Birthday Boy!

Who knew that old Monte Irvin was still around to enjoy my birthday shout out to him for his 95th?!

A bit of trivia now. Who led the league in RBI in Willie Mays' rookie year 1951? Monte Irvin did.

The card is a 1953 Bowman color.

Roam home

Bunt happy in Cincy

The Cincinnati Reds are said to have gone bunt loco last night. This might lead to speculation about the best bunter of all time. (Hmm ... spell checker assuring me "bunter" is not a word.)

I submit for your approval Hall of Famer Nellie Fox. I make this selection just due to stats, because I never saw the old devil play. I got to see him while he was a coach for the Texas Rangers. He always had a serious chaw of tobacco in his jaw. Dang! he always looked about 106, but he died at the young age of 47. Don't let his deer in the headlights expression in the card above fool you; Nelson Fox could really lay one down on you. And you better stay out of the line of fire of his tobacco juice!

I leave you with one of the greatest lines from literature: "Terwilliger bunts one." (Annie Dillard?)

The card is a 1961 Topps

My luxurious home

Catcher or goalie?

I find annoying all this new catcher's gear. Good grief, this guy below looks like he's about to get out there & straddle a dang hockey puck instead of getting down to the business of catching.

Contrast that with old Edward Fitzgerald above. He kept it simple, basic. He knew you had to dress like Yogi Berra to play the role.

Card shown is 1952 Bowman.

My luxurious home

Photo at Aroundthefoghorn

Gotta love this guy!

Put me down in the Adam Rosales camp when, hitting next to nothing, he smoked a long homer & then raced around the bases like he was legging out an inside-the-parker, a big smile on his mug all the way. Not one to rest on his laurels, he later added a SAC fly. This guy will be fun to watch.

Contrast the fleet-footed Adam with lumbering, slow-footed Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi, shown at top. Old Ernie led the league grounding into double plays four times & was right in there pitching for that title in other years. The card depicted is a 1934 Goudey.

Favorite Sports Cards

Rico Carty - "The Beeg Boy"

Rico Carty was one of the great personalities of the game. He did some time with my Texas Rangers in 1973 when I was eleven. Hopes were high because he had hit an astounding .366 to lead the league with Atlanta just a couple years previous.

I recall an interview of him, either on TV or in print, in which he was asked about his mediocre start that year for Texas. He assured the reporter that there was no need to fear because, "When the weather gets hot, the 'Beeg Boy' will get hot too," he always did . . . Hmm.

Well, the weather got hot--after all, this is Texas, but Rico, the Old Beeg Boy himself, never really did, managing only three home runs & the lowest batting average of his career up to that point, a paltry .232.

Maybe it just hadn't gotten hot enough for Rico, for he was sold to the Cubs by August 13, so there were still a couple good months of Texas heat awaiting him. Oh, well, you never know; you never know what might have been . . .

Funny what an eleven-year-old remembers. And don't get me wrong. Rico Carty is one of my all-time faves. And wouldn't you know it, the old devil went on to have some more great years . . . out of this miserable Texas heat.

Card is a 1973 Topps

Favorite Sports Cards

Hey, who was that guy?

My suggestion on how to increase interest during a baseball game is to, between pitches, have the announcers give the old base coaches a big send-up by telling a little about them.

Back when I started watching games, I always enjoyed identifying who the old coaches were, often recalling them from old baseball cards or my Dad's memories of them.

Since I watch the Texas Rangers games, color man Tom Grieve might say, for instance, how former catcher, Jocko Backstop, who is now loitering in the first base box for the opposing team, could really peg them out at second base back in the day. That would be interesting to learn instead of thinking that old guy's just standing around, counting the crowd while wishing he was thirty years younger when he sees a pretty girl in the stands.

So come on, guys, tell us a little something about those old base coaches . . .

Favorite Sports Cards

Biggest baseball card fall-off one year to the next

So, what's the biggest fall-off from year to year as to the appearance of Topps baseball cards issued in the 1960's? In my opinion, it would have to be 1965 to 1966 Topps.

The 1965 Topps set was so primo and beautiful, an explosion of color. On the other hand were the 1966 Topps cards, with their pennants making a diagonal slash across the top corner, denoting the team. I was tempted to choose 1968 as the ugly duckling, what with its awful brown-yellow hatching that looked like hay scattered in a chicken coop, but there's something extra awful about these 1966 Topps that I'm having trouble putting my finger on. . . .

Maybe it's how some of the players are sopping wet with sweat, or maybe the way so many of them look like they just got out of rehab. It must be a combination of those two. I always try to put a positive spin on things, so I'll try to think of 1966 Topps baseball cards as a celebration of bad baseball card design.

1965 Topps Baseball (the good)

1966 Topps Baseball (the ugly)

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My Current Baseball Cards Auctions

My auctions:

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Sexy Mitzi Gaynor shrine

My Beloved 1950 Bowman Ted Williams Goes for $41 & Change

When a mere lad, I always used to place my baseball cards in plastic sheets to protect them. One day, removing some from sheets, I clipped the corner on my 1950 Bowman Ted Williams card a friend of my Dad's gave me. Finally auctioned it off here. Oh, well.

Unusual eBay item of the week

My baseball & football cards wantlists

Here is my updated want list:
Wanted!

Ebay affiliates make easy . . .

All I Want for Christmas

Here it is, babies--1968 Topps Stand-ups complete set. Please forward!

Check 'em out!

My lame "watercolors"

Does the World Series Mean It's all about over?

It's always sad when the baseball season is about to come to an end, but kids like me who never grew up realized a long time ago that the season never ends when you collect baseball cards.

No telling what I have on my auctions

Babe Ruth

An old babe Ruth card I have up on eBay:

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Also see: Vintage sexy movie posters

Huh?

Moose & Rocky probably can't believe there are major league baseball players named Taylor Teagarden & Buster Posey. Maybe they dreamed it over a couple tobacco plugs.

Favorite Sports cards

Revisit your youth: Vintage Marx Toys

What sports cards am I getting rid of?

The cards I have been auctioning off on Ebay lately are:

1954 Bowman football

1967 Topps Baseball

1972 Topps baseball

1974 Topps Baseball

I auction a big-time premium superstar whenever I feel like it.

Slowly, slowly getting rid of all my cards because I need the money and space. Will later concentrate on amassing complete sets of some of my favorite years.

My auctions

The Naughtiest Baseball Card of All Time?

What's the naughtiest baseball card of all time? My choice would have to be the 1972 Topps Billy Martin card, in which Billy is casually shooting the finger as he grips the knob of the bat.

I'm sure he's not intending that finger for you and me because, by the look on his face and in his eyes, he had probably worked up a big-time irritation for the photographer, just like he did way back when with his own pitcher Dave Boswell ... or with Reggie Jackson ... or with Jim Brewer ... or with Clint Courtney, just to name four guys he tusselled with.

See the card here.

Are you aware of any other naughty cards? Leave a comment below.

Homebase

My Favorite Baseball Card

I have been pondering on what is my favorite baseball card of all time . . .

Well, it's the same as it has always been since I first laid eyes on it: the 1971 Topps #77 card of Mike Compton, who was an obscure catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Why do I like that particular card? Let me count the ways. First would be that the colors are great, with the green grass & the red of his Phillies uniform & the orange of the old catcher's mitt with the deep pocket from which it seemed no ball could ever escape. I also like the squinting, just-awakened eyes of the catcher, & how he looks like he should probably be out plowing the back forty instead of being backstop for a big-league club.

Do you have a favorite card? Let us know in the comments.

Here's that little jewel of a card right now . . .

Peek over my shoulder & spy


My Favorite Ebay Searches

My dazzling homepage

Old Baseball Card Nightmare #2

It was at an old-timers game in the mid-1970's at Arlington Stadium, then home of the hapless Texas Rangers. The old-timer teams were to be the old St. Louis Cardinals VS. old American League stars.

Before the game, many of the old-timers signed autographs. My family were seated some rows behind the first base dugout, so I had a good chance to get some signatures because guys were signing just below us.

I had seen a roster in the newspaper of the players who would be involved, so I had had the foresight to bring along some of my best cards, and had crammed them in a rigid plastic container.

Oh, there's Stan Musial! I hurried down to where Stan stood signing, lots of kids reaching over the rail to him w/ their programs, etc. I reached into my plastic container & pulled out my boffo 1953 Bowman color card of Stan & eagerly held it out to him.

Reaching past my card to snag some other kid's lousy 3x5 index card to sign, Stan wrecked my card with a clumsy elbow, leaving a permanent wrinkle. "CURSES!," I thought, as I reeled back my arm and examined the card . . . which never got signed; nor was Stan ever aware of what he had so carelessly done.

Well, the evening wasn't a total loss. Though I got none of my cards signed, for I was then shy of exposing any more of them to clumsy baseballers, I got many signatures on my program of old Cardinals & ALers. Also, Billy Martin, who may have been managing the Rangers at the time, took ground balls at second base and would, with tremendous coordination for a man his age, skim his glove up in the air and knock down line drives that were out of his reach, which I thought was quite cool.

Anyhow, I don't hold any real, nagging grudge against Stan the Man; but I will say he sure had a funny way of wagging his rear end when he was at bat . . .

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