Brooks Robinson Print

My friend Mike McKay sent along this super nice 8x10 art print of Brooks Robinson recently. He won it on eBay and sent it to me because, well, because that's the kind of guy he is. And I'm most appreciative.

The print is just begging for a signature. That's why I am holding off on putting it in one of my frames for the time being. Brooks was here in Houston at the TriStar show in February. I didn't want to stand in line for his autograph at the time but had I had something interesting to get signed I might have. I know Brooks gets lots of mail but I may send this along to him. He's getting up there and has had some health issues and I don't know how many more chances I'll have.

As an alternative plan, I have some other signed items that I could turn into a cut signature to mount with the print. I'll come up with something or other because I want to get this on my wall here in my office/hobby room.

If you're reading this Mike...thanks much. I hope your family is well. Stay smart and stay safe. That goes for everyone out there in the hobby blogosphere.

It snowed in Houston!! (In more ways than one)

A couple of unexpected things happened here in the last 36 hours or so. First of all I got a surprise (but very welcome) envelope from my friend Mike McKay of Chicago. He had picked up a box of the holiday Topps set which I have since learned come only from WalMart stores in blasters. Mike forwarded the Orioles he got in his box. Pretty much the three biggest names on the team, Chris Davis, Manny Machado and Adam Jones. 

They are a pretty neat item. But if I was a team 'complete-ist' I might be annoyed with Topps adding to my needs list so late in the year. Then again I think the days of collecting every card from your team (or player) is long gone. I dunno how everyone else feels about these but I think the addition of the little snowflakes is kind of cool (pun intended). 

The other thing that kind of snuck up on us down here in Houston was snow. I woke up this morning to a nice layer of the white stuff covering everything except the street in my neighborhood.  As I expected Facebook is full of Houston folks screaming that it's the first time we've ever seen snow but you know how that is. It doesn't happen all that often but we've had the white stuff here every few years as long as I can remember.

Here are the other cards from the 'snow set' that Mike sent. Thanks, again, Mike!

The Adam Jones card makes it appear he's trying to catch some of the flakes with a diving effort. I wonder if that was intended.

This'N'That

I'm pretty sure every blogger has scanned stuff and then 'forgotten' about it. I do that quite a bit. Periodically I go through my Picasa albums and pull up scans that never made it into a post for one reason or another. I label my albums by month so sometimes when the calendar changes scans get 'left behind'.

The stuff in this post comes mostly from my January and February albums. The Ron Kittle card was one I was uploading to a couple of different online storage sites as I was searching for alternatives for the soon-to-be-departed Picasa Web Albums. It sort of got lost in the shuffle.

I got the Kittle from my friend Mike McKay from Chicago who heads south to fantasy baseball camps each winter. He's gotten friendly with the somewhat larger than life Kittle and he's picked up some signed Kittle cards for me in previous years. 

Kittle is a hoot on social media and has a nice little business going making benches and displays out of baseball bats. Thanks, Mike. I always appreciate your thinking of me.

These others are football cards that I picked up at the January card show I attended or I snagged online. 

Jim Katcavage was a standout defensive lineman for the Giants while i was growing up and listening to their games with my Dad.

I found a couple of his cards in the bargain bin. His '69 Topps. that's not pink exactly. Fuchsia? Puce?

I'd buy a '64 Philly Gum of anyone for a quarter. After finding this one I dug thru the bin hoping for more but came up empty. One day I'm going to tackle this set.

I bought the Brodie for no reason at all other than the fact that I always loved the 49ers' unis back then.

I remember my father griping about the Giants trading Erich Barnes to Cleveland in the mid-60's. Hey, the '65 Philly Gum set isn't bad either.

We can file this Fleer sticker Philly Gum logo card (thanks, Jim) under 'Everything old is new again'.

Finally here is the one 1981 Topps/Coke card I needed. This 11 card set paralleled the regular Topps set. I'm not sure why the Greg Landry card out of was so hard to find. I finally found one over the Christmas break for a good price. Now I can scratch one more Baltimore Colts goal off my list.

It's Good To Have Friends

Mike McKay from Chicago is a regular reader and frequent contributor to my collection. His latest package came in a couple of weeks ago. As usual he sent me a spare signed card from one of his latest TTM successes. Hall of Famer and Baltimore Colt star Ray Berry has had a reputation of being very fan friendly. Mike sent me a Swell Gum Berry that I didn't have in my collection. It finds a good home in my Colts binder.

Thinking about how good Ray Berry has been with fan requests reminds me of how lucky I was to be a Colts fan. They were such a community oriented club back in the day and players like Berry, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore and John Mackey all valued their relationship with the fans. When my Uncle in Baltimore talked to me about the Colts I always got the impression he was talking about family. That was cool.

Next up we have one of two custom cards that Mike sent of the legendary Steve Dalkowski. If you've never heard of Dalkowski I can only urge you to read this Hardball Times article about the Orioles' prospect (suspect) who is acknowledged by many to be the hardest (and wildest) thrower in the history of the game. Trust me it's a wonderful read even if you are familiar with the Dalkowski story. The article contains a blurb from Pat Jordan's Suitors of Spring that's worth the click, trust me.

For more amusement check out his Baseball Reference page. And note his first season as a professional. With Kingsport of the Appalachian League (D level Orioles club) he pitched 62 innings, struck out 121 hitters, walked 128 and compiled an ERA of 8.13 and had a WHIP of 2.43 while uncorking 29 wild pitches. He only gave up one homer which likely confirms the fact that it's hard to hit the ball deep when take your stance with your ass still in the on deck circle.

Here is a 2015 Topps Series Two of Cal Ripken. He recently accepted a job as adviser to the Commissioner on Youth Baseball. It's hard to believe Cal is now 55 years old. 

The best of the other things Mike included was this Memorial Stadium postcard. I can never get enough of the grand old place. Lots of memories there. This was the scene of my first 'blind date'. I'll have to tell that story sometime. It never came to anything but we've been friends and I'm still in touch with her from time to time. So much for that off the wall tangent.

Thanks again Mike. You generosity is very much appreciated. Keep your calendar open for June and maybe I can buy you a brew when I get up there to Chicago.

A Great Gift...a signed Lenny Moore card

Hall of Famer Lenny Moore holds a special place in my heart. I haven't met many of the old Baltimore Colts but I was able to meet him briefly in the lobby of a hotel in Dallas quite by accident many years ago. He was very gracious and it didn't seem to bother him that some random fan came up to him and wanted to talk Colts while he was waiting to check out. I don't recall what I said to him but I was so in awe of meeting one of my heroes, one of the most exciting football players ever, that I probably mumbled something stupid.

I recently received a very nice surprise from my friend Mike McKay from Chicago. He's a prolific TTM collector and he was kind enough to send along a card he received back from Lenny recently. And I have the perfect place to slot this one.

Last football season as my fantasy team spiraled towards the worst record I've had in 35 years I went in to the league system and created a three custom players, Ray Berry, John Mackey and Lenny Moore. Then I picked them all up on waivers for one day just so I could put their cards in my fantasy football binder. Sure it's dumb but hey, you collect your way and I'll collect mine. ;-) And besides, there is precedent. I did the same thing for Johnny Unitas a decade ago.

Even unsigned I'd like this card. It's a 1988 Swell Gum card and the set commemorates the HoF's 25th anniversary. The shot is from a Colts-Rams game in the LA Coliseum and Johnny Unitas makes a cameo after handing the ball to Moore.

Mike included a copy of the letter he sent to Moore who answered his questions. Mike always customizes his letter with a logo or helmet like he did here. It's a nice touch. This Lenny Moore 'gift' isn't the first time Mike has been very generous, btw.

Thanks so much Mike. Let's work on meeting up next June in Chicago!

Some Sort Of Photographic Harmonic Convergence

So yesterday morning I post some circa 1975 B&W spring training snapshots taken of Orioles stars of the time. Obviously I love off-the-wall stuff. It's kind of nice having things that not many other collectors have. (The fact that very few folks would ever want some circa 1975 B&W spring training snapshots taken of Orioles stars of the time is besides the point).

But within a few hours of the post hitting the net I find an envelope in my mailbox from Mike McKay, a Chicago area collector and blog reader, who has sent me some really neat and unique items in the past year or so. And in the package are some terrific shots that Mike took last July when the O's went through Chicago.

A couple of things are obvious. First of all Mike routinely gets much better seats than I normally do. And he has a better camera/better eye for pics. I only wish I had some skill at making homemade cards like so many other bloggers do. These pics would make some really nice ones!

Mike took the shots on July 2 of last year, a game the Sox won 5-2. That's my man Manny Machado up top. He flied out and singled in the game among his four at bats, this looks like the fly out.

Next we see Nick Markakis. He had three singles that night, two to left field. This looks like a single to left.

Chris Davis hit 50 something dingers last year. But he got the collar in this game.

Adam Jones went 1 for 4.

Matt Weiters went 0 for 4. But he looked good doing it, didn't he?

And finally starter Jason Hammel. He didn't pitch well in this one, nine hits in seven innings and he wlaked off the field with an ERA over 5 for the season. The Cubs signed him as a FA and he was pitching pretty well it seems and then was part of the big Jeff Whateverhisnameis trade. In two starts with the A's... well, it has not been pretty. The Orioles rocked him last Saturday.

Thanks once again, Mike. Great stuff.