Vintage Connie Hawkins

Floating heads in the house! Awesome card from Mark Hoyle. I posted an internet image some time back and then Mark sent me the real thing. Here are the players on the card, according to Hoyle [insert bad pun induced groan here]:

Top row. C. Hawkins, Goodrich, Riley, Stu Lantz

2nd row. Cazzie Russell, H. Hairston, Zelmo Beaty, Kareem, L. Allen

And a few more for the Connie Hawkins Collection, some from Mark, some from eBay. I scanned them together and kind of lost track. Oops.

First up is the '74-'75 Topps. The Hawk is flipping a pass out towards the left corner while being trapped by John Gianelli (I think) and Henry Bibby.

'75-'76 Topps with a shot of Hawkins in the Garden, probably the same game as the previous card. I think that's Phil Jackson getting a taste of Hawk's elbow. Clyde Frazier is on the right. This card definitely came from Mark because it arrived Monday and I just scanned it.

'73-'74 Topps, a 'studio' shot. No, a hallway shot. As usual Hawkins is rockin' the great sideburns. Walt Frazier had the mink coats and the wild hats and the attention of the media but Connie Hawkins was just so damn cool.

Russ Meyer Pics

Here is another gift from my friend Mike M. who I met through these blogs. This is a nice pair of Russ Meyer 8x10's. Mike is from Chicago and was lucky enough to have met and conversed with Meyer several times in the years before he passed away. From what Mike has told me Russ Meyer never lost the personality that made him such a unique character during his big league days. 

Meyer was a member of both the Phillies 'Whiz Kids' club and the Dodgers teams that became known as the 'Boys of Summer'. These two classic pictures show him in those two uniforms. 

I have an ever expanding (though still modest) Meyer collection. As I've noted previously (here and particularly here) Meyer knew how to have a good time and definitely earned his "Mad Monk" nickname.

My newest Meyer card is his '56 Topps. It's pretty choice except for the ragged bottom border and I probably over paid but I really like the card so I can't complain.

Thanks, Mike. Your generosity is very much appreciated.

Monday Morning Quarterback #11 1983 Topps Ron Jaworski

In this ongoing series of posts I am going to feature cards from my fantasy football player collection, specifically the 117 quarterbacks I've had on my team's roster since 1980. I have one selected card for each player in my All-Time Flyers binder. Through the years I've tried to use as many different card varieties as possible while holding on to my preference which is: a card issued in a year I owned the player showing him in the proper team uni in a vertical format. Card availability and my whims have had a big impact on that standard as we will see.

NFL Info: Ron Jaworski aka 'Jaws' was drafted by the L.A. Rams out of Youngstown State in 1973. He splayed sparingly for three seasons in Los Angeles before being traded to the Eagles where he took over as the starter. In ten seasons with the Eagles Jaworski made a Pro Bowl and led them to the 1980 Super Bowl where they lost to the Raiders. He lost his job to Randall Cunningham in 1985 and played for the Dolphins and Chiefs as a back-up before retiring. He's owned and operated country clubs in the NY/NJ/PA region and worked for ESPN since his playing days.

Fantasy Angle: I had Jaworski in 1984 and started him twice after stuggling through a slow start by Tommy Kramer and then Warren Moon. Jawaorski didn't produce a point for me in either game so I dealt him off for a future draft pick which I packaged in a deal with Eric Dickerson in a trade to acquire Dan Fouts. It was one of the biggest trades in our leagues' history. Fouts helped but I still fell short of the playoffs.

The Card: Pretty standard Topps mid-80s card here. Jaws turns to hand off the ball wearing the Eagles road uni of the day which I really liked. This outfit is much better than the crap they currently wear. The card design is OK, the photo is OK, the back is OK, so I'm OK with it.

A Brooks Robinson Sunday Tribute

Two reasons for posting all these cards of my favorite baseball player. First of all today is Brooks Robinson's 77th birthday and, more importantly, I read a story on the Baltimore Sun website yesterday that talked about how his health is improving and how well he seems to be doing. That's really great news!

1957 Topps Brooks Robinson rookie card. Posted several times but it never gets old.

1963 Fleer BRobby. Great card from a fun set I loved discovering as a kid.

A Brooksie Upper Deck from some set or another.

A Donruss Brooks. These last two came to me last summer from CaptKirk42

A signed Perez Steele Great Moments

1961 Topps All Star card. Awesome card being awesome!

1960 Leaf. Brooks looking like a halo'd St. Brooks!

1993 Ted Williams set Brooks

Brooks and yours truly at the old Arlington Stadium circa 1982

And finally, the 'Original' Brooks Robinson and my son, also named Brooks Robinson at a show in the late 90s. 

Small Item, Quick Post

That's not a card (although the cropped pic makes it look like one) that's a Billy Pierce lapel pin. I found it at a show earlier this year. The dealer was one of those guys who has pins and patches and I'm a sucker for both.

I bought about half a dozen pins for $10 and this was one of them. I've seen the exact same style pin with a different player's picture on eBay. It's advertised as 'vintage' and I guess it is if you consider 2002 to be vintage. I guess it's all in your perspective.

George Brace photo of Billy Pierce

George Brace was a sports photographer who worked in Chicago for 65 years chronicling hundreds of baseball and football players as they came through town. Brace died in 2002 (read his story here) but left behind a legacy of wonderful photos. Check out these on eBay. You can also find a nice bio of Brace from 1996 on the Sports Illustrated site.

A week or so ago Mark Hoyle tipped me to the listing for this signed Billy Pierce pic taken by Mr. Brace in 1951. The patch on Pierce's sleeve commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the American League. The look on Pierce's face commemorates his enthusiasm for the game. Pierce has a great sig, too.

The fingerprint on the photo must have been on the negative. I'm considering it George Brace's signature. So in my book this is a duel signed photo!

Thanks, Mark for thinking of me. I'm really happy to have added this to my Billy Pierce collection.

Venezuelan Topps 1964 Billy Pierce

I hope you're not tired of Bill Pierce because if you are you will be tuning me out over the next few days. I've added several items to my Pierce collection and here is the most interesting.

This is the '64 Topps #222 Bill Pierce as issued in Venezuela. The card is nearly identical to my domestic version which I have posted below. The obvious difference is the black ink used on the back as opposed to the orange. One other change you can see easily is the "Printed in U.S.A." type is missing from the Venezuelan version but appears next to the copyright line in the orange-backed card.

One thing I'm not sure about is the difference in clarity and color of the photo and the cardboard stock itself. Looking at googled images of the Venezuelan Topps cards of 1964 doesn't give me anything conclusive. Some of the others appear to be on similar stock while others don't. Lots of possible answers, none of which really matter.

I was aware of Venezuelan versions of Topps cards being out there but never really gave it much thought. They certainly don't strike me as essential to a PC but I view them more as an interesting oddball item. Topps produced these most years from 1959 until 1968. The Lifetime Topps Project did a nice post on the background of these and rather than regurgitate the details you can read the post right here.

One last thing. I picked this one up on eBay from a seller in Venezuela. He sent it (very quickly I might add) via Fed EX and it was accompanied by some interesting paperwork which included a copy of what appears to be the sellers national ID card and the document below. Note the fingerprints that were required to send this along to me. Interesting stuff.