My Mom's Chemistry Partner

My folks are in town for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Last night my mom and I were talking about her high school and old friends connecting on facebook.  I was retelling the story of how I met an alum of Beaver Falls High School at a mutual friend's book signing party.  It turned out that the alum was in band with my aunt (my mom's sister-in-law) in the mid-1960s.

As I was recounting the conversation with the alum it was basically:

Me: So, what team did you root for when you were younger?
Alum: The Pirates.
Me: Were they the hometown team or did you just like them?
Alum: Hometown.  I grew up in western Pennsylvania.
Me: Really?  Where.
Alum: You've never heard of it.  Beaver Falls.
Me: Yeah, that's where Joe Namath went to high school.  The Tigers.
Alum (with a surprised look on his face): Yeah, that's right.
Me: My mom, aunt and uncles attended BHS.

As I was telling it to my mom, she interrupted and replaced "Joe Namath" with "Joe Walton".  "He was my chemistry partner."  I thought that she said "Bill Walton" and shook my head.

I had heard the name of Joe Walton, but couldn't quite place it.  Joe Walton played football at Pitt and then was drafted in the second round by the Washington Redskins in 1957.  He played for them from 1957-1960 and then for the New York Giants from 1961-1963.  Later in his career he was the offensive coordinator for the Giants, Redskins, Jets, and Steelers.  Oh, and he was the head coach for the New York Jets from 1983-1989, finishing up with a 53-57-1 record.

I've got a new player/coach to collect.

1960 Topps
Joe Walton (card # 127)

1961 Topps
Joe Walton (card # 126)

1962 Topps
Joe Walton (card # 103)

1969 Topps Mini-Album Inserts
San Francisco 49'ers  (card # 15)

I'm a bit confused about the 1969 Topps Mini-Album Insert card. Clearly Topps reused the image from the 1962 card.  I don't know why.

Some of Joe's other cards are:

• 1961 Fleer (card # 112)
• 1961 Fleer Wallet Pictures ( card # 145)
• 1964 Coke Caps Giants (cap # 35)
• 1989 Pittsburgh Greats (card # 11)
• 1989 Pro Set (card # 311)

Currently Joe just finished his 19th year as head coach of the Robert Memorial University Colonials.

A fantastic read

The Baseball Researcher has a great post today.  He tracks down some info about the ballpark (and more) in this photo...

Go read it now.

Potpourri for 100, Alex?

"What is, 'Mark has too much time on his hands'?"

I've been poking around old newspapers and magazines and came up with a few articles that are interesting but don't quite make a whole post on their own.

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I'm not quite sure where I found this. Could have been Google News archives, Paper of Record, I just don't recall, nor can I find it again. What caught my eye was two colored teams playing in 1878. Sure, the gunshot and beating was interesting.

Current intersection of Cumberland and Gilmor.  (link)

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An ad from the September, 1958 issue of Popular Science.

I can't find any other reference to this game.

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This article is from an earlier issue of Popular Science. October, 1937.

Okay, either their copy is wrong or the images are reversed.  The pitcher is not a left-hander.  I don't know who the pitcher pictured is.  Here's the 1937 Washington Senators roster from baseball-reference.com.  Who is he?

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Back in the middle of June, I was watching a baseball game on television.  It might have been ESPN. Yankees at the Cubs, if I remember. The announcers were talking about how neat it was for AL teams to come play at Wrigley, since it is such an iconic park.  They spoke of Gehrig and Ruth coming to Wrigley for the 1932 World Series, among others.  I know that 1929 Philadelphia Athletics visited for the 1929 World Series, bringing Mickey Cochrane, Jimmy Foxx, and Lefty Grove.  Mickey Cochrane returned to Wrigley in 1935 with Detroit.  He brought Charlie Gehringer and Goose Goslin.  The Yankees also returned in 1938, with Tommy Henrich and Lefty Gomez.  Then the announcers mentioned that the Red Sox had never played at Wrigley in the Golden Era of Baseball so it was sad that Ted Williams never got a chance to play there.

This didn't ring completely true to me.  The Red Sox have never faced the Cubs in the World Series, but the 1947 All-Star Game was played at Wrigley.  Who batted third?  Ted Williams.  Yes, this is nit-picky, but I like to be right.  I'll claim it where I can get it.

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To wrap up I'll leave you with a fun photo from 107 years ago.

Phoenix Indian Industrial Training School, 1904
Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

In very broad terms, the school was set up to assimilate the Indians to the Anglo way of life.  I don't know who these young men played against.

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

Hershiser Venezuelan Stickers

While scouring ebay today I came across these Orel Hershiser oddball stickers. Oddball in that I don't think that one would typically find them at their typical card shop.

2007 Venezuelan Panini Sticker
Orel Hershiser (sticker # 170)
image lifted from this ebay auction

2008 Venezuelan Panini Sticker
Orel Hershiser (sticker # 225/26)
image lifted from this ebay auction

I assume that the 2008 sticker numbers are actually 225 and 226.

The seller is offering them up for $5 each. A bit too rich for my blood, but good to know that these are out there.

Corey Hart and his vast collection

I was poking around on my BlackBerry last night and came across a free app from the MLBPA.  Somehow they collect tweets, news, videos, and player profiles then serve them up right to your mobile device.  Interesting.

It isn't going to be the "go to" app on my phone, but I will use it.  One of the news stories was about Corey Hart.

He talks about his collection of comic books, action figures, bobble heads, jerseys, signed baseballs, and other memorabilia. 

"I like my original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers and He-Man figures."

Seriously?  $6.8 million last season, $9 million next season and you're obsessing about TMNT and He-Man figures?  If I was making that kind of green I'd be looking into some very nice vintage.

You can read the whole story on MLBPlayers.com.

Interesting ebay auction

I've been looking at this auction for the last few days. I just can't pull the trigger.