Card Show Haul

Aloha, everybody, 

Everyone loves personal time. Personal time plus spending money is even better. When this combination falls my way, I love to hop in the car and drive out to the Saturday card show. I was lucky enough to do that a couple of times last month, and I'd like to show some of the cards I came upon while I was out. 

Leading off is a quick pick up of my favorite dual sport athlete. Step aside, Tim Tebow...

 Back in the 90s, when Donruss used to be able to show logos, they were my favorite brand. One reason was their inserts. I loved chasing - and catching those inserts. One of my favorites was Press Proofs. 

While browsing the dealer boxes I came upon this Press Proof, numbered 64/199. I picked it up with Matt in mind, but if Matt doesn't want/need it, I'll be happy to pass it on to someone else, or add it to my (very small) press proof collection...

Here's a new addition to my defunct teams collection. This comes from a 1962 oddball release...

I tried to come up with a "shadow shot" interpretation for the card, but I only drew a blank. I suppose I would fail a psychiatrist's ink blot test as well. 

Coming up is one that I've seen around and been chasing for a while. Finally, I've got my own copy of the Flying Spikes card...

These next two will notch two more off my vintage Dodgers team sets. First up from 1958 Topps is Don Bessent. I can't believe I'm down to 11 needed for this year...

I've still got a long way to go for 1959, but Mr. Kipp chips one more away. 

Check out his signature. It reminds me of my father's autograph. My father was a southpaw that the army forced to be a right-hander. He always signed like that afterward...

I don't usually pick up Fleer from this era, but I hadda have this one for a lotta reasons...

Sure, it's a little chewy, but what vintage lover would not love this Zinzinatti vintage? From 1960 Topps...

 Here are a couple more Dodgers for the team sets...

These are for my World Series subsets, and I'm now just two cards shy of completion for the 1971 WS...

Finally, this guy...

I couldn't resist those glasses, and he fits right into my Defunct Teams collection, so I snatched it up. 

I also picked up some surprises for a couple of my trade partners, but they're surprises, so you won't see them today. 

Enjoy your weekends, everybody, wherever you may be. 

Aloha! 

Some Quickie Monday Vintage for the Mix

Aloha, everybody, 

I stopped by the card show to see what I can see, and I saw these...

I'd already collected these 1979 Topps All-Time Record Holders, but a couple needed upgrading.

The card this upgrade is replacing is still in very good shape, in case anybody out there wants it. 

Here's one I picked up for my World Series collection. Little did I know one of these was already coming my way courtesy Robert from $30 a Week Habit. 

Do you need this one, Matt? 

Here's one that's neither upgrade nor a double...

I need Games 1 and 3 to complete the 1970 WS subset. 

I just couldn't pass up this sweet 1955 Topps "Ripper"...

These dual-player cards from 1975 Topps are an easy and inexpensive way to grab Hall of Famers...

So I double-dipped...

Finally, a little something I picked up with my friend, Mark Hoyle in mind. Give a shout if you want this one. 

If not, 1961 Pumpsie will sit just fine in my binder...unless someone needs it? 

Aloha! 

Adventures With Voting (and the Players Who Fought for that Right)

Aloha, everyone, 

I've mentioned before that it's been awhile between posts because I was off on other adventures. This here is about my latest. 

I recently worked for an organization that was registering people to vote here in California. Yup, I was that guy outside the local shopping center registering voters. 

We weren't pushing any agenda or candidates. The effort was simply to expand democracy by registering as many voters as possible. That appealed to me, as I'm a big believer in voting, so I took the gig. Here are a few experiences from that adventure. 

But first, since we're a card-collecting community, and I like to share my collection with all of you, I'm dropping in some cards from ML ballplayers who were combat vets. They're the heroes who fought for our precious right to vote. 

Leading off is Jackie in sparkle-vision (WW2) 

In this gig I interacted, for better or worse, with a couple of hundred (or more) folks a day. I asked if they were registered to vote, and their reactions ran the gambit from thanking me and encouraging me to "keep up the good work" to outright hostility. 

Tris Speaker WW1- The War to End All Wars

The work was rarely boring, and often pleasantly surprising. We came across all kinds, from yahoos dressed head to toe in camo gear (who don't want to vote), to a young man with a Bob Dylan shirt that read "This Machine Kills Fascists" (who also didn't want to vote - and failed to see the irony in it all). 

In looking up ballplayers who were combat vets, I came across Warren Spahn, who like my father, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and who also just like my father, was awarded the bronze star in the action. Unfortunately, it turns out I don't have any Spahn cards. This is something I'll have to remedy. 

Joe D, UD Baseball Hero, and WW2  hero. 

Here were some of the pleasant surprises:

The mom who's been eligible to vote for 37 years, but never bothered to vote. Until now. 

A new citizen-mom with a baby under her arm who happily registered for her first election. 

A heavily tattooed, heavily muscled biker, wearing stomping boots, who broke into a warm smile and proudly proclaimed he's already a registered voter. 

I was particularly surprised and encouraged by the number of 20-somethings who were already registered. 

Willie Mays, Korean War, and Stan the Man, WW2,  together again in Topps Archives 

Sometimes couples registered together and completely surprised each other. One would register as a Democrat, and the other as a Republican. Eyes would open wide, and more than once I heard the shocked partner continue the spirited conversation into the store, or the parking lot. 

Lots of folks felt very comfortable giving me their political opinions. Some of the Trump supporters worried me. They took a  little too much enjoyment in staring me down and declaring their allegiance to Trump in voices laced with venom. 

Christy Mathewson, UD Origins of the Game , and WW1

A few times people tried to stuff a dollar or two into my hand, without looking at me or listening to my words. Were they exceptionally kind because they were so quick to give me a couple of bucks? I didn't know what to make of a society where people wanting money are in our face so often, that it's just assumed. 

Teddy Ballgame WW2 AND Korean War

One not-so-pleasant surprise was running into so many people that our prison system holds in its grip. Far too many people told me they couldn't vote because they're ex-felons. 

Every day I met ex-felons, men and women, who were on active parole, or just off. They stopped being invisible numbers and became visible - in numbers - all around me. 

Bear in mind I was in completely random settings, for only a few hours a day, and I kept meeting people who had been snared in the prison population nets, and couldn't vote. 

Ty Cobb WW1

I've never had a gig like that before, and I'm not sure how much I'd like to do it again. That said, I got to work outside, which I love, and I was able to use the gig to put in lots of walking exercise, logging miles a day. 

And in a small way, I did my part for democracy by registering a couple of hundred new voters. 

Aloha! 

Ty Cobb - Hero of the Deadball Era and Cardboard Values

Aloha, everybody, 

In my previous post we broke down a Conlon Collection card featuring Chief Meyers. Something in his words on the back of the card got me to thinking.   

Meyers talked about pitchers from his day being scared of the new "jackrabbit ball". This highlighted that he was a player in the Deadball Era, a time I've heard of, but never thought much about. 

 I was pretty sure that faster ball he referenced was something baseball had introduced to increase runs and kill the low-scoring times. I hit the net and learned some interesting tidbits, but I'm not here to school you on the Deadball era - I just wanna show off some baseball cards. 

Let's begin with one of the most (in)famous players to come out of the times, and the guy who's cards are rocking the foundations of the baseball card-collecting world as you read this. 

Did you hear about the find of seven Ty Cobb T-206's in a crumbled up paper bag?  A family from perhaps South Carolina found seven tobacco Cobb cards, pushing the number of known specimens from 15 to 22. They say the find's worth is measured across seven digits! 

My Cobb cardboard won't fetch that kind of money, but then again, I'm happy keeping them all in my collection.

 It seems Cobb's career was directly influenced by the jackrabbit ball that Meyers talked about, as his batting average jumped up to .420 when cork-centered baseballs were introduced. 

 This 2001 Upper Deck Cooperstown Collection card is no T-206, but it's a jewel to me, with its gold stamping and poignant photo of a thousand-yard-staring Cobb. 

Finally, the Georgia Peach, coming at ya! 

Next time: More heroes from the Deadball Era. Aloha!

 

It's The Baseball Bengals!

Aloha, everybody,

How about those Bengals? They managed to snatch defeat from the hands of victory because a couple of players let their emotions get the best of them. 

Baseball players can become emotional as well. Some wear their emotions on their sleeves, causing meltdowns, eruptions and confrontations that everyone can see, affecting the outcomes of games, and sometimes, their careers and reputations. 

Today's post isn't meant to be a comprehensive list of these players. It's limited by my memory, my artistic license with the definition of a Baseball Bengal, and of course, by the cards in my collection. 

First up is the original Baseball Bengal. In yesterday's AFC playoff game, Bengal Vontaze Burflict laid out the Steeler's Mike Brown with a vicious head shot. The Georgia Peach earned a reputation for physically punishing opponents as well. 

Cobb was rumored to sharpen his spikes and use them as weapons against opposing players, and he didn't have any qualms about going into the stands to mix it up against the fans. 

Good ol' Billy Martin didn't mind a good dust up himself. He had numerous fights on and off the field, and he was supposedly traded away from the Yankees as a result of a drunken barroom brawl. 

As a manger, he regularly displayed his emotions for all to see, once engaging in a dugout shoving match with Reggie Jackson after yanking Reggie from the field in the middle of an inning. His numerous firings and re-hirings as Yankees manager became a running punch line for comedians. 

Brett wasn't exactly a hothead, but he does qualify as a Bengal because of his famous eruption after the umpires erased one of his home runs because they determined he had too much pine tar on his bat. 

Joss pitched two no-hitters and one perfect game. There's really nothing that points to him as an emotional powderkeg, but with a nickname like "the human hairpin", and that ever-lovin' mug that just seethes with, "Go'wan, I dare ya!", I figured I'd give him an honorary membership.

The next two players had one memorable clash that left impressions on both of their careers...

Robin Ventura made the mistake of charging the mound and challenging Ryan.  It was a young, star third baseman against a 46-year old. The Express promptly headlocked Ventura and mercilessly pummeled him. 

Andre Ethier has a well-earned reputation of letting his emotions get the best of him. A couple of seasons back, a photo went viral of Ethier shooting double middle fingers to the press, and he regularly overreacts when he feels pitchers are throwing at him, or umpires are cheating him on the strike zone.

Most recently, he went on a dugout shouting tirade against his manager Don Mattingly, in the middle of a playoff game against the Mets. 

However, no Dodger was a bigger Baseball Bengal than Milton Bradley. I know I have Bradley's Dodger cards around here somewhere, but I can't find anything quickly, so this will have to do...

Here's Milton in one of his numerous meltdowns; this time he's emptying a bag of baseballs on the field. Unfortunately for Bradley, he was such a Bengal that he had these outbursts with every team he played for, and he eventually wore out his MLB welcome. 

Finally, we have a Dodger who went Bengal at Wrigley Field, back in 2000.

 The confines may be friendly, but not all Cubs fans are. Someone snatched Kreuter's cap off of his head, which led him to blow his other top, and go into the stands. Numerous other Dodgers went Bengal as well, causing a near-riot. 

 I watched this game on TV, but I couldn't find any video of it. If you didn't see the game, you can imagine what a mess it was. In the end, 19 Dodgers were suspended - and Kreuter never did get his hat back. 

In honor of the Baseball Bengals, the Clash will take us out with White Riot! 

Aloha!

One Man's Dime Box Cards Are My Treasure

Hey everybody,

Spring Training is well underway and Opening Day is right around the corner.  What a great time of year!

Something else that's great is making trades with fellow bloggers and ATBATT's readers.  Today I'm covering a trade with one of the top bloggers in the game today, Good 'ol Nick, from the venerable Dime Boxes blog. 

This time Nick included a note expressing regret that he was low on Dodgers and how he hoped the inclusion of some other HOFers would make up for that.  Are you kidding, Nick?  Your trade packages are ALWAYS chock full of fantastic cardboard, and this time was no exception.

As usual, Nick sent so many cool cards I had a difficult time just to separate out nine cards to fit on my scanner for this post. That said, let's check the top nine I chose:

One can never go wrong sending Dodger vintage to me. 3-Dog was one of my earliest favorite Dodgers.  I was just a kid, but I quickly latched onto Davis because he was a southpaw just like me!

 I dig this psychadelic 70's card of Maury Wills and his well-used mitt.  It's said that the groundskeepers for the evil Giants over at Candlestick Park used to saturate the area around first base with water in the hopes of slowing down the speedy Wills. Ha! Good luck with that.

Now for one of today's Boys in Blue...

 RYYYYYYUUUUUUU !!  Now that Zack Grienke is not going on that ridiculous opening weekend trip to Australia, Manager Mattingly has declared Ryu will take the mound for Game Two of the season. 

 I love Ryu's game face when he pitches. Intense, baby! Come git some....

 How about this crazy card of Roger the Dodger?  Just what the heck is going on here?  I'm guessing this photo was snapped during the laid back days of Spring Training. I wouldn't be surprised if the camera were pointing backward, thus unintentionally creating the first selfie ever.

Nick also sent over some cool cardboard from other teams...

 The Catfish!  I'm presuming someone may have sent this card to Nick because of his "Grips" collection. If so, thanks for parting with this awesome card, Nick.

Another great card of a great pitcher.  Although pictured here with his first team, the Indians, I'll always remember him as an Oakland A.  Hey Ecks, can you hear it?  "High fly ball into right field....SHE IS GOOOOOOOOONE !!!!!"

These Cooperstown Collection cards are beautiful.  I only have a handful, and now I can add the Georgia Peach to that group.

Finally, this little foldout whose origins I don't know, but I am now proud to own.  I've mentioned before that I may not be a Yankees fan, but I can appreciate those Yankee greats from yesteryear.  Yogi Berra is certainly one of those Yankee players whom I admire and collect.

Yogi lost his wife of 65 years - 65 YEARS! - this past week.  What an epic love.  My deepest condolences, Yogi. 

And Nick, my THANKS for a great trade.  I'm already gathering a fistful of cards to send out to you  for our next trade.

Thanks for reading, everyone.