Patches? We don't need no stinkin' patches!

I love patches. I've got a bunch of them, mostly O's and NY Rangers. I'll toss a few up here from time to time. Just another thing I like to collect.

This one wasn't one that the Orioles wore on their unis at any point but I love it just the same. This is how the 'Bird' appeared on the cover of the '54 yearbook and first game program from Memorial Stadium.

It's the cool Oriole caricature that was created by Baltimore Sun cartoonist Jim Hartzell. For many years the Bird flew on the front page of the Sun, either happily or dejectedly depending on the previous days game outcome.

The Bird is the ancestor of the 'happy bird' that adorns the classic (and current) O's game caps. I've got the same bird of vintage stickers, decals and pinbacks.

                                   

                                           

                                            

                                 

Here are a couple from the Sun's front pages.

                                                                
                                                        
The '54 Bird, again.

                               

The Sun resurrected the Bird in 2009. Drawn by Mike Ricigliano.

                                        

Edit: Blogger refuses to line up the inserted graphics. If it isn't one thing with Blogger, it's another.

1955 Orioles Media Guide

 I've spent a lot of time posting about cards lately but the majority of my collection consists of other things. Publications for the most part. I have all but two of the Orioles Media Guides ever published. I'm lacking the 1954 and 1956 versions.

The guides published in the first few seasons of the Orioles major league existence were called 'Spring Training  Rosters' and were very thin, this 1955 being only 16 pages including the covers. Schedule, spring rosters, team directory and previous years records made up the bulk of the info.

The 1956 guide is the first to be called a "Press, Radio, T.V. Guide". The two I lack turn up on eBay from time to time. Usually upwards of $200 is the asking price. I'm bidding my time.

I also collect BALTIMORE Colts' guides, New York Rangers Blue Books/Press Guides and Houston Texans media Guides. I'll show off some of those as well as some of my yearbooks sometime soon.

Crappy Vintage

When I set out to begin blogging/collecting the '59 Topps set I knew that I had one of the key cards in my collection. I'd come across it still safe tucked into a copy of the '79 Beckett book. The card bore the scars of many recess flipping contests in the courtyard of St. Mary's school in Nutley, New Jersey.

It's appeared on my '59 Topps blog as the second featured card. So here, to answer a question thrown out there by Fuji, is the worst conditioned card in my collection. 

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and I think my '59 Gibson, rounded corners, tape marks and creases notwithstanding, resplendent in it's pink border, is just gorgeous!

Topps Stamps from 1961 and 1962

  

The Topps Stamps were my favorite 'insert during my youthful collecting days. But nobody used that term in 1961. It was just 'things Topps put in packs'. Every time I see a '61 stamp like the Bob Boyd I associate it with riding home on the New Jersey Transit #13 Broad and getting off a block early to get a pack of cards. I liked the cards, but I was a couple of years from being a set collector and the stamps were my motivation for buying packs of the series they were included with.

The '61 stamps were much cooler than the '62s, at least to me. They were done in tones of green or brown and the '62s were in color but that was irrelevant. The scrolling design, the portrait designed to look like a real old timey postage stamp, that was the thing.

I posted the '59 Bob Boyd card on my other blog earlier this year but today I learned something new about him. He was the first African-American player to play alongside white player on any Houston sports team. It was 1954 and Boyd joined the Houston Buffs, a Cardinal farm club. He faced the struggles you'd expect in a southern city in that era. There is an interesting article right here about Boyd and the Buffs.

As I look at the '61 Boyd and the '62 panels below I think I know why I preferred the '61s. They were not chopped and cropped pics stuck on a colored background. Topps was so sloppy at that sort of thing.  Check out the Moon/Brooks Robinson panel as an example. The portraits on the '61s showed the player and the ballpark background generally. Much better.

Getting my Mossi on

A few weeks ago I was posting about cheap classic Don Mossi cards. I mentioned that I was missing the wonderful 1966 Topps Mossi. Well I found this really nice copy on eBay for $1.25 shipped. Can't beat that!

The card is a bit off-centered to the left on the back, but not above the name box/cartoon as my scan would lead you to believe. It's a really sharp card. KC was Don's last major league stop. And I think this is his last card. 

I'm not the only guy happy to own it either. Not sure who this guy* is but he's damn proud of his '66 as well.

                           

*Actually I do know now, it's film critic Glenn Kerry. Don't know what he thinks of any movies but his taste in baseball cards is impeccable.

Even more of Mossi. He's included in the Italian American Baseball Heroes set that I bought but haven't gotten around to unsealing yet. This is the portrait that is on his card. Wonder where the artist found his inspiration?

                                             

And finally Don Mossi salutes my adopted state of Texas!

                                                       

No, It's Not Me

The Astros are going to change uniforms for next year. This 1977 Topps Rob Andrews displays two things: 1) my name and 2) an example of one of former unis that I hope the don't go back to.

The Stros have had many looks through the years. I hope they find something they like and stick to it.

It's All Star Day

I might check in on tonite's game, I might not. I used to really enjoy the All Star Game but that was some time ago. I've been to two of the three games staged in Houston.

The 1986 game is the one that Fernando Valenzuela pitched in and struck out five straight American Leaguers. I had entered the lottery the Astros coordinated to obtain tickets. I had my postcard drawn and I went with a friend who was also an Orioles fan. The best part of the whole deal was somehow talking our way into the dinner that was held the Sunday night before the game at the Hyatt downtown. Lots of players and celebrities all over the place. We talked to Orioles' reliever Don Aase and were disappointed that Eddie Murray wasn't around. The starting pitcher for the AL was Roger Clemens. We sat and watched Larry King do his radio show from a room off the ballroom.

The 2004 game was much more memorable. My sons were much bigger baseball fans than I was in those days and were interested in the game. I took them downtown that evening to hang out around Minute Maid Park and people watch, soak up some of the atmosphere and maybe catch a desperate scalper once the game started.  

I had no luck with finding remotely reasonable tickets even as game time approached. As they were doing the pre-game introductions the crowd outside the park had disappeared and we were about to head home to watch the rest on TV. But as we were about to cross Texas Avenue a young guy in a suit and wearing about five pounds of credentials around his neck stopped us and asked us if were wanted to see the game. He showed us his MLB badge and produced three tickets and had us follow him to the gate. I remember looking at the tickets and realizing how good they were.

Two of the seats were behind the first base dugout about 15 rows up, the other was in the first row of the stands above home plate. Total face value....$550 IIRC. Anyway my boys were about to hyperventilate as I parked them in the seats downstairs and headed for mine upstairs. Meanwhile the American League was knocking around NL starter Roger Clemens.  By the third inning I'd gone down to check on them and found that luckily there was an empty seat next to them. I stayed and watched the rest of the game from there.

Which brings me to the Ichiro card at the top. Sitting next to us in the box seats was an elderly Japanese gentleman with a Mizuno jacket. He was accompanied by a younger guy and both were very enthusiastic fans of Ichirio. My son happened to have his decades-old inherited Mizuno first baseman's glove and then they spotted it they immediately asked to look at it and spent the next two innings examining it. Finally they handed it back and passed us the older man's business card. Turns out he was president of their baseball equipment division. The younger guy was his aide/interpreter. I thought that was pretty neat.

Anyway the AL won the game, Alfonso Soriano was MVP, and my sons had a great experience and memories.