Once I even had a dream, maybe closer to a nightmare, that he was on every card of the last pack on earth. So you see, I'm real comfortable with Red, though his name should be Orange; after all, his hair is orange, not red . . .
All kidding aside, it gratifies me to learn, via the Baseball Reference, that the old Hall of Famer is still alive and kickin' at 92! I hope I see you around sometime, old buddy.
The card is a 1962 Topps. I chose it because it's one of Red's I never owned.
Gino Cimoli was notorious for availing himself of the Old Invisible Bat Trick, which was distant cousin to the Old Hidden Ball Trick. Not sure what he was trying to do, distract the pitcher, I suppose, but it never did him much good, as he was just a .265 career hitter. That said, he did lead the league in 3-base knocks one year. Had he been a pitcher and used an invisible ball, I'm sure he would have fared better . . .
The card is a 1958 Topps, and a wonder of airbrushing.
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.
What a crummy-looking card for a guy who maintained a .300 career average over a twenty-year career. The card featured a quite realistic-loooking cap, jersey & undershirt. Not! Good grief, they even fired a total blank on the back of this sad speciman of a baseball card. Happy birthday to Manny, anyhow.
The card is a 1973 Topps. Shame on 'em.
A happy birthday, to mighty Willie McCovey, old "Stretch" himself. He nailed down first base for the San Francisco Giants for years and nabbed Comeback Player of the year later for the Padres.
I had his 1960 Topps rookie card (yes, one of those awful horizontal 1960s Topps), but it didn't auction for much because, on the back, taking up nearly all the surface, some dunce had scrawled "1960" in thick marks a lot. Boohoo.
Card shown is a 1970 Topps All Star card.
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)
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.Anyhow, one hot summer day, I was playing in there and found in the back of the truck a couple 1970 Topps baseball cards which I suppose my older brother must have bought and stored there in the truck. The only card I recall specifically was a nondescript portrait card of Chicago Cubs outfielder Al Spangler, who had had a few fair years earlier in his career w/ the old Houston Colt 45s. (See old pal Al's stellar career stats here.) Oh, some dudes have it up in their ebay stores here.
Well, I admired that nothing card, turned it over and found the blurb and stats on the back, and I was hooked. I went to the 7/11 and bought my first cards. The cards had been in that toy truck for a while, so the first cards I bought were now the 1971 Topps baseball cards w/ the tough black borders. I was off and running!
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.
Are you aware of any other naughty cards? Leave a comment below.
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 real score was when a colleague of my dad's at my dad's office learned that I collected baseball & football cards. He gave my dad to give to me a stack of about 200 cards from the 1950, 1951, 1952 & 1953 Bowman baseball sets. Among these were Ted Williams & Stan Musial (the fate of which can be read in earlier blogs), a Whitey Ford rookie card, two 1950 Roy Campanella & many other superstars. I still have the vast majority of these cards.
Yes, I need to thank those people for their generosity. So, thank you - but you can't have your cards back!
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 . . .
Always wanting to do something different with my cards, one day I decided to take all my cards back out of the plastic sheets, to arrange them in teams, or by number, I don't recall. I took scissors and smoothly trimmed the cards out of the sheets . . . until I got to my boffo 1950 Bowman Ted Williams card.
That card was one of some 150-200 cards a work colleague of my dad's had given to me upon learning I collected baseball cards. Anyway, to my sorrow, I accidentally clipped off one of the corners of that big-time card. I recall my reaction decades ago - one of disbelief, and I could feel my face go red and the temperature rise in my face, and I sensed an overall breathlessness I can still conjure up in memory (similar to when your best girl dumps you). God, what a fool was/am I!
Here's the card, which I still have (it's so nice otherwise):
Doesn't my camera suck?!
