Reprints: 1940 Play Ball Philadelphia A's Team Set

 The Athletics left Philadelphia long ago, and the Phillies maintained their history in the city for many years through their inclusion on the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.  Other than that you don't hear much about them locally; I have worked in Philly for the past 12.5 years, and I think exactly one time I saw someone wearing a Philadelphia A's tshirt (with the elephant logo).  While I've picked up a handful of Philadelphia A's cards, I wanted some from the 1940 Play Ball set that I also have a handful of.  I decided, however, that I had spent enough lately, and opted for some cheap reprints instead.  I don't have more than a few reprints in my collection, but this seemed like an appropriate reason to get some.

Connie Mack.

"Save these cards..." back.

Of course the biggest draw is Connie Mack.  I think the only other Connie Mack I have is his Baseball Immortals.  It's good to have another of the legend.  Come to think of it, it would be great to have a card of his namesake stadium, since Connie Mack Stadium (the former Shibe Park) is where Dad went to games when he was a kid.  Dad was an orphan, and he said that sometimes some of the young men who worked at the orphanage/school that he attended/lived at would take the boys to a Phillies game at Connie Mack. 

Sam Chapman

"SUPERMAN" back.

There are two variants of the card backs on the 1940 Play Ball.  The Connie Mack above displays the "Save these cards..." variant, and this Sam Chapman shows the Superman Gum back.  Chapman was with the A's from 1938 to 1941, then was in the US Navy as a pilot, then again with the A's from 1945 to 1951.  He closed out his career with the Indians in 1951.

Frank Hayes.

Wally Moses.

Frankie Hayes was a 6-time All-Star, playing in the majors from 1933-1947.  Wally Moses was a 2-time All-Star, playing from 1935-1951.  Moses won three World Series as a coach, two with the Yankees and one with the Tigers.

Bob Johnson.

Frank Baker.

When he retired, Bob Johnson was #8 on the all-time home run list with 288.  Home Run Baker wasn't a current player in 1940, having played in the dead ball era instead.  After his playing days had ended, Baker was a manager of a team in Easton, MD and discovered Jimmie Foxx.  That itself would be quite the legacy.  Baker of course is in the Hall of Fame.

Charley Berry.

John Babich.

Charlie Berry was a two-sport guy, playing in the NFL with the Pottsville Maroons.  He was part of the team that famously had their NFL title taken away and awarded to the Cardinals.  Of course this has resulted in the NFL Cardinals being cursed!  (I'm not a football guy, but it's my impression that this is still important to some folks here in PA.)  John Babich was a pitcher with a career 30-45 record and a 4.93 ERA.

Dick Siebert.

Chubby Dean.

Dick Siebert had an ok career, including one All-Star appearance during the WWII years.  But his real legacy, apparently, is as one of the greatest collegiate baseball coaches ever, after a long career at University of Minnesota.  Chubby Dean was a pitcher who put together a 30-46 career record with a 5.08 ERA.

Moose Earnshaw.

Dee Miles.

Moose Earnshaw was a pitcher who led the AL in wins in 1929, helping the Athletics to the World Series championship then, and again the following year.  Dee Miles was an outfielder who played with the Senators, Athletics, and Red Sox between 1935 and 1943, with a .280 career average.

Of these guys, Mack, Chapman, Moses, Johnson, Baker, and Earnshaw are on the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.

Thanks for reading!

Three loose ends

I had a few small projects to put a handful of cards on a theme together in my binder, and it seems like for all of these I had one card missing.  These just arrived in my COMC box.

Burt Shotton.

I posted about the book Electric October, covering the 1947 World Series.  The book says that it's told through the lens of six not-famous major leaguers, although it does it admit that one of them is a bit more famous given that he's a Hall-of-Famer (Bucky Harris).  I tried to get cards of all of them but couldn't find a good card of one, Bill Bevens.  But I showed the Harris, Snuffy Stirnweiss, Al Gionfriddo, and Cookie Lavagetto cards that I picked up.  The only one missing, then, was this, a Target Dodgers Burt Shotton.  You learn in the book that Shotton was the last manager to manage in a suit rather than the uniform -- he very slightly outlasted Connie Mack in that respect (by a few hours).
 

Sherm Lollar.

Another project I had was to make a page of cards of teams that no longer are.  I've shown some Seattle Pilots, Philadelphia Athletics, Kansas City Athletics, and Colt .45s, (and of course some others like Milwaukee Braves, New York Giants, and Brooklyn Dodgers), and at least one Boston Brave (although the Sam Jethroe is PSA-graded and so not for the binder).  But I noticed I didn't seem to have any St. Louis Browns.  I picked out this Sherm Lollar since he was a notable player of the day and I even had another card of him already (with the White Sox by then).  Of course an ideal St. Louis Browns card would be the 1953 Topps Satchel Paige, but even if not for the expense, the misspelling of his name ("Satchell") bugs me enough that I won't try to get one.

Edward G. Robinson.

Robinson card back.

I don't go for non-sports, or even non-baseball, much (please excuse the main exception in my collection, the circa-1990 Marvel and DC superhero cards from my youth).  But I posted about the movie Big Leaguer before, and got a handful of cards to remember that: Carl Hubbell, Mel Ott, and Freddie Fitzsimmons, and the main character, Hans Lobert.  Lobert was played in the movie by movie star Edward G. Robinson, so I thought I would get a Robinson to go next to Lobert.  I picked up this 1939 Milky Way card.  The card says that Mars Confections are manufactured in Slough, which surely makes this card from England.  It's probably unique in my collection in that respect.  It's also tied for my oldest card, along with the 1939 Play Ball Gus Suhr I posted recently.  I guess Robinson makes the second movie star in my binder, after Kevin Costner.
 

Thanks for reading!

Two from 1960 Fleer

A while ago I picked up some Chuck Klein and Grover Cleveland Alexander cards for my main binder, since they're two of the four Phillies whose "numbers" were retired back in the days that Dad and I went to all those games at the Vet in the late 80s.  I say "numbers" because Klein and Alexander were from before the days of players wearing numbers, or at least from before the days of players consistently wearing the same number.  So they just had their names/initials hung up.  The other two, of course, were Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts.  Others would join those four, and Dad and I got to go to the games where Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt had their numbers retired -- the souvenir programs from those games will eventually make it to their own posts.

Anyway, for the Klein and Alexander, I also used them as an excuse to get my first 1960 and 1961 Fleer cards.  I considered and decided against collecting those Fleer sets, but did want to get a couple more.  So here they are.

1960 Fleer Honus Wagner.

Honus Wagner card back.

I don't have a lot of cards of Honus Wagner, despite being a huge Pirates fan.  This is probably because there aren't that many cards of Wagner, at least that are (a) affordable, and (b) from before 1994 when the bulk of my collecting stopped.  Other than this new one, I appear to have 3 Wagner cards: a Baseball Immortals, a Red Superstar, and a Fritsch Museum card.  (The Fritsch Museum set will also be a post of its own at some point.)  The Fritsch Museum card is in my binder so it's not like Wagner is unrepresented there.  But I think this 1960 Fleer becomes by far my best card of him.

1960 Fleer "Jimmy" Foxx.

Foxx card back.

Then we have Jimmie Foxx, spelled here as Jimmy Foxx.  I have two different pictures of Foxx in my mind, one of which is that he was a huge star, having been a 9-time All-Star and 3-time AL MVP.  On the other hand, I don't know how true it is, but I heard at least once that people didn't realize at the time how significant his 500+ home runs were because Babe Ruth had 700+.  Other points making me a fan of Foxx are that he's a local guy in more than one way -- he was from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, with his hometown being only about 40 miles away from my hometown of Newark, Delaware.  And as a player he was a huge figure for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Atheletics.  When I was a kid I remember the Phillies remembering the Athletics tradition in Philadelphia, callling their Wall of Fame the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame and inducting the old Athletics alongside Phillies.  Of course Foxx was the second Athletic so honored, after Mack.  This isn't by best card of Foxx, but since my 1940 Play Ball is PSA-graded it can't go in the binder.  Instead this 1960 Fleer is a great representation of him for the binder.

I'm on a roll with two posts in two days.  Thanks for reading!

Venn Diagram: 3 short-time Pirates, 3 1984 Fleer Update, 5 cards total

 I finally received my COMC box that I requested shipment of in July.  I won't get into how I haven't posted in months, and I'll just jump right into a post of 5 cards from the box.

Luis Tiant of the Pirates.

I posted once about folks I hadn't realized were ever Pirates.  I covered Bobby Shantz, Maury Wills, Amos Otis, and George Hendrick there. In the comments I was pointed to a post of Dime Box Nick, in which I learned of a few more.  I didn't want all of them for myself, but Luis Tiant was too good for me to pass up.

Goose Gossage of the Pirates.

I hadn't known that Luis Tiant was ever a Pirate, but I did know about Goose Gossage.  I think the story of the airbrushing on his 1978 Topps card is well-known.  I looked into whether there were any cards (from the time, not modern cards) of him with the Buccos, and this one came up.  It's always good to have another old Hostess, too.

Pete Rose of the Expos.

Along the same lines, but without the Pittsburgh connection, is this 1984 Fleer Update of Pete Rose with the Expos.  Of course Pete Rose is an extremely problematic individual, and I wouldn't usually go out of my way to get another card of him.  But Pete Rose with the Expos is kind of like Reggie Jackson with the Orioles, and it feels like it needs commemoration in my collection.  For Reggie the best I have (at present) is the 1988 Score card.  This is a bit better to me since this is actually from the time that he was with the Expos.

Shane Rawley.

I got a couple more 1984 Fleer Update cards.  I went to a lot of Phillies games with Dad in the late 80s/early 90s.  This was the period firmly between their 1983 and 1993 pennants.  They were generally quite bad in that interval.  Shane Rawley was the ace of the pitching staff for a couple of years, around 1987.  He came to the Phils after time with the Mariners and Yankees, and finished his career in 1989 with the Twins.  He put together a 111-118 career record with a 4.02 ERA.

John Tudor of the Pirates.

So who is at the intersection of this Venn diagram?  Short-time Pirate John Tudor on a 1984 Fleer Update card.

 Thanks for reading!  We'll see if I can post a little more in the next couple of months.

Iron Man Gus Suhr

A simple one-card post today.  I mentioned in the comments the other day that I love the 1940 Play Ball set but the cards are mostly either too expensive to justify getting more, or of players I've never heard of, which makes them less interesting.  So in a way I'm looking for excuses to get more of the less-popular (read: cheaper) cards.  Such an excuse presented itself the other day, although with the 1939 Play Ball set.  This is now the oldest card in my collection, tied with another card not yet in-hand which is coming from COMC, also from 1939.

1939 Play Ball Gus Suhr

Gus Suhr card back.

I was watching the Pirates game and they mentioned long-ago Pirate Gus Suhr, who was an Iron Man of his time.  He had a streak of 822 consecutive games, which was the NL record at the time.  He's still in 10th place all-time; the current NL record holder is Steve Garvey with 1,207, which is fourth place all-time.

I do like this card but the 1940 Play Ball set is definitely more charming, with its borders decorated with a ball and bat and whatnot.  Suhr had a good career, with three 100+ RBI seasons and batting over .300 twice.

I don't anticipate getting any more from the 1939 Play Ball set, but it's nice to have one and to recognize a notable Pirate of years gone by.  Thanks for reading!

Finished my 1972 Topps set

When I was young, I dreamed of collecting a vintage set, the 1979 Topps set.  It was hard to find a bunch of old cards then so I only got about 10% through.  When I resumed collecting a couple years ago, instead of making good on that progress, I just bought a complete 1979 Topps set for not too much money.  I did pursue the dream, though, by starting a 1972 Topps set.  And now I'm done.  I don't have every single card with me, though, because a bunch are in my COMC order.  I put in to have it shipped back in July, and in the current environment, they say that means that I'll get it in mid-October.  But, I do own them all, even if I can't hold them all in my hands right now.  For now the ones I have with me are in a couple of boxes.  I think eventually I'll get them situated into a new binder.

Pat Corrales In Action.

Pat Corrales In Action card back: Tom Seaver.

The last of the high numbers are these five, which came to me via eBay.  They're a good bunch to show to illustrate this post about completing the set.  I have a clear early memory of Pat Corrales from the 1983 Topps set as the Phillies manager.  I knew the Phillies won the pennant in 1983 and assumed that it was with Corrales.  But he had been fired at some point, and Paul "the Pope" Owens took them to the World Series instead.  Wikipedia tells me that Corrales is the only manager to ever be fired in first place, although the Phils' record at the time was only 43-42.

One of the reasons I've decided to put the set in a binder is to be able to see the puzzle backs of the in-action cards.  I think it was Greg from The Collective Mind (if not, sorry) who said that while you use 9-card pages for most of the set, a good way to see the puzzle cards is sideways in 8-card sheets, so that the puzzle is assembled.  This bit of Tom Seaver seen here can serve as a sort of tribute to the recently departed as I don't especially have interesting cards of him to make into a post of their own.

Bobby Murcer.

Donn Clendenon.

This Bobby Murcer is card 699, putting his in-action card in the honor position of number 700.  That strikes me as a little odd because it would seem like he was a big deal, but I've actually barely heard of him.  Wikipedia tells me that he was touted as "the next Mickey Mantle" back in the day.  He had a decent enough career, being a five-time All-Star, but all that ended a bit before my time, and like I said, growing up in the 80s I never heard much about him.  Then we have Donn Clendenon, who is more familiar to me because he was a longtime Pirate.  He missed out on the Pirate championships in 1960 and 1971 since his years with the team were 1961-1968, but he was part of the Miracle Mets in 1969.

Jose Pagan In Action.

Jim Kaat.

Then we have Bucco Jose Pagan (In Action), and Jim Kaat.  I wouldn't have been surprised if Kaat were in the Hall of Fame, but instead he's someone that people can write articles about, debating whether he should be in the Hall of Fame.  He had a long career spanning from the late 50s to the 80s, and he makes an appearance in my binder with a very beat up 1978 Topps card with the Phillies.  Part of why I picked the 1972 set as the new object of my dream of collecting a vintage set was to commemorate the Pirates winning the 1971 World Series.  Jose Pagan drove in the deciding run in Game 7, so he's a perfect card to feature here at the end.

So that's a complete set in the books.  That leaves me working on my 1955 Bowman set; I have 250/320 cards for that, so only 70 to go.  I don't expect to pick up another vintage set project -- I've toyed with the idea of 1959 Topps or 1967 Topps, but I think they'd be too hard to finish out.  Maybe I'll reconsider one day.  In any case, thanks for reading!

Update: Just after posting, I looked at other recent blog posts and saw that Night Owl had written two days before about the 1972 Topps Set club.  Total coincidence.

Two more New York Giants: Ott and Fitzsimmons

I've posted a couple of times now about the movie Big Leaguer.  While it's not that great a movie and I don't want to make too much of it, I did order a handful of cards related to the movie and I've been posting them as they come in.  So today we have two more, Mel Ott and Fred "Fitz" Fitzsimmons.  There's a scene in the movie where they're telling the guy running the Giants spring camp to get more results, and he says that not everyone is going to be an Ott, Hubbell, or Fitzsimmons.  Hubbell was not only mentioned but was in the movie, and I posted some of his cards the other day.

Cramer Baseball Legends Mel Ott.

Mel Ott card back.

For Hubbell and Hans Lobert, I got 1940 Play Ball cards of them to go in the binder. Fitzsimmons, too, as you can see below. I looked at a 1940 Play Ball of Ott but decided I had spent enough money already. I have a few Ott cards already (1985 Topps Circle K, 1986 Sportflics Decade Greats, Pacific Legends, and Swell Baseball Greats), but I wanted one that was closer in its look to the 1940 Play Ball, while also being cheap. So here we have it, this Cramer Baseball Legends card, which is my fifth from that set.

1940 Play Ball "Fitz" Fitzsimmons.

Fitzsimmons card back.

I hadn't heard of Fitzsimmons before and had to look him up. He's actually here in the Play Ball set as a Brooklyn Dodger; he was with the Giants from 1925-1937, and then was with Brooklyn from 1937-1943. He had a solid career, with a 217-146 record with a 3.51 ERA. He actually went on the manage the Phillies for a couple of years, and was a longtime coach after that.

There's just one more card I have coming related to the movie, and that's a 1939 Milky Way card of Edward G. Robinson, which I've mentioned a couple of times.  I'll post that when it arrives with my COMC order, hopefully next month.  Thanks for reading!

Negro Leagues Centennial Team postcard set

A new gem of my collection is this postcard set to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro National League.  I got this boxed set of 3.5"x5.5" postcards for a $100 donation to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.  It's a limited edition of 2020 copies, and mine is numbered 0943/2020.  They still seem to be available if you want one, too.

Rube Foster on the box.

I've only been to Kansas City proper once, for a friend's wedding.  I flew in another time but didn't stay, when I visited University of Missouri at Columbia for a conference (that time, if I had planned better, I could have caught a Royals game, since I drove right by the stadium when a game was about to start).  When in Kansas City, my wife and I did make it to the Nelson-Atkins art museum, which is a wonderful museum.  But I didn't know then that Kansas City was where Rube Foster led the organization of the Negro National League in 1920.  And so Kansas City now is the home of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.  That's going to be worth another visit to Kansas City one day, when we can travel more again.

Rube Foster on the checklist card.

Checklist.

Naturally they feature Rube Foster several times, including on the box and on the checklist.  If you take a glance at the checklist, you see there are a lot of greats here.

Judy Johnson.

Judy Johnson card back.

To highlight one front and back, I'll show the local favorite, my fellow Delawarean, Judy Johnson.  For a long time he was Delaware's only Hall-of-Famer.  Hilldale played in Darby, PA, just west of Philly.

Larry Doby.

Buck Leonard.

To show just a couple more, we have Larry Doby with the Newark Eagles and Buck Leonard with the Homestead Grays.  The Grays were one of two great Pittsburgh-area Negro Leagues teams, the other being the Crawfords.  I posted a while ago about having read a great biography of Larry Doby, which I really enjoyed.

I'm really so pleased to have another fine Negro Leagues set in my collection.  Thanks for reading!

Some more 1986 Sportflics Decade Greats: the 1950s

I posted some cards from the 1950s portion of the 1986 Sportflics Decade Greats set the other day.  When I went to put those cards away, I saw that there were some cards missing.  A little investigation showed that I had set some cards aside for a blog post.  The cards I'm showing here are the ones I had originally (several months ago) intended to show to represent the 1950s portion of the set.  But then, you know, pandemic and all, I forgot.  So between the two posts, I'm showing almost all of the cards from of the 50s from the set.

Jackie Robinson.

Roy Campanella.

I should have noticed something amiss.  I should have noticed that Jackie Robinson should have been there.  So here he is with his Brooklyn teammate Roy Campanella.  Back in the late 80s/early 90s when I was collecting, cards like this and Baseball Immortals and the like were the only way I could have cards of these greats.  I'm fortunate to have been able to add a couple of old cards of them to my collection lately.

Ernie Banks.

Mickey Mantle.

Ernie Banks and Mickey Mantle are here, and to my mind they show a limitation of the format, that it's hard to slot some of these players into just one decade.  Of course Banks and Mantle were huge in the 60s, too.  They both won two MVP awards in the 50s, and Mantle got a third in the 60s.  They both led their leagues in home runs and RBIs a few times, but in both cases, not after 1960.  So maybe the 50s is the right call for both of them, that while they continued to be great, they had the most impact in the 50s.

Mainly Robin Roberts.

Bob Lemon, Don Newcombe, and Robin Roberts card back.

If I told you that a Sportflics card had Robin Roberts, Don Newcombe, and Bob Lemon on it, you wouldn't necessarily know who the scan of the card would pick up.  The image that came out was mainly Robin Roberts, which I'm glad about.  I've said a number of times that he was Dad's favorite when he was growing up.  I feel like I'm almost done collecting overall, but I definitely want to pick up one more good Robin Roberts card before I stop.  (I have a couple more goals, but I do need to add another solid Robin Roberts card.)

That's all for now!  Thanks for reading!