Frank Robinson Postcard

 

 

Picked up some stuff from Net54 members recently. I've bought more there in the last few months than I have from eBay, SportsLots or anywhere else. In addition to some oddball football and baseball sets I paid a few bucks for this addition to my Frank Robinson collection. The unused postcard shows Frank and his staff as he was about to become MLB's first black manager.

 

This is almost surely a photo from Spring Training in Tucson where the Indians trained from the late '40s through the early 1990s. On Frank's staff that first season were (l-r) Harvey Haddix, Dave Garcia, Tom McCraw, and Jeff Torborg . Looks like all five of them wore their stirrups as they had during their playing days. Frank had those long, thin ones going on. 

I know a lot of folks look back wistfully at those Indians unis but I wasn't a fan, then or now. Wouldn't turn down one of those lids though.

ST will be here fairly soon (I think). We had very preliminary plans to head for Florida for last season's camps but we all know what happened. Maybe we can get there in 2022. I would love to see Sarasota, Lakeland and Bradenton again.

Finally, here is a quick clip of Frank's debut as Indians manager in which he famously homed to help get himself a win. RIP

Stuff on my desk, Pt 2

Here are some other things I've had kicking around that I'm scanning today before they go into the right binder.

This c. 1963 Jim Rowe produced postcard of Billy Pierce was on eBay and pointed out to me by Jeff Wilk. I have a copy of this but I'm happy to have added a signed one for just a few dollars.

I spent more of my fantasy football winnings on some '67s. Those are on their way. Meanwhile here are some that came my way a week or two ago.

Bobby Tolan was among the last of the non-high numbers I was lacking. His is one of those cards that seem to command a premium for no apparent reason by a certain number of dealers while the rest list him at common prices. It's an odd phenomenon I've seen with other sets like the '61 T and '62T.

Fergie officially finished off the low numbers.

When I went to my first in-person Houston SABR chapter meeting I got a very 'cliche-ish' vibe. I felt like an outsider honestly. But I ended up sitting across the table from Larry Dierker and he was very friendly.

Now, something different.near the end of 2020 I bought a stack of twelve or so 1958 Atlantic Oil Film Stars cards from someone on NET54. Rather than cherry pick what he had I just grabbed the lot. Or at least what he had left after someone else had taken a few. Happy to add Janet Leigh to my Hollywood collection but the main draw for me was Ingrid Bergman.

Ava Gardner was a nice bonus.

I don't think Gregory Peck ever gave a bad performance. I scanned Lana Turner's card with a mosern card to show the size difference.

I've been adding to my SSPC Baseball Immortals set with the later-issued Hall members. I still need a few. Fun little set.

I also added to my '75 Topps mini build. Not sure I've mentioned that before. But it's a slow build that I may or may not ever finish. I had most of the Orioles and a few others before I bought a starter set years ago and just let it sit in a box. If you have some dupes lemme know. I'd love to trade.

I'll post a few of those and a handful of other odds and ends in the next week or so if we all don't go to hell in a hand-basket before then.

Orioles Signed Postcards circa 1988

Digging further through boxes of 'stuff' as I attempt to organize my shelves I came across these Orioles team-issued postcards. I got them signed on one of my last trips to Arlington Stadium. I'm guessing 1988 or '89. After that I was too busy with kidsand coaching to make the regular trips to watch the Birds.

Nothing spectacular here. I used to stay at the same hotel as the team which was just across the parking lot from the ball park. Even though I am not much into autographs I enjoyed getting cards signed there. Most of these were signed in the lobby or hotel restaurant, a few in the parking lot. I always asked the player to sign to me and for the most part they did.

Funny thing, I wouldn't dream of approaching a player for a signature like that now at my age.

The last time I collected an autograph 'in the wild' was at Nationals' Spring Training when Matt Williams and Tony Tarasco came over to talk to us in the team box seats. Oh, and I did flag down Dennis Martinez at Minute Maid Park.

RIP Frank Robinson

My scanner hates bright white borders. I had to bump and bruise these cards to get images.

It was in the parking lot there at Arlington Stadium that I heard Eddie Murray speak for the first time. I'd previously been convinced that he was mute.

More fun stuff from my 'vault' coming soon.

RIP Dan Even...Postcard Guru

Over the weekend I got word of the death of Dan Even. Dan was a longtime collector/dealer for sure. But he was much more than that. He was one of those collectors who got more enjoyment out of helping others with their collecting than his own.

He had multiple interests but chief among them was team-issued postcards. He set up at shows across the country through the 80s and 90s and dispenced help and advice to anyone who stopped by his tables. He made Houston shows a couple of times a year. My collecting interest back then was primarily Orioles postcards.

Dan was a Cardinals fan but he knew quite a bit about Orioles cards and he helped me fill in gaps in my collection.  Once we became acquainted at shows he took to bringing me small boxes filled with postcards he'd picked up since his last Houston trip. I'd buy them sight unseen knowing that there would be some gems in the group.

I hadn't spoken to him in quite a while. I think he still attended National shows in the summer but I haven't made one in many years.

It was a pretty shitty weekend, to be honest. No need to discuss what everyone is aware of. But the obituary written for Dan that I found this afternoon is an absolute gem. It made me grin and then laugh out loud. Even if you have never heard of Dan Even I recommend reading it all the way through. Every collector will certainly appreciate it.

Dan Even Obituary

I'll wrap this up with some team issued Orioles postcards, a couple of which I know I received from Dan (Johnson, Grich).

RIP, Dan. And thanks!

New TCMA 1930s Photocards

I picked up this set of 20 postcards from Andrew Aronstein, son of TCMA's founder Michael Aronstein. Andrew has become a Twitter fixture lately and is also a member of Net54 which is where I first 'met' him. Long story short...he used these terrific images from the 1930s in a photo exhibition recently near his home in Peekskill, NY. On Net54 he posted some shots of the framed photos and offered them for sale.

I knew I wanted one but while I was deciding on which one the whole lot was purchased. But my bad luck turned to good as Andrew found a Lou Gehrig photo from the same era, matted and framed and offered me first shot. I didn't hesitate. The Gehrig is beautiful but I'm still struggling to find a place to display it and even worse, I can't get a decent picture of it with my phone camera so I'll dig out my good camera and try with that.

Meanwhile (OK, this story isn't that short, is it?) Andrew had postcards of the original photos available and I purchased a set. I won't post all 20 of them today but I'll get them all up soon enough. Maybe the rest will get posted with the Gehrig photo once I get that worked out. Meanwhile, enjoy these shots of players from the 1930s. Some are Hall of Famers and others were everyday guys.  I've typed enough so I'll let the cards speak for themselves with mostly just a line or two from me.

Yankee great Bill Dickey posed atop the Yankees dugout. His Yankees clubs played in eight World Series, winning seven.

I'll post just one or two backs to give you an idea of how they look.

Jimmie Foxx, 3-time AL MVP. He topped 150 RBIs four times!

Lefty Gomez  He was on five Yankees title teams and was a perfect 6-0 in seven WS starts.

Paul 'Daffy' Dean, of course, was Dizzy's brother. Began his career with back-to-back 19 win seasons. He won twice in the '34 Series versus Detroit.

Sam Leslie had a career .304 average in 10 seasons with the Giants and Dodgers.

Bill Terry, Hall of Famer and career .341 hitter. It took him 15 years of voting to finally get elected to the Hall. I love this dugout pose. This was one I thought about buying as a framed photo.

'Dixie' Walker, pictured here with the Yankees early in his career, went on to star with the Dodgers in the 1940s. Truth be told I thought this was the best photo of the entire lot.

Joe Stripp...who, according to Wikipedia, was the last player to bat against a legally thrown spitball, at the end of the career of Burleigh Grimes in 1934. He hit .294 over eleven seasons with the Braves, Reds, Cardinals, and Dodgers.

Al Lopez caught in the majors for nearly two decades and later won two pennants in his 17-year managerial tenure with the Indians and White Sox.

Luke Appling won two batting titles and was a seven-time All-Star with the White Sox. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1964.

Charlie Grimm was a baseball 'lifer' who played, managed and worked in baseball-related broadcasting for almost fifty years.

Joe Shaute pitched for thirteen seasons, mostly for the Dodgers and Indians. He earned 20 of his 99 career wins in 1924.

Slick Castleman pitched for the Giants in the mid- to late1930s and had a career-best 15 wins in 1935.

Harold Schumacher and Lefty Gomez from the 1936 World Series. They were the Game Two starters with Gomez winning in a Yankees romp, 18-4. Schumacher came back to pitch (and win) Gave Five and went 10 innings to do so. Gomez pitched for the Yanks in Game Six which they won to take the series. He went six+ shaky innings but it was enough in a game that was close until the Yanks exploded for seven runs in the top of the ninth to seal it.

Again, thanks to Andrew Aronstein for making these great cards available. I'm really enjoying them.

More New Billy Pierce Items

In addition to the Billy Pierce drinking glass I posted the other day I have picked up a few paper items. First up is my second copy of the Wilson Sporting Goods Advisory Staff photo issued around 1959 or so. I nabbed one a few years back but I bid on this one to use as part of my display of Pierce items. I rotate the pics I put in the frames on my office walls because I'm afraid of the effect sunlight has on paper. I have a stack of lesser value and/or dupes that get switched out when I get the urge.

I love these old pics from the sports equipment companies. I have a new Unitas MacGregor that arrived last week and I'll get that scanned and posted soon. 

I go back and forth on the 'signature' printed on this pic. I've seen lots (lots!!) of Pierce signatures. I can't recall one ever signed as 'Billy', always 'Bill'. Vintage cards that had facsimile sigs show he was consistent with his signature. The 8x10 looks to be a Wilson's employee's approximation of his signature. Not that it matters much. Just an interesting (to me) detail.

His sig always looks exactly like this:

And it did even back when Bowman used it on their 1954 Pierce.

The 'cut' sig above is actually from this postcard/photo that I got this summer. The photo was originally taken in 1951. The uniform shows that much. The pic was taken by George Brace who took thousands of photos of major league players for over half a century. The story of his incredible photo inventory and how it was 'stolen' by notorious hobby con artist John Rogers and never legally returned to his estate (his daughter, Mary), is pretty tragic.

 The Brace photo is blank-backed other than the name 'Pierce, Walter' in pencil. Walter is Pierce's given name.

At about the same time I found and bought the below postcard of Pierce from his days with the San Francisco Giants:

If you check the scan of the reverse you can see the Doug McWilliams notation in pencil. McWilliams is a well known photographer who's work appeared regularly on Topps cards. But I don't see any references to him being active as far back as 1964. It looks closer to something produced by Jim Elder, Norman Paulson or Jim Rowe. But who knows? The baseball postcard rabbit hole I've tried to venture down from time to time is very complicated. I'm just happy to have new additions in the Billy P binder.