Musing about my five collecting interests: All things Orioles and BALTIMORE Colts, 50's Baseball, team publications, Japanese cards and even some football and hockey.
You might find some beautiful women, soccer stuff, presidential pins and life advice from time to time. I don't charge extra for any of those.
I've wanted to add a '52 Topps to my Warren Spahn pages for some time. I finally scored this one from someone over on the Net54 card forums. It's got some flaws, but don't we all?
The write-up on the back called him 'smooth and graceful', and he certainly was that. I only got to see him in person at the tail end of his career but it was still a kick to watch him (pun intended).
Spahn is one of those guys who doesn't seem to have ever had a 'bad' card. OK, maybe the '65 where he's a cap less coach isn't all that attractive, but it's still a '65 of one of the greats. BTW...he won 363 games despite losing three full years while serving in WWII in the U.S. Army in Europe. He was 22 when he entered the service. It's hard to believe he wouldn't have been a 400-game winner had he pitched during those years. But he sacrificed a part of his career as did many Americans, ballplayers and otherwise.
I enjoy cards, I enjoy books, I enjoy music. Nothing unique about that as I'm sure plenty of you do as well. Recently I've been going thru my hobby collection as I get ready to downsize it. By 'downsize' I mean organizing the good stuff and getting rid of the clutter. All my remaining junk wax era non-Orioles? Adios. Commons from earlier this decade when I was buying blasters that I opened and immediately boxed up? Toast. The 1600 count boxes of 80s and 90s basketball and hockey that I've sifted through for anything worth keeping? Gone.
Anyway, in scrounging through boxes, binders, and shelves I've come across cards, pics, publications I've intended to put up on here but never have. I thought that I'd remedy that over the next few weeks. And just to make writing these more fun for me I figured I'd pair the memorabilia with books and songs I own and enjoy as well. Because why not? And as I implied they will not all be cards.
My guidelines:
Only things that have not been posted here will be included
The elements may or may not be connected
I'm gonna keep them short
Books and music will be from my shelves so you'll get an idea of my tastes in both. Be warned: I'm pretty 'mainstream' when it comes to my reading and listening.
I'll kick this off with the wonderful 1952 Topps Jackie Jensen. If anyone would ask me why collectors dig the '52 set I'd just show them this card. I'm not sure what the background shows but I like to think it's the colors of a sunset reflecting on a stadium net. Whatever it actually is makes for a great card.
My copy has some seriously rounded corners but I'm fine with having added it to my Jensen PC.
First book up in the rotation of books is Game Faces by Peter Devereaux (that link takes you to the book on Google Books where you can see sample pages). The book features cards from the tobacco era and ties them to history, culture and the people of the time. You can read it from the beginning or just pick it up and browse through random pages. really good stuff.
I own that Mathewson on the cover, but I've shown it here multiple times.
Today I will tie the song to the card, sort of. It's Jackie Wilson, a much-underappreciated talent who really never gets much mention anymore. My friends and I were fans when we were in school in the mid to late 60s. Here's my favorite Wilson song, (You're Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher.
I hadn't thought about him or the song in a long time. Then, during
this last Christmas season, I set a bunch of new presets in my Sirius
radio to escape some of the temporary holiday stations. It was playing on an R&B channel and soon it was in my gym playlist. Catchy, right?
The above is a page from my Billy Pierce binder. I'd say Topps has wrung every bit of juice out of the '52 Pierce. And as silly as it looks I am sure that there are some really iconic cards that Topps has recycled many many more times than this (I'm looking at you 1953 Mantle).
Truth be told there are really only seven Topps issues on that page. Upper left and middle left are two different '#d to 60' of the same signed 2011 Diamond Lineage something or other. I bought two of these because that section of my modern Pierce checklist is a hellish mess of reprints and such. I thought I had it all figured out but apparently not.
Top center and right are also the same card with one autographed by Billy TTM. But luckily for me I have decided (too late) that the only cards I really am concerned with Pierce originals and variations. And to that end I'm posting my 'real' 1952 Topps Billy Pierce.
Like so many cards in the '52 set it's a classicly wonderful card.
I can't remember where I saw this '52 Carl Erskine card. So if you are reading this and you posted it, thanks! When I saw it I knew right away that I wanted a copy.
Erskine had a card in the 1959 Topps set and of course I posted it over there. It's a nice one, I love the pink framed cards, but this '52 Topps is much better. On the '59 he's a Los Angeles Dodger, nothing wrong with that, but to me he's a BROOKLYN Dodger as he is here on the '52. I usually don't flip out over portrait cards (that's one reason I thought my '14 Heritage pack sucked.... almost all portraits). But this one is a definite exception. Erskine appears to be having the time of his life. And why not. He's pitching in the majors, he's a Dodger, in Brooklyn and the Brooklyn-ites love him. Heck, he even has black hair, it says so right there on the back of the card!
Maybe the card could have been better with a different background. A glimpse of Ebbets Field, or a sky shot with some puffy clouds, but I'm fine with it the way it is.
'Oisk' is still alive and kicking at the age of 87. He has a website and from that site I'm posting a list of "Did You Know?" facts.
• Earned his nickname “Oisk” from Brooklyn fans who called him “Cal Oyskin” in their “Brooklynese” accents; last name eventually shortened to “Oisk” when yelled from the stands of Ebbets Field, the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• Elected into Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.
• Wrote two books, “Tales from the Dodger Dugout” and “What I learned from Jackie Robinson.”
• Featured in “The Boys of Summer,” a book written by Roger Kahn recounting the history of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team up to their victory in the 1955 World Series.
• Holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from Anderson University and Marian College.
• Recipient of the 1956 National Jaycee's Ten Outstanding Young Men of America Award in.
• Charter member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
• Served in the U.S. Navy
• A national and state representative for Indiana Special Olympics.
• President of the First National Bank in Anderson, Indiana from 1982-1993
• Coached the Anderson College baseball team for 12 seasons, winning four championships.
My terrible scans can't hide the greatness of this Topps Billy Pierce from 1952. He doesn't look old enough to have debuted in the majors seven years prior but he really did see his first action in 1945 with the Tigers. 1952 was his fourth year as a regular member of the Sox' rotation.
Here is an interesting Pierce nugget: he is one of three Highland Park, Michigan high school grads to pitch in the majors and he was a teammate with one of them, Ted Gray, on the Tigers' staff in 1948. The third member of that 'club' was Bob Bruce. Bruce pitched for Detroit beginning in 1959. All three were signed out of high school by the Tigers.
These '52 have such great write-ups and data on the back. Hair color? How nice is it to know that BP has dark brown hair? LOL I love the flying White Sox logo. It's rather crude but so very cool.
This is a (2011?) Topps Lineage that replicates the original '52 but adds an actual signature. It's got slicker card stock and richer colors but it can't hold a candle to the real thing!
I really enjoy Corey S's Adventures in 1952 Topps blog. Putting that set together, even in less than pristine condition, is a formidable task. The set is a classic and I only have one or two so following Corey's progress is pretty fun.
Recently he showed off a Larry Doby card from the '52 set and not long afterwards he showed off another one, in better shape, that he had acquired as an 'upgrade'. I'd commented on how much I liked the Doby (a nice batting cage pose, aren't those cool?).
Not long afterwards Corey emailed me for my address and then sent his original Doby my way. That's it at the top. Anyone that reads my babbling here knows that a touch of lost cardboard, round corners or off center pics don't bother me in the least. I love this card.
I like the fact that the '52 cards featured eye and hair color as part of the player data box. I don't know if that's been done since. Anyone? Doby is obviously an iconic figure in the game's history. And this is a far superior card to my other Doby, my 1959 version. So I'm pretty pleased to add it to my collection. Thanks again, Corey!
