Mystery cards!

A few days ago a PWE arrived, and I put the emphasis on 'plain'. 😊 There was no return label or written addy. The postmark was running off the top of the envelope but I could make out a bit of it, and it read OSE, CA. But I knew cards were inside it, you can always tell.

Popping it open revealed shiny things, mostly Orioles from various and sundry sets from earlier in the last decade. Back before Topps had the only license. There was also no clue as to the sender but I suspected that the OSE, CA meant the cards were from San Jose, California, and that meant Fuji. Either that or they came from my wife's 92ish-year-old uncle and that seemed pretty unlikely.

So, wanting to confirm the sender (a thank you note to someone who hasn't sent anything would be dumb), I consulted the oracle of hobby mysteries, my Magic 8-Ball.

I asked the ball who sent the PWE. Got the answer:

Yup, I figured as much. And here they are (the ones that scanned decently, anyway):

Nick Markakis which signifies 10 games with 3+ hits by featuring the number '5'. I don't understand but I like the card anyway. The irony of it referring to Atlanta isn't lost on me.

Upper Deck 'X' card of Nick.

Upper Deck sure was fixated on 'X', yes?

Next up is a Fleer card from 2007 that has embossed gold and is sparkly...it's channeling the 90s.

I'll never understand how Machado wasn't an Orioles lifer. OK, I actually do know why but I don't have to like it, do I?

Cal, shiny.

Cal, textured (and tinted).

I saw someone online wearing a shirt that read "Davis Got A Hit!". I was going to seek one out but wearing it here in Houston would just draw quizzical looks.

That was referring to this, of course.

A couple of Miggy cards. In a fun coincidence, he was the subject of a story on The Athletic's site yesterday. Apparently, he wants to get back into baseball as the Athletics' hitting coach. If you have access to the article it's an entertaining read.

Melvin Mora was an Oriole whose career I completely missed. And I missed the Topps Total sets as well. It was a nice idea and something I wish they still did. But I do realize why it won't happen.

When you look at the 'Similar Batters' listing for Javy Lopez on Baseball-Reference the top name is Roy Campenella. Just sayin'.

I have no idea why Jake Arrieta is wearing a blue uni top on this card. But it's from 2008 which is two years before he made the majors so I'm guessing the photo is from the Futures Game or something like that.

And finally, this is a clear plastic Magglio Ordonez. He wasn't an Oriole at any point so I figure Fuji was using this to fill space in the folded 9-pocket or he wants to see me try to use it as a credit card somewhere. It's unique, that's for sure.

So, thanks Fuji! I hope the fall brings you a more normal teaching experience. All my friends in the business told me that the past spring semester was no fun at all.

In the near term, I hope we all get to enjoy some baseball. I'm not holding my breath though.

The Ballad of Carl Mathias (or Chasing Rabbits Down Holes)

When I research players for my 1960 Topps blog I try to find something entertaining for the Off The Charts entry. Something besides his numbers or vitals usually pops up for every player. Frequently it comes from a player's SABR bio, a Wikipedia entry, or local stories that pop up on a Google search. I always find something.

But when I was looking at Carl Mathias' card and googled him I was disappointed. I went through several pages of search results and hadn't found any references to him at all outside of the normal stat pages (Baseball-Reference, etc) and mundane stuff from the 'off-brand', copycat wiki pages.

Then I found something that led me down an entertaining path. The official site of the AA-level Reading Fightin' Phils had a page for Mathias in their Baseballtown section. It stated that his nickname was Stubby. That was a fun fact but I figured I could find more. And I came across this:

Carl Mathias and the flip side of Boston’s biggest rally

Turned out to be a 2014 entry from a blog related to a book about the 100 greatest games in Boston sports history. The author had come across Mathias' name in connection with an improbable Red Sox win in June 1961. The game didn't make it into the book but the author was intrigued enough by Carl Mathias' story that he tracked him down and interviewed him. It's really fun.

Here's a taste of the backstory...

The Red Sox, as I noted in the book’s introduction, once rallied for eight runs with two down in the ninth for a 13–12 win over the Washington Senators. That game, in June 1961, didn’t make the cut. But a detail from that game became lodged in my mind. While cross-referencing various sources, I noticed that Carl Mathias, Washington’s starting pitcher, was still in the game when the Red Sox started their historic rally. Then I noticed Mathias’s lifetime record: 0–2.
In other words, the poor guy was on the mound at Fenway Park with a seven-run lead in the ninth inning, one out away from picking up his first win in the major leagues … and he never got it.

And it also tipped me to something I had looked at but hadn't fully processed…Mathias pitched 29 big league innings. and allowed five home runs. Not that big a deal until you know that three of them were hit by Mickey Mantle.

Here's Mathias' 1960 Topps card. It'll be posted on the 1960 set blog soon.

I also found a few other quirky things while researching in the past few weeks. And both were prompted by comments from Fuji. The first was a minor error. I was reading about Dan Dobbek and found that his Baseball Reference's Bullpen page stated that the Washington outfielder had been intentionally walked by the Red Sox three times in a game early in the 1060 season. Fuji's curiosity was peaked, and he found that it was two walks, not a record-tying feat after all. Not a big thing, but it did remind me that just because someone writes something on the internet doesn't make it true.

And finally, a quote from Cub's pitcher Art Ceccarelli in yesterday's post caught Fuji's eye. Ceccarelli was commenting on pitching in Wrigley Field and said "It wears pitchers down. The winds are unbelievable. Willie Kirkland once hit a home run off me that Ernie Banks called for at shortstop."

Fuji mentioned that he would have liked to see Kirkland's homer. So I thought, remembering the Dobbek deal, that I should find out if Willie Kirkland had ever homered of Ceccarelli in Wrigley. Sure enough, it happened on August 13, 1959. But the neat part of that game turned out to be that the Cubs beat the Giants, 20-9. It was 10-7 Cubs after four. There were eight homers in that game. Giants pitchers issued 13 walks, four to Ernie Banks (yes, he was at short so the Kirkland homer story is possible). Stu Miller walked five of the eleven guys he faced (the wind must have played hell on his knuckler) and Don Elston got a five-inning save. Getting a save in a 20-9 win is weird in itself.

Of course, none of this comes close to the high adventure of looking into the cartoon on the back of  Don Rudolph's 1959 card.

As I was Saying...

Yup, it's been a while since I posted. I've been busy, traveling, distracted, disinterested, socially distanced (been practicing that for years anyway) and much more.

I've also been to two card shows and received some really nice card gifts, so I'll wend my way through some of that in a few posts and see where we are after that.

Here are a few of the cards that came from Fuji. Behold the wonder!

Crazy, right? Autographs, Orioles, Cougars, shiny stuff, Colts! He hit many of my collecting interests in one envelope. All meat, no filler.

There was much more cool stuff including oddballs, Post cards, 1974 Topps needs (he finished my set want list!). One of the best hobby gifts I've ever received and I'm very grateful. I'll scan some others and post soon.

'Life as it is now' department:

I hit one of the last hotel shows before we were all shut down and scooped up a large cache of 1960 and 1979 Topps football cards. I've since finished both sets although COMC and a few eBay sellers are not shipping at the moment. They can wait, it's just cardboard.

I attended the TriStar show and met up with Marc Brubaker. He had some fun Orioles and Cougars for me which I am saving for another post. I took a huge chunk out of my 1961 Fleer football needs and added a couple of Rusty Staub items as well. I'll detail the show a bit in that post as well.

We were in New York, New Jersey and Baltimore in early March and had a great trip. Ellis Island tour, Rangers game at MSG, Fort McHenry visit, and more. I traveled up to Dallas to see the Rangers play the Stars when we got home. I thought it prudent to stop going to the Y a few weeks before they shut down and have been walking every day. It's boring but Bob Dylan and Miles Davis are good company.

Mini Travelogue...

NYC

Ferry from Ellis Island to SoL

Ft. McHenry in Baltimore

We are healthy and being smart and I hope you are as well.

West Coast Gifts

Along with about 753 other bloggers I recently received a jam-packed manila envelope from Fuji of The Chronicles Of Fuji fame. (Sidenote...hope you back feels better soon my friend)

He crammed the envelope with all sorts of Orioles goodies. Some of this, a little of that, a scattering of those, etc. Rather than scan and post every card I figured this was the perfect opportunity to test my new scanner. I could see if it clipped white borders like my printer/scanner did. And I could gauge scan quality across many types of cards. I changed setting between scans and some differences are pretty obvious. Here is a representation of the different types of cards Fuji included.

Like these two:

Brooks and Boog from the 1987 Hygrade All Time Greats set. Brooks scanned at 300 dpi, Boog at 600. Kind of a fun little oddball set. The green border first series of 50 cards was followed by and orange bordered followup a few years later. I can't recall seeing the orange borders before I google'd these.

Cal Ripken K-Mart card. These K-Mart cards always take me back to when we first moved into this area. It was much more rural than it is now and the only stores in the vicinity were a grocery, a Five and Dime (ask your folks, kids) and a K-Mart.

This Murray is from a 60 Years of Topps subset/promo set, etc. You probably know more than I do about it. Murray is always looking badass, right.

Here is a 90's Fleer Jeffery Hammonds and a 2016 Adam Jones that Topps wanted to look like a 90s release.

Ripken on a Fleer boxed set from the 1986. Back then I had a big box of boxed sets. Gone with the wind.

I'm not a huge fan of these Triple Play cards but ya know, this Wieters is pretty sharp!

Here is my first scanner 'fail'. Tim Bascom is surrounded by so much chrome that his signature sort of fades away. Much better looking in hand obviously. To be fair this scan is worlds better than what I got from my old Canon printer/scanner.

1994 Cal Stadium Club. The back has a cartoon of Cal and lists it #4 of 12 so without looking I'm guessing it's some sort of special subset or something. Cool card.

Here is one of the few cards I already had. I really liked this Heritage set of guys in throwback gear. I bought the Orioles out of it a few years ago. That O's cap and sleeveless jersey are fantastic on Mussina with the Memorial Stadium facade as backdrop. Dy-no-mite!

Another Cal commemorative card. It's from 2010 Topps History of the Game.

Fuji also sent some more current cards which is great because I never have much luck pulling any thru my rather limited pack buying.

That fact that I missed a lot of Brian Roberts Orioles career is kind of a shame. Note how the foil washes out. I'm working on successfully scanning these types of cards.

Allen and Ginters, Machado looking constipated.

Topps Attax Adan Jones. Does anyone every actually attempt to play stuff like this?

Nick Markakis. The fact that he plays for the Braves just doesn't sit well with me.

Wade Miley. At times last year he was the Orioles ace. Which goes a long way toward's understanding why we finished fifth.

There were more cards. Quite a few more actually but these are the ones I scanned. Thanks for your generosity Fuji. The blogosphere continues to be a wondrous place, both because of the generosity of the bloggers and the fun  writing. You are a league leader in both categories.