Reading Is Fundamental

This is a cautionary tale whose moral is "Do You Homework". But I'm sure all of you do and I'm likely the only one to do something this dumb.

Anyway, that card is from the 2010 Allen & Ginter set obviously. When I was getting back into collecting in 2011 or so I discovered A&G and was instantly enamored. It was so unlike anything Topps had put out. I went back and looked through the checklists of the sets Topps had done beginning in 2006 and made a small want list.

In scanning the 2010 checklist the name Gary Stewart jumped out at me. As a long time fan of country music (well, old school country anyway) the name invoked some great memories. Gary Stewart was one of my favorite artists, a 70's icon for me. His songs of drinking, lost loves, sitting on barstools and the 'honky tonk life' combined with his incredible and distinctive vibrato voice made him someone whose albums I never tired of.

His Out of Hand album may be one of the best country albums ever recorded, it's certainly among my top three. I figure I saw him perform a dozen times in clubs large and small around Texas. Like almost all the country singers of that era his popularity waned as the genre got 'homogenized'. And, like a lot of the other artists of that generation, he fell victim to the demons of addiction and faded from the scene except to his hardcore fans (like me).

He was married for 43 years which would surprise anyone who heard his lyrics. But he was certainly a devoted husband. When his wife died in November of 2003 Gary Stewart decided he couldn't live without her and took his own life six days later. I've never stopped listening to his music.

When I saw what I thought was my Gary Stewart's name on that checklist I went online and found, not only the base card but a relic card as well!!! A piece of Gary Stewart's shirt. On a card! I was still sort of new to the concept of relics and I bought the card from one of the online stores (Dean's Cards maybe) that lists prices but doesn't show the card. I never did my due diligence and try to find it on eBay. If I had I would have seen immediately what I didn't find out until it was too late...
....that's a different Gary Stewart!

I'd never considered the possibility of there being another Gary Stewart, much less one who holds some sort of record for jumping on pogo sticks of all things. What a disappointment. But I stuck the card away in a box and forgot about it until I read Nacho Grande's post about his 2010 A&G relics collection. There was pogo sticking Gary on the list so this card will be on it's way to him. My mistake is Nacho's gain I guess.

BTW...here is Gary Stewart and his wife Mary Lou.

And here is 'Whisky Trip', the one song I would sing if you held a gun on me and forced me to do karaoke.

RIP, Gary Stewart. You were the best.

Baaaaaa

Because I was in Target the other day and I didn't have much at home to blog about I went ahead and bought two packs of A & G. So I scanned some and here they are. just like they are on everyone else's blog.

Don't get me wrong. The set is pretty good. It's different at least. For two years I bought a box for Gint-A-Cuffs and had fun with that. But both times i finished scanning and posting them and put them back in the box knowing I'd never look at them again. If I'm going to buy a box of cards I should at least have the intention of completing a set. But modern card sets are impossible to complete, or so it seems to me.

Here are the cards of the players I've heard of, the minis, the non-people cards and well, someone else. My two favorites are the Machado and the Eckersley. If I was going to chase cards of a current player Manny Machado would be the guy. And I saw Eckersley the other day doing TV color for someone (Red Sox?/ESPN?) and he looked like he could still come out of the bullpen and give a good inning or two.

Two minis. Brett and Wheeler. I'd rather have the full size Brett, it's a neat artsy portrait.

I read that the Phils are looking to trade Ryan Howard. I went and looked at his stats, I guess he's been hurt the last few years because his numbers have really fallen off. He's not that old, just 34 so maybe he has something left.

Now the special set cards. This is the only Air Supremacy card I've seen and I like it. Maybe I'll look for the others.

Natural Wonder cards and stuff like that don't excite me much.

I knew that Jose Abreu was a hot player this year and I see why. 29 homers. Pretty stout. I seem to get better horizontal cards than vertical ones.

And then there was this card.

I could have lived without this one.

Portugal, and my Grandfather

Being 25% Portuguese I couldn't resist nabbing this card from the T59 Flags of All Nations set issued around 1910. It features the flag of Portugal and set me back 49 cents. Pretty hard to pass that up. 

The card above is from the N24 1889 Allen & Ginter Types of all Nations set. I got it cheap as well. I bought it because there is a chance that the woman pictured is my great-grandmother. Only a slight chance I grant you, but a chance. OK, there is no chance but hear me out.

My fraternal grandfather was born in the Azores in 1902, the Azores being a group of islands in the North Atlantic that were a Portuguese colony and are still an autonomous region of Portugal. His father was a native of those islands while his mother came from Portugal itself. While still an infant his family emigrated to the United States, passing through Ellis Island where the family name was changed from Andrade(?) to  Andrews, and settling in the large Portuguese community in New Bedford, Mass. When his father died about ten years later my grandfather and his siblings (we really don't know much of them) returned with their mother to the Azores. 

Having seen the U.S. my grandfather wanted no part of living on what is essentially a volcanic island and decided to head back to the States. So, at the age of 13, he stowed away on a ship bound for the U.S. and soon found himself in Key West. He worked at various waterfront jobs as he made his way up the East Coast and eventually was back in New Bedford. 

Now about 15, with his adopted country entering WWI, he 'lied' his way into the Army and found himself as a infantryman in the U.S. 2nd Division in Europe, fighting in France as a 16 year old. Along the way he suffered the effects of German poison gas attacks and various other wounds. His helmet, which, I have here at home, shows a dent he told me came from a German bullet. 

After the war he was sent as part of the occupying forces to Germany and was assigned to a German farm house near Heidelberg which was home to a farm family. My grandmother was a part of that family and despite a language barrier the two fell in love. My grandfather returned to the States, eventually sent for my grandmother (and her mother), and they were married. 

He spent his life as a boilermaker in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a tough job for sure. As a preschooler I and my parents lived with my grandparents in Brooklyn and I can recall my grandfather returning from work, with grime and soot from had to toe and walking me to the corner store on Kings Highway for a treat before he bathed and we all had dinner. Later on he taught me how to curse in Portuguese, how to sharpen knives and how to wear a hat among other useful lessons. He died in 1970. Hell of a guy.

So, since this card was designed in the mid 1890s, and someone had to pose for it, I'd like to think it was my great-grandmother.

And here, displaying the results of being forced to dress up for Christmas by my Grandmother, is Pops. Circa 1955.