Braves and Chipper Jones are the answers to the last two.

Sam Allen

Sam Allen was also very giving with his time.  I took a few photos of Sam and talked with him about his charity work.  He goes to the Dakotas and helps with putting together buildings for various Indian tribes.

Tony Lloyd

I didn't spend any time with Tony Lloyd aside from the pleasantries of him signing the ball.

Billy "Ray" Haggins

I met Billy "Ray" Haggins at the Meet and Greet on the opening night of the conference.  He told me about his equipment and playing High School ball, then on to the company teams and then on to the Negro Leagues.  A true gentleman and a pure delight to listen to.

Will Lee

Like Tony, I didn't spend any quality time with Will Lee.

Birmingham Sam Brison

"Birmingham" Sam Brison was a trip.  I asked for his autograph and he asked me for five dollars.  I wasn't keen on paying money.  He showed me his portfolio of photos, cards, and mementos.  Sam played for the Indianapolis Clowns and was in the movie "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings."  He was quite proud of both of those accomplishments.  He finally signed the ball, then held it and asked me for the money.  It was my feeling that he was a bit down on his luck.  I reached into my pocket and pulled out a five. He was more than friendly after that.  He talked about the tricks and stunts the Clowns would perform, how part of his shtick was to take an infield ball and wait until the last possible moment and throw the runner out.

The time I spent with these gentlemen are very special to me.  When I spoke with them, I tried not to go into "interview" mode.  I wanted to talk with them, not grill them.  I hadn't (and still haven't) honed my questioning skills.  I have the conversations in my memories and they can't really be transcribed.  I don't know that I'll try to do that.  I might just be a bit selfish and keep them to myself.

If you have a chance to spend any time with former Negro League players, do take advantage of it.  You'll be glad you did.