Random 80's Crap from my Hobby Closet, Frank Robinson Edition

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. 

Here are some Frank Robinson-related items that came out of the box of 'stuff'.

First up is a Starliner sticker discussed a couple of posts back.

And now a TCMA-issued postcard-style card. I've got more TCMA crap than the law allows. These cards are just one example. They are postcard size and feature a fairly detailed bio on the reverse, plus a neat 'floating head' portrait. I like how Frank is a Red on the front and an Oriole picture AND description) on the back. Seems fair. They have a copyright date of 1982. I've got a boatload of this set. I'll show a couple more in another post.

1985 Topps Collectors Series Frank Robinson. These were distributed through Woolworth stores as I recall. I only found this one in the box. But I DID find an '86 boxed set of Collectors Series cards. I know you can't wait to see some of those!

Speaking of Woolworths... way back when my job took me to downtown Houston every day I used to visit the Woolworth store often. Supposedly it was the largest in the chain and they had everything. Darn good burgers at the lunch counter, too. I took a date there once when we were doing something downtown. Needless to say I'm NOT married to that girl. LOL  But someday I'll relate that whole story. 

And finally this is a Big League Chew card depicting the 500 home run 'club' as it was in 1986 when this card was issued. This is the 'group card' (checklist) and there were 11 others forming the set. I have no idea where this came from. 

Just for the hell of it, here is the late, much lamented Woolworth store as it stood in Houston until the mid 90s:

A video from across the street and down the block:

The interior of that store circa 1964:

And the luncheon menu:

And finally the gal I took there.....

ummm, no

No way I can post her picture. If my wife reads this....I HAVE NO pics of her. ;-0

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.

Random 80's Crap from my Hobby Closet, Pt.1

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 New York (just like I pictured it) I thought I'd put up a few posts showing the 'stuff' I once valued so highly.

So here we go.....

I found a small stash of these stickers. The photos are the same as the 1967 Dexter Press issue Coca Cola premiums, spring training shots, but these are smaller, on very thin paper, and instead of a short bio the back can be peeled off. I'm not a Joe Morgan fan at all but I love the 'Shooting Star' uni the Astros wore in that era. It was what they were wearing when I first moved to Houston in '67.

Each of the ones I have and every Dexter Press card I own is a portrait shot very similar to these. Here is The Rock. Now he's a player I really liked back in the day. And that Indians vest jersey with the red sleeved undershirts? Dyn-o-mite!

And Yaz...

Here is a shot of the back.

 I really didn't think much of them until I pulled out an actual Brooks Robinson Dexter Press. First the Brooks Robinson 'sticker'....

And then the 5x7 Dexter Press...

Side by side the quality of the image is much better, much clearer on the original, and all-in-all it's a much higher quality piece. These 'stickers' turned out to be something called 'Starliner stickers' and they were put out in 1983. I tend to think they were not a legit product and were made by someone who merely ripped off the pictures used by Dexter Press. The name comes from the Starliner adhesive paper that they are printed on. At least that's how I have understood it.

If you are interested the Fleer Sticker Project blog has a great in depth article that will tell you more than you could possibly want to know.

btw... these were the days when players used Spring Training to get into shape. From the fit of that jersey it looks like my man Brooksie had some work to do!!

I Tried, I Really Tried

I tried to ignore the truncated NHL season. I ranted and raved to my sons about how stupid the whole lockout thing was.and how the league continues to shoot itself in the foot, taking one step forward (last years fun season and playoffs) and then several GIANT steps back.

But as soon as it started I found myself peeking at games, searching out online game highlights and reading The Hockey News online stuff. Damn, I had no control.

And I was back. Like a kicked puppy I forgave quickly and began licking my master's hand. It's ingrained in me. I can't ignore the NHL, much as I'd like to and much as logic tells me I should. I've been a fan, for better and often worse, since my first Ranger game in 1960.

It also didn't hurt that, much to my surprise, my NHL Game Center pass auto-renewed and I could once again  watch just about every Ranger game that wasn't on a major network already. Woohoo! Quality time with my iPad while my wife gears up for another Dancing with the Stars season.

Meanwhile my Ryan Callahan man-crush never ends. He's such a gamer.

Let's Go Rangers!!

2012 Panini Golden Age Box Topper

This came with my box of Panini Golden Age. I've always found the original 1916 BF2 Ferguson Bakery issue to be interesting. Legendary Auctions always seem to have a few lots in their catalog. Waaay out of my price range.

Sam Crawford came out of Wahoo, Nebraska and debuted with the Reds in 1899. He put together a Hall of Fame career playing 19 seasons, 15 of those with the Tigers. His Detroit club played in three straight World Series from 1907 through 1909. They lost each of them.

After his last big league game he played four more seasons with the Los Angeles Angels of the PCL. In the last of those he hit .318 at the age of 41. He hit .360 and .332 the previous two seasons! And those were seasons in which he played more than 170 games each.

Here is a pic of an original I found on the 'net.

Panini Golden Age Ralph Branca

I make no bones about the fact that the Dodgers are my 'other' team. I trace it back to discovering the brilliance of Sandy Koufax in his heyday. So I was pretty happy when I opened up my box of 2012 Panini Golden Age and found that this insert was in there.

Ralph Branca might not be Sandy Koufax (who is?) but he holds a special place in Dodger lore, of course. He is best known for giving up Bobby Thomson's 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' but he won 88 big league games and had four double digit win seasons for the Bums. He won 21 games in 1947 and he made the NL All Star squad in 1947, '48 and '49. And he seems to be an interesting and personable guy in his own right. I mean he became fast friends with Thomson and they made many appearances together in the years after that fateful game on Coogan's Bluff.

His website is pretty interesting. I'm going to track down a copy of his book as I have read a couple others in which he plays a prominent role.

The Panini set itself didn't knock me over but I do enjoy the trip down Memory Lane it brings. I got a couple of other neat inserts I'll show in the coming days.

Oh Puleeze!

Not that it'll draw much sympathy from anyone but Man U got hosed with a verrrry questionable red card in yesterday's match with Real Madrid. The ref called Nani for a 'studs up' challenge which he decided was intentionally dangerous. Bullshit. It was pretty obvious that Nani had no intention of hitting anything except the ball. I don't think his eyes ever left the ball. All this shouldn't have been a surprise, though. There was an interesting column in the Daily Mail Online published before the match which profiled this 'trigger happy' Turkish ref.

Even Real's coach Jose Mourinho said "I doubt that 11 against 11 we can win that match" and "'I try to be honest and in my honest opinion the best team lost." But it was what it was and RM came from a goal down to score twice to a now shorthanded MU squad and gain a 2-1 win.

But life goes on. Here are a few more of my soccer/futbal/football Manchester United set from Panini.

Edwin van der Sar.... the Dutch goalie who is considered one of the best in history. Now retired from active play I was lucky to see him in action in Houston against the MLS All Stars in 2010.

Nemanja Vidic... the Man U Captain.

Rio Ferdinand...English player who has been with MU since 2002 I think.