A Blogging Perk

What appears to be a routine 1957 Topps card of Cardinal righty Willard Schmidt actually means more to me than that. Ol' Willard has a card in the '59 Topps set and while researching his background for my '59 set blog I discovered that his great-nephew, Jim Schmidt, lived in Houston and was a fellow blogger. But his writing was much more serious than mine. Jim works as a chemist but is also an author with a deep interest in the area of Civil War medicine.

I reached out to Jim and he turned out to be a really good guy. He pointed me towards a couple of his blog posts that touched on his great-uncle. Jim lived in Houston at the time but has since moved to Kansas. I'm not a 'Civil War buff' in the usual sense of the term but I've always been interested in it and more particularly Abraham Lincoln. I have read his book on Galveston Texas' role in the Civil War (fascinating stuff) and some other things he has written. I have another of his books on a shelf in my reading queue.

I regret that I wasn't able to get to any of the forum/discussions that Jim was featured at in the Houston area before he moved. But through the magic of Facebook (this is FB's only redeeming value IMO) I've been able to keep in touch with him. One of these days I hope to get together with him and talk baseball, Willard Schmidt and the Civil War. I'll let Jim lead the discussion of medicine!

I'd been meaning to pick up the '57 Willard Schmidt card for quite some time but I didn't get around to it until last month. And while it's not as cool as the terrific '59 it's still a neat card with Schmidt in the classic Cardinals' gear at the Polo Grounds. And like his '59 card this one has a nice Topps cartoon on the reverse.

So not only do I have a budding 'Willard Schmidt collection', I also have a friend. Blogging can be a cool deal, yes?

Who's that dude with the aviators?

Here is my latest bobblehead. The one, the only Ron Kittle! I follow him on Facebook because his posts make me laugh (or shake my head, it depends). Of course after I bought this on eBay I see that he is selling them himself with the money going to charity. Oh well.

The ones he's selling are signed but that's no big deal. I just wish I had waited so I could have put my $20 to better use than lining an eBayer's pocket. And yes, I did break off the advertisement on the bobble's base. I usually do if I think I can without damaging it.

I already have a signed Kittle card. I posted that back in January.

Getting 'Banned' by Facebook

I'd always sworn that I'd be the last person on Earth to get a Facebook account. And I was holding to that despite the urging of my extended family and many friends who extolled the virtues of 'keeping up' with everyone. And I was tired of missing out on pictures posted of my nieces and nephews and friends' kids and things like that. Still I wavered.

Then someone told me that Facebook was the perfect way to stalk my high school girlfriend. So I took the plunge about a month ago. Then, once I'd signed up, I remembered that I never had a high school girlfriend! Oh well, too late to turn back as I'd become friends with my aunt in Pennsylvania, some dude I had no memories of who claimed he was a childhood pal, and Joe Namath (yes, the actual Broadway Joe 'friended' me, I don't know why).

So I decided to have fun with it. I joined a couple of groups that revolved around sports and political memorabilia, put up a picture of the incredible Jennifer Beals to celebrate every win by the New York Rangers, tracked down some college buddies I used to drink with and posted pictures that my wife said she would have rather forgotten. 

And I used a tool that posted notices whenever I made a blog entry on this site or my '59 Topps blog. I think that was my undoing. I'm not sure it's visible to others besides me but there is a little 'widget' over in the right column that says 'Share this on Facebook' and 'Tweet this'. After about two weeks of using that widget I got a notice from Facebook that I was a spammer and they were suspending 'some site features' in my account for some unspecified amount of time. For real? WTH?

OK, I found that I couldn't 'like' anything or, even worse, post a comment to anyone else's entries or comments. Well, if I can't heap praise on every reference to the President just to piss of my very conservative brother-in-law, what fun is it?

I've seen full blown internet 'retirements' on a couple of forums I frequent. It always strikes me as silly and overly dramatic when some clown takes an insult too seriously says he's taking his ball and going home. So I merely posted it had been a fun few weeks and that I was semi-suspended. Anyone that wanted to could keep in touch by email. 

Now what does this have to do with my collection? Well nothing I suppose, other than I was seeing a few more views on my blogs when I posted the links on FB. And what does this have to do with the 1960 Topps Cookie Lavagetto card at the top? Again, nothing.

But since it's there I gotta say that the drop-shadow "W" on the Senators' unis of that era sure was unique. And Cookie himself was the centerpiece of a great World Series moment when his walk-off two out double in Game Four of the '47 Series between the Yanks and Brooklyn Dodgers sent Flatbush into a frenzy. In that game the Yanks' Bill Bevins was one out from a 2-1 NO HIT win when Burt Shotten sent Lavagetto up to hit with two men on and the Bums down a run. To hear Red Barber's great call of that moment go here and listen to the audio. Or watch the newsreel footage from YouTube.

That '47 Series marked the end of Lavagetto's playing career. He went on to manage the Senators/Twins from 1957 to 1961, never reaching the .500 mark.

Great card though.