My Five Favorite Pink Cards

Collecting Cutch is running a contest to raise money for breast cancer awareness. Here is his intro post with the details. I can't keep up with the parameters due to some projects but I figured I'd contribute one post at least. Hey, I LOVE pink cards, always have. That, and the fact that my sister is just getting over fighting this battle, is why I'm trying to help in some small way.

The list is restricted to cards I own. I've seen a few nice ones on other blogs over the last few days but I'll just show mine. In no order (except the last one) here they are.

'65 Topps Clemente. He had some really nice cards in his time. Who doesn't like the '65 set and it's Clemente, shown with a nice closeup in a pink frame. I've always liked how the team colors were reflected via the pennant on the Pittsburgh cards (and some of the others).

Yaz at Yankee Stadium and happy to be a ballplayer. I can't recall a Yaz card that was issued before this great '66 issue that had him smiling. It's a good look for one of the greats.

 

Bobby Layne was kind of like Stan Musial and Ted Williams. They were winding up great careers when I was just beginning to appreciate greatness in athletes I watched. My father had some stories of watching Layne play against his Giants, but like Williams, I can't remember having seen him although I'm sure i must have. Full disclosure...that's not my scan. Mine seemed out of focus for some reason and I don't want to dig the card out of the whatever random box I have my aborted '58 Topps build hiding in.

'58 Ryne Duren. Another guy my Dad loved. He never failed to tell me about Duran squinting in to see the signs and throwing warm-up pitches into the screen, all in an attempt to intimidate hitters. I'm not sure how it escaped me until now that Duren is wearing an Athletics uni on this card. Seems like airbrushing out the piping would have been even easier that adding a NY logo to the cap. 

This last card is my favorite pink card. I just showed it here last week. Hey there, Gibby!

'67 Clemente (and friends)

I'm accumulating a bunch of 1967 Topps baseball these days. I really don't know if I'll go after the whole thing. But, even if I don't, there are worse things to have sitting around that these gems, yes?

I got this Clemente from a guy on Net54. My friends and I were endlessly amused by the fact that the Pirates wore caps with their letter logo applied via a patch on the front. That was the sort of thing we got as giveaways on Cap Days.

But 'patch cap' notwithstanding, it's a neat portrait card.

Glenn Beckert passed away recently, and I was reminded of how good that Banks-Beckert-Kessinger-Santo infield was back in their heyday. I also thought about it just this week while looking into Dick Ellsworth's 1960 card for an upcoming post on that blog. He had few good things to say about the Cubs' organization of that time.

Roy Face popped up on that blog as well with his special card shared with Hoyt Wilhelm.  Face went 18-1 for the Bucs in 1959 pitching 57 times out of the bullpen. I don't see how that's possible but it happened.

And it looks like Face had a legit, directly embroidered cap. I wonder how this all worked?

Here are three guys who were, at one point or another, Orioles.

Don Buford played for the O's for five seasons, from 1968 through the end of his career. He was with the Sox for five years before that although his first season was just 12 games. Buford played four years in Japan after his Orioles tenure.

He was an infielder during his Chicago days. When he came to Baltimore he played almost everywhere for a bit before settling in as the regular left fielder on those powerhouse clubs of  '69-'72. He made one All-Star team. In the 1971 ASG he batted for the guy whose card is just below and he whiffed.

My scanner cut the bottom border off Buford's card and I'm too lazy to dig it out to re-scan.

Here's one of my very favorite players, Mike Cuellar. I've always liked this road uni. It was what the 'Stros were wearing when I first got here and I followed them very closely. Cuellar was good in Houston. Begining in 1969, he was great for the Orioles.

This is as good a place as any to reprint my story of sitting next to Cuellar in the Astrodome for a 1968 game. This was posted back in 2014.

We came to Houston in the late '60s because my father was transferred here by Shell Oil. One of the perks was scoring company seats at the Astrodome from time to time. And I'm here to tell you that Shell had goooood seats. Second row behind home plate. So nice in fact that they shared that row with the Astro management and sometimes we were sitting next to team executives and other front office types.
But we attended one game in 1968 that had us seated next to then-Astro Mike Cuellar and  reliever Fred Gladding. Fred Flintstone was on the DL so I understood his being in street clothes in the stands but why was Mike Cuellar sitting next to me with some sort of binder charting pitches? Didn't guys do that from the dugout? But there he sat, wearing expensive-looking shoes, shiny silver/gray pants and a mock turtleneck. That 'look' was pretty much the off-the-field 'uniform' of major leaguers back then. I got my program signed by both players and I remember having a few brief exchanges with Cuellar.
Cuellar became a favorite of mine and I was thrilled when he was dealt to my Orioles that winter even though the thought then was that the O's got snookered, picking up a washed up junkballer. But tossing that remarkable screwball he went on to become one of the best pitchers in O's history, winning the Cy Young in 1969. I skipped school to stay home and watch him beat the Mets in Game 1 of the 1969 World Series and he cemented his place in my heart with his great win over the Reds in Game 5 of the 1970 Series which wrapped up the championship for the O's. That was the same year he hit a grand slam in Game 1 of the ALCS against the Twins. Didn't pitch well that day but his slam was a huge kick for me.

Last man up is Johnny Orsino. Unlike Buford and Cuellar, he was an ex-Oriole in '67. He came to Baltimore in 1963 after a long minor league climb through the Giants' chain and a few months of big-league time in San Francisco. He stepped into the starting catching job, played 116 games, hit .272 and swatted 19 homers. It was easily his best year in baseball. His playing time dropped over the next few years as his hitting regressed. He split time with Dick Brown and Charlie Lau for a couple of years. Andy Etchebarren pushed that entire crew out of the picture in the Orioles' championship year of 1966. Orsino had been dealt to the Senators for Woody Held. He played little and, in fact, had just one at-bat in '67 and never played in the majors again. But he can say something that a lot of major league vets can't say. His name is in a World Series box score. He had an at-bat in the '62 Series for the Giants. In Game One, he entered as part of a double switch in the top of the ninth and faced Whitey Ford in the bottom of the inning. Ford got him to ground into a 5-4-3 double play.

Pages of Talent

One of the really fun things about putting together smaller vintage sets like the '57 Topps is the incredible concentration of amazing players that get grouped together on binder pages. If collecting encased, graded cards is your thing, that's fine. But for me there is nothing like flipping through a set and just seeing stars on top of stars.


The first two pages in this wonderful set are perfect examples. Here's the very first one:

Teddy Ballgame, Yogi, Aparicio, all Hall of Famers. Plus some really talented 'other guys'....Sal Maglie, Don Mossi (a blogger favorite!), Dale 'Eight Straight Dinger Games' Long and one of my Dad's favorites, Hector Lopez. BTW... I'm looking to upgrade that Maglie.

And when you turn that page you're faced with this...

Willie Mays, Robin Roberts, Don Drysdale the underrated Dick Groat and three, count 'em, three Orioles!!  Here's something I bet you didn't know...Groat is the color guy on Pitt Panther basketball broadcasts.

I bit deeper into the binder comes this one...

...Bob 😒 Clemente, Gil Hodges, Jim Piersall and Lindy McDaniel. Those bottom three cards are all beauties, yes? And don't overlook George Crowe. He had an interesting and accomplished life. His SABR bio is well worth the time it takes to read it.

OK, so this last page doesn't have the star power of the other three but I'm including it because it holds the cards of three players I love, Warren Spahn, Moe Drabowsky and Ellie Howard. Not to mention a great card of Larry Doby.

As I zero in on the last couple of dozen cards I need to finish off this set it's really becoming a favorite. I didn't appreciate it nearly as much going in as I do now. I'm really glad I took it on.

The Trouble with Tribbles

I've fallen way behind on scanning/posting the many great items I've received in packages from fellow bloggers/readers. I'm going to try to play catch-up here over the next week or so. I'll sprinkle in a few related items I've picked up online and at shows where appropriate. I'll go in the order that I received these (as best I can remember!)

If you are a fan of the original Star Trek television series you probably remember the Season Two episode that I reference in the title. Tribbles were fuzzy little creatures that multiplied frequently and prolifically and quickly overtook every nook and cranny of the Enterprise. That's kind of how the 1971 Topps set has been for me. First of all, it's by far the largest set I've attempted to collect piece by piece. My three column Excel checklist runs five pages. Even with narrow margins.

For the longest time, before I had a binder set up, I had little stacks of these babies all over my desk and shelves. They seemed to be everywhere. And my want list looked LONGER every time I scratched off the cards I acquired.

After one of my last postings for the set chase, I heard from John who writes Johnny's Trading Spot. He let me know that he was sending some stuff including two cards from my '71 list.

Larry Stahl was coming off a two year stretch under the Mendoza Line but was rebounding nicely when this card arrived in 1971. He had been selected off the Mets' roster by the Padres in the expansion draft after the '68 season. Which meant he lost a shot at being a part of the 1969 Miracle. His final major league at-bats came with the Reds in the 1973 playoffs. He got two hits in four trips against the victorious Mets.

Ray Jarvis pitched in 44 big league games, all for the Red Sox in 1969/70. He was traded to the Angels right after the 1970 season but didn't make the team and pitched for their AAA affiliate in Salt Lake City. He had some arm issues and was cut during Spring Training of 1972 and went into sales and eventually coaching at the college level. He had a rather long and interesting SABR bio, especially for a guy with such a short career.

Thanks again, John, for knocking off a few Tribbles 71s.

I attended the hotel card show last Saturday and added six or so 71s including a few star cards. They all came from my friend, Darryl, the show's promoter. I also lost(!) two 1971 cards that I bought from a different dealer. They simply were not in my bag when I got home. They were easy to replace since they were not SPs or anything but to simply lose $5 worth of cards is pretty frustrating.

These were among the cards that DID make it home with me on Saturday:

I'll always remember Dave Boswell for his part in the terrific ALCS Game Two matchup he had with Dave McNally of my Orioles in Memorial Stadium in 1969. With me and my father watching from our seats above the left-field bullpen he dueled McNally for 10 innings, wriggling out of a few jams along the way in a scoreless ballgame. He walked Boog Powell to start off the bottom of the 11th. Powell was bunted up to second by Brooks Robinson. Dave Johnson was walked to fill up first base and when Mark Belanger popped out it looked like the game might go to the 12th. But Billy Martin did us all a favor. He brought in Ron Perranoski who had gone almost four innings in relief the before in that 12 inning affair. Curt Motton pinch hit for Ellie Hendricks and roped one to right for a hit and Boog trucked it on home for the 1-0 win. A great weekend!

I got a nice deal on this off-condition Roberto Clemente. I've 'conditioned' myself to look past condition while building this thing. Just like I did with the 1962 set. But it's a beauty with or without nice corners, isn't it? Love this card! It's so damn Clemente.

These next two cards are really as nice in hand as they appear to be in the scans. First, here's Sparky.

That's a Reds' home uni he's got on but that sure isn't Crosley Field. I did some digging and I'm 99% sure that the photo was taken in Tampa. The original Tampa Stadium was built in 1966 and was directly behind the Reds' spring training home field, Al Lopez Stadium. It's visible in this shot which I found after a lot of digging on the net:

It's hard to tell whether the photo of Sparky was taken in Lopez Field or perhaps the Reds were working out in the football stadium. One thing I DO know...these posts wouldn't take nearly as long to finish if I didn't have this weird compulsion to know just where the photos were taken on baseball cards.

This set's design really helps to show off the better photos and especially the terrific A's green/gold unis. No question here, that's Yankee Stadium.

Finally....here is a clip from the Star Trek episode I mentioned. With a William Schallert
(Patty Duke's TV dad) sighting!

Set My Clemente Free!

Alternate title: "Set 'Em Free, Part II" 😉

Got home Monday night and found that I had this '61 Clemente waiting for me.

Since I had my needle-nose pliers and screwdriver still on my workbench from the morning's operations I figured I'd crack open this one quickly. The damned case never even made it into my house. Here is the result...

This is one of my favorite Clemente cards. Love a well-done portrait and this certainly qualifies. I've heard the stories about Topps (and writers, and Bob Prince) referring to him as 'Bob' and how he hated it but those may be apocryphal. Whatever the case, he was 'Bob' on this one.

One of the great sports-related blessings of my life is that I got to see Clemente play. He truly was electric. I've related the Bob Moose no-hitter story previously but I thought about it again recently when no-hitters came up on Twitter. Moose shut down the Mets in Shea Stadium late in the 1969 season and that's the only no-hitter I've witnessed in person.  Clemente's athleticism saved the glory for Moose with a great catch of Wayne Garrett's drive in the sixth. I found this on the SABR page dedicated to Moose's gem:

After pinch-hitter Jim Gosger struck out and Tommie Agee grounded to second, Wayne Garrett connected for the Mets’ first and only hard-hit ball. “When he hit the ball,” admitted Moose, “I thought it was gone, but then I saw the wind hold it up. I knew that if anybody could catch it, Roberto would.” Clemente raced to the warning track and made what (NY sportswriter Leonard) Koppett described as a “leaping catch” against the right-field wall to preserve the no-hitter.

I even found a grainy photo of Clemente against the fence after making the catch taken from a newscast shown on NY television years layer. It's funny the tricks that your mind will play. I've always remembered it as Clemente ending up in foul territory after a running catch. Obviously not so.

He also made the greatest throw I've ever seen in person in the first game I watched in the Astrodome way back in the summer of 1967 but that story will wait for another time.

Meanwhile, I'm one star card closer to finishing this 1961 set. I did some COMC shopping today and also got a message that someone on Net54 is generously sending me some mid-series 61's which now puts me 'just' 40 cards short.

EDIT: As I was slipping this into the binder late last night I saw that it completes a rather nice page:

In addition to Clemente, we see Ralph Terry who I saw pitch frequently for the Yanks and (ironically) was the Game 7 (and Game 4) loser in the 1960 World Series to Clemente's Bucs. There are no less than three rookie-award emblazoned cards. Bob Aspromonte and Winston Brown (who's capless photo and non-existent big league career drag down the whole thing) warranted stars but my man Chuck Estrada got that beauty of a card featuring the Top Hat trophy! Also seen is a nice shot of Ken Walters at Connie Mack, Reno Bertoia in one of the first cards depicting a Twin as a Twin, and Don Caldwell and Glen Hobbie on a Cubs special. Interesting that Topps recycled the 'Batter Bafflers' thing from a 1959 card featuring two equally middle-of-the-road Red Sox hurlers.

Finally, in the upper right slot is a sweet (but damaged) card of frequent NL All-Star Del Crandall. Somehow Del fell off my 'upgrade this' list that I took to the hotel card show on Saturday. I'm sure I saw a copy in Daryll's vintage boxes. Next time!

Another 80's Oddball Set

I hate spending more for postage than I do for the card I'm buying and because of that I find myself buying 'add-ons' to make my transactions 'worthwhile'. I can't recall what I was picking up or where when I grabbed these '86 Sports Design Products cards.

These have popped up on other folks blogs from time to time. They use photos from the collection of J.D. McCarthy who did postcards for sale to fans and players over the course of several decades. I love old McCarthy postcards and have quite a few in my various collections. Hobby icon Bob Lemke purchased the McCarthy archives and was in the process of cataloging it when he passed away about a year ago. So we may never see much more of that huge treasure trove of photos any time soon.

These are obviously a riff on the 1969 Topps cards. At least the fronts are. The backs are spare and look pretty amateurish compared to the front side. These remind me of the sorts of cards I'd see alongside Broders, Bammers and phone cards back when card shows attracted lots of 'dealers' looking to cash in on the sports card/memorabilia boom.

I think the seller had most of the set available but I just grabbed these because they struck my fancy. I don't have a favorite but I sure do like this shot of Sandy Koufax.

Just to slide a bit off-track I found a postcard that would seem to be from this same photo session. It's a McCarthy postcard. You can see his logo in the lower left corner. He used that on most of his postcards but not all of them.

Back to the cards at hand..... aren't those stirrups on Roberto Clemente grand?

I add Whitey Ford cards to my collection from time to time because he was a favorite of my father. And because I saw him pitch more times than I could count. I can't decide if this shot comes from his playing days or not. Ford had a couple of stints as a coach with the Yankees and I know he spent a lot of spring training time with the team after his retirement.

Looks like Yaz' picture was taken on the same day as Ford's. Maybe McCarthy drove from Ft. Lauderdale to Winter Haven one day in the mid-60s.

This last one, listed as #1 in the set's checklist is a bit different in that there only the rounded frame mirrors the '69 Topps theme. If you clicked on the Wrigley Wax blog link above you saw that the other duel player card in this set, Banks/Hodges, uses this same design. This one shows J.D. McCarthy himself posing with Ted Williams. I'd never seen McCarthy in a photo so I added this to my 'stack'.

There isn't much online concerning this set. Sports Designs put out a two part set in the years prior to this one. It used artwork by Doug West. It was featured in a couple of posts on The Oddball Card Collector blog.

For those interested here is the SDP/McCarthy checklist:

1 J.D. McCarthy / Ted Williams
2 Lou Brock
3 Carl Yastrzemski
4 Mickey Mantle
5 Roger Maris
6 Walter Alston
7 Ernie Banks
8 Billy Williams
9 Hank Aaron
10 Brooks Robinson
11 Joe DiMaggio
12 Casey Stengel
13 Juan Marichal
14 Jim Bunning
15 Matty Alou
16 Eddie Mathews
17 Sandy Koufax
18 Roberto Clemente
19 Gil Hodges / Ernie Banks
20 Duke Snider
21 Robin Roberts
22 Willie Mays
23 Willie Stargell
24 Whitey Ford

1979 TCMA Stars of the 50s

This 291 (293 with variations) card set is one of two large sets produced by TCMA in the late 70s following the lawsuit by Topps arising from the SSPC set of 1975/76. That action effectively killed TCMA's efforts at using current players and pushed them towards making sets of retired major leaguers and a myriad of minor league sets. 

Actually TCMA produced dozens of sets around that time and later but this one, 'Stars of the Fifties' and it's companion, 'Stars of the Sixties' are by far the biggest. I picked up both of them recently. They are a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to putting them in pages. The quality of the photos varies greatly but you can't help but appreciate the simple beauty of them. 

I've scanned a bunch and will post these few and some random thoughts.

Every card in the set features a posed photo. The Ted Kluszewski card is typical. there are lots of spring training shots sprinkled throughout the set. Big Klu's card is one of the better ones, bright and clear.

I don't recall seeing a card with a pic of a player tying his shoe as Robin Roberts is doing here. You wonder if the photographer just happened to come upon him down on one knee, called his name and took the picture or had him pose like this.

Elston Howard is a fake catching pose somewhere in Florida. Probably Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg. i need to get a dupe of this so I'll have one in my ever expanding Ellie Howard PC.

Some of the cards suffer from photos that seemed to be over-exposed. They are a bit washed out in appearance. Ernie Banks' card is one of those.

Bob Purkey wearing the ultimate spring training attire, a rubber windbreaker style jacket under a jersey.  Sweating off those winter pounds.

Harvey Haddix isn't looking sad because he lost a perfect game in the 13th. He's looking sad because he ALWAYS looked sad. 

Alvin Dark of the Giants. If you're getting the feeling that there are a lot of NY area players in this set you're not alone. I'll have to do a tally once I page this thing. It's a neat card isn't it?

Roberto Clemente....he always looks so damn regal doesn't he? Willie Mays is probably the best all-around player I've ever seen but I could make a pretty good case for Clemente as well.

This Billy Pierce shot has been used on at least a half dozen other oddballs. And usually it's much clearer.

In contrast to the Pierce card Sam Jethroe's card is cardboard art. 

Snider, Hodges, Campy, Furillo grace one of the few group photos. The other one I saw while flipping through the box was one of Dodger pitchers.

The Original Frank Thomas wearing a flocked Pirates helmet. MLB had brought back the matte finish helmets, can the flocked ones be far behind?

Even as a young player Spahnnie had that 'Spahn look'!

Roy Campanella looks like a high school kid here. I had to flip the card over to be sure it was him.

Willie's card is among the top five or so in the set as far as I'm concerned. Nice to see a photo that isn't overused. This reminds me of the pics in the old Sport magazines of the day.

Don Hoak in a classic baseball pose from the 50s. What a great card!

Leo Durocher hitting infield. I wonder how many infield grounders he hit during his lifetime?

Stan Lopata. Yes, he always crouched like that. He didn't always wear the shades but he did for this shot.

Sal Maglie. From 1950 thru 1952 he went 59-18 for the Giants with 46 complete games in 83 starts. He had a WHIP of 1.21 and an ERA of 2.83 That's impressive stuff. He's also one of the few guys who played for the three old school New York teams. He's also the answer to a tough trivia question: "Who was the losing pitcher in Don Larson's perfect game World Series win?"

Jimmy Piersall won two Gold Gloves. That's impressive given the quality of the outfielders during his time. Neat card, too.

Al Kaline, native son of Baltimore, looking about 18 here. That's Yankee Stadium.

Figured I'd throw out a peek at a card back. Vitals, blurb, lifetime stats.

Vic Power. One of the great names in the game during the 50s/60s.

Hal Smith  this is the Hal Smith who began his career with the Orioles and went on to play with the A's, Pirates, Colt 45s and Reds. It was his three run dinger in the bottom of the eighth of the 7th game of the 1960 Series that gave the Pirates a short-lived lead. An inning later Maz broke that tie and Hal Smith got a ring.

Walt Dropo had a rookie year to remember. It was 1950 and he made his only All Star tean, hit a career high 34 homers and drove in a league leading 144 runs. Yup, he was ROY.

Roger Maris. maybe it's just me but I can't remember a bunch of really cool Topps Maris cards. I like the 1961 MVP card for sure. This card of him as an Athletic is pretty sweet.

All in all it's really a fun set even with it's flaws. I received a box with what I hope is the 'Best of the Sixties' version yesterday. Can't wait to get a chance to dig into that one, too.