Every Pitcher Tells A Story

 

My mom is a reader.  My dad is a reader.  Sometimes their interests cross, sometimes they don't.  Mysteries they share.  Baseball books, not so much.  While visiting one of the local used books stores in Knoxvegas dad came back to the house with a bag of baseball books.  They would be flying back to their home in the west so I didn't want to burden them with extra weight.  I accepted his offer to keep a few books, knowing that he'd return for them in a few months.  That and to see the grandkids.

This is one of those books.  Seth Swirsky wrote to people connected with baseball.  Not just pitchers, but wives, catchers, hitters, to gather their stories.  This book presents facsimiles of the letters that he got back.  Also included are telegrams and letters that he collected from the past.

I'm about three quarters of the way through it.  For me it isn't a book to sit down and read from cover to cover, but one to pick up and savor the letters.  Some of the stories are paired with events, others are about technique.  The letters are on club stationery, some on lined paper.  Some are elaborate, some are single sentence responses.  Steve Carlton, David Cone, Cy Young, Luis Tiant, Hub Kittle, Jim Bouton, Juan Marichal, Maury Wills and many others put pen to paper.

You can also visit Seth Swirsky's website to browse the book and get more information.

I'm glad that this book gets to be on my nightstand and then my bookshelf, even if it is only for a few months.

TheJUDGE

 

In the April 1991 issue of SCD's Baseball Card Price Guide there is an ad for TheJUDGE.

I'd never seen one, nor does a quick Google search provide much.  But, a more thorough Google search does.

Hopping over to Google Patents, I found this Card Gage.  Now you can know all the details about TheJUDGE.

According to their ad, TheJudge will help me find the best cards.  Some sort of device like a metal detector?  How does it know which cards are "the best"?

Maybe if I had just purchased TheJudge in 100 card lots 18 years ago, I could sell them now for a nice profit and sit back and enjoy my twilight years.  No, not the books and the movies.  I mean I'm getting old.

 

SCD Baseball Card Price Guide

When I picked up the 1998 Topps Stars "N Steel at the south Knoxvegas Antique Mall I looked in on booth 36. Lots of old magazines. Sports Illustrated. Beckett Hockey. Beckett Football. TV Guide. They are encased in plastic with cardboard stiffeners. $2 a pop. Then there's the stack of 'gently used' magazines. I found a copy of the April 1991 Sports Collectors Digest Baseball Card Price Guide in that stack.

It has no back cover, but it does still have the 5 FREE Cards.

Barry Larkin (card # 16)

Ramon Martinez (card # 17)

Ben McDonald (card # 18)

Roger Clemens (card # 19)

Jose Canseco (card # 20)

The backs have then current prices and a bit of commentary

The magazine is a vehicle for advertising and a price guide. A regular twofer.

Most of the ads deal with prospecting and investing. Lots of 100 or 500 card lots for single players.

But, one of the ads, from Sports Cards Plus (of Westminster, CA) had some items, including a chance to purchase a 1986 Donruss Factory Sealed baseball set for the low price of $225.

Ebay has one now for $20, plus $9 S&H. Glad I didn't spend my money then.

Ooh, Eric Lindros ads. And an ad for something called: TheJUDGE

Be SAFE when buying, saving or trading valuable cards!! TheJUDGE helps find the best cards for your money!

A Donald Honig Reader

I've been reading quite a bit lately.   Mostly books about baseball.

I moved the Bill Veeck book (The Hustler's Handbook) into my car so I can read it while waiting for my son to get out of football practice.

A Donald Honig Reader is just a joy.  If you're a fan of 'older' baseball and want to read stories of players from the 1920s through the 1950s, this is the book for you.

Donald Honig interviewed many players and lets them tell their tales.  

Fighting with teammates, contract negotiations, signings, bus rides, barnstorming, throwing at Babe Ruth, getting thrown at, going off to war, being released, playing in Mexico, fighting with Ernest Hemingway, getting pulled from a game, drinking, hitting homeruns.

I include the scan of the cover because I haven't been able to find it on the web.

Over the next few days I'll be sharing more books I'm reading, or plan to read.

Some may cry, "Foul.  Enough with the books.  And while you're at it, put the catalogs away." but this is my foray into sports card collecting includes many aspects and facets.

Thanks for reading

1998 Topps Stars 'N Steel

I stopped in at the south Knoxvegas Antique Mall Saturday afternoon. I found a product that I'd never seen before. I'd never heard of it either.

1998 Topps Stars 'N Steel.

According to The Catalog,

Stars 'N Steel was a 44-card set printed on four-colored textured film laminate bonded to a sheet of 25-guage steel.

You can use these cards to patch a small hole in your muffler.

Stars 'N Steel was available only to Home Team Advantage members and was packaged in three-card packs that arrive in a sturdy, tri-fold stand-up display.

I picked up an opened pack for $1.  The two other cards were Larry Walker and Jose Cruz Jr.  The scans don't do the cards justice, for they are ultra shiny.

You could also use them as martial arts throwing stars.  Or they'd be good for a straight edge for trimming old tobacco cards before sending them off to be graded and slabbed.

The checklist for the set (and other scans) can be found over at Zistle.

There are two parallel sets, one with a gold colored border and the second featured gold holographic technology.

They're interesting, but I'm not going to complete this set.

Trippin' Card

This is Dock Ellis...

This is Dock Ellis on drugs...

Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in 1970.  Years later he claimed that he was on LSD during that game.

The story is chronicled at Snopes, Wikipedia and The Psychedelic Shakespeare Solution (where I lifted the images).

Dock was an All-Star in 1971.  He played for five teams over his career, the bulk of it with the Pirates.  He pitched in one World Series game, with the Yankees (1976).  He lost it.

Dock Ellis died in December of 2008.

As dayf over at Cardboard Junkie says about his blog:

One man's tireless crusade to promote card collecting as an addictive alternative to more pharmacological pursuits. Remember kids: Do Cards, Not Drugs.

Kids, listen to your uncle dayf.

Darryl speaks out

1990 Starline - Darryl Strawberry (card #37)

I was reading the latest copy of Newsweek that was in my work's lunchroom. Darryl Strawberry has a new memoir - Straw: Finding My Way. There is a short interview with Darryl. One of the questions was:

Does it upset you that steroids have put such a stigma on the game?

His answer?

Why should it? If steroids were around in my day, would I have taken them? Of course.

Darryl, Darryl, Darryl.

Sure, it might sell books and get you a splash of press, but, come on.

Or, maybe he is telling the truth and it is refreshing to have someone do that.

Yes, if you are a devoted reader of this blog, you've seen that card before. I haven't seen it since I scanned it several months ago. It is still tagged for going to Lucy at Dinged Corners. I hope that Darryl's answer doesn't diminish your enthusiasm for him.