Here Comes Football

I'm sure I'll lose a few people right here. Now that NFL camps are active and the preseason games are rolling it becomes tougher for me to keep the posting momentum going, particularly on the '59 Topps blog.

Last fall my posts over there died out because I was, as usual, wrapped up with running my fantasy league, the Texans games and the NFL in general. My goal right now is to not let that happen this year. I'd like to continue to post three to four cards a week over there. Some posts may be short but I know that if I stop posting with the intention to just let a few days pass I'll fall behind.

Meanwhile over here I'll continue to throw stuff against the wall and hope something sticks.

Here is one of my rare shiny football cards. This recent eBay claim is a meaningful one for me. I took a chance and drafted Kurt Warner with the last pick of the '99 draft. Took a lot of crap for it, too.

Warner got me two of my league titles. Thanks, Kurt.

"Young Cy" Young

Here is an eBay pick-up from a week ago. 1906 Fan Craze Irving Young. He pitched from 1905-1911, mostly for Boston of the N.L. He holds the post 1900 record for the most wins in a season by a pitcher with a below .550 record. He went 20-21 in 1905. 


According to his SABR page he was known as "Young Cy" or "Cy the Second" Those are references, of course, to Cy Young who was raking up a bazillion wins for the Red Stockings in those days. 


It's in super condition, looks even better than my scan. I almost always break cards out of cases but I may leave this one as is, at least for awhile.

Here's a little about the 1904/1906 Fan Craze cards from an auction catalog:

The Fan Craze playing card sets feature what many collectors consider the finest portrait poses of turn-of-the-century ballplayers ever produced on baseball cards. Fan Craze were issued in 1904 (the American League set with backs printed in blue) and in 1906 (the National League set with backs printed in red) by the Fan Craze Company of Cincinnati. These playing cards were designed to be used to play an exciting indoor baseball game. Fan Craze have a special significance to collectors. They are one of the few sets issued in the earliest years of the twentieth century, and the set includes many players who appear in no other card sets. Because of its year(s) of issue, it is also one of the few sets which include a blend of 1910-era stars along with players who made their mark in the nineteenth century, such as Joe Kelley and Jake Beckley, who in 1906 were just winding down their playing careers. Fan Craze are one of the few and one of the most important issues of the era, and in the opinion of many these cards also represent one of the best values of all cards issued in the early 1900s.

I have never owned one of these before. It was hard to pass up a 106 year old card in this kind of shape for the price.

Cheap Tobacco T205 Art Fletcher

                                                  

Here is my latest eBay pickup. These 1911 'Gold Borders' are a favorite of mine. There are some obvious flaws but only one encroaches on the card past the border. I'm far from being 'condition conscious'  so I'll pick these up all day long and twice on Sunday. At $16 shipped I couldn't pass it up.

Art Fletcher was just establishing himself with the NY Giants when this card was issued. He went on to be the Giants' starting shortstop for a decade, finished with the Phils and then became their manager.


Here is Baseball Library's write-up of Art Fletcher.

Fletcher was John McGraw's shortstop for over a decade, providing the Giants with brilliant fielding, dependable hitting, and on-field leadership. A caustic, belligerent copy of McGraw during the game, off the field he was a non-profane, churchgoing family man. As the frustrated manager of four second-division Phillies teams, Fletcher's final gesture was the drawing of a caricature of umpire Bill Klem as a catfish, a comparison the jowly, heavy-lidded Klem loathed. Fletcher became Miller Huggins's assistant in 1927, and remained a Yankee coach until 1945. When Huggins died in 1929, Fletcher took over as interim manager, but refused all other offers to manage again.

Here are a couple more Fletcher images from around the web:


1921 D350-3 Standard Biscuit

An image from 1911 at the Polo Grounds

                

and finally Art Fletcher shares a spot on on a 1912 Hassan Triple Folder T202 Baseball Card with Christy Mathewson. The front and back of the Fletcher portion is identical except for the border.

1965 Orioles Scorecard

Publications are my first collecting love, Orioles publications more than any others. I like pulling out a few programs from time to time. This 1965 game 'score book' is a perfect example of why I enjoy them. I'm sure I got this one in one of my many 'blind' buys of Oriole publications I used to do. People advertised in the old hobby magazines and when I found a guy dumping a pile of oriole publications I'd jump on it. That's how I've ended up with twelve 1966 scorecards and four 1984 yearbooks. 

Big Boog on the cover of this one. The O's wore that fairly plain home uni before returning to a more ornate set in 1966. I always thought they were too much like the Giants' unis. The program itself was used to score the May 17th 1965 Orioles-Yankees game at Memorial Stadium. The date of the game is written in pencil above Boog's back shoulder but it's nearly impossible to read.

The ads are always fun and a whole bunch of the 26 pages are ads. Check out the Buick spread in the page above. They used 'floating heads' of opposing players in the ad. I can't imagine that a local car dealer was paying those guys for their endorsement. The Oriole 'floating heads' in the ad for the pizza place below on this next page are not actually part of the ad itself. The team stuck these wherever there was an open spot in the scorecard. 

The team was still celebrating the MVP season that Brooks Robinson enjoyed in 1964. They ran a nice feature on him. After all he was the team's first ever MVP winner! There were several other smaller player bios scattered around the program, one for manager Hank Bauer, too.

The centerfold, like most every scorecard/program ever published, contained the score sheets, rosters and an ump roster for the game. This one was scored VERY neatly in pencil by someone.

As for the game itself, Milt Pappas out pitched Whitey Ford and the O's won 9-2. Boog batted 7th in the lineup. Brooks Robinson was still 10 days or so away from returning from a broken knuckle he had suffered early in May. Bob Johnson took advantage of his start at third and had four hits in five trips. The 'heart' of the Oriole order that night, Jackie Brandt, Johnson and John Orsino had ten hits among them. 

Check out the 1965 concession and souvenir prices on the page below. Esskay Red Hots were 30 cents. You could get a 'jumbo' for an extra dime. Brews went for 40 cents. You could order a fitted twill O's cap for a buck, A fitted wool one went for 2 dollars. But my favorite Memorial Stadium treat was a Brill's Crab Cake. I thought they were delicious. And only 40 cents. I'll take two! And with a 15 cent Coke I could have a nice ballpark meal for under a buck.

And of course no Orioles publication would be complete without the back page Natty Boh ad!

Topps Museum Collection Eddie Murray

I dare you to try and find an uncool Eddie Murray card. Well there IS something uncool about this one. read the copy on the back. "...before changing teams six teams." I guess the editor was napping.

Question for the group....

Which of these lasted the longest?
A) Jamie Moyer's career
B) The Crusades
C) Fuji's Contest

Well, if you answered "C" you are wrong but you still have a shot because it's not over yet, baby!

Be that as it may, The Great Fuj has tossed this out there... "What are your three most prized possession(s) in your collection?"

I spent an inordinate amount of time last evening mulling this over. Really, I did. It was men's gymnastic night on NBC so I could safely ignore the Olympics. I sat in my den/office/memorabilia room and tried to decide what three items I'd stash in a drawer if my wife suddenly decided she needed a sewing room and my crap had to go. (And don't think for a minute that's beyond the range of possibility).

I weighed my Brooks Robinson Rookie card against my Johnny Unitas Rookie Card. I contemplated which of my Oriole, New York Ranger and Colt yearbooks or media guides I cherish the most. I stared at my shelves of bobbleheads and display items and tried to pick out my favorite.

After two cups of decaf and a banana nut muffin I'd squared it away in my head. Later in bed I spent an hour second guessing myself, changing my mind and forming a clever post in my head.

Then I got up this morning, scrolled thru my daily reads while the Keurig warmed up and was stopped in mid-read. One responder to the Fuji Challenge had CHEATED! I won't say Whooo it is, but his post is up for all to see.

The certain someone had decided that if he had a fire at his house he could save a binder. A BINDER!!! Holy shit, that shed a whole new light on things! If had considered that I could keep binders I knew I'd been wasting my time last night. I could grab multiple items at once and still qualify for Fuji Points!

So, bottom line, the three most prized possessions in my collection, or in that other guy's terms, the stuff I would save from a fire.:

In no particular order order:

1) My Houston Texans Inaugural Game stuff. I've been a Texans ticket holder since the day they went on sale in the fall of 2001. I invited my Dad to the first game, the Monday night in '02 when the Texans beat the Cowboys. My Dad, who had taken me to countless great sports events as I was growing up, had the time of his life. As the clock wound down in the fourth quarter I expected him to do his usual "Let's beat the traffic" routine and want to head for the ramps. Nope, he wouldn't leave. He was thrilled with the game and caught up in the excitement there in Reliant Stadium that night. We stayed cheering until all the players had finally left the field and I think he STILL hated to go. I've never seen him that excited. I'll remember that forever. I was able to repay him in a tiny way for all the stuff he'd brought me to as a kid. I took him to more games but that Opening Night game in '02 was beyond special. I could replace the stuff if I had to I guess but it just wouldn't mean as much as having the tickets we actually used. Not at all.

2) My binder of football cards that represent every player I've owned in 32 seasons. I love my fantasy Football league. I've run it a long time and it is made up of college friends. We've all been together for ever it seems. I don't think I'll ever give it up. I've tracked down a card for every player I've owned and it's taken some effort. The mainstream cards were pretty easy. No problem grabbing one for Eric Dickerson or Joe Flacco....

.....but finding cards of some players proved hugely challenging and required a lot of footwork and research. I wonder how long it would take to replace them....

 ...and some guys never had a card issued (which makes me wonder why I ever drafted them) and forced me to be creative and make my own....

I doubt I could track down replacements for everything in that binder.I'd never find that picture of 1980 Bengal kicker Ian Sunter again.

3) My plastic box of my kids sportscards. How could I ever get these back? I love my '59 Topps set but I could have another one this afternoon. Wouldn't be nearly the fun as I had putting mine together card by card, but I could write a check and there it would be. But my kids' cards, especially since I did so much of the coaching.... no way could I lose these.

There you have it. My 'three things I can't ever lose' possessions from my collection.

Oh, if my wife gave me that ultimatum I'd dump these items into this banner to store them...

...and claim an Owl told me it was O.K to store them that way.

Conundrum on Ice

I recently participated in a fancy hockey card group break held by Matt from Cardboard Conundrum. I never have had much luck with those but I don't have many slick new hockey cards so I figured this would be a shot at Ranger cards, plus whatever fell my way.

Here's what I got:

Anisimov/Staal Panini swatch card.

Man, I love the alt sweaters the Rangers wore in 10-11 so this is pretty cool.

I got an autographed card of Craig Smith of Nashville. He was a rookie this past season straight out of U of Wisconsin.

I can say with 100% certainty that this is my only Nashville Predator card. Is that their alt sweater?

Then Matt was nice enough to send along some cards he had posted that I commented on. My favorite non-Ranger goalie is Patrick Roy. He is also the absolute favorite NHL'er of one on my sons. This is a nice Upper  Deck Retrospective card.

And then there is this....

I get all mushy remembering the one and only Cup title that Rangers have won in my lifetime. Classic 'Cup over my head' moment. Matt sent along one of Roy as a Hab doing the same thing...

..... and a card of a remarkably young looking Mark Messier with the Cup as an Oiler.

Thanks, Matt. I owe you. I'll be looking for something off your Want List.