Houston Astros rookie Max Stassi fell victim to one of the oldest tricks in the book: the old hidden ball trick, & this was right after collecting his first major league hit. Veteran 2nd-sacker Ian Kinsler orchestrated it all. (View it here.)
I'm just having some fun with the young man. After all, he banged out 2 base hits & could retire today with a .667 batting average. Good job, Stassi!
Pic shows 1972 Topps Texas Rangers team card, & what a sorry lot they were.
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 . . .
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)
Here it is, babies--1968 Topps Stand-ups complete set. Please forward!
My lame "watercolors"
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.
Revisit your youth: Vintage Marx Toys
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!
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
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 . . .
