From My Collection: Bill Melton

I posted my 1972 AL Home Run Leaders card a while ago, to show that it was my only card (at the time) of Reggie Jackson from his original time with the A's; here it is again.

1972 Topps AL Home Run Leaders card.

At the time, I said that I had never heard of Bill Melton otherwise.  But, going back to look through my 1970s Topps cards, I found a few more Meltons.  It's pretty strange, I think -- I only have a significant number of cards starting with the 1978 set.  Before that, I only have a handful per year.  But I have the 74, 76, and 77 Bill Melton!

1974 Topps Bill Melton.

Melton hardly played in 1972, and according to Wikipedia, it's because he hurt his back catching his son when his son fell off their garage roof.  After the injury, he didn't have the same power.  Here's an article about the injury and the turn his career took after.

1976 Topps Bill Melton.

1976 Topps Bill Melton back.

My favorite thing about these cards is the text on the back of the 1976 -- it says that he was the White Sox career home run leader.  That's interesting to me because that same title is how I first became interested in Harold Baines, one of my favorite players.  By the mid-1980s, Baines had surpassed Melton to take the team crown.  By now, Melton is 8th with 154, Baines is 3rd with 221, and Frank Thomas and Paul Konerko are in first and second place, each with more than 400.

1977 Topps Bill Melton.

After the 1975 season, Melton was traded to the Angels.  After the 1976 season, he was traded to the Indians.  After one year with the Indians, he was granted free agency, and retired.  Today, he's a broadcaster with the White Sox.

Recent Acquisitions: 9 Lee May Cards

Although I never knew much about him, I have decided now that Lee May is one of my favorite players.  I posted before about my 1969 Topps card, my 1972 Topps league leader card, and a couple others of him.  I also included him in my post of the 1985 Circle K Home Run Kings boxed set.  I decided this wasn't enough.  I ordered a bunch of his cards from COMC, so that what I have in my binder is now much more representative of his career.

1966 Reds Rookie Stars, Lee May and Darrel Osteen.

1967 Reds Rookie Stars, Darrell Osteen and Lee May.

The 1966 Topps and 1967 Topps sets both featured May as a Reds Rookie Star, both times pairing him with Darrell Osteen.  Osteen pitched with the Reds 1965-1967, and with the A's in 1970, compiling a lifetime 1-4 record with 3 saves in 29 games.  May appeared in 5 games with the Reds in 1965, 25 games in 1966, and 127 games in 1967.

1971 Topps Lee May.

I think this 1971 Topps is a great card.  I might try to collect the 1971 set, except dings on the black borders would make it hard for me to be happy with the condition of lots of the cards, I think.  May was in his prime at this point, hitting 38 home runs in 1969, 34 in 1970, and 39 (his career best) in 1971.

1972 Kellogg's Lee May.

I love the easy availability of Kellogg's cards.  I only had a few Kellogg's cards in my original period of collecting, which was before internet commerce was a thing.  The shops I visited didn't have them, and I don't remember coming across them very often at shows, either.  Now, I've added a bunch of great Kellogg's cards to my binder, including this 1972 Lee May.

1972 Topps Lee May.

Topps was more up-to-date than Kellogg's, since Topps had May airbrushed into an Astros uniform for 1972.  May, at the peak of his career, was traded for Joe Morgan, more or less (there were many other players in the trade, but May and Morgan were the big ones).  It worked out well for the Reds and Morgan, who went on to 2 championships soon after.  May performed well for the Astros, with 98, 105, and 85 RBI in his 3 seasons there.

1976 Topps Lee May.

1977 Topps Lee May.

May was traded to the Orioles after the 1974 season.  In 1976, he led the AL in RBI with 109.  By 1979 he started playing less, appearing in only 124 games that year.  Eddie Murray was the Orioles young slugger, and May was getting older.  You can find a number of articles online where Murray talks about learning a lot from May.  I mentioned before how the Orioles used Robin Roberts at the end of his career to mentor Jim Palmer, and the Murray-May relationship sounds similar.

1978 Topps Lee May.

1979 Topps Lee May.

May played in two World Series in his career, with the Reds in 1970 (losing to Baltimore), and with the Orioles in 1979 (losing to Pittsburgh).  In 1970, he hit .389 with 2 home runs in the World Series.  In 1979, he only had two plate appearances, going 0-for-1 with one walk.  Maybe he should have had more time -- the Pirates pitchers shut down Eddie Murray pretty effectively, as Murray only batted .154 in the series.

May was a free agent after 1980, and he played his last two seasons with the Royals; I showed some Royals cards of him in my previous post.

Sets in My Collection: 1988 Topps Kay-Bee Superstars of Baseball

1988 Topps Kay-Bee Superstars of Baseball set box.

This Sunday, the boxed set I'm featuring is the 1988 Topps Kay-Bee Superstars of Baseball, which is a typical Topps 33-card boxed set.  I like when these sets are fully committed to their retail partner, and that's the case here -- the box has the Kay-Bee logo, and so do the card fronts.  You can see that I got this marked down from $2.99 to $2.00.

Mike Schmidt.

Mike Schmidt card back.

Since it's a "Superstars" set, I thought I would start with the card of Mike Schmidt.  When I post these sets, I usually focus on the less famous players, the ones whose inclusion is perhaps more questionable.  But it's always good to post a Schmidt card, I think.  This features the old blue road uniforms I remember from watching the Phillies on TV as a kid.  Also, as I've been developing my player collection for Schmidt, I've noticed a lot of cards of him are head shots; it's nice that this appears to be a shot of him actually warming up on deck.  The back is nice, too, reminiscent of the 1971 Topps set.  The text goes to explain what makes the player a superstar, I suppose.

Juan Samuel.

The Phillies are well-represented, with Juan Samuel also appearing.  Samuel wasn't really a superstar, but he was a solid second baseman for the Phils for a number of years, making the All-Star team twice with them (and once after), and winning a Silver Slugger in 1987.  Things I didn't know: Samuel briefly managed the Orioles in 2010.  He's on the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.

Lance Parrish.

Continuing with the Phillies, we have Lance Parrish.  I've featured Parrish for his 1987 Topps Traded card, in the 1987 Fleer 7-Eleven Award Winners set, in the 1987 Topps Mail-in All-Stars, when I recently opened two packs of 1980 Topps, in some 1984 Topps Rub-Downs, and if you look closely, you can see his name on the Angels Wall of Fame in the photos I posted.  Parrish was never important to my collection, and his appearances here were originally something of a coincidence, and now perhaps something of a running joke.

Darrell Evans.

I remember watching a Tigers game as a kid once, at Tigers Stadium, and when Evans came to bat, the crowd slowly chanted "Darr-ell, Darr-ell."  The announcers explained that when people chanted "Darryl" for Darryl Strawberry, it was antagonistic, but for these Tigers fans, this was a sign of deep affection for Evans.

Jack Clark.

I have a lot of cards of Jack Clark.  I would say he's over-represented in my binder.  I must have thought he was a big star in the 80s, which I guess he was.  He never played for teams I particularly cared for (while I was paying attention -- I do kind of like the Giants, but he left them before I started watching), and his career numbers are solid but not spectacular, I would say. 

Tim Wallach.

The Expos had a surprising amount of talent for a team with so few postseason appearances.  Wallach was a five-time All-Star with them, playing with them from 1980-1992.  He won three Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers in that time as well.  His career numbers aren't so different from Jack Clark.

Joe Carter.

Joe Carter always reminds me of eighth grade, which I started in 1988.  My social studies teacher, Mr. Kennedy, was an Indians fan, and he particularly talked about Larry Doby.  I gave him a Pacific card of Doby, which he tacked up on the classroom wall.  I had some 1988 Topps folders for my school work, and I used the Joe Carter folder for Mr. Kennedy's class. 

Oversized in My Collection: 1991 Phillies Team-Issued (Medford)

Dad and I would go to the Vet to see the Phillies about 10-15 times a year.  For a few years in a row, we would buy the team-issued "photo cards," I think they called them.  These are oversized baseball cards, sponsored by Medford.  I think Medford made hot dogs.

It looks like I have these from three years, 1990-1992.  It's not clear if I have the complete sets.  If I am missing any, my guess is that my parents may have thrown out the odd one here and there over the years -- they were stored more or less out in the open in my old bedroom, near the window, and it's possible that some may have been ruined and then trashed, say if the window leaked or something.

In any case, today in my Saturday series of oversized cards, I'm showing 10 cards from the 1991 set.

Manger Jim Fregosi.

I made a post about Jim Fregosi once, showing his 1968 Topps Game card (the only 1968 Topps Game card I have).  I remembered him as a manager, like he's shown here.  He managed the Phils through a good period, going to the 1993 World Series.

Dale Murphy.

I liked Dale Murphy, and was glad that the Phillies acquired him to add some punch to the lineup.  At the time I would have thought he would be in the Hall of Fame, but I guess his numbers just missed.

Mitch Williams.

Mitch Williams is much reviled in Philadelphia, for giving up Joe Carter's walk-off home run to end the 1993 World Series.

Roger McDowell.

The 1991 Phils had several of the former 1986 Mets on the team.  Relief pitcher Roger McDowell was one of them.  He was the closer for those Mets, but Mitch Williams was the closer here.

Terry Mulholland.

Terry Mulholland was the ace, going 16-13 in 1991.

Mickey Morandini.

Mickey Morandini was young, then.  I posted about his 1991 Score card, which I have autographed, authenticated, and slabbed.  When he came up to bat, they would play "That's Amore" at the Vet.  Now, at PNC Park, they do the same thing for Cervelli, I think.

The Phillie Phanatic.

Best. Mascot. Ever.  Hands down, not even close.  So glad that I have at least one card of him.

Dale Murphy's 2000th hit.

Dale Murphy got his 2000th hit, and the Phillies commemorated it.

Terry Mulholland's no-hitter.

Terry Mulholland threw a no-hitter.

Tommy Greene's no-hitter.

Tommy Greene (whom I don't remember, even though he was part of the starting rotation for the years that Dad and I went to all those games!) also threw a no-hitter.  He wasn't in the majors for long, and his career record is 38-25.

I'll be continuing my Oversized series for a few more weeks, and I'll be sure to show more of my Phillies team-issued cards.

Rest in Peace, Bobby Doerr

The news the other day was that Bobby Doerr has died at age 99.  I remember his making the Hall of Fame, via the veterans committee, in 1986.  That led to his honorary captaincy of the 1988 AL All-Star Team, and this Topps card:

Bobby Doerr.

Of course, this is one of the Topps glossy rack pack All-Star cards.  I have several of these, and a handful of the related rookie cards, but naturally I bought many more wax packs than rack or cello packs.

I can only find one more Bobby Doerr card in my collection, this 1988 Pacific Baseball Legends card:

Bobby Doerr.

Doerr played with the Red Sox from 1937-1944, was in the Army in 1945, and was again with the Red Sox from 1946-1951.  He was a 9-time All-Star, with a career .288 average with 2,042 hits and 1,247 RBI, and was considered a great defensive second baseman.  May he rest in peace.

From My Collection: A Few Food-Issue Cards

I have one binder of my favorite cards, a secondary binder focusing on certain years from what we now know as the junk wax era, and a bunch of plastic boxes for my thousands of other cards.  I like my main binder to showcase not only my favorite players, but also all sorts of novelties and different sets.  These are a few food-issue cards that I don't have in my binder -- they're not favorite players, and some things just don't fit.

1988 Chef Boyardee Mike Scott and Frank Viola.

Two major pitchers in the second half of the 80s were Mike Scott and Frank Viola.  In reading The Bad Guys Won! about the 1986 Mets, I learned that they really feared facing Scott, and they believed he was scuffing the ball.  Years later, he admitted to scuffing the ball.  It's disappointing, but I guess it explains why he suddenly got so much better -- his early career numbers aren't great.  Frank Viola I remember as being one of the key players on the 1987 Twins championship team.  He was later traded to the Mets, and his best years were behind him, although he had a good year in 1990, it looks.

1987 Ralston Purina Gary Carter.

I posted about Gary Carter before, focusing on his cards with the Expos until 1980.  To recap, mainly, I didn't like the Mets, as they were divisional rivals to our local Phillies and my favorite Pirates.  I didn't like Gary Carter, but my only reason is that he was on the Mets.  Nothing personal.

Drake's Cakes John Mayberry.

I think I have had this John Mayberry card for a long time.  Perhaps we actually pulled it from a box of Drake's.  I don't know much about Mayberry, but I see that his career ran from 1968-1982, with the Astros, Royals, Blue Jays, and Yankees.  He was a two-time All-Star and finished high in the MVP vote a few times.  In 1973 with the Royals, he led the league in walks and in on-base percentage.

June 1988 Baseball Card Price Guide Monthly

In June, 1988, I was 12 years old and finishing seventh grade.  This Baseball Card Price Guide Monthly came out, featuring Matt Nokes and a Gregg Jefferies rookie card on the cover.  I remember at lunch at school one day, a friend accused me of stealing his 1988 Donruss Gregg Jefferies card.  This was a big deal.  He found it later.  I think he apologized.  Tensions were running high around Gregg Jefferies cards in 1988, though.

June 1988 Baseball Card Price Guide Monthly, picturing Matt Nokes and a Gregg Jefferies card.

This wasn't my first magazine about baseball cards, since I have a Beckett from September, 1987 (which I posted about before).  But this may have been the first magazine I had for the ads.  I remember the first time Dad told me we could get a magazine and order some cards, and since is the oldest magazine I have with a bunch of ads, I think this must have been it.

Old Sports Cards ad.

I also remember specifically that we ordered from Robert Mabery at Old Sports Cards.  I wish I knew what we ordered!  If I had to guess, I do have a bunch of 80s traded sets, and I could have gotten, say, the 87 Topps Traded or 87 Fleer Update then.  I also have the 88 Donruss factory set and the 88 Sportsflics factory set, and I could have gotten either of them from this ad.  I have the 88 Score factory set, but I remember Dad buying that for me, so that one wasn't mail-order.  The ad also has a bunch of wax packs listed, and perhaps I got a handful of them. 

I remember when we would order by mail, it would take about 3 or 4 weeks to get the cards.  We would send a check, and it would take a few days for them to receive it in the mail.  Then they would deposit it, and they would wait about 10 business days or so for the check to clear.  Then they send the package, and again it takes a few days in the mail.  One had to be patient.

1988 Score in the price guide.

More 1988 Score in the price guide.

Looking at the price guide is pretty amazing.  Here are two pages, which are (almost) entirely devoted to the 1988 Score set.  If I had to guess, I would say more than half the cards from the set are listed individually.  The guide, if you look closely, lists "common players" at 3 cents, and players such as Casey Candaele, Milt Thompson, and Ozzie Virgil at 6 cents, and players such as John Cerutti, Mike Marshall, and Floyd Youmans at 8 cents.  These are some fine distinctions.

Card Show Calendar from the magazine.

At the end, we get the Card Show Calendar.  There were so many shows!  I haven't seen the ones I know we went to, though, which were usually at the Concordville Inn in Pennsylvania.  I'm sure we found out about them from fliers at the local card shops, not from the magazines.