Saturday, June 15, 2019

Some Grover Cleveland Alexander acquisitions

I am going through the cards I've bought but not posted in the past year or so, and there are a bunch.  I showed my 3 Chuck Klein cards recently, and I have the same kinds of Grover Cleveland Alexander cards.  That is, for each of them, I got the 1960 Fleer, the 1961 Fleer, and what I'm calling a "Midwestern oddball."
1960 Fleer Grover Cleveland Alexander.
1960 Fleer Grover Cleveland Alexander card back.
As I said in my Chuck Klein post, the motivation for picking up these two is that when my dad and I used to go to so many Phillies games, there were (at first) just 4 retired numbers in the outfield.  Robin Roberts and Richie Ashburn had their numbers retired, and Grover Cleveland Alexander and Chuck Klein didn't really have numbers to retire, but they had their names (maybe their initials?) represented there.  Alexander was with the Phillies from 1911-1917 and again in 1930, and led the NL in wins and strikeouts five times in those years, and in ERA twice in those years.  Between his stints with the Phillies, he did well with the Cubs and the Cardinals, too.
1961 Fleer Grover Cleveland Alexander.
1961 Fleer Grover Cleveland Alexander card back.
For both the 1960 Fleer and 1961 Fleer, these of Klein and Alexander are the only cards I have from the sets.  These are nice cards, I think; I'll consider getting more.  I would even consider working on the whole sets at some point.
Great Plains Greats Grover Cleveland Alexander.
Great Plains Greats Grover Cleveland Alexander card back.
Then we have the "Midwestern oddball."  For Chuck Klein, I had a card issued by the Indiana Sports Collectors Association.  For Alexander, it's a "Great Plains Greats" card, issued by Sheraton, specifically advertising the Sheraton Inn Southwest in Omaha, Nebraska.  Googling the address, and also Omaha Sheratons, I see that there's another Sheraton in Omaha at a different address, and that the hotel at the listed address closed some time ago.  Nothing stays forever.  There are a number of other Great Plains Greats cards, including such luminaries as Carl Hubbell, Mickey Mantle, Bob Gibson, and Walter Johnson, among others.

Thanks for reading!

1 comment:

  1. As fast as you're putting together the '55 Bowman set, I would imagine that if you ever start in on those two Fleer sets, it'll probably only take you a couple of weeks (a month at the most) to finish them.

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