Things I've been doing...

...instead of posting blog entries:

1) Breaking in my work replacement coach. I'm closing that door on December 20.
2) Trying to make heads or tails out of Medicare/health insurance options. This is all complicated by the fact that my current insurance changes on December 1 and then I change insurance on Jan 1. So within a span of 32 days I'm under three different plans.
3) Working on my 1964 Philadelphia Gum set. I'm now down to eight cards, see the sidebar.
4) Opening envelopes. I'm behind on acknowledging a few big fat gifts from fellow bloggers. That will be rectified asap.
5) Hitting the hotel card show. That's where the '62 Roger Maris and Art Ditmar Post Cereal cards are from. Dirt cheap, well loved and perfect for my shoe box full of these things.
6) Tearing my hair out dealing with scanners. I bought a dedicated flatbed Canon scanner which I couldn't get to cooperate with me. Returned it for an Epson. Still struggling with settings. Sad.
7) Kicking back in New Orleans for football and fun. Ate far too many oysters, muffulettas and beignets. And consumed too much Abita. I think I'm coming around to N'awlins.
8) Helping my wife plan a graduation party for my future daughter-in-law. I didn't volunteer for this.
9) Putting my TCMA sets in pages. Helpful tip...when large complete card sets come to you in numerical order, don't jack with them on a cheap card table that could shift.
10) Holiday shopping. Easy this year. I only need to grab Astros championship gear for family members.

So there you have it. My list of excuses for going two weeks between entries.

BTW...I love that Maris card. Pretty neat how it documents his historic 1961 season. I very casually collect Maris and Ditmar. And I mean very casually...as in I'll pull them when going thru dealer boxes and then decide if I like the card enough to buy it.

The Ditmar states that he didn't allow a run in the 1960 Series. Here is a screen grab from his BR page. He was wrecked by the Pirates in the 1960 Series. He lost two games and had an ERA of over 21. What am I missing?

Spring Fling #4

More spring goodness. This time a signed photo of Art Ditmar who pitched for the Yankees from 1957 thru the middle of 1961. His pinstripe days were bracketed by stints with the Athletics, the Yankees' 'kissin' cousins'.

He led the AL with 22 losses in 1956 and allowed 125 earned runs, also #1 in the league. But he had some solid seasons in New York. His 15 wins were fourth in the league in 1960. I saw him pitch in 1961 and he beat the Orioles. I had the program for many years as it was one my father had kept score in. I'm not sure if it's still around.

I've have a decent Art Ditmar PC. Nothing exhaustive like my Pierce collection but I do have his base cards and a few oddballs. Back in 2012 I had an Art Ditmar Week post festival.

Prior to this week my last visit to Spring Training had come way back around 1975. Some friends and I visited Ft. Lauderdale and saw the Yanks play the Mets.

Post-ing Memories

Back in the days when these Post cards were issued on cereal boxes I had a routine. Most evenings while my Mom was busy in the kitchen I'd wait on our front steps to see my father walking down the block as he made his way home from the bus stop (#32 DeCamp Lines bus out of the Port Authority). He's have a late afternoon edition of one of the New York papers, usually the Daily News. I'd grab it and read as much as I could before supper was served. In those days there was more day baseball and sometimes if the Yanks were at home and had played in the afternoon there would already be a game report in the paper.

While we ate we'd have the radio on (no TV allowed during meals!) and more often than not we would catch the nightly 15 minute sports report done by Stan Lomax on WOR. His is one of the voices of my youth. He'd been a sportswriter who had entered the world of radio very early doing all manner of play-by-play and had one of the longest running daily shows in broadcasting history by the time he retired.

I found (and cherish) one .mp3 sample of his work. It's not typical because it's a drop-in segment from a gig he did with the talk/comedy show duo of Bob and Ray. And it is from late in his career (1976) when clearly his best days were behind him. But it certainly displays his unique cadence and inflection. 

I especially enjoyed his show during baseball season. He would give recaps of day games played or in progress and he's give the batteries for the upcoming night contests. I'd listen intently as Lomax would click off homers and starting pitchers for the Orioles and Phillies (yes, I followed the Phils for a bit back then). 

Lomax also spent a lot of time on boxing and college basketball, two sports I followed as a kid (almost entirely due to him) but which barely register with me now.

Here is the minute and a half audio clip of Stan Lomax which I posted to YouTube:

All of this is a roundabout way of getting to the three 1962 Post cards up top. Frank Malzone just seems to typify baseball of the early 1960s era. Good bat, good glove and a member of the hated (by me) Red Sox. His was a card I didn't seek out but I did appreciate. Much more so that that of Albie Pearson. Whenever I heard his name mentioned the only thing I thought of was how small he was.

Now Art Ditmar...he's a Stan Lomax-type guy in that I associate him with weeknight games at Yankee Stadium. Whitey Ford always seemed to pitch on Sunday but Ditmar was the guy we would catch when we made a game on a Tuesday night. He was also the guy my friends and I mocked for reasons I can't really remember. He was my 'Dooley Womack' before I actually had Dooley Womack to make fun of. I have previously shown off my Art Ditmar collection. 

The '62 Post above and '61 that follows are the latest additions. 

2003 Upper Deck Pride of New York Art Ditmar

I like Art Ditmar. I collect his cards. But to include him in a set titled 'Pride of New York' seems a little over the top.

Neat card though. The design is pretty sweet and the sig is front and center. What I like most about it is that the picture could have easily been taken on a Sunday afternoon in a sun-drenched Yankee Stadium with me and my Dad in attendence. Maybe a 1961 doubleheader against the White Sox or A's.

No way to know for sure but it's fun to speculate and it brings back some nice memories.

1957 Topps Art Ditmar

The '57 Topps set is just so great. I'm partial to it to a large extent because it contains the rookie card of Brooks Robinson. But so many of the cards are nice. The Koufax, the flipped negative Hank Aaron, The Ted Williams. Take a stroll over here and see if you don't agree. I bet you have forgotten how cool the '57 set is.

I like that Art Ditmar is wearing white undersleeves for his shot. I think those are against the rules nowadays. Might have been then, too. Ditmar may just have been wearing them before the game on a day he wasn't pitching.

The coloring on this card almost makes it look like a 'night card' but I doubt it is. Probably just how the flash illuminated Ditmar or maybe it was recolored. Hard to say. And Topps included an unusual 'Traded' line on the back. Instead of the standard dry 'Traded to Yankees in April' they fleshed it out with "As this card went to press..." and they used red ink to set it off.

Ditmar is pictured in his A's uni with the Yankees listed as his club. Interestingly one of the players he was traded for, Tom Morgan has been airbrushed into an A's cap. Morgan's Yankee pinstripes are still visible.

1961 Topps Art Ditmar

Here is Part 2 of this blog's look at 50s/60s pitcher Art Ditmar. The 1961 Topps set is fairly plain, not ugly, just plain. The green and black backs though is one of my least favorite Topps cardback color combos.

The left panel of the cartoon on this Ditmar card gave me pause. I had to go check the numbers and sure enough Ditmar's 15 wins led the Yankee staff in 1960. I would have bet on Whitey Ford, or even Ralph Terry.

Ditmar was treated pretty rudely by the Pirates in the 1960 Series. He started twice, getting KO'd in the first inning of Game One and the second inning of Game Five. Yikes.

It's Art F'ing Ditmar Week!!

Yes, Art Ditmar. For no other reason than I think I have more vintage cards of him than any non-Oriole other than Sandy Koufax. I wrote about my being a fan of the guy when his card was featured on my 1959 Topps blog. I explained it like this:

True confession time... I've always had a 'thing' for Art Ditmar. No, no... not in the same way I've always had a 'thing' for Jennifer Beals..... but a 'thing' nonetheless. I've got several of his cards. It began when I was a kid and the joke among my many Yankee fan friends was "Oh oh, you're screwed, here comes Art F'ing Ditmar!!"  Yes, most of my friends had precious little comedy talent. but that's another post. It was one of those inside jokes and we all became fans of the guy, even those of us who didn't root for the Yanks.

The '58 Topps set doesn't get a lot of love generally. At least it seems that way to me. It's pretty colorful but I think the 'no-background' pics, many of which are just head shots, leave something to be desired. No matter this pink Ditmar card is pretty sweet. The backs had a lot of 'stuff' crammed into the small space. Here Ditmar's card contains a short write-up, his vitals and a 'double' cartoon with some fun artwork. The standard (thru '58) year/life stat lines cover the bottom.

I'll be putting up more Art Ditmar cards throughout the upcoming week. Try and curb your enthusiasm, will you? I'm sure I'm putting my 'Oriole Fan Membership Card' at risk but that's OK. I'm secure in my Oriole-ness.