Baseball Amusement Machines

Google Books has again loosed its baseball goodness upon me. Looking through an April 21, 1958 issue of Billboard magazine I stumbled across the Amusement Machines section. What did I find? Baseball games. So I looked around at some different issues of Billboard. More games. These are all from the 1950s. I've tried to match up the press release or news article with an ad for the game. I'm sure that there are still several games that I did not find.





















I've got a second installment of these waiting for another post. Don't go far.

Juvenile Baseball Books

I had a few minutes to look in on one of my favorite used book stores the other day. I found a handful of juvenile baseball books from the early part of last century.

I picked up Lefty O'the Bush, Lefty O'the Blue Stockings, and Double Play!. The first two titles are from the pen of Burt L. Standish and are part of the Big League Series of books. The last is by Harold M. Sherman and is part of the Home Run Series of books.

Burt L. Standish was a pen name for Gilbert Patten who wrote under several other pseudonyms.

The Big League Series by Burt L. Standish

1. Lefty O' The Bush (1914)
2. Lefty O' The Big League (1914)
3. Lefty O' The Ble Stockings (1914)
   
4. Lefty O' The Training Camp (1914)
5. Brick King, Backstop (1914)
6. The Making Of A Big Leaguer (1915)
7. Courtney Of The Center Garden (1915)
8. Covering The Look-In Corner (1915)
9. Lefty Locke, Pitcher-Manager (1916)
10. Guarding The Keystone Sack (1917)
11. The Man On First (1920)
12. Lego Lamb, Southpaw (1923)
13. The Grip Of The Game (1924)
14. Lefty Locke, Owner (1925)
15. Lefty Locke Wins Out (1926)
16. Crossed Signals (1928)

Michelle Nolan's Ball Tales: A Study of Baseball, Basketball and Football Fiction of the 1930s Through 1960s lists both 16 and 17 titles in this series. All other accounts that I have found list only 16 books.


The Home Run Series by Harold M. Sherman

1. Bases Full! (1928)
2. Hit by Pitcher (1928)
3. Safe! (1928)
4. Hit and Run (1929)
5. Double Play! (1932)
   
6. Batter Up! (1932)
   

Double Play! was serialized in Boys' Life magazine starting in May of 1931.

Somthing Mojo This Way Comes

Some time back, The Mojo Hand was a bit ticked off at Topps. So, he held a contest. Yeah, I don't get it either, but I won.

2008 Upper Deck SPX, Winning Materials, Vladimir Guerrero (card #WM-VG, #ed 9/15)

Vlad started out with Montreal and stayed with them for eight seasons. Then he moved to the Anaheim area for six seasons. He's now in Texas. He's been on nine All-Star teams, won seven Silver Slugger awards and was voted the AL MVP in 2004. In 2002 he was one HR short of being a 40-40 man. That was the closest that Montreal ever got to this milestone.

Thanks, Mojo, for your generosity. Did Clay ever get back to you?

United We Stand

Some events you remember forever. Some very clearly, some in a haze. Some are extremely important, others are just a passing moment in time. One event that that is etched into my mind is September 11, 2000.

I was in Atlanta, just getting ready for the opening of the Networld + Interop Trade Show. This event, held at various locations around the world throughout the year, was one that our company had been attending for many years. This was probably my 10th show. Half of the ones that I attended were in Las Vegas. Atlanta was nicer, because it was just four hours down the road. Moving in, setting up the booth and then manning it for four days wasn't my idea of fun. Sure, hanging out with my coworkers was nice. Attending parties at the Hard Rock or catching a concert were perks, but the work was hard.

The show floor was just getting ready to open. We were about to have our company pep talk, syncing on the last minute changes, making sure everyone was going in the same direction.

The CEO of the company showed up at about 9am. He had heard reports that a plane had hit a building in New York City. I hopped on a computer, hoping to find out some detailed info from the Internet. It was slow, but I was able to get a connection to CNN, whose headquarters were just across the street. A photo of one of the Twin Towers with smoke billowing out.

The CEO's wife was back at their hotel. She was calling in with more detailed info. Slowly some news started to trickle on to the show floor. There were rumors and confusion. Several companies that had rented booths pulled up stakes and left. Some had offices and families in New York. I didn't blame them.

At some point that morning I was able to speak with Angie. She has family in the area, so she felt safe, but not being able to be near my family wasn't easy.

As the day wore on, it was clear that the show was shot. Potential customers and other booth jockeys would wander in, but rather than discuss technology our talk turned to the events of that morning.

A gentleman walked by our booth. By his dress he was clearly a follower of Sikhism. I didn't see that. I saw a terrorist. I saw someone who attacked our country. I was looking with my anger glasses on. I didn't say anything, but I thought things that I shouldn't have.

More companies left the show floor as the week progressed. The management closed the show early each day. Many of the restaurants and shopping areas near our hotel shut down. We played cards in the hotel lobby. Nothing new on the news, just the same horrific videos. The USA Today didn't offer anything fresh. The show wrapped up and I headed home, driving with a co-worker, each of us longing to be with our families.

I wasn't following baseball at the time. I knew that games had been canceled, but it didn't greatly affect me. Games resumed and life returned to somewhat of a semi-normal state.

A few years ago I was able to visit the Smithsonian's traveling 9/11 exhibit. It came to Knoxville. I attended with caution. Did I really want to see the photos or watch the videos? See the carnage in person? No, I didn't. But I'm glad I went. I learned some things. I learned that the nation could still make it through difficult times. I learned that I still had the ability to forgive. And the resolve not to forget.

2002 Topps Chrome, Diamondbacks vs. Rockies (card #360)

Time Travel Machine Needed

Boy's Life - April, 1963

Boy's Life - April, 1963

Boy's Life - August, 1963

Boy's Life - April, 1964

images lifted from Google Books

A Whole New Ball Game

It is time for another book review. Late last year I purchased Sue Macy's A Whole New Ball Game. It is the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. It came from the Friends of the (Knox County) Library's used book nook. I think that it cost a dollar.

It is listed as a juvenile book. Didn't bother me in the least. 140 pages of goodness. Good photos, good stats, good writing.

The author does a nice job in telling the history of the league, within the context of what was happening in the 1940's and 1950's, why the league started and then why it failed.

It is an easy read, but contained enough meat for me to want to come back and finish the next chapter. Sure, we've seen the movie based on the league, but this book goes deeper, giving us a glimpse into the lives of some of the players, not just an amalgamation.

It is worth reading. Find a copy at your local library, bookstore or order a copy from Sue Macy.

Malaisey Days of Summer

There are bloggers left and right who are feeling out of sorts, not quite in the groove of blogging.

I'd have to count myself as part of them right now. Oh, I'm still excited about baseball. There's a lot of good stuff happening.

Bill Dancy, skipper of the Tennessee Smokies, was named as the Southern League Manager of the Year. My distant cousin (by marriage), Tony Campana, was selected to be part of the Southern League Post Season All-Star team. He joins catcher Robinson Chirinos and fellow outfielder Brandon Guyer. The Smokies won the second half North Division and will be in the playoffs next week.

Daniel Schlereth is pitching for the Tigers, coming out of the bullpen on the occasion.

The 2010 Gint-A-Cuffs contest is done. Brian, from the Play at the Plate blog beat out Christopher and Beardy. Full details at the GACII blog.

I did purchase two retail packs of Topps 2010 Allen & Ginter. I pulled nothing of note.

High school football is going strong here in east Tennessee. My son, Edison, got to start at the 2010 Kickoff Classic held at Neyland Stadium. He was center. He also got to play on the defensive line. The King's Academy beat Tennessee School for the Deaf in one quarter of play.

Edison is wearing the white jersey #51.

The following week, TKA didn't fare as well. They played Lancaster Christian Academy, from Smyrna, TN. The officials stopped the game in the middle of the 4th quarter for weather related concerns (lightning in the area) with the score at 40-0.

Tonight TKA plays Franklin Classical Academy, of Franklin, TN. I understand that due to attrition of players from the FCA ranks, it will be an 8-man game. That is how the game with TSD was played. Edison won't be playing this evening as he has a back strain. He'll be on the sidelines wearing his jersey in support of the team, but won't get sent in.

I have a few posts that I need to write... contest winnings, book reviews, generic card posts, etc. I'll get to them when I'm good and ready. Right now, I'm going to try to get over this nasty summer cold that I've had for the last three days, head out to the football field for some tailgating and the some good old fashioned HS football.

I'll be getting back into the swing of regular blogging in a bit. I might start veering more into historical newsbits about baseball instead of actual cards. Sue me.

For those of you that have stuck with me, thank you. For those of you who haven't... well, I'm guessing that you're not reading this.