A Graded Jackie Robinson

This is the third of three graded vintage cards I acquired in a fit of spending frittering away my kids' inheritance over the last few weeks. And among the cards I own this one jumps up near the top of my list of favorites. This '55 Topps Jackie Robinson has rounded corners but it's all in one piece and the colors are still nice so it'll do just fine for me.

I've wanted to add a career-era card of this iconic player for a while. I'm not sure what kept me from picking one up other than always having other projects occupying my attention. This time I used an eBay coupon code to land something not for a set or player collection, but just because I felt I should have it.

There are more popular JR cards out there. Obviously, the 1949 Leaf would qualify. And for my money, his 1956 Topps is more attractive. But this fit my budget and I do like the '55 design quite a bit. 

One thing I noted on the back of the card was that in the write-up Topps referred to the Dodgers as 'the Brooks'. I lived in Brooklyn when I was very young, spent many summers there at my grandparents' house and knew plenty of older relatives that had been Dodger fans during their time back east and I've never seen or heard that particular reference before.

It's also interesting that Topps was detail-oriented enough to list Jackie's height as 5' 11 3/4". 

And so ends my trio of postwar graded acquisitions. I have a few other cards from the 50s that I picked up within the last few months and I'll get them scanned and posted. I also have some Charles Bender cards and some 1962 Topps stars I'll post. I don't think I'll take on a '62-specific blog anytime soon (I'm too far behind with my '58 and '60 set blogs) so the better 1962 cards will show up here.

TCMA Bonus and Sample cards

I recently took advantage of my free time to organize and binder the SSPC and TCMA sets I completed in the last year or two. Lots of cards, lots of nine-pocket sheets. I always print out a checklist and stick it in a one pocket and stick it in the binder.

When I dug up and printed the checklist for the TCMA Stars of the 50s  set I saw this:

And I was stumped. I googled a bit and found that the BC1 and BC2 cards were 'bonus cards' of those two iconic 1950s teams. A few of the Google hits led to fellow bloggers' work so I probably should have been aware of them but I wasn't. A quick trip to eBay turned up several copies so adding them was easy.

They are 3 1/2" x 5" cards done in the same style as the rest of the set. I didn't find any info on how these were distributed but the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards says they 'came with' the regular sets so I'll go with that.

The scan of the backs reminds me that the set was officially called the Baseball History Series although the Stars of the 60s version doesn't carry that designation on the back nor do any of the other TCMA sets as far as I know.

Just for the sake of perspective here is the Dodger version again scanned with a regular Billy Pierce from the set.

The listing of the Wertz and Hutchinson cards at the end of the checklist, which I thought at first was some sort of mis-print, is for 'sample' cards. I went back to the dupes I'd culled out of my original large lot purchase and sure enough I had the Vic Wertz sample card.

The front is the same but the back has no stats or write-up.

No such luck with the Fred Hutchinson version but SportsLots had one. As soon as it arrives I've got myself what I guess is now a master set of the TCMA Stars of the 50s.

1961 Topps MVP Don Newcombe

Late in September Night Owl featured Don Newcombe in his 1956 Topps Card of the Month feature. It's a sweet card and it reminded me that Newk was included in the Topps MVP subset from 1961. It's a group of cards that I've been (very) casually collecting for what seems like decades.

I went out and found this copy on eBay and am very happy to add it to my collection. Don Newcombe is a often overlooked figure in the history of baseball in general and the Dodgers in particular. Night Owl outlined much of the story in his post.

I commented over there that Newk never got much consideration for the Hall of Fame and that's understandable I suppose. He got a late start in the majors due to a couple of factors. He came of age in a time when he wasn't going to be signed by a major league team. He spent a few seasons pitching in the Negro Leagues before Jackie Robinson broke through those barriers. And once signed by the Dodgers he had to climb up that incredibly deep farm system put together by Branch Rickey. In the end his numbers don't hold up to those pitchers enshrined in the Hall but his reach was much greater than just baseball stats. A recovered alcoholic Newk devoted much of his post-career time to assisting others to reach sobriety.

My father, a pinstripe-bleeding Yankee fan, had good things to say about Newcombe. And that was high praise considering that my old man lived just blocks from Ebbets Field and yet held the Bums in such low esteem that he never even walked the few blocks to see a game there until the Yanks played a World Series game in Brooklyn.

As for me I never saw Newk pitch but I do remember him being acknowledged one Sunday evening after his retirement as he sat in the audience at the Ed Sullivan show.

A few final random Newcombe thoughts:

• I couldn't find a Newcombe bio in a quick Amazon search. With as many baseball books as are published each year I'd have thought he would be the subject of one.
• He hit .271 as a major leaguer with 15 homers and over 100 RBI. The Astros have a first baseman who hits under .200. I'm just saying.
• He finished his career with a season in Japan as a first baseman/outfielder and hit 12 dingers and batted .262. Those numbers, at the age of 36, placed him 11th and 12th on the league leader boards in those categories. 
• Someone was kind enough to add the year of this card to the back. It doesn't bother me one bit. It shows that once upon a time someone cared.

Here is a checklist of the 1961 MVP subset. The ones I own are in red italics and I'm looking for the rest.

• 471 Phil Rizzuto - New York Yankees MVP
• 472 Yogi Berra - New York Yankees MVP
• 473 Bobby Shantz -Philadelphia Athletics  MVP
• 474 Al Rosen - Cleveland Indians MVP
• 475 Mickey Mantle - New York Yankees MVP (added Oct 19)
• 476 Jackie Jensen - Boston Red Sox MVP
• 477 Nellie Fox - Chicago White Sox MVP
• 478 Roger Maris - New York Yankees MVP
• 479 Jim Konstanty - Philadelphia Phillies MVP
• 480 Roy Campanella - Brooklyn Dodgers MVP
• 481 Hank Sauer - Chicago Cubs MVP
• 482 Willie Mays - New York Giants MVP
• 483 Don Newcombe - Brooklyn Dodgers MVP
• 484 Hank Aaron - Milwaukee Braves MVP
• 485 Ernie Banks - Chicago Cubs MVP
• 486 Dick Groat - Pittsburgh Pirates MVP

Oisk, ain't he grand?

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.

1953 Bowman Russ Meyer

Russ Meyer was just a name I'd heard before I looked into his career when I was posting his 1959 Topps card. As soon as I saw his 'Mad Monk' nickname I knew that would be one of the better research projects I'd done for that blog.

From his Army baseball exploits to throwing a rosin bag onto his own head Meyer was a character worth reading more about. Rather than repost those links here I'll let you check them out on my '59 blog. Not for my writing but for the stuff you can get to through that post like his very fun SABR bio.

This '53 Bowman was just a $1 spur of the moment buy on COMC (or maybe eBay, I forget). I'll spend that for a '53 Bowman any day. Especially when it ships free with the cards I was actually looking for. What a wonderful set. Like little pieces of baseball art. Sure the back of this one is ruined but dat front! Even two serious creases can't screw it up. Am I right?

If you don't care to click through to my other blog here is the '59 Meyer. I love the 1959 set but when it comes to these two cards there is no comparison!

1960 Topps Managers: Fred Hutchinson and Chuck Dressen

It's been awhile since I posted any of my 1960 Topps managers cards. I had this one in the draft folder and had forgotten that it was never published. It really had never even been started except for the scans. This post features two revered and accomplished managers. Let's start with Fred Hutchinson.

"Hutch" as he was called began his baseball life as a sensational 19 year old pitcher with the PCL Raniers in his hometown of Seattle. He won 25 games that first season and was named as Minor League Player of the Year by the Sporting News. After that his contract was purchased by the Detroit Tigers and Hutch got a pair of brief looks at the majors and he had another fine minor league season in 1941. But the Uncle Sam called and he spent four full years in the U.S. Navy.

Once back in civilian life in 1946  Hutch ran off a string of major league seasons with the Tigers that saw him rank near the top of several pitching categories. He went 87-57 between 1946 and 1951. He faded quickly as an effective pitcher but not as a leader and the Tigers named him manager in mid 1952 and he continued as a playing manager through '53. He managed another season before he was let go and he returned to Seattle to manage the Raniers to a 95 win season.

He was hired to manage the Cardinals and held that spot through 1958. He again managed the Raniers for a season before the Reds hired him to finish out the 1959 season. In 1961 he led the Reds to the national League pennant and a World Series match-up against the Yankees. The Yanks won it in five games. Hutch remained at the helm of the Reds until 1964. It was during that season the he was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his head and neck. He left the club in July, returned for a week or so and then left for good, too ill to work. He died that winter.

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center was founded by his brother Dr. Bill Hutchinson and is now one of the top facilities of it's kind. You can read more about Hutch on these two pages on the facilities' excellent site..... this page is an excellent bio of the late manager and this page discusses the Hutch Award given each year by MLB..

Chuck Dressen left Decatur, Illinois to play third base for the Reds through the mid-1920s. But those playing days came after his three season career as a back with the Decatur Staleys and Racine Legion in the NFL between 1920 and 1923.

Once he switched to baseball he remained in the game until his death in 1966. Once his playing days were over, at age 39, Dressen was selected to manage the Reds in 1934. He spent 16 of the next 32 years managing five different clubs. His most success came in 1952/'53 when he managed the Brooklyn Dodgers to the World Series. His major league managerial record was 1008-973. Dressen passed away following his last season as manager of the Tigers in 1966. His final two years were hindered by ill health. 

While managing his Dodger clubs Dressen would often tell his team, "Just hold them, boys, until I think of something." He was also credited with bold predictions while managing some talent starved Washington clubs. Lots of good info and stories on his Wikipedia page.

Here is a selection from a September 1952 showing of the TV game show 'What's My Line' featuring Dressen on the eve of the 1952 Series in which he managed the Dodgers versus the Yanks. Interestingly he gets into an exchange with one of the panelists, newspaper columnist Dorothy Kilgallen  over something she had previously written about his managing. 

"Give that fan a contract!"

Brooklyn Dodger righty Rex Barney smiles towards the heavens from the front of his 1951 Bowman. This is one of my favorite vintage cards. It's damn near perfect. Great portrait set against a blue sky with the stadium lights in the background. The whole thing tells me that this is a guy who enjoys being a major leaguer in 1951.

Rex pitched six seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers, just five full ones. He broke through for 15 wins in 1948 and pitched a no hitter against the Giants on September 9th of that year (there ya go Night Owl). His 3.10 ERA that year was by far the best of his career.

Rex struggled with control throughout his career (1948 seems to be his baseball 'Harmonic Convergence') and was hampered by a leg injury which led to a shortened career. But while he was through with active baseball duty after 1952, he wasn't through with the game.

He worked as a broadcaster and then in 1974 came to Baltimore as the public address announcer at Memorial Stadium and then at Camden Yards. He became well known for two expressions. "Give that fan a contract." was heard when a fan made a nice play on a ball hit into the stands, and his post-game 'Thank Youuuuuu' always meant that you were free to go fight your way out of the horrendously gridlocked Memorial Stadium parking lots. Rex worked for the O's until his death in 1997. By the time he passed he was an iconic figure in a town where he had never thrown a pitch.

My scanner cut off the bottom border of this one and turned what is a slight printing hic-up into what looks like a crease across Barney's right cheek. The corners and colors are almost as they were when they came out of the wrapper. Only a couple of stains and a chip on the reverse spoil it.

Panini Golden Age Ralph Branca

I make no bones about the fact that the Dodgers are my 'other' team. I trace it back to discovering the brilliance of Sandy Koufax in his heyday. So I was pretty happy when I opened up my box of 2012 Panini Golden Age and found that this insert was in there.

Ralph Branca might not be Sandy Koufax (who is?) but he holds a special place in Dodger lore, of course. He is best known for giving up Bobby Thomson's 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' but he won 88 big league games and had four double digit win seasons for the Bums. He won 21 games in 1947 and he made the NL All Star squad in 1947, '48 and '49. And he seems to be an interesting and personable guy in his own right. I mean he became fast friends with Thomson and they made many appearances together in the years after that fateful game on Coogan's Bluff.

His website is pretty interesting. I'm going to track down a copy of his book as I have read a couple others in which he plays a prominent role.

The Panini set itself didn't knock me over but I do enjoy the trip down Memory Lane it brings. I got a couple of other neat inserts I'll show in the coming days.

'56 Topps Pee Wee Reese

I've started adding some '56s to my collection. Nothing special, mostly commons in f/g condition. Saying I like the set is like saying I like ice cream, hell everyone does. I also have a vague goal of completing a Hall of Fame collection. I'll never finish it unless I hit the Powerball lotto. Years ago I got started by picking up some of those 1961 Fleer All Time Great cards of some of the real old timers, guys like Grover Cleveland Alexander and Hughie Jennings. Guys I figured I'd never get a 'real' card of.

But as time has gone by I've been able to afford 'real' cards of Babe Ruth, John McGraw, Frank Chance, Chief Bender and several others. So I am again going to pursue Hall of Famers. When I came across this Pee Wee Reese in an online auction I saw a chance to get a '56 and add a H-o-F player whose card I lacked. I'm sorta, kinda, in a way a half-ass Dodger fan (mostly because of my long standing Sandy Koufax man-crush and the fact I once lived in Brooklyn) so the '56 Reese had special appeal. Plus, he's finishing off a dp in the background pic. Nice.

The price was right and the card looked pretty nice so I grabbed it. I scanned it before I pried it out of the PSA grade slab so the scan isn't as sharp as the card looks in hand. But you get the idea.

And I learned something in the process. According to the cartoon on the back Harold Henry Reese got his nickname by winning the national Pee Wee Marbles Tournament as a kid. I'd bet there isn't a kid in America that has any idea what a marble was used for back in the day.

1951 O's-Dodgers Scorecard

One of the biggest chunks of my memorabilia stash consists of publications, the vast majority of which are Orioles related. I've got every yearbook, most of their media guides and a couple hundred game programs from 1954 through the 2012 season. But I also have a couple of programs from the 'old' International League Orioles.

This 1951 program comes from the days of the Orioles' incarnation as a Phillies affiliate. What's cool about this one is that it was issued and scored for an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The game was played on April 11 as noted in the exhibition schedule that's included on the third page. That was a week before the Orioles' Opening Game on April 18th versus the Montreal IL club. 

The program consists of the four pages shown here. It's a simple foldout format but packs a bunch of info. I can follow the game as scored even though the pencil writing is faded and the scorers system is much different than mine. The Dodgers won the game 11-7 despite being outhit 10-9. None of that really matters because what caught my eye was the Dodgers' lineup for the game. I'm assuming the game was scheduled as one of those train stop games that big league clubs would play after breaking camp and heading north for the season. They still play those some, don't they?

This ad was the whole back cover of the program. I would have bet that Baltimore staple National Boh would have been their sponsor. The ad mentions the Orioles' manager Nick Cullop. He was a long time minor league player and manager who had played for several clubs over the course of five seasons in the late 20s through 1931. He had one of the best nicknames ever... 'Tomato Face'. 1951 was the second of two seasons for Cullop at the helm of the Orioles. He managed them in 1950 to an IL Championship as a Browns affiliate. In '51 the Orioles finished sixth in the league with a 69-82 record. Collup was managing in independent Northern League in 1952 and returned to the higher minors in 1954.

Back to the line-up. It was populated by almost all of the Bums' starters, some really big names in baseball lore.

If you check out the blown up scan below you can make out the starting line-up:

Don Thompson CF

Carl Furillo LF

Duke Snyder RF

Jackie Robinson 2B

Gil Hodges 1B

Roy Campanella C (the scorer listed him as 'Campy', I love that)

Pee Wee Reese 3B

Rocky Bridges SS

Preacher Roe P

Regular third baseman Billy Cox made a late game appearance as well. I like how the scorer listed the players' uniform numbers. Not as many of the Orioles were big names. OK, none of them were big names but the club had many former and future major leaguers. 

Here is a blown up shot of Ol' Tomato Face.