Random 80's Crap from my Hobby Closet, Pt.6 (Final installment, I think)

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. 

Yes, I've gotten down to the bottom of the box of 80's crap and even I'm sick of it. But I had put aside the few 'legit' cards that were contained in it and saved them for this final post.

So, here we go:

1981 Topps Tito Landrum Rookie card. Yes, a couple of other guys share this card but they don't count. Landrum, with one swing of the bat, became a Baltimore folk hero.

A 1963 Topps Rookie Stars card featuring floating heads of, well, Pete Ward I guess. Or maybe Vic Davalillo. Phil Roof played a long time and then was a minor league manager. George Williams dropping in for coffee with the Phils and Colt 45s.

I found this 1982 Fleer Johnny Oates and it was in a hard sleeve for some unknown reason. He was long gone from the Orioles when this card came out.

 OK, now we're talking, a 1977 Kellogg's 3-D Bill Madlock. Interestingly this set doesn't mention Kellogg's anywhere. Never noticed that before.

A 1983 Kellogg's Ozzie Smith. I didn't know his given name is "Osborne Earl Smith". I do now. Pretty poor crop job on the photo, it makes it look like his hat is four sizes too big.

1980 Topps Kiko Garcia card. I saw one of his infrequent homers up in Arlington. He hit it off Fergie Jenkins and the O's squeaked out a 5-4 win. They won it on a single in the top of the ninth by Al Bumbry that scored Garcia. Don 'Full Pack' Stanhouse got the save. In typical fashion he walked the tying run on before ending it with a strikeout.

1971 Orioles World Series Celebration card. Easy to spot Andy Etchebarren, Merv Rettunmund, Mike Cuellar, Boog Powell and Bobby Grich. Don't know who the guy on the left in the straw hat is. Probably a party crasher.

And finally, a Sandy Koufax Baseball Card News advertising card. Yes, it may not be a 'legit' card but it IS Sandy Koufax. And a Brooklyn Dodger era Koufax, to boot.

Random 80's Crap from my Hobby Closet, Pt.5

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. 

This is a Donruss-Leaf postcard sized 1987 All Star card from one of the many over-sized junk sets that I simply had to grab a few of back in the day. I like Franco because he was a Brooklyn boy (as was I.....Ocean Avenue/Kings Highway!!) And check out his All Star stats, all doughnuts.

This is the box and a couple of examples of yet another 80's era boxed set made by Topps. 33 'Super Gloss' cards and a stick of gun for $2. Such a deal. I'm not sure but this may be a K-Mart set. I know that store carried a lot of these things. K-Mart is long gone in Houston and so are these boxed sets I guess.

Anyone collect All Star ballots? If you do I've got a stack of '86 ballots. I guess I kept these because I attended that game. It was in the Astrodome and is significant because it was the last game ever managed by Dick Howser. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor about then and never returned to the dugout for the Royals. He died two years later at the age of 51.

I went with a friend of mine after I had entered a ticket lottery and was able to snag two seats in the right field pavilion. We spent the lead up to the game hanging out at the headquarters hotel, the Houston Hyatt Regency in downtown. We picked up some autographs, crashed a couple of dinners and talked to relief pitcher Don Aase of the Orioles. I had a premonition that he'd get the save and told him so. He laughed and shook my hand. Turns out I was right. He finished the game by getting a dp grounder out of Chris Brown of the Giants.

That was the second of the three All Star games to be held in Houston and I made them all. This was the best game but the neatest experience (by far) came at the 2004 game at Minute Maid Park. That's a story worthy of it's own post.

Baseball Photo Classics. I don't even remember where or why I got these but I sure have a lot of them. The were put out by TCMA and were a lot like the Exhibit cards that could be bought out of vending machines even as late as the early 60's. I remember getting those on the Coney Island boardwalk with my Grandfather as a kid.

This set had old timers (and some not-so-old timers) and old time novelty pictures and are postcard size.

Random 80's Crap from my Hobby Closet, Pt.4 (Why do I save this stuff 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. 

I used to keep everything. No matter how useless it might be. Like ticket stubs, business cards of people who I knew I'd never need to deal with again, Reggie Bar wrappers, etc. Here's proof from my box of 80s junk:

First up a Ted Williams photo card that had a subscription ad for Baseball Card News on the back, dated 1983. I have six of them. Lord knows why. But I did like Baseball Card News. I liked all the publications, Tuff Stuff, The Trader Speaks, SCD. I got them all at one time or another.

This is a Mother's Cookies Nolan Ryan. I guess any Nolan item is worth saving. I bet a Ryan fan would like this. I always took my kids to Mother's Cookies giveaway days at the Astrodome. They liked the cards a lot. The distribution was intended to encourage kids to swap dupes to obtain a full set but I never knew anyone who did that.

I was puzzled when I looked up the date August 14th on the Yankee's 1980 schedule and it showed them to be in Baltimore that night. I had gone to Yankee Stadium on that annual summer trip and the Yankee logo caused me to assume it was from the game we saw against the White Sox. Then I realized that this was from a game in Baltimore against the Yanks that same week. The section number should have tipped me wise when I saw it. 

I had a brief fling as an Expos fan in the first few years of their existence. My family took a vacation in Montreal and Quebec City in the summer of 1969 and on August 13th we were at Parc Jarry when the played, and lost to, the Reds. It was a wild experience. The fans were really rabid and it was 'Bat Night'. You've never lived until you have listened to the sound of thousands of bats pounding on aluminum seats all at the same time. 

Another memorable thing about that night was following Jim Palmer's no-hitter via the scoreboard. The Expos game ran 11 innings and was over late and Palmer had wrapped things up by the time we left. The scoreboard in Montreal was updating the Orioles-A's game every inning. It was a very great night!

All of which is a roundabout way of explaining this Mack Jones postcard. I bought it and several others including Rusty Staub, at the concession stand that night. For a few years the Expos eclipsed the Dodgers as my NL team of interest.

How cool is Mack Jones?

College sports schedules are another thing I have tons of. I guess I ought to just keep one of each. This Phi Slama Jama one is pretty cool. That's Akeem (he was 'Akeem' before he was 'Hakeem') Olajuwon. That was a terrific team to watch. 

Why I have a small stash of 1984 Rice Owl football schedules is a mystery to me. 

This ticket stub comes from the Colts visit to the Dome in 1984. The Colts won, 35-21. Since the wounds of the Colts' departure from Baltimore were still fresh I was cheering for the Oilers despite having so many of my favorite players, Curtis Dickey, Ray Butler, etc. in Indy. Earl Campbell, one of the most fun players to watch ever, scored twice. Section 502 was behind the west end-zone upstairs. I also sat there for University of Houston games for many, many years.

And finally here is a USFL schedule for the Houston Gamblers. By all accounts they were a fun team to watch with the early version of the Run-N-Shoot triggered by Jim Kelly. I never saw them play. Not even on TV. I had no interest in any pro football league other than the NFL. I did meet Jim Kelly once though. One afternoon he walked in to a memorabilia store I frequented. the folks who ran the place were huge USFL/Gambler fans. He poked around, posed for a pic or two, signed a few things for them and left. I might have said 'Hi' or shook his hand. I don't remember.

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