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!

Fun Foods Buttons, Surf Books, and a couple more things I picked up at my mom's house

My son and I visited my mom today, and I took the opportunity to search through my old room for any remaining baseball card items.  I have removed essentially all of my collection, but there are a few odds and ends left there.

Bob Horner, Charlie Hough, and Dale Murphy.

I had to really look for them, but I am glad to have found my old Fun Foods Buttons.  I only have three of the them -- I must have only opened one pack.  These are from 1984, but I am sure I bought them at a show, let's say circa 1990.  I wish I had bought more than one pack, since as far as I can tell, you can't find them unopened anymore.  I'd love to have a few unopened packs of these.  I haven't yet reclaimed my old wrapper collection from mom's house, but I will do that at some point.  I'd love it if the Fun Foods Buttons wrapper is in there, but it's hard to say if it actually is.

Button backs.

I have bought a few more Fun Foods Buttons from COMC, and I'll receive them around the end of the year, when I get my Black Friday haul.  For now, Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, and Charlie Hough constitute my Fun Foods collection.  (Like most people, I think, I know nothing about these buttons, but there's a good post from earlier this year at Wax Pack Hero about them.)

1987 Topps Surf Pirates book.

1988 Topps Surf Phillies book.

Remember these Topps Surf books?  They attempted to show all the Topps cards of that team, up until that point in time.  I think they gave these away at games.  I didn't make it to Three Rivers until 1993, my first year in college, so I'm sure I bought this Pirates book secondhand.  The Phillies book, though, I may well have gotten at the Vet.  The Pirates book shows Topps cards of the Pirates from 1952 through 1986, and the Phillies book shows cards from 1952 through 1987.

A page from the Pirates book.

A page from the Phillies book.

The books aren't very complete, I would say.  They only feature cards that are really all of the Phillies or Pirates; for example, the Mike Schmidt rookie card, which also has Ron Cey and John Hilton on it (who are not Phillies), isn't there.  Similarly with league leader cards.  But it's still a nice effort.  Surf laundry detergent appears to still exist, but it's not the brand we use, and I can't swear that it's even in our local stores.

Classic Baseball Cards, a book of reprints.

A page from the book.

I picked up another couple of books, too.  This one, Classic Baseball Cards, is a Dover reprint book.  It features several pages of copies of old tobacco and gum cards, perforated along the edges.  I didn't take any of them apart, so the book is all intact.  A friend and trading partner from my childhood had a bunch of cards like this, and I appear to still have one I got from him back in the day; it's a Dover reprint of Leo Durocher, which I posted with my other Durocher cards a while ago.  I'm fond of Dover because in my career as a math professor, I own many, many other books by Dover, which are all, like this, new editions of old things.

Most Valuable Baseball Cards.

Finally, I had another old book at Mom's which I brought home with me.  Most Valuable Baseball Cards, it's called.  The price tag indicates that I bought it at the University of Delaware bookstore.  Since I'm from the town that U of D is in, I did sometimes hang out at the university library, and I guess I went to the bookstore every now and then.  As the title and cover indicate, this book features pictures of valuable baseball cards, with some short descriptions of the cards and why they might be valuable.

That's everything from my youth that I picked up at my mom's house today.  So, thanks again for reading! 

Leo Durocher in my Collection

I have one good card of Leo Durocher, a 1968 Topps card of him as Cubs manager.

1968 Topps Leo Durocher.

My first memory of Leo Durocher is from a Beverly Hillbillies episode.  I thought it was a Brady Bunch episode, but it turns out I was mixing things up.  The Brady Bunch episode had Don Drysdale.  I remember clearly someone calling him "Mr. Durocher."  It must have been Jethro.
Durocher, of course, was a longtime manager, including managing the New York Giants to their 1954 World Series win, but also with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cubs, and Astros.

Hygrade All-Time Greats Leo Durocher.

I also have this Hygrade All-Time Greats card of Durocher, highlighting his time as a player.  I have a stack of these cards in good condition, and I really can't imagine where I got them.  Durocher played 1925-1945, with the Yankees, Reds, Cardinals, and Dodgers, ending with a career .247 average.

Dover reprint of a 1933 Goudey Durocher.

Reprint back.

Finally, I have this reprint of a 1933 Goudey of Durocher.  It's a Dover reprint, and I assume the Dover here is the publisher of inexpensive paperbacks.  You can see perforation marks around the edge of the card, which reinforces the idea that these were published as a book.  When I was a kid a neighbor had a bunch of reprints, and we would trade cards frequently.  This Durocher reprint is the only reprint I can find in my collection, which surprises me somewhat -- maybe I didn't trade for as many of them as I thought, or maybe some got thrown away over the years.