Spring Fling #4

More spring goodness. This time a signed photo of Art Ditmar who pitched for the Yankees from 1957 thru the middle of 1961. His pinstripe days were bracketed by stints with the Athletics, the Yankees' 'kissin' cousins'.

He led the AL with 22 losses in 1956 and allowed 125 earned runs, also #1 in the league. But he had some solid seasons in New York. His 15 wins were fourth in the league in 1960. I saw him pitch in 1961 and he beat the Orioles. I had the program for many years as it was one my father had kept score in. I'm not sure if it's still around.

I've have a decent Art Ditmar PC. Nothing exhaustive like my Pierce collection but I do have his base cards and a few oddballs. Back in 2012 I had an Art Ditmar Week post festival.

Prior to this week my last visit to Spring Training had come way back around 1975. Some friends and I visited Ft. Lauderdale and saw the Yanks play the Mets.

It's Art F'ing Ditmar Week!!

Yes, Art Ditmar. For no other reason than I think I have more vintage cards of him than any non-Oriole other than Sandy Koufax. I wrote about my being a fan of the guy when his card was featured on my 1959 Topps blog. I explained it like this:

True confession time... I've always had a 'thing' for Art Ditmar. No, no... not in the same way I've always had a 'thing' for Jennifer Beals..... but a 'thing' nonetheless. I've got several of his cards. It began when I was a kid and the joke among my many Yankee fan friends was "Oh oh, you're screwed, here comes Art F'ing Ditmar!!"  Yes, most of my friends had precious little comedy talent. but that's another post. It was one of those inside jokes and we all became fans of the guy, even those of us who didn't root for the Yanks.

The '58 Topps set doesn't get a lot of love generally. At least it seems that way to me. It's pretty colorful but I think the 'no-background' pics, many of which are just head shots, leave something to be desired. No matter this pink Ditmar card is pretty sweet. The backs had a lot of 'stuff' crammed into the small space. Here Ditmar's card contains a short write-up, his vitals and a 'double' cartoon with some fun artwork. The standard (thru '58) year/life stat lines cover the bottom.

I'll be putting up more Art Ditmar cards throughout the upcoming week. Try and curb your enthusiasm, will you? I'm sure I'm putting my 'Oriole Fan Membership Card' at risk but that's OK. I'm secure in my Oriole-ness.