Spring Fling #1

When this post hits the blog I should be in Orlando ready to head down to Viera for the first of six spring games in six days in five different ballparks. Today it's the Nats and Marlins.

I've done a week's worth of posts which are scheduled to appear while I'm overloading on baseball and calories in the Sunshine State. Cards, photos, maybe even a book review will pop up here. All will be tied, maybe very loosely, to Spring Training.

The ultimate ST pic.... Frank Sullivan and Paul Susce work out in Red Sox camp in Sarasota in 1957. According to the caption Sullivan is 'clad in 'gay bathing trunks'.  Whatever.

Casey Stengel keeps a close eye on Yankee prospect Mark Freeman.

Freeman's '59 Topps card has that spring vibe to it.

Nothing says 'Spring Training' like a cyclone fence. Charles William "Whammy" Douglas, one of the great names in baseball. This '59 is a favorite card of mine.

If you were chilly and missing baseball in March of 1956 I bet this SI cover was a welcome sight. 

Spring Training...Spring Reading

With my Spring Training trip looming I had to decide on a book to take along. I read on planes, and at my age I won't be partaking of Florida's night life so I need something to do in the evenings at the hotel. My choice was pretty easy actually. What better book to take along than one that centers on Spring Training in the fifties and the experiences of a young once promising prospect who failed at the game but found a better calling. Pat Jordan's A False Spring is, in my humble opinion, the best baseball book ever. It's certainly my favorite and one of the best books of any kind I've ever read.

I did a quick review of it over on my '59 blog a few years ago. I'll take the liberty to reprint some of that post here:

Pat Jordan was a high school phenom who, in the late 1950s, was signed to a large bonus by the Milwaukee Braves and began pursuing his dream of a big league career. It was a dream he never realized and one he chronicles in 1974's A False Spring, not just my favorite baseball book, but my favorite book, period. I read it when it was published and have reread it several times. I usually donate or give away books once I'm through with them. I still have my original copy of this one. A False Spring is raw, funny, fascinating and sad. And it was written by one of our best writers, who as it turns out, has a reputation as an ass.
Jordan has written for Sports Illustrated, The New York Times Magazine and numerous publications and outlets. He has other books including A Nice Tuesday which deals with his life beyond the end of his baseball 'career'. I've read it and enjoyed it, but despite Jordan's curmudgeon-ish claim that it's a better book, I found to be less enjoyable. Yes, he's a prick, but he's a fantastic writer. Here is an excerpt from A False Spring: 

-------

 I see myself daily as I was then, in a photograph on the desk at which I write each morning in my attic room. The photograph was taken on June 27, 1959 at County Stadium in Milwaukee, a few minutes before the Braves were to take the field against the Chicago Cubs, to whom they would lose that day 7-1. I am standing halfway between the first-base line and the home team's dugout. Behind me are the stadium's half-filled bleachers. I am wearing a Braves uniform. Although the photograph is in black and white, I see all the colors. My cap has a navy crown, a white M and a red bill. My flannel uniform is the color of cream. Shirt and pants are trimmed with a half-inch-wide, three-part stripe of black, red and black satin. The word Braves is scripted in red and outlined in black at a slight upward angle across the front of the shirt. Beneath the script is a black and gold tomahawk. Below the tomahawk in the left-hand corner of the shirt are large block numerals: 24. They, too, are in red and outlined in black. Unseen in the photograph, but clear in my mind's eye, is the small gold patch stitched onto the shirt sleeve below my left shoulder. It is the face of an Indian of indeterminate tribe, contorted by a war cry.

Standing to my right is Whitlow Wyatt, the Braves' 51-year-old pitching coach. Wyatt is smiling at me. My gaze, however, is directed to my left, to Warren Spahn, the Braves' great left-handed pitcher, who has just spoken to me. Both Spahn and I are perspiring. We had just finished running wind sprints in the outfield and apparently were on our way to the clubhouse to change shirts when we stopped to pose for this photograph. For whom? Some faceless fan leaning over the dugout roof, imploring, whose good fortune it was to catch us in an obliging mood? We strike up a pose—so casual—and wait for the camera's click. To pass this moment as he has innumerable others like it, Spahn, hands on hips, turns to me and makes some bit of small talk, a phrase meant only to fill this instant and lead nowhere. I listen. Nonchalantly, hands on hips also, I listen to Spahn. To Spahnie. To Spahnie who is talking to me, so much younger and yet, with my amused smile, looking so at ease. Today I am amazed at how truly at ease I do look, at how naturally, in that uniform, I did fit between those men, Spahnie and I, the best of friends, I, too, having done this small thing so often, having struck up this obliging pose for so many fans, waiting only for the camera's click before tossing off a remark at which Spahnie and I would laugh on the way into the clubhouse to change our shirts.

I was 18 years old the day that photograph was taken. Actually it had been arranged by the publicity department of the Braves, with whom I had just signed my first professional baseball contract. The gaudy and impressive uniform was one reason I had signed with the Braves rather than any of the other 15 teams that had also offered me a contract. There were other reasons. The Braves had agreed to pay for my college education, to pay me a salary of $500 per month during each baseball season, and to deposit in my savings account every June 27, for the next four years, a certified check for $8,750. All told, my bonus amounted to more than $45,000 distributed over a four-year period. It was one of the largest bonuses—if not the largest—any young player received from the Braves in 1959.

For my part I promised to leave Milwaukee the following morning on a flight to McCook, Neb., where I would begin my professional career as a pitcher with the McCook Braves of the Class D Nebraska State League. I pitched in the minor leagues for three years, in such towns as McCook, Davenport, Waycross, Eau Claire and Palatka, before I was given my unconditional release by those same Milwaukee Braves. I never did pitch a game in Milwaukee's County Stadium, nor did I ever again speak to Warren Spahn. I did, however, keep the cash.

----- 

Along the way we get tales of Jordan's days in camp, rooming in the low minors with future big leaguer Ron Hunt and a lot more. Read it if you get a chance. I promise you'll enjoy it or your money back. It's available from Amazon for as little as ONE PENNY plus shipping.

I Wasted $6

I said I wasn't going to buy any 2015 cards. I just don't follow MLB day to day very closely so if a player isn't an Oriole (or in some cases an Astro) I probably don't know too much about him beyond his name, if that. That's probably why I was so extraordinarily unsuccessful at fantasy baseball for a couple of years.

But I bought a pack of Heritage on Sunday at Target hoping for something 'cool'. No dice. No Orioles or anything else of interest. If you are collecting Heritage check your want list. If you have a need for a good chunk of these be the first guy to say so and they will be on their way as soon as I get the chance. That may not be until late next week.

Here are the numbers:

NAP-12 This Hernandez has some sort of blemish at the top border. An ink smear maybe?
40
128
133
186
196
213
246
265
306
322
362
376
378
381
394
397
411
412
418

Jackie Jensen Baseball Instruction Booklet

Even before I researched his '59 Topps card I'd gotten interested in the career of Jackie Jensen. He is a very unique guy, a Navy vet who starred at Cal in baseball and football, was at one time touted as Joe DiMaggio's heir apparent as Yankee centerfielder and retired early due in large part to his fear of flying.

His best days came with the Red Sox and he was the 1958 AL MVP. He won a Gold Glove, made several All Star squads and was garnering MVP votes most seasons.

This little eight page booklet is dated with a 1959 copyright and is part of a series sponsored by Union '76 Oil.

It's very fragile as you can probably tell, I was hesitant in putting it on my scanner but I think it's interesting enough to merit a post. I just opened a part of it and am showing six of the eight pages. Pieces were falling off as I turned the pages.

It fits my in my Jensen PC and my love of publications. I keep meaning to try and find more issues in this series but other things have priority.

I see Hockey People

I bought these at the last card show I went to. I was looking for a theme here but I can't find one. So here they are, just vintage hockey cards.

I don't know why I buy cards of Phil Esposito as a Ranger, I really don't. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.

I loved Vic Hadfield as a player. I liked him so much that I pulled out this card from a dealer's box of quarter cards and bought it. Today I found out I already had it, and had posted it here previously. But it's already been uploaded into this post so it stays where it is. My buddies and I called him 'Two Sticks' because that's what Ranger TV play-by-play guy Win Elliot would call him when his mind froze and he forgot player names, which was often.

Arnie Brown, the Ranger fan's resident punching bag. We blamed him if the reception on WPIX was off. We blamed Arnie for late buses. We blamed Arnie for everything.

Ken Hodge was obnoxious. I have no idea why I bought this card.

The story always went around that Roger Crozier would spend most of the pre-game puking his guts out. If I had to face Bobby Hull's slapshot with the crappy goalie equipment they wore back then, and no mask, I'd be puking, too.

I love the French-English backs of OPC cards. Crozier played for Buffalo almost as long as he played for the Wings but I always associate him with Detroit.

Monday Morning Quarterback #53 Chris Miller 1991 Pro Set Platinum

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: Oregon Duck Chris Miller spent ten seasons in the NFL, mostly with the Falcons and Rams. He held the Atlanta starting job for five seasons beginning with his NFL sophomore year, 1988. He made the ALL Pro squad in 1991 but was injured and being phased out in 1993 by Jerry Glanville. He moved on to the Rams for a couple of seasons as the starter and a then was the Bronco's back up for a year before retiring to the college and NFL coaching ranks. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Fantasy Impact: In 1991 I opened the season with Jim Everett as my starter. I sat patiently was he failed to score a single point in the first five weeks of the season (TD-only league back then) and I muddled along at 1-4. I finally got sick of Everett, hit the waiver wire hard, and went through three other quarterbacks over the next month. I was 4-7 when I decided to roll with Miller over the final weeks and he had the two best QB weeks I had that season. I still missed the playoffs but I gained a little self respect. LOL

The Card:  I love everything about this card except the fact that the player's name isn't on the front. I know that some of the classic sets of the past had no-text fronts but if you're going to put the set logo there you might as well put the player's name there as well.

But that's a small quibble. I like both photos Pro Set used and the card has a decent layout on the reverse. No stats but stats are for base cards anyway. Swap out the huge Pro Set and NFLPA logos for team ones or helmets and this card is even better.

I'll always say Pro Set is the least appreciated card company ever.

My Billy Pierce Collection

I took a mental health day off yesterday. I took my wife and son to the Minute Maid College Baseball Classic. We cheered on Nebraska and Houston.

But before we headed downtown I spent the morning trying to organize some collections. I pulled my Billy Pierce items out of the various binders that they had ended up in and made a new 'All Pierce' binder for them.

While I had them out I decided to take a few pics. That's a signed cheap replica jersey spread out on the dining room table. The dark blob on the left is a replica Comiskey Park Pierce statue. I have a couple of pins that are not in the photo as those are in a pin collection display that I didn't want to tear apart.

Other than those pins, my Swift's Franks card (it's somewhere in my closet) and a few duplicate cards the pic contains pretty much the whole shootin' match. Right now the only Pierce items I'm really lacking from my list are the Canadian (Shirriff) version of the coin in the lower right, and the '59 Bazooka card. I figure that sometime down the road I'll catch a break and win an auction on that for a decent price. Hasn't happened yet though.

There are some other Topps Heritage cards around that I don't have but I'm not concerned with them. I don't even know what a Diamond Canary Lineage Reprint is.

I plan to send Billy a card to sign this week. He's a great TTM signer and from all accounts a heck of a good guy.