Five Cool Commons

Twitter friend Mark Del Franco tossed up a tweet the other evening asking to see collector's favorite commons. I tossed up my '61 Wes Covington as it's one of my favorite cards, common or otherwise. And I thought that idea would make a good post. I know I really need some motivation to post and I appreciate neat commons from vintage sets, so here we are.

I'm sure I've posted each of these five cards in one form or fashion before, either on this blog or one of my set build blogs. These five are here for different reasons but all are among my favorites.

This '57 Charlie Neal card challenges the '61 Covington for artistic appeal. I just love the Ebbets Field background with the Schaefer Beer ad atop the scoreboard, the fencing above the Gem Blades ad, etc. And don't forget that "Schaefer is the one beer to have when you're having more than one."

Don Rudolph's 1959 Topps card looks very ordinary, yes?

But here's the cartoon on the back...

You really do want to read about Don Rudolph's 'dancer' wife. Trust me on this. She's the reason this common is so high on my list.


And Wes Covington appears...

That, my friends, is art. The pose, the bat rack, the uniform (those stirrups!!). The perfect baseball card? It has to be in the running.

I was always a fan of the late Elrod Hendricks. He played and lived with joy and a smile on his face. He never turned down an autograph request and loved talking to fans, especially after his playing days when he was on the Orioles' staff.

This card from the 1975 SSPC set captures him perfectly. Seeing his smile makes me smile. I have a signed copy of this card in my Hendricks binder pages but I like the unsigned one just as much. Hard to beat Ellie's zest for baseball.

The best day I've ever spent in a ballpark came in late June 1970. The Yankees-Indians mid-week, afternoon doubleheader was more fun than one could ever hope for. Tony Horton crawling back to the dugout after whiffing on a Steve Hamilton 'Folly Floater', four dingers by Bobby Murcer, a firecracker tossed from the upper deck that landed at home plate and probably shaved a few years off Ray Fosse's life. And the best baseball brawl I've ever witnessed in person. I did a blog post a few years ago centered on this remarkable day which you can see here.

This card of Vada Pinson from Topps' wonderful 1971 set uses a photo taken during the first game of that doubleheader (with a cameo by Thurman Munson). Every time I see this card I'm reminded of the day my best friend and I spent at Yankee Stadium just weeks before my family made our second, and permanent, move to Houston.

So there they are, five commons I love. I'm sure there are many more I could include in a list of commons I treasure but it would take something remarkable to bounce one of these off my list.

I'd love to see other bloggers' lists.

More TCMA Stars of the 60s

One of the best things about the TCMA sets is that co-founder Mike Aronstein was able to tap into a big stash of pictures taken by free lance photographers. So many of the cards have unique photos. If you are tired of Topps' overuse of the same couple of Jackie Robinson pics you understand the attraction of these cards.

For example here we have Roberto Clemente. Have you ever seen this picture? Neither have I, until I found this set. I believe it was taken at the Polo Grounds but I'd listen to arguments.

Jim Bouton at Yankee Stadium. As a kid going to games there I was always interested in the flags that flew above the roof. They were displayed in the order of the current standings. Like stirrups they are a detail of the game that I miss.

Whenever a set has a card of Vic Power I'll scan and post it because I just like typing the name Vic Power.

Mooooose!

Sandy Koufax at the Polo Grounds. Again, a different pic than we usually see on cards.

Milt Pappas wearing my favorite Orioles jersey. In fact that whole early 60s uniform set for the Birds was sweet.

Speaking of sweet unis here is Eddie Kasko wearing the classic Colt 45s outfit in a photo that just reeks of Arizona spring training.

I'm a sucker for nice pics of players in Milwaukee Braves unis and for pics of players posing in the Polo Grounds. Denny Lemaster hits on both.

Tony Horton just looks too young to be a major leaguer in this shot. At first glance I was certain that Horton was posing in Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The seating area certainly resembles the upper stands at the old place but the light standards are wrong. But in any case Horton is one of the most fascinating characters in the game's history. And he wasn't seen on a ton of cards.

I love this card of Bobby Richardson. He was one of my father's favorites and despite the fact that he played for the Yankees I always gave him a lot of respect. From all accounts he's a prince of a guy still.

Here is what may be the most TCMA-ish card in the set. Larry Jackson lounges against a brick wall.

Stu Miller won 23 games out of the bullpen for the Orioles in 1965/66. Over those two seasons he had an ERA of about 2.00 and a WHIP of under 1.0 and was 7th in MVP voting in '65. He won a Series ring in '66 and never even had to warm up.

Mudcat Grant. Do yourself a favor. Watch this video of him singing at the memorial service for Harmon Killebrew in 2011. He's accompanied on guitar by Tony Oliva's son.

You're welcome.

One of the more under appreciated players I saw as a kid was Vada Pinson. I casually collect his cards. I'm glad to have this one.

Johnny Podres at the Polo Grounds. Just a nice card.

Hoyt Wilhelm. Not a whole lot of pitchers make All Star teams 17 seasons apart.

'Hector's Pup' is what my father called Hector Lopez. I guess it came from the expression that went along the lines of "I haven't _____ since Hector was a pup!" meaning a long time ago. Why my father called him that I don't know. I never asked.

Don Larsen in another 1965 Astros spring training photo. We know it's '65 since that was the only year he spent the spring with Houston. He was 35 years old but seemed older than that.

Hank Aaron at Shea Stadium. The Braves, like the Orioles, didn't have their city on their road unis for quite some time.

And finally Chuck Hinton, my old Start-O-Matic hero, in his Cleveland garb at Yankee Stadium. He played six seasons for the Indians but stuck a season (1968) with the Angels right in the middle of them.

I had forgotten until I looked him up on Baseball Reference that he was originally signed by the Orioles who lost him to the Washington Senators in the 1960 expansion draft. He made the 1964 AL All Star team as a Senator and got to play a couple of innings in left field at Shea in relief of Harmon Killebrew.

Last night I won an auction for a nearly complete Series II piece of this set. It lacks nine cards which will give me something to chase. When I looked at the checklist I discovered that Series II contains the multi-player cards that were lacking in this 291 card Series I. It arrives next week. At that point I'm calling a hobby 'timeout' and will organize and page/binder the entire TCMA run of sets I've picked up.

Gonna be a good time.

A Little Show Diary and some Vintage

Made it out to the card show on Saturday. The result was a mixed bag but it was mostly positive. First things first.....I got my '58 Mantle. It was a bargain but came with a caveat that I'll save for my '58 Topps blog when I get around to posting Mickey.

The show, as are most TriStar events, was pretty well attended. But again, like most TriStar events, most of the folks in attendance were there for the autograph signings. They always have an impressive lineup of guests and this time was no exception. There was even a Phi Slama Jama 'reunion' with nearly all the players from that early 80s era high-flying Houston hoops squad signing. I bumped into my brother and my nephew who came to get a few items signed by Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Looking at the prices they were getting it made me wish I had thought to get them to sign for me back when I was working in the athletic offices and they were just a couple of guys hanging out.

I griped before I went to the show about the cost of parking and admission. Well, that turned into a bad news/good news proposition. Parking at the NRG complex was $12 which was higher than I expected and I find it outrageous. But as I walked towards the box office to buy my show admission ticket some random guy handed me an extra he had, Saved me $9. Thanks random guy!

I spent more time at this show than I usually do. I found Darrell, my dealer friend who puts on the hotel shows, and hung out at his table. He always has great cheap vintage baseball and football cards in boxes that range from a quarter to a buck or two. The 61's in this post came from his table.

I spent another hour or so wandering the tables looking for other cheap vintage boxes and that's when I found the Mantle. I also got lucky and sniffed out a few dealers with inventory similar to Darrell's and made some purchases that are going out in packages this week. I wanted to get more but I only have a limited amount of  'bend over a box with a wantlist' time in these old bones.

Another dealer I've known for awhile recruited me to help him tear open some blaster boxes of 2017 Topps. I welcomed the chance to just sit, shoot the hobby breeze, and rip open packs. He threw a few goodies my way for my time.

I hit up some tables with mostly football and hockey pins and stopped at one more vintage card dealer's table on my way out. All in all it was a productive but tiring day.

I've just realized that I haven't mentioned the cards I have posted. I'm really on the fence when it comes to the prospect of chasing the 1961 Topps set. It doesn't get much love in the hobby that's for sure. I have a sentimental attachment to it as I can recall going to the Korvette's store near our home in suburban north Jersey with my Dad and him buying me cello packs of it.

I already own the MVP subset and most of the All Star one, plus the Orioles and some assorted star cards. But I don't think I'm quite ready to tackle another set quite yet. And I sure won't crank up another set-specific blog anytime soon.

But in the meantime I'll continue to add cards from it that I enjoy. I've casually collected Vada Pinson and Mudcat Grant cards over the years. And although he was a Yankee I've retained a soft spot for easy-to-like Bobby Richardson. I picked up a few more nice vintage cards but I'm debating whether or not to send them out to someone so I won't post the scans. I like to surprise folks.

For a couple of bucks I nabbed the Lenny Moore card above. I don't care much about relics and such but for $2 a Memorial Stadium seat card of one of my favorite BALTIMORE Colts stars was impossible to pass up.

Here are the pins I picked up. The Colts one says 'Since 1953' on the bottom so I'm including it in my collection. I bought the Super Bowl pin for $5 because I have pins from the previous two Houston SBs.

All in all it was worthwhile day at the show. My only regret is that by buying the Mantle I've blown my hobby budget for the month so this coming Saturday's hotel show will be a 'chat' session rather than a 'buy' session. Oh well.

Tony Horton, Vada Pinson, and The Best Ballpark Day Ever!

I've always been fascinated by Tony Horton's story. I could never understand how a guy with his talent could be so troubled. But over time I've come to learn more about depression and mental illness and his career is easier to put into perspective.

He never had a Topps card, just some regional and food issues and such. Bob Lemke, whose blog is one of my absolute must-reads, does custom cards and took on the task of filling in some missing Topps Horton cards. You can see them here on this post from a couple of weeks back. He did three and all are outstanding. I had a few other Lemke creations already eyeballed and the Horton addition caused me to pull the trigger. I chose the '1970' version because it shows him as I remember him, as an Indian in Yankee Stadium. My cards arrived this week and they are as nice as I expected.

The other Lemke cards are of Baltimore Colts and they make a nice 'supplement' to my Colts' Project. I'll blog them as part of my wrap-up to that deal. Meanwhile, check out the back of the Horton, quality stuff.

But back to Tony Horton himself. I may have written this story before but I don't see it in this blog's archive so it was probably a comment on someone else's. He plays a central role in what is my all-time favorite day at a ballpark.

Back in 1970 I'd just graduated from high school and was about to move to Houston and head off to college. I went with my best friend to what we thought was going to be a routine mid-week doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. The Indians were in town and since I'd inherited my father's love for two-for-one ballgames we headed to the Bronx.

Knocking around Manhattan, grabbing the #4 line uptown, visiting Manny's Baseball Land, and then that games themselves, well that was a great time every time. But June 24, 1970 was going to be extra special.

We always sat somewhere down near third base in the lower stands since we'd made 'friends' with an usher who usually got us a nice view for the price of our grandstand ticket and a small tip. And that day it was especially nice to have the view from behind the Indians' dugout.

Several things came together to make that day more than just a long day at the ballpark. In the first game, we got to watch Sam McDowell handle the Yankees pretty easily and that was neat because we were fans of the Indian's ace.

Watching McDowell work was fun, but what happened in the ninth made the game memorable. Yankee reliever Steve Hamilton had been playing around with a 'bloop' pitch he called the 'Folly Floater'. Facing Tony Horton to lead off the Indians' ninth he threw a floater that was fouled back. Horton asked for another one, Hamilton obliged and it was fouled off to the left and Thurman Munson made a nice play to snag it. Horton dropped to his knees as he approached his dugout and crawled the rest of the way to the steps. I'd never seen anything like that before.

Here is the 1969 Topps Hamilton I picked up at the card show two weeks ago. It uses the same photo as his '64 Topps card.

This video (sometimes I just love YouTube!) is of that very at-bat with Phil Rizzuto calling the action. My buddy and I are likely visible in that grainy crowd behind the dugout. No way to tell.

The second game of the doubleheader was nuttier than the first! Bobby Murcer, who had homered in the bottom of the ninth in the first game hit three more in the second one for what I believe was a record-tying four homers in four consecutive official at-bats. He managed to draw a walk in the middle of them.

And we witnessed the best baseball fight I've seen in person. In the top of the fifth with the Indians leading 2-1 and one man out Vada Pinson singles, goes to second on a ground out, and then, when Stan Bahnsen uncorks a wild pitch, tries to score all the way from second. Bahnsen, covering home tags Pinson out with his glove to the face and Pinson comes up swinging. Everyone piled out onto the field and lots of shoving and bear-hugging ensued. The haymaker from Pinson is one of the few really good punches I've ever seen land in a baseball fight. I remember that we were surprised Bahnsen was back on the mound for the sixth. Pinson, btw, got tossed.

Not long after that, some chump in the upper deck tossed a large firecracker, probably a 'cherry bomb', onto the field and it landed near home plate. I remember Ray Fosse jumping about as high as a catcher could jump when the thing exploded nearby. I've read since then that the thing burned him but I really don't remember that. I just remember the Yankee PA guy, Bob Sheppard warning the fans that the game would end if any more objects were thrown onto the field.

Two other notes on this game.....while digging for newspaper accounts of the game I discovered that the 1971 Vada Pinson card has a photo taken during Game One that day. It shows Pinson being tagged out at home by Munson when he tried to score on a flyout, ending the eighth inning. Oh, the irony.....

...And I recently came across a web page for long-time major league reliever Lindy McDaniel. He was a member of the Yankees in 1970 when these games and another great game, one played in Baltimore between the Yanks and Orioles occurred.  He signs through the mail so I sent him a card and asked him if he had some memories of that summer. I'll post that when he returns it.

EDIT...I had to reconstruct this post since the photos were deleted. The above are not the original pics.