Here's a sketch card....of Billy Pierce

I haven't added much to my Pierce collection lately. In general the items I lack are very rare/costly, or in the case of a couple of eBay items, things that get relisted endlessly and not worth the asking price.

I stumbled across this sketch card in one of my eBay searches and threw in a minimal bid. I was the only bidder and took it for $4.99. I have a couple of sketch card 'prints' but this is the only 'original' art card I have of Pierce. Or of any baseball player actually.

I have another BP item on it's way and it should arrive in a few days. The thing I'm waiting for is a White Sox season ticket from the June 23 game versus the Athletics. The Sox really went out of their way to put out some nice tickets for their season ticket holders this year. I obtained an Opening Day program that has a poster insert of all the tickets but I'd love a real one. Billy's ticket looks like this:

Here is a shot of some others:

Great stuff...particularly in an era of digital and generic tickets.

Chicago..my kind of town

This is going to be a bit of a travelogue. My wife and I took off on an extended road trip to Chicago two weeks ago and spent 10 days exploring the Midwest, checking out Presidential museums and visiting ballparks.

I had hoped to post from the road but a number of things got in the way, primarily the disappearance of a folder from my Picasa web storage. So I've been largely absent from the blogosphere.

The reason for our trip was the fact that my daughter was getting her Masters from the University of Chicago. We were proud to see that ceremony and happy that she is going straight to work in her field for a social services agency in Chicago. We decided to turn the trip into our vacation by driving and making many stops along the way, both coming and going.

Our first stop out of Houston was the Clinton Library in Little Rock. It's one of the newer presidential museums and it's quite beautiful, spacious with a wide open feel.

There were some sports related items on display.

Next day it was on to St. Louis and a whirlwind tour courtesy of my best friend Sam. I've been to St. Louis before but it was all new to my wife. We had Italian food on The Hill and a 'concrete' at Ted Drewes. Good stuff.

The Cards were out of town but the new Busch Stadium is easy to check out from street level.

The Fox entertainment complex there contains the Cardinals' Hall of Fame.

We hit Springfield the next day and toured a couple of the Lincoln sites including the Presidential Museum and Library as well as the old train station that is currently housing an exhibit of items from the Spielberg Lincoln film of a couple of years ago.

Next stop was Chicago and four days of fighting traffic and cramming lots of stuff into too short a time. It wasn't my first trip there but it was my first visit to Cellular Field (which I always call Comiskey, I'll never get used to it not being Comiskey).

We had great seats behind first base, the weather (in the 60s!!) was perfect for baseball. I loved every minute of it...from the 'Hey...Texas!?!' greeting we got from the tailgaters we parked beside to the easy egress after the game from a loaded lot.

They were handing out all kinds of freebies on the way in so we grabbed all we could. There were the promotional packages of 2016 Topps cards (yes, Cubs were in each pack!):

These next cards have some sort of local grocery coupon on the backs:

I loved getting a Kittle. I need to send this to him to sign.

Apparently mascot birthdays are now a thing. This marks the third one been witness to in the last few months.The Sox marked the occasion with over-sized (5 x 7) cards of Southpaw.

When I bought a pin and program the guy gave me some Sox schedules.

I loved that the Sox were wearing their 80s era throwbacks.

And I had to visit the Billy Pierce statue of course. I have to admit I got a little emotional posing with it. RIP Billy.

Chicago was also hosting a Copa America game involving Argentina so Messi jerseys were everywhere and we stumbled into the America's Cup practices at Navy Pier. I didn't know they were still doing this race. It used to be a big deal.

Leaving Chicago we took a ride down the old Route 66 through Illinois as far as Springfield. It was an all day affair but well worth it. Where else would you see so much kitchy Americana?

Back in Springfield we made a visit to the Tomb of Abraham Lincoln that we had skipped over on the way up. It was awe inspiring. Pics don't do justice to the feeling one gets inside that monument.

We headed across Missouri and stopped in Independence for a visit to the Harry Truman Library. It's one of the older presidential museums but what it lacks in the modern interactive displays it makes up for with extensive history lessons.

That night we hit Kaufmann Stadium which was just a few exits down the interstate from Independence. Another first time visit for us although when my son was at Nebraska he made some trips to see baseball there. 

They had a much better beer selection that Comiskey and the place was very pleasant overall. The Royals beat the Indians with a late Sal Perez homer but my wife and I were pretty worn out by this point in our trip and coupled with the brutal heat we decided to make a rare early (7th inning) exit from a ballpark. 

But on the way out we toured the outfield section to check out the fountains and statues.

Leaving the KC area the next day and heading for Hot Springs Arkansas we were routed by Google along the Arkansas 7 Scenic Byway. 32 miles of absolute white-knuckle driving. Twists, turns, narrow bridges and oncoming semis through the Ouachita Mountains. A forty five minute trip that felt (to me driving) like five hours. It didn't help that five minutes in the car in front of us drove off the road, took out a sign and nearly flipped over. Next time, I'll go the long way, thanks.

Hot Springs was OK. It's seen better days as a tourist town but we found a nice place to eat and the next morning we visited the seven preserved spas that take up a couple of blocks and are now one of the nation's smallest National Parks. It's known as Bath House Row. The area saw plenty of ballplayers who visited when many clubs held spring training there back in the day. Hot Springs was also a favorite of some shady characters in the 20s and 30s and one building downtown houses a 'gangster museum'.

The next day we were headed home and after 10 days and almost 2700 miles I was glad to be there. It was a great trip but the next time I go to Chicago I believe I'll fly.

Another TCMA Billy Pierce

This addition to my Pierce collection comes by way of another 'buy the set to get the card' eBay purchase. I hadn't seen the set come up in many months if not years and the individual card?....forget about it.  So when I finally saw the set I went ahead and picked it up. And, as it is with most of my purchases, the card appeared at least twice since then. There's one on eBay right now. That's just how it goes.

It was produced in 1976 by TCMA and consists of the 12 cards listed on the reverse of all of them. Is there a less interesting card in my collection? Probably not but it does fill a hole that's been staring at me for a long time.

The good news is that I've also nabbed a sweet Pierce "White Whale" which is on it's way to me. I also now have a numbered '64 Pierce reprint which I considered overpriced and have recently picked up after 'waiting out' the seller and some other assorted Pierce cards that I discovered. All that will be posted soon. Please contain your enthusiasm.

1958 Topps Jim Derrington

Why post a random '58 Topps? Well it's not so random. I read a blurb about Jim Derrington recently and found it to be an interesting story. It sent me to eBay where I found this dirt cheap Derrington card.

Most people know that Joe Nuxhall is the youngest player to ever appear in an MLB game. He entered a game as a reliever at the age of 15 in 1944.

But Derrington, on September 30, the last day of the 1956 season, took the mound for the White Sox and became the youngest pitcher to start a game in the big leagues. He lost to the Athletics in Philly giving up 9 hits and walking six in six innings. On the plus side he got a single and became the youngest AL player to hit safely in a game. He still holds these records. He spent the '57 season with the Sox (as a result of rules that required 'bonus babies' to be on the MLB roster) and held his own allowing fewer hits than innings pitched but still being plagued by wildness.

To make the story even more interesting Derrington made his last appearance in the majors almost one year to the day from his debut. On September 29 of 1957 he pitched a couple of relief innings four days after his final start of the season. He suffered arm problems after that and never made it back to the bigs. He had lost his blazing fastball and tried both playing as a firstbaseman and pitching as a 'junkballer' in the minors. Neither plan worked out and at 22 his pro career was over.

He went into coaching and then the business world after that and continues to live in California. The Los Angeles Times ran a story on Derrington 23 years ago. It's a fun read.

One final thought: Take a look at that card. The photo was likely taken in 1957. Jim 'Blackie' Derrington is the oldest 18 year old dude you'll ever see.