My wife and I have undertaken a major project in our basement during the month of December. We have been on a "search," "discover," and "identify" mission, unearthing items like books, papers, cards, letters, etc. that have been secured in boxes, crates, tubs and other storage containers for many years.
We've uncovered artifacts we haven't seen in years or we thought were located somewhere else in the house. Opening a holder is a little like undercovering the identity of a Christmas present. Lots of "I haven't seen these in ten years," and " I didn't realize that I still have this."
I own one possession I didn't have to strain to find and never have in 20 years of residence in this home or the home before that or the home before that or in any residence of the last six decades
I have always been able to walk directly to my baseball cards without hesitation. They are divided in to three different areas now and I have no fear of misplacing or losing them.
Technically, I should say "sports" cards, because there are some football and basketball ones also, but 95 percent or more of the collection are baseball cards.
Sometimes they are referred to as "trading cards" with a picture of a player and information about his background and playing record.
Especially as a young person, there would be a player's card that you really wanted, a card of your favorite player or one that you lack to fill out the roster of your favorite team. You could play "general manager," work out a deal swapping two cards that you didn't really need for that ONE you desperately needed.
When the transaction was completed, you felt the pride of a wise sage, not realizing that your trading partner was basking in the glory of his monumental transaction and the "steal of the century he had just executed."
There's no doubt the cards transport you back to a childhood of opening dozens of packs of 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" cardboard faces. Ten or twelve cards in a pack, hoping for a Mickey Mantle, but seemingly always finding a Glenn Borgman.
Cards are more than a deep dive in to the past. They're entertaining, both the photo on the front and the biography including date of birth, hometown and residence on the back to accompany his career statistics.
They answer questions, they remind you of teams that no longer exist, they surprise you with information you never would have expected.
I still use cards to display the proper (and improper) mechanics of hitting and pitching to some of my instructional kids. The "improper" designation may sound unusual for someone who's playing at the ultimate level, but you can explain that players with odd- appearing techniques have extreme abilities that override any textbook form.
All of the cards pictured in this essay are mine, acquired in multiple ways, most of them falling in the mid 1960's to 1980's. I have some pre-60's (now over 60 years old). It's comforting knowing that a hard covering of a plastic guard can allow these cards to live forever.
Cards used to be judged as being in mint, excellent, very good, good, fair or poor condition by card experts and aficionados. A frayed edge, a small crease or a light marking would reduce the dollar value of the card, but I was never that interested in that aspect. Oh, it's nice to have well-conditioned cards, but it never was much of a factor for me. I wasn't going to sell them.
I only wanted them to keep speaking to me.
The '62 Pitching Leaders has Camilio Pascual in the lower left and the Tigers' Jim Bunning in the lower right. Ralph Terry of the Yankees (center) led the AL with 23 wins, but is more well-known for giving up the World Series winning home run to Bill Mazeroski leading the Pirates over the Yankees.
The second card has one of those marks (white out). Jimmy Piersall played 17 years in the major leagues despite suffering from bipolar disorder that was documented in the movie, "Fear Strikes Out."
Ron Reed is one of 13 players who played in both Major League Baseball and the NBA. Three years in pro basketball and 17 in the big leagues where he amassed 146 wins.
Mickey Lolich was a slightly overweight pitcher for the Tigers who stole the spotlight from Bob Gibson (Cardinals) and his teammate Denny McClain (31 wins that year) in the 1968 World Series. Lolich won three WS games to lead Detroit to a WS championship over St. Louis.
Dave Debusschere was another ML/NBA player. Unlike Ron Reed, Debusschere was basketball star and NBA Hall of Famer. He helped lead the New York Knicks to World Championships in 1970 and 1973.
Other combination basketball/ baseball guys included Danny Ainge, Dick Groat and Chuck Connors. Connors is best remembered for starring in the television western ("The Rifleman")
The second card is a pre-60's, Joe Nuxhall. Nuxhall is most remembered for being the youngest player to ever appear in a ML game. He was called up to the big leagues for a single game due to player shortages during WWII. He was 15 years old. He made his debut on June 10, 1944 and his last big league game was October 2, 1966. He won 135 games in his major league career.
I was a huge New York Yankees' fan as a youngster. They were the games that I heard on a local radio station plus the Yankees were baseball's most legendary and winning organization. The circular faced cards (Bill Skowron, Bobby Richardson, Andy Carey, etc.) are 1959's and the bottom row of Blanchard, Skowron and Richardson are 1960's.
The Topps Company was founded in 1938 and was primarily a chewing gum manufacturer. In 1950, the company made a decision to increase sales by packaging the gum together with trading cards featuring Hopalong Cassidy, a Western character and one of television's early stars.
Topps produced its first baseball cards in 1951 and almost immediately they became the company's primary emphasis. Topps had a monopoly on sports cards for several decades until Fleer won a court battle against them and eventually Fleer, Donruss, Upper Deck and some others were manufacturing sports and entertainment cards.
1964 cards of Jim Bouton and Clete Boyer. Bouton wrote the popular and controversial book, "Ball Four." Clete Boyer was an outstanding defensive third baseman. He made his ML debut with the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 and his last appearance with the Atlanta Braves in 1971, but is primarily known for his time with the Yankees from 1959-1966. He was part of two World Series champion teams with New York. His brother, Ken, was also an All-Star performer for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Sometimes you just like a player, although the early 60's were an era when you rarely had an opportunity to see them play with cable television still a long time coming. I just thought Tom Tresh was a cool sounding name plus he made an instant impact with the Yankees as as rookie. He was a versatile player as a shortstop and an outfielder, a three-time All-Star, hitting 153 home runs in a career running from 1961-1969.
Whitey Ford was one of several Hall of Fame players who passed in 2020 (Also: Joe Morgan, Tom Seaver, Al Kaline, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Tom Seaver) Here's a 1963 Whitey Ford card.
I love the Howard card, a little faded, but still wonderful to have.
I never collected any non-baseball cards as a youngster. I don't know if I even knew they existed until my mid-20's or so. The 80's were a very popular time for sports cards and memorabilia shops. Also, malls and other large indoor shopping areas would host card shows (usually on a weekend) where vendors would set up tables and sell sports cards, autographed balls, jerseys, photos, comic books- the multitude of items seemed to grow each year.
The non-baseball cards that I picked up usually came from a browsing session-never looking for a specific item, just having something catch your eye.
This was an easy choice, Saint Bonaventure's Bob Lanier. NBA Hall of Famer, 8-time All Star, averaging 20 points a game during a 14 year career with the Pistons and Bucks.
Although he's pictured here as a Cavalier, Walt Frazier was a 2X World Champion with the New York Knicks (1970 and 1973) I loved those Knicks' teams with Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, Dave Debusschere....
Here's Willis Reed with another great player, Billy Cunningham. I did not put the # 2 and 3 on the cards. Someone did at some time (who knows why?), but I have the cards and I'm happy.
To my friend, Mike, the biggest Celtics fan I know- "I had to include Larry Bird for you." Two more greats.
I was attending college in western Pennsylvania when Tony Dorsett was a collegiate star at the University of Pittsburgh and Jack Ham was an All-Pro linebacker with the Steelers. Ham was also the featured speaker at one of my high school athletic banquets. I was not a Pitt or Steeler fan during those years, but rooting for them to lose was kind of a hopeless cause. They were great players who played on great teams in both college and professional football.
One of my favorite things to do while looking at my cards is to try and find oddities (usually with the photo). This is one time when I sincerely wish the card would talk to me and answer the question, "Why is the player pictured this way?" For example:
Pitchers do not wear a jacket when they pitch-not in a game, not in a bullpen and usually not even when they have their baseball card photo taken. I realize that some quarterbacks may wear a glove on their throwing hand now, but baseball infielders do not wear a batting glove on their throwing hand when they are playing defense.
There's no ball in Gary Gentry's hand and I'm not exactly sure why the "vulture grip" is being applied. Standing straight up is another oddity-maybe Gary wasn't very enthused about the whole photography process!
Bobby Knoop's grip on the bat is not wrong, just a little different. Choking up on the bat is not uncommon, having your hands slightly separated is not either- you just don't see both techniques at the same time very often. NOTE: A previous owner of the card put the number 4 on his back??) Billy Cowan played for the Angels and he has a halo (from an outfield structure) over his head- either very strategic photography or just a freaky coincidence.
Here's some trivia questions- 1. Walt Williams' nickname?
Billy Champion's expecting a line drive to be hit up the middle during the photo shoot? Ron Hunt choking up on a thick handled bat. Set a single season record by getting hit by pitches 50 times in one campaign. And, not covered by thick forearm and elbow pads in that era.
Jim Owens was a graduate of Bradford H.S.. He was born in Gifford, Pa. Note the "Colts" designation- Houston's name prior to the "Astros"
Tom Brookens was a Pennsylvania native who played his college ball at Mansfield University. His financial/ business manager in professional baseball was a former college teammate of Brookens, my friend and one of the best athletes in Otto-Eldred athletic history, John Oszustowicz.
Topps provided a list of players that you could check off once you acquired their card.
The Tommy Harper card points out that he played for the Pilots, who were based in Seattle, for only one season, 1969. The next year, the franchise moved to Milwaukee and became the Milwaukee Brewers. The Mariners began play in Seattle in 1977 as an expansion franchise.
Pete Vuckovich (1981-Brewers' pitching leader) was a junior at Clarion University when I was a freshman. One of his catchers at Clarion, was former Crosby Alle-Catt player, Mike Tessena.
David Clyde went straight from high school to the big leagues. Twenty days after pitching his last high school game, he started for the Texas Rangers in front of 35,000 fans. He was in the Rangers' organization for five years and the Indians for one. Unfortunately, his once promising career ended at the age of 26 because of arm and shoulder injuries. Many baseball observers felt his "rush" to the big leagues was a major contributor to his unanticipated, limited success in professional baseball. His ML record was 18-33.
"Turn Back the Clock" cards were reprints of originals. It wasn't as great as having the original, but gave you had a chance to get a Musial, Rice, etc. Four Hall of Famers.
I wanted to be Chris Speier-like. He began his career with the Giants in '71. I was 15 and a shortstop. He was 21 years old with a magnificent throwing arm-"The Alameda Rifle." I had finally reached the time period where we could see more games, read more about players and at 15, maybe you've had a little small town success and still love to dream. It was a thrill for me to see him in person at Three Rivers Stadium-playing against the Pirates in his rookie year. Speier was a three-time All Star and a WS champion with the Diamondbacks in 2001. He played in the big leagues from '71 to '89 for five different clubs. Career B.A. of .246.
These are two rookie cards of Lou Piniella, one with Cleveland and one with Seattle. He was traded to the Pilots for their '69 season, but still qualified as a rookie. He was named Rookie of the Year with the Pilots. He played on two WS champion teams, the Yankees in '77 and '78. .291 career hitter.
Tony Kubek was another one of my favorites. Many baseball fans will remember him also as an analyst on NBC Baseball for many years. He played in six World Series in the late 50's and early 60's with the Yankees, winning three titles in '58, '61 and '62. A.L. Rookie of the Year in '57
Two pretty good rookie cards- Blue and Tenace played large roles in the A's seven game win over the Reds in the '72 World Series. Oakland went on to three-peat with wins in '73 and '74. Valenzuela and Scioscia were key pitcher-catcher for the Dodgers with Scioscia later managing in the ML. Perconte was a solid big leaguer.
Neal made his ML debut in 2003. He's one of only a few players who played for both the White Sox and Cubs. He came back to the big leagues after almost four years away with injuries and illness, pitching two very strong years for the Rangers.
Some guy wrote a book about Neal and his road to the big leagues.
Mays- 24 time All Star with 660 HRs. Stengel- 1,905 wins as a manager and nine time WS champion as a player twice and the others as skipper of the Yankees.
Both of these cards were personally signed. Yogi's is a Donruss card- both cards were signed when they were members of the Astro's coaching staff in the 80's.
Eddie Mathews-17 years in the big leagues and 512 homers. Lou Burdette-203 ML wins and WS MVP in 1957. NOTE: Burdette was a right handed pitcher-take a look at his two hands and glove. Can you figure out this photo?
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