February 12th is the birthday of (IMO) our greatest president and the (IMO, again) most remarkable man this country has ever produced, Abraham Lincoln. I'm a Lincoln-phile and have a couple of shelves of books written about him (not all of which I've read yet). I have a couple of modern cards that depict him. This is some sort of Upper Deck card. I've never really looked into the whole set.
There are two other birthdays of note (to me) today. First off is former big league reliever Don Stanhouse. He spent two seasons ('78/'79) as the closer in Baltimore and took at least that many years off my life. I was working at the late, much lamented Houston Post back them and most evenings I'd hang out in the sports department tracking the O's on the AP ticker. His innings took forrrevvver. Seemed like he'd go 3-2 on every guy he faced and he worked so damn slow.
I know Earl Weaver called him 'Full Pack' because he claimed that's how many smokes he'd go through in a Stanhouse inning. So Happy Birthday Don Stanhouse, wherever you are.
I spent the 1967 season as a temporary resident of Houston. My father was 'on loan' to the Shell Oil's Houston division helping the company get ready for the moving of their headquarters from New York. That year my father and I got to see a lot of games in the Astrodome using the Shell corporate seats right behind home plate. And I DO mean right behind it...we were in the second row behind the ump. That was my first look at Don Wilson. Maybe it was the vantage point but he was incredibly impressive as a pitcher. He threw serious high heat. The sound of the catchers's glove was something my father always commented on. I'd never been that close to a major league pitcher-hitter confrontation and I wondered how those guys had the guts to stand in against Wilson.
And oddly it seemed that through the years (we returned to Houston for good in 1970) Wilson was always the Astros' starter when we went to a game. It became a running joke. Because of that Wilson became one of my favorite Astros player. When he died so mysteriously at the age of 29 in 1975 it was pretty shocking.
I'll always remember reading about his second no-hitter and wishing I could have seen it. It came in May of 1969 against Cincinnati a day after the Reds' Don Maloney had no hit the Astros and supposedly shown some disrespect or at least that was how Wilson and the Astros saw it. Reportedly after the last out of his gem Wilson charged the Reds' dugout and had to be restrained. He was just that kind of guy.
The UD History of the United States is a fantastic set. I featured it several years ago but it really deserves a more complete look.
ReplyDeletehttp://canthavetoomanycards.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-einstein-to-slinky.html I got an absolute steal on my set I think $7.95 shipped) but they are out therefor somewhat more.
Cool. Now I have something else to look for. I see a factory sealed set for $40 shipped. I browsed thru some of the singles and they look pretty sweet. You really did get a steal for that price!
DeleteGreat post. I loved the history lesson on two athletes I knew little (Stanhouse) to nothing (Wilson) about. Btw... you've got me wondering if there are any vintage cards that feature a player with a cigarette. I know that there's the Randy Johnson rookie card with the Marlboro sign... but I can't remember ever seeing a player or manager with a cigarette on their baseball card.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of a card showing a player with a cig. If I had to bet I'd say the most likely guy would have been Mark Belanger of the O's. He smoked like a chimney. I saw him smoke in the dugout.
DeleteI know that players routinely appeared in print ads for cigarettes. I seem to recall a Stan Musial ad for cigs. maybe DiMaggio, too?
Don't know about a card but I have a sports illustrated from 71 or 72 that shows Dick Allen smoking in the dugout. On the front cover
DeleteI'll have to do a search on Belanger on COMC to see. I think I recall seeing players/managers on the covers of magazines smoking too.
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