New York, New York...and yes, Google is harshing my mellow

I grew up in New Jersey, just a short bus ride from New York. I never rooted for the Yankees or Mets but I was immersed in the 'culture' of those two teams. It was difficult not to be if you lived where I did and was surrounded by the people I was surrounded by.

Pulling cards from vintage boxes always spark a few memories. Sometimes I buy the cards, sometimes I drop them back in the box in favor of cards I like better. On my last trip to the card show I bought some Yanks and Mets. Maybe I was feeling particularly nostalgic.

My trips to Shea Stadium were usually with friends to watch their team, the Giants, Dodgers, Braves or to see 'my' NL team, the Phillies. But no matter who we were watching I'd always root for Ed Kranepool. Damned if I know why. He played 18 years in the bigs, all for the Mets. He made one All Star squad, hit a World Series dinger and won a ring in 1969 and always seemed to be having fun.

If I had a favorite Mets' pitcher I guess it would be Al Jackson. He put together a pretty respectable career on the mound for some pretty terrible Mets clubs. I always liked the Mets' announcers a lot more than I liked the Mets and they all seemed to have a man-crush on Jackson so maybe that's where I got it from. 

Of course, due to the '69 World Series the Mets and I had a bitter breakup. Not that we were ever really an 'item' anyway. 

Hector Lopez was one of my Dad's favorites. I think he just liked the name 'Hector'. This card reminds me of the closest we ever came to snagging a baseball at Yankee Stadium. My Dad was returning from the concession stand when Lopez fouled off a pitch that came back into the upper deck just as he was coming up the ramp. The ball went right past him on a hop.

My friends and I thought Dooley Womack had the dumbest/coolest name in baseball. We liked to say it in our 'Bob Shepard voices'. I have the ticket stub from his one and only major league start. It came in July of 1966. Womack started the second game of a Sunday doubleheader against the Senators. I don't remember anything about that fact. Or that Whitey Ford pitched three innings in relief. I'm guessing that since the Yanks were getting whipped and had already lost the first game that we left early.

Semi-off topic rant #1: I've noticed over the last few months that I no longer consistently get notified what a post receives a comment. Some comments trigger and email, others don't. There doesn't seem to be any pattern as to which ones I am alerted to. I've set and re-set my notification settings any number of times.. Anyone else experience this?

Semi-off topic rant #2: Google is phasing out Picassa Web Albums. I don't know what you bloggers use but PWA has been a valuable tool. I usually scan a big stack of stuff and can easily upload the scans to an album. Then I can post from any device, any place with almost no fuss. I know that I will still be able to upload scans directly into posts but I rarely ever post from my home computer. Google Photos, the 'new' picture site they are pushing sux big time for this. You can't get a direct image URL without jumping through hoops. And alternate sites like Dropbox, Imgur and others either require you to pay for the storage I'd use or are too clunky. Flickr belongs to Yahoo and I think Yahoo is teetering financially. I'll figure something out.

Blog Neglect

I've been off the grid for awhile. I hope to remedy that with posts of the vintage cards I picked up at the last monthly card show I attended.

The show always has a lot of cheap vintage boxes. I'll hit up the dime, quarter, fifty cent and dollar boxes. The ten cent stuff is frequently 90's junk so I concentrate more on the others. The fun part of digging through those boxes is that I can spend five bucks at the show and come home with a nice-sized stack of cards I picked up just for the hell of it. Cards that I grab for no reason other than they strike my fancy or bring back a memory of my hobby youth.

Like these:

I was a catcher back when I was a kid, Little League, Babe Ruth League, etc. Then I wised up and moved to first base. But I still have a soft spot for cards that show catchers mitts. I still have a couple of my old mitts stored away. I got Sanguillen's sig on a program at Shea Stadium once. If you didn't know who had signed it you've never guess it said 'Manny Sanguillen'. I remember laughing about the fact that he may have written "Go Bleep Yourself, kid' and I'd never know by looking at the scribble.

Rico Petrocelli had a brother who was a Yankee Stadium usher (or security guy, I forget). That brother told us he was 'authorized' for sign Rico's autograph for him. Never took him up on it.

Clint 'Scrap Iron' Courtney. One of the great baseball nicknames. I wish the other kids had called me 'Scrap Iron'. In high school I was called 'Piano' for awhile because our coach swore I was carrying one as I ran the bases.

I will admit to altering some of my cards as a kid to 'update' player movement. I don't think I re-bought my own '58 Courtney though. Doesn't look like my handwriting.

If I had a buck for every card I own that shows the old Yankee Stadium scoreboard I'd be very wealthy. I loved these White Sox road unis with the white lettering. I wonder if they ever use these as a throwback.

Bobby Wine looks odd to me as an Expo even though I saw him play at Jarry Park. He was the Mario Mendoza of his era.  But he owns a Gold Glove from 1963.

I guess Gil Hodges will never make the Hall of Fame now. That was a lively topic for awhile but the Bonds-Clemens-Rose debates have pushed Gil back into the shadows. That's a shame because I think he belongs. And his job of managing the 1969 Mets still ranks among the best of all time. Even though it killed my soul.

Speaking of the '69 Mets....another great nickname belonged to Ed Charles. He was called 'The Glider'. I can hear their broadcasters' (Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner and Lindsey Nelson) voices in my head using his nickname. I love this card, btw. That gold and green, Yankee Stadium, the Glider's smile...awesomeness. 

I've got plenty more but these are all I have scanned for today. Cheap vintage rules!

1969 Willie Mays

It's my original 1969 Topps Willie Mays card. And if you can look past the horrendous crease down the middle,the soft, frayed corners and the fact that it is seriously mis-cut, I think you'll agree it's a beautiful card.

Willie looks sooo Willie-like on this one. His patented smile (OK, he doesn't smile at signings much these days but he used to be known for it), the history laden Giants' home shirt, the way his glove, even though mostly out of the frame, it tilted towards the sky, ready for a Mays 'basket catch'. Topps obviously didn't have their design people spend months on the 1969 set. It's pretty ho-hum, and the color of the backs is pretty bad, but some cards are classic. I think this is one.

And the back, with it's 'wall of (amazing) stats', made for endless study for a stat maven like I was back in the day. The one text line heralds the fact that, at that moment in time, Willie was #2 to the Babe in career homers!

From third grade onward I was best friends with a Giant fan who came from a family of Giants' fans. So I saw Mays play at Shea on several occasions. I also saw the Giants play the Mets at the Polo Grounds in either '62 or '63. I don't recall a lot other than the place seemed huge (even to a kid who was used to the vast Yankee Stadium), and it seemed dark. But I saw Willie Mays play, in the place he made his most iconic catch. I know because I checked and he made every game in New York in those two seasons.

1969 World Series Press Pin (Orioles)

Nowadays all Super Bowl logos look alike, and there are only generic World Series programs every year (I believe only the covers are different for each team). Thankfully there is still the tradition of each World Series participating team giving out out pins to members of the press and special guests.

While the 1969 World Series is still a painful memory for me there is absolutely nothing wrong with this terrific pin. It's one of my favorite Oriole items. Part of the pin's appeal is that it came to me from a member of the Orioles family who I became friends with in Baltimore in the late 80's. This is a straight 'pinback' style pin rather that the more often seen 'post and clutch' style. Not sure why the O's went that route. I also see this in 'charm' form which was what was given to wives and the other female personnel who were awarded them.

I've got three of the Orioles six Series pins (and the beautiful 1958 and butt ugly 1993 All Star Game pins). I'll get them up on here soon.

In the interest of fairness here is the Mets' pin from the same Series. I found this pic. I don't own the pin. Why would I?