Muhammad Ali RIP

He was brash, courageous and talented. He was contentious, controversial and giving. Muhammad Ali was one of my heroes. Here is what I wrote in the second entry in this blog on April 3, 2012:

In my first post here I featured my favorite card. Today it's my most prized piece of memorabilia. This is the May 5, 1969 Sports Illustrated cover. I had liked the picture a lot when the issue arrived and kept it. In July of 1971 Ali and Jimmy Ellis were preparing to fight in the Astrodome here in Houston. For a buck or two you could get in to watch sparring sessions in the Arena next to the Dome. 

I went to a couple and would watch Ali clown with the small audience set up on three sides of a ring set against one wall. He liked to flip up the hem of his rubberized sweatshirt and watch the ringsiders duck the sweat that flew out. He put on a real 'Ali' show, talking about Ellis, hollering at the boxing writers, showing off his 'Ali Shuffle', etc. 

I had taken along this cover just on the off chance that what happened after his session would happen. After Ali finished and not long after Ellis entered the ring I heard the metal crash doors behind me open and close a few times. I turned and saw Ali peeking in from the corridor. I went out there and he was alone, it was just me and one of the most famous figures on the planet. I mumbled a few words and asked him to sign the cover and he took my 'Flair' pen (the 70's version of a sharpie) and signed across the crown as you can see. 

I thanked him and went back into the Arena seating area. As I got to the row of metal chairs I was sitting in I was jolted from behind and before I could react Ali dove into a chair pulling me down by my shoulders into the seat next to him. And there I sat. Next to Muhammad Ali, with Dick Young of the New York Daily News (among my favorite writers) now standing on the other side of me, kibitzing with him.
Ali taunted Ellis for a bit, ducking behind my back as if hiding from Ellis. After awhile Angelo Dundee's people (Dundee was Ellis' trainer for that fight!) had had enough and began yelling at Ali from the ring. 

That was forty two years ago but I remember it vividly. I have a lot of nice cards and lots of other cool memorabilia but I'd give all that away before I'd give up this SI cover. Looking back I wish I had kept it in glass or something. I had it in a cheap frame in dorm rooms and the apartments I lived in for years. You can probably tell it's a bit frayed along the edges. The blue 'Flair' ink has turned purplish (but it hasn't spread or faded, thank goodness) And I wish I had not covered my mailing label with the smaller photo. But nevertheless this piece holds a great memory.

A few days later I posted this follow-up. And another terrific SI cover.

I went back and dug up the Sports Illustrated issue that was published late in July of '71 that mentioned the gym training session I attended. You can read it on SI's Vault site (images below). I really don't recall the Ali-Ellis byplay that Tex Maule writes about but I'm sure I was in a fog at that point. And just to show that you can't believe everything you read, not even in the unerring Sports Illustrated (sigh), Maule mentions Ali being behind the first row while kibitzing Ellis. We were in the 3rd or 4th row of about five. I know because the other writers all turned around and came back to surround us. A tiny matter, but it's bugged me since July of 1971.

 RIP #thegreatest

Mars Attacks Occupation Sketch Cards

I've picked up a handful of sketch cards from the Mars Attacks Occupation set. They are as varied as the prices I've been seeing on eBay. Some are put up as B-I-N at under $20. Other are up for bid with starting prices at $200. The limited and unusual production behind these have sellers and buyers thrown for a loop.

I'm not going to add many more unless a cheap (but cool) one falls into my lap. I have a couple of bids out on some with low starting bids. Odds are I won't win them but it's worth a shot. Sometimes eBay bidders surprise me.

For these that I already own I'll link the artists' names to a site with their stuff.

This first one (above) was done by Pablo Diaz. It's my favorites of the ones I have from the secondary market. Not much to add about the individual pieces. I really don't know much about comics and the artists that work on them. I've found that the stuff from couple of the MA artists are pretty highly sought after.

This next one is done by Luke Parker. It's a whole different take on the Martians. Seeing how the different artists approach these is kind of interesting.

.

Matt Frank did the next one. I have no idea if the Dinosaurs Attack sketches are any scarcer than the Mars Attacks sketches. I also don't know if any of the artists worked on both. I could find out I suppose if I was interested.

Another Dinosaurs Attack sketch. This is from Marck Labas and doing a bit of research answered my previous question. Labas did sketches for both 'sides of the aisle' for this Kickstarter project. His work is kind of scattered online but he has it on his Facebook page. I'm not sure everyone can access that page, I don't know the ins and outs of FB.

These were all relatively inexpensive. My goal is to fill one binder page with these sketch cards. The Topps Kickstarter team was kind enough to make their subsets nine, eighteen and twenty seven cards in number. It all makes for a very tidy binder!

T205 Gold Border Eddie Grant. Memorial Day Salute

NOTE: Again on Memorial Day I thought I would reprint the post I made in each of the previous couple of years showing Eddie Grant, the first major league player to die in combat in the service of the United States.

The first major league player to die in the service of his country was Eddie Grant. With a law degree from Harvard he was quite unlike most of his contemporaries. It was said that instead of the usual "I got it!" called out when a player has a bead on a pop-up, Grant would shout "I have it!"

A native of Franklin, Massachusetts, he played 9 seasons of baseball with four different clubs, most notably the Phillies for whom he held down the regular third base job for most of four seasons, 1907 through 1910. Although only a .249 career hitter Grant nonetheless was able to lead the NL in singles in 1909 and 1910 and in hits overall in '09. A better fielder than hitter he finished near the top of several defensive categories when he was a regular.

Grant appeared in the 1913 World Series with the New York Giants as a pinch hitter and pinch runner. He left the game after the 1915 season to open a law practice in Boston.

He enlisted when his country called as we entered World War I in 1917. Wikipedia summarizes his Army service and the details of his death on the battlefield in France in 1918:

Grant was one of the first men to enlist when the United States entered World War I in April 1917, and he served as a Captain in the 77th Infantry Division. During the fierce battle of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, all of Grant's superior officers were killed or wounded, and he took command of his troops on a four-day search for the "Lost Battalion." During the search, an exploding shell killed Grant on October 5, 1918. He was the first Major League Baseball player killed in action in World War I. He was buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Lorraine, France.

This New York Times article (opens as a .pdf file) from October 22, 1918 relates the story in full.

I have the Eddie Grant T205 Gold Border (shown above) as well as his T206. The Gold Border cards are just a wonderful set and Grant's is a great portrait I think. Here are a few more pics and details from the life of Captain Eddie Grant found around the 'Net:

Here is the plaque that was installed in the Polo Grounds by the New York Giants to honor him.

It's position in the stadium is visible in this famous shot of Willie Mays' catch in the 1954 World Series. It's on the left under the 483 distance marker.

And finally, Eddie Grant's grave marker in Lorraine, France. R.I.P. and Thanks for making the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, Capt. Grant.

Mars Attacks Occupation

Early last summer I got word that Topps was going to produce a new Mars Attacks set. They were going to do it via a unique avenue to them, as a Kickstarter campaign and it was to be titled Mars Attacks Occupation. That would fall in line with their last re-boot of the MA franchise, MA Invasion from  2012 which was done in a traditional retail fashion. Having been an enthusiastic Mars Attacks fan since the iconic 1962 offering I jumped right on board. They sought $50,000 in pledges and received almost four times that from 525 backers, including me.

I signed on with an $80 level pledge and for that I was to get a hobby box which promised the base set and a limited amount of inserts. As an 'add-on' I ordered a binder. As time went on the Topps KS team posted updates on their progress with the set. They did a nice job of keeping us informed. There were delays for sure. The originally promised goal of a late 2015 delivery went by the boards but what they posted made the backers (or at least me) both anxious for the finished product and grateful that they took their time.

It seemed like other every update brought word of a new aspect to the set and what we had originally signed on for was going to be exceeded, and by a lot. A couple of weeks ago the set was finished and shipping began. I got my package last week and it went way beyond what I expected. 

The first surprise came when I opened the large cardboard box my shipment came in. Topps had included a signed/numbered 11x14 print of the #1 card artwork. I have since looked back and saw that they announced this bonus along the way but I had missed it so finding it with my shipment was cool. I took a picture of it because it's too big to scan. 

The hobby box yielded a complete base set, some dupes and a bunch of great chase/insert cards. The card at the top and the one below are from the base cards.

Here are a few from various subsets within the base set of 81 cards. 

There are two parallel sets a foil version of the 81 base cards and the Heritage set which consists of the first 45 base cards done in the style of the original '62 Mars Attacks set. This is by far my favorite. I received about 9 of these in my hobby box and have been able to add 17 more via eBay. With the limited number produced it's going to be tough to finish this parallel set off but it's something I'm going to slowly chip away at.

Here are the base and Heritage versions of card #41:

Among the bonus subsets there are two woodcut insert sets of four cards each. They were done on an old-fashion platen press and are much nicer in hand than the scan shows. They are printed on a sturdy, almost canvas-like stock and the printing is unlike any other cards I have. They have a gimmicky aspect in that the Dinosaurs Attack have dino relics ground up in the ink.....

  

..and the Mars Attacks group have ground up Mars meteor in them. I don't care about any of that, they are just very cool items. Given the price of the ones available on eBay I won't be chasing any more of these any time soon.

Kind of neat to see how these things were produced. This is from the KS project blog...

A sketch card was promised in my box and this is the one I received. It was done by Miran Kim.

This is the back and you can see that her sig got smeared.

She did 20 sketch cards for the project which she posted on her site. Here they all are:

If that was all I got I'd of been pretty happy. The base cards are terrific, the Heritage version is very cool and the inserts/chase cards were too. But Topps added in more goodies.

I received a printing plate, the black plate of card #8.

Topps reproduced the original 1962 set as metal cards and included them as bonus items. Here is mine:

Mars Attacks Superstars is one of the nine card subsets. Sort of a mashup of MA and sports cards. These are (mostly) done in the style of classic Topps baseball cards. Interesting, but not my favorite part of the set.

I received an oversize 'game card', sort of a box topper. I have no clue as to what it's about but I like the artwork.

Another late add-on was a pack of promo cards. This is my favorite, a promo from a non-sport card show. 

More promo cards included:

There are a few from tie-ins to comics that were produced....

Wacky Packs take-offs. I was never a big fan of Wacky Packs but they included the entire nine card subset.

The backs are puzzle pieces:

Here is another one with the foil version I received as well:

A clever subset is the 'Then and Now' one which compared artwork from the '62 set and this Kickstarter one:

These next two are not sketch cards but rather part of a subset that smapled the various artists that contributed their work:

One aspect of the set is the crossover with the Judge dredd franchise, something I had no clue about. The sketch cards and such that come from the MA?JD mashup seem to be very popular but I'm not much interested except for some of the great artwork I've seen.

This sketch card is my first pickup from the secondary market. The eBay prices for cards/art/chase cards out of the set are all over the board. I see sketch cards going for $19 and others for $299. The same holds true for the various chase cards and subsets. There is a binder variation that was listed twice the first day after the stuff was shipped. One was available for $40, the other for $200. Crazy.

All in all it's a great product and that seems to be the consensus of opinion based on those backers who have posted on the FB group and the KS blog. Looking back I wish I had ponied up and pledged at a higher level but maybe it's a good thing that I didn't I'm currently bidding on a bunch of stuff from the set on eBay and I'm using the money I was saving for my upcoming Chicago trip. Oh well, we all have priorities.