The Vida Blue Appreciation Society

I'm a member, and a lot of other bloggers are as well. I see Vida Blue cards pop up quite often on the blogs I read regularly. I don't actively collect Vida Blue cards but I have a few. I think this Fleer Greats of the Game is my only autographed one and the only non-regular issue card of his that I own.

I can't swear to this but I was told by University of Houston football coaches that Blue was once a verbal commit to the program. In addition to being a star pitcher he had been an All State quarterback in Mansfield, Louisiana but his father died when Blue was a senior and he decided to forego college and sign a baseball contract to help support his mother and younger siblings. 

I had no idea that there was a band (two actually) named Vida Blue and Vida the pitcher once joined his namesake band on stage at a concert. Headlining the group was Page McConnell of Phish. Poking around You Tube I found some of their stuff. It's electronica and right up my alley.

Random 80's Crap from my Hobby Closet, Pt.2

Recently I pulled a random box out of my 'hobby closet' and opened it just for the hell of it. I have about a dozen of these boxes, most are the document storage-type things and I haven't looked at them in years. Inside the one I chose I found all sorts of junk I had picked up in the 80's. There is no logic to any of it. I bought whatever struck my fancy back in those days and I saved everything. 
I found small boxed sets that I had pulled the Orioles out of, commercially produced and team issued postcards, odd ball TCMA trash, unlicensed photo cards, pocket schedules, ticket stubs and much more. While I'm off visiting the Big Apple I thought I'd put up a few posts showing the 'stuff' I once valued so highly. 

The Denis Menke 'postcard' above and the Tom Burmeier below are two of the J.D. McCarthy cards I found in the box. These were produced by the Detroit based photographer of the same name who provided them to players for the purpose of sending them out to fill autograph requests. I've known of some instances where a player added one of these to a response in addition to the card/photo sent by the fan.

McCarthy produced these for players in at least the four major sports and who knows who else. They were produced over the course of at least four decades. Most sources list the cards as being from the 1950s through the 70s but Menke coached the Blue Jays in 1980/81.The style of the name block varies as does the back. Most I have are blank backed but the Burgmeier has a back (shown below) that features a 'Produced by...' line down the center which gives it a more traditional postcard 'look'. That one, btw, shows the pitcher in a uni that has the 1969 Baseball Anniversary patch.

While the cards had various fonts and name plate styles the one identifying mark that is always present in the stylized JDM logo found on every one, at least every one I've seen.

Here is the logo from the Menke card:

Back of the J.D. McCarthy Burgmeier card:

Another group of cards I found in the box were from a 'set' put out by a firm called Pro Star Promotions of Canada. These postcard-sized cards were issued in 1972 and are unlicensed with all team logos airbrushed out.

I also have the 'checklist' and listed are the AL and NL postcards as well as the 'set' that was comprised exclusively of Montreal Expos. As you can see on the checklist the company had also issued a set of posters in addition to the postcards. And in addition I see eBay listing for Expos posters that are not on the checklist, Ron Swoboda for example. I've seen listings for Montreal Canadiens cards as well. I posted an eBay image of one, Henri "The Pocket Rocket" Richard, at the bottom.
The cards as well as the checklist are blank on the reverse.

1970 Topps Vida Blue/Gene Tenace Rookie

Did you know.....

...that Vida Blue was an All-State quarterback in Louisiana during his high school days and was recruited by several colleges including my school, the University of Houston? Supposedly he was close to a commit to UH but the death of his father caused him to reconsider and he signed a pro baseball contract to provide an income for his family.


...that Gene Tenace's actual name is Fiore Gino Tennaci? He went by the American-ized translation of 'Fury Gene Tenace', later becoming Gene Tenace in the pro ranks.