Another 80's Oddball Set

I hate spending more for postage than I do for the card I'm buying and because of that I find myself buying 'add-ons' to make my transactions 'worthwhile'. I can't recall what I was picking up or where when I grabbed these '86 Sports Design Products cards.

These have popped up on other folks blogs from time to time. They use photos from the collection of J.D. McCarthy who did postcards for sale to fans and players over the course of several decades. I love old McCarthy postcards and have quite a few in my various collections. Hobby icon Bob Lemke purchased the McCarthy archives and was in the process of cataloging it when he passed away about a year ago. So we may never see much more of that huge treasure trove of photos any time soon.

These are obviously a riff on the 1969 Topps cards. At least the fronts are. The backs are spare and look pretty amateurish compared to the front side. These remind me of the sorts of cards I'd see alongside Broders, Bammers and phone cards back when card shows attracted lots of 'dealers' looking to cash in on the sports card/memorabilia boom.

I think the seller had most of the set available but I just grabbed these because they struck my fancy. I don't have a favorite but I sure do like this shot of Sandy Koufax.

Just to slide a bit off-track I found a postcard that would seem to be from this same photo session. It's a McCarthy postcard. You can see his logo in the lower left corner. He used that on most of his postcards but not all of them.

Back to the cards at hand..... aren't those stirrups on Roberto Clemente grand?

I add Whitey Ford cards to my collection from time to time because he was a favorite of my father. And because I saw him pitch more times than I could count. I can't decide if this shot comes from his playing days or not. Ford had a couple of stints as a coach with the Yankees and I know he spent a lot of spring training time with the team after his retirement.

Looks like Yaz' picture was taken on the same day as Ford's. Maybe McCarthy drove from Ft. Lauderdale to Winter Haven one day in the mid-60s.

This last one, listed as #1 in the set's checklist is a bit different in that there only the rounded frame mirrors the '69 Topps theme. If you clicked on the Wrigley Wax blog link above you saw that the other duel player card in this set, Banks/Hodges, uses this same design. This one shows J.D. McCarthy himself posing with Ted Williams. I'd never seen McCarthy in a photo so I added this to my 'stack'.

There isn't much online concerning this set. Sports Designs put out a two part set in the years prior to this one. It used artwork by Doug West. It was featured in a couple of posts on The Oddball Card Collector blog.

For those interested here is the SDP/McCarthy checklist:

1 J.D. McCarthy / Ted Williams
2 Lou Brock
3 Carl Yastrzemski
4 Mickey Mantle
5 Roger Maris
6 Walter Alston
7 Ernie Banks
8 Billy Williams
9 Hank Aaron
10 Brooks Robinson
11 Joe DiMaggio
12 Casey Stengel
13 Juan Marichal
14 Jim Bunning
15 Matty Alou
16 Eddie Mathews
17 Sandy Koufax
18 Roberto Clemente
19 Gil Hodges / Ernie Banks
20 Duke Snider
21 Robin Roberts
22 Willie Mays
23 Willie Stargell
24 Whitey Ford

Billy Pierce Collection additions

Back in December of 2014 I was able to find an affordable Swifts Meats Billy Pierce. It took me by surprise to nab one in nice shape that I could afford. These are neat and unusual collectibles. When I posted that first one I did some research into how they were distributed when they were issued in 1957. 

It turned out that they came with packs of hot dogs AND via a mail-in order form. That post has much more detail and some links to info/checklists. Click here to go back to it. 

About a month or so I came across another listing for one of these in my general Billy Pierce search on eBay. The seller described it as a 'Type card', i.e. 'a piece of junk you can own just to say you have one'. But in the pictures it looked just fine, very collectible.  And he wanted $31 for it. I don't recall what I paid for my first one (it was 'graded' by some fly-by-night company) but it was over $100, maybe closer to $125. I mean these babies are pretty hard to find. And a quick search on eBay shows how much the going rate normally is.

So for $31 I had to take a closer look. It's got a stain and one of the punch-out body pieces is halfway 'punched out' but it's not that much worse than my slabbed one. I kept looking for the catch but I never found one so I grabbed it.

I would normally never buy a second copy of something of this ilk but at that price I simply had to pull the trigger. Heck, I'd buy one of these of a random player at that price. 

So anyway, I now have two of these. And at one point I never thought I'd even have one. 

I'm not sure which side of these is considered the 'front' so here are both sides. Click the link above for a look at what they are like when assembled and to see the game board they were supposed to used on.

This next item is much less significant in terms of hobby relevance but it was a more exciting pick-up for me. This is a J.D. McCarthy postcard of Billy Pierce that I never had seen before. I've refined my BP search on eBay to where I have eliminated the Topps cards and all the other common items that were showing up again and again.

One night this thing hit my screen and I didn't hesitate to nab it. McCarthy postcards are a great addition to player collections. I figured that a Pierce or two had been produced but there is no checklist available so I had no way to know for sure.

I'm a post card fanatic. Every season from about 1968 or so I would write to the Orioles requesting a price for their team issued postcard set. After a few years they began sending a souvenir list without my even writing. Once or twice someone in their PR office sent me the late season additions to the year's postcards unsolicited. I spent a decade or so putting together a listing of Orioles team issued postcards only to find out that it had already been done. At some point in the mid 1980s the Orioles got away from producing the sets, or at least including them on their price lists. I remember once calling their offices to inquire about them and getting no real answer. My collection really got moved to the back burner when that happened. (They have since resumed producing that cards but when they did so I have no idea.)

But meanwhile I had come across McCarthy's cards and I've amassed quite a few Orioles examples. The late Bob Lemke came into possession of McCarthy's files and you can read his post concerning that right here.

Well, I've made a short story long but the bottom line is that I've found a BP McCarthy and am glad to have done so. And to make it just a bit better the card was mailed between two of my favorite places, Chicago and North Jersey!

This last piece is another dupe that I added because it was cheap and available. It's a picture pack photo which was done by Jay Publishing as team sets in the early 60s. They were sold at stadiums, by mail order and at places like Manny's Baseballand across Jerome Avenue from the ballpark in the Bronx. I've posted this one and some other Pierce variations before. For a couple of bucks adding a signed copy didn't require much thought.

More Postcards From The Edge

Like the Exhibit postcards I posted the other day, these JD McCarthy postcards had been out of my sight for awhile. I've posted some JDMs previously but this is my biggest group. And, as an aside, I'm reminded that I really really need to get my stuff organised.

JD McCarthy worked out of Detroit and produced cards for many, many big leaguers (and pros in other sports) for mailing out to fans who requested a sig or a picture. How quaint. 

Marv Breeding was the Orioles' everyday second baseman in 1960. He hit decently (.267) but for the next two years he shared the job and his numbers fell off. He finished his career with the Nats and Dodgers.

Next up is a pair of Steve Barber cards. Barber wore three different numbers during his time with the O's. Here are two of them.

Clay Dalrymple was part of the Orioles' three AL Champs clubs from 1969 thru 1971. He had already spent a decade with the Phillies, as a regular for some of that time.

In Baltimore he was essentially third string behind Andy Etchebarren and Ellie Hendricks. He didn't get a lot of playing time but he can brag of a perfect World Series batting average! He got two pinch hits in two at bats against the Mets in the '69 Series.

Milt Pappas in another spring training shot. Pappas is an interesting character to say the least. He won 110 games with the Orioles in nine seasons before being traded to the Reds for Frank Robinson.

This is the second Moe Drabowsky McCarthy in my collection. I can never have enough Moe.

Billy Hoeft had been around the AL with the Tigers and Red Sox before he came to the O's in 1959. He was around Charm City for three years but never really got a foothold on a rotation spot. 1961 was his best season. He finished his career with stints with the Giants, Braves and Cubs.

McCarthy postcards can be seen with any number of back designs. There are at least three seperate ones among my Orioles examples:

My newly re-discovered postcard trove isn't done but I'll throw a few other posts up before I dig in again.

Billy Pierce late 50s era JD McCarthy postcard

I'm really fired up about picking up this one. It came up on eBay out of the blue a couple of weeks ago. I've browsed through all my various Billy Pierce related 'Saved Searches' on eBay dozens of times and had never seen a Pierce postcard outside the 'Exhibit' cards. I had no idea that anything like this existed since I hadn't seen one on Pierce checklist. I should have figured that there was a JD McCarthy card out there.

He published postcards of everyone short of ballpark ushers during his heyday which ran from the early '50s through the 70's. He has some that date from the early 1980s as well. And he had cards of players in all the major sports but his baseball cards are the most widely seen.  He was based in Detroit and most of his shots were taken in Tiger Stadium. I'm almost certain that the Pierce card shows that great old ballpark in the background. The address on the reverse shows a two digit postal code which means that it was published prior to the use of the five digit Zip Codes which were introduced in 1963 I believe.

I'm a big fan of these McCarthys and I've posted some of the ones I have in my collection previously, but this one is instantly my favorite!

And as cool as it was to stumble across this card I was doubly amazed to find a different Pierce postcard on eBay within a day or so. That one should be arriving any day now. The seller assured me that it has a 'postcard' back although his picture showed only the front of the card. I'm hoping he's right. Two new and unexpected Pierce items along with three PWEs in a matter of two days last week have got my hobby juices going again.

An Orioles State of Mind

I made it out to the ballpark this past weekend to catch the four game series between the Orioles and Astros. First thing I was happy about was the super reliable Minute Maid Park wi-fi service which allowed me to stream the Rangers clincher against Montreal. Needless to say I was AT the baseball game but I was WATCHING the hockey game.

The Orioles ended up splitting the series and didn't show much with their bats for the most part but I enjoyed being out there. Seeing the O's live always gets me into more of a baseball mood and Sunday night I dug out and scanned a fair-sized pile of Orioles postcards. Lots of different eras and postcard styles were in that stack. I'm going to show a few this week over a couple of posts.

First up are these two Perez-Steele Hall of Fame cards, Frank and Brooks Robinson. I've noted before that I run hot and cold on Dick Perez as an artist. These HOF cards are his best work IMHO. Both are signed, the Brooks was an in-person sig. I can't remember about the Frank. I had him sign a few things at a small local card show many years ago and this may or may not be one of them. How odd it seems now the recall him sitting at a table in a Ramada Inn ballroom in east Houston.

While I'm thinking about it I took a few pictures at the games. Most are pretty uninteresting but on Sunday Cal Ripken, Jr. was in the house. He signed autographs for quite awhile before the game and then threw out the first pitch.

And here is the Houston Chapter of the Orioles Brotherhood hanging out after the Orioles warmed up. Many more had headed down to the dugout to pester Ripken for a sig. I followed a short time later.. Ignore the dimbulb wearing the Stretch Suba jersey over on the left. There's one in every crowd.

Next up are some JD McCarthy postcards. The Jim Northrup is pretty much a standard issue JDM example. The logo is the one that most of his postcards carry.  The backside has the McCarthy info but no stamp box. Northrup played the final two weeks of the 1974 season with the Orioles and stayed through 1975. The picture is from Tiger Stadium and the O's ended the season there and I can see Cleveland at Boston listed among the out of town games on the scoreboard and that matches up. We can date this photo to October 1st or 2nd of 1974. All that and 4 bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

I really love this Milt Pappas postcard issued by JDM. It's quite different from the other McCarthys I have. No logo on the front and it has a 'postcard' back. One of these days I'll do a little research into some of this stuff. This is a spring training shot.

Autographed Orioles B&W Postcards

While I was digging around for yesterday's post subject, the Dexter Press postcards, I found these and four more just like them in the same binder. Normally with any type of Orioles memorabilia, particularly something I have several of, I'd remember where I picked them up. Or at the very least I'd remember having them at all.

Not so with this lot. If you had asked me on Monday if i had any signed black and white Orioles postcards I'd have said no... and felt pretty confident in saying it.

The Paul Richards card and the George Kell have standard postcard backs with a divider between the block for the address and the greeting along with the stamp block. These early cards are classified as 'Real Photo" postcards and are said to have glossy fronts although my Kell is much less so than the Richards. The borderless ones resemble Exhibit cards.

These next two, Jim Hardin and Dave Leonhard, are black and white versions of the team issued postcards that I collected with a frenzy years ago.

I have the identical cards in their color versions (although that typeface on the Hardin is unique (much smaller) among my Oriole postcards. I don't know if the team gave these B&W cards to the players to send out with autograph requests. If so, why not use the color variety that are so prevalent? The two guys who have compiled checklists of Orioles team issued postcards don't even list black and white ones. Interesting.

Both of these are blank-backed as were all the color versions from that era. Also blank-backed is the Harvey Haddix card below. It's interesting in that it it appears to follow exactly the format of almost all Orioles team-issued cards from my collection. But Haddix' time with the Orioles ended in 1965. I have no Oriole postcards in that style from earlier than 1970. I know the team issued them since 1954 but I have never seen one from the early/mid-60s in this style. Looks like some detective work is in order for me.

UPDATE: The Whitey Herzog postcard below was on eBay and follows the same style as the Haddix. So it looks like the Orioles used that same typeface and style quite a bit during the era of B&W postcards.

Bonus card... digging further in my binder I came across this Moe Drabowsky signed card stuck in the back with some color cards. It's a JD McCarthy card as evidenced by the name block and the 'JMD' logo that all his stuff has. I touched on the history McCarthy postcards a little bit in a previous post.

Gotta love Moe Drabowsky. Rare is the picture that doesn't show him grinning. He's make for a fun PC. Sounds like a plan.

Random 80's Crap from my Hobby Closet, Pt.2

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. 

The Denis Menke 'postcard' above and the Tom Burmeier below are two of the J.D. McCarthy cards I found in the box. These were produced by the Detroit based photographer of the same name who provided them to players for the purpose of sending them out to fill autograph requests. I've known of some instances where a player added one of these to a response in addition to the card/photo sent by the fan.

McCarthy produced these for players in at least the four major sports and who knows who else. They were produced over the course of at least four decades. Most sources list the cards as being from the 1950s through the 70s but Menke coached the Blue Jays in 1980/81.The style of the name block varies as does the back. Most I have are blank backed but the Burgmeier has a back (shown below) that features a 'Produced by...' line down the center which gives it a more traditional postcard 'look'. That one, btw, shows the pitcher in a uni that has the 1969 Baseball Anniversary patch.

While the cards had various fonts and name plate styles the one identifying mark that is always present in the stylized JDM logo found on every one, at least every one I've seen.

Here is the logo from the Menke card:

Back of the J.D. McCarthy Burgmeier card:

Another group of cards I found in the box were from a 'set' put out by a firm called Pro Star Promotions of Canada. These postcard-sized cards were issued in 1972 and are unlicensed with all team logos airbrushed out.

I also have the 'checklist' and listed are the AL and NL postcards as well as the 'set' that was comprised exclusively of Montreal Expos. As you can see on the checklist the company had also issued a set of posters in addition to the postcards. And in addition I see eBay listing for Expos posters that are not on the checklist, Ron Swoboda for example. I've seen listings for Montreal Canadiens cards as well. I posted an eBay image of one, Henri "The Pocket Rocket" Richard, at the bottom.
The cards as well as the checklist are blank on the reverse.