Here’s some baseball art for the unfortunate Cubs fan. These 4x6 note cards from Octavine Illustration depict three infielders from the 1908 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs: Joe Tinker to Johnny Evers to Frank Chance. The seller also has hand painted Moleskine notebooks, my notebook / journal of choice, of generic Detroit Tigers from the 1920’s.
Thanks to Blue Heaven’s post on a Drysdale Tasco poster, we’re the proud new owners of the Gibson version. It’s roughly 12 x 16 and on its way to be framed. I bought it from a different dealer, but there’s a two poster package (Gibby & Frank Howard) from another seller listed. This scan is from the auction I won ($9.99 BIN). I’ll try to post a better picture of the framed poster.
Ok. Not THE first Stan Musial card, just our first real vintage Musial. Its from the 1963 Topps set highlighting the 1962 NL Batting Leaders. Musial was third that year behind Tommy Davis and Frank Robinson. Amazingly, The Man did this in his penultimate year, 21 years removed from his first AB in 1941.
I just checked out his page at Baseball Reference and am trying to figure out how someone who retired holding 17 Major League and 29 National League records and an All Star 19 out of 21 seasons was left off the initial All Century Team and had to be added later by a special panel.
Is it actually possible for a man with three MVP’s (four runners up), three World Series rings (a fourth as a GM), 3630 Hits, .331 Career BA (averaging just 33 strike outs a year), 475 HR’s, and 1951 RBI’s is under-appreciated or even under-rated? And that’s a career shortened one year for military service. And yet, 45 years after he hung them up for good Musial still ranks in the Top 10 in nine offensive categories, ten if you throw in games played.
Its really just a sliver of a Musial card, sharing face time (literally) with two HOF’s. I picked this card up at a card shop / antique toy store in Prescott, AZ earlier this month. A neat little shop where the owner remembered me from my last visit six months ago and who offered to set aside interesting Cardinals for my next visit in Feb 2010. I’m looking forward to what they have for me next time I’m in town.
I ran into a box of these over lunch. I only picked up two Cardinals related cards and left the rest of the deck behind. I can go back and pick up what’s left if anyone is interested. Plenty of Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox, etc… cards in the pile.
1943 – Cardinals Lose the Series to the Yankees 4 – 1.
So last month, Isaac pulls an instant winner Rick Ankiel autograph ticket at the Winter Warm-Up. Saturday, he gets a 36 card jumbo pack of 2009 Topps in his Valentines basket. He didn’t pull an autograph, a relic, or a Cardinal legend, much less a base Cardinal, but he did pull this:
At first he thought it was a silk card. He really wants to pull a silk card. He doesn’t want to buy one, just pull one… Wrapper says the insert rate for the Legends Stamp cards is 1:755 packs (not sure if that is all packs, retail packs, retail jumbos, etc…) and is easily the rarest thing he’s gotten out of any pack. Ever the set builder, he set this one aside, put the base cards in order, then promptly logged into ToppsTown to start building that online set. You go buddy!
Everyone owes it to themselves to view Don Hamerman’s photographs of baseballs in various states of disintegration.
From the artist:
”I began collecting these baseballs in the winter of 2004-2005. Discovered in the park near my house where I walk my dog daily, they went unnoticed by others. Abject, rejected and forlorn, their state depended on the season of their discovery. Some hid in the high grass, gutted by lawnmowers, or under leaves, rotting, the leather skins long since decomposed. Covered in ice crystals on a February morning or shrouded in summer moss, they all hinted at mysterious pasts.”Check out this Hamerman interview on 20x200 for more background.
I was fortunate enough to grab these before they sold out… and the small sizes sell out very quickly. I’m hoping they offer more from this series this spring… maybe another double header on Opening Day? Oh yeah, like all 20x200 editions the “base” is numbered to 200, with larger editions numbered to 20 and 2.
Hemi
Mossball
Stricken
Untitled (Elephant)
I took Isaac to the monthly St. Louis Sports Collector’s show on Sunday as we haven’t gone in a few months. I thought I’d blog a few random observations on the show but will focus on one event that serves as a microcosm of the hobby, good and bad.
We were looking through the 10 cent boxes (great stuff in there: 06/07 Turkey Red Ad backs, Isaac found a bunch of Sizemore & Braun cards, 08 Heritage, etc…) when a dealer on the backside of the table noticed Isaac and offered him this card: a die-cut UD X Longoria Rookie card. He gave it to Isaac out right even after I asked him if he was sure. That’s the good part.
The bad? He had it priced at $12.95!!! I imagine the thought process went something like this:
- Before the show: Longoria is hot. Let’s price these high and wait for the $$$ to roll in.
- Half way through the show: Man, it doesn’t look like this is going to sell… I’ll offer it at half off to anyone who touches it.
- Hour left in the show: Hey, check that little kid out, haven’t seen a kid that young around here in months. I’ll just give it to him… just a piece of worthless cardboard anyway.The better? Isaac thanked him (without prompting) and immediately said he wanted to send it to Dave at Fielders along with a stack of Rays Cracker Jack mini’s & stickers he pulled out of the box (Dave, I hope you need them ‘cause they’re on the way). Turns out Dave already has this one so he put it in his favorite player binder… in the back with a Pedroia of all things.
Overall, the show was a good time (except for the eerie encounter with a 36 year old collector, still living with his parents, telling us how great the big Turkey Red & Allen & Ginter cards looked taped to the walls of his room… uh, look Isaac! THAT booth across the room has Cardinals stuff. Let’s go… quickly). There were actually quite a few dealers who gave Isaac freebies when he walked up including Cardinal Heritage dupes, free packs, and stacks of random cards. The best part of the day was opening five packs of 2009 Topps over our lunch at Steak ‘n’ Shake.
The Grover Alexander original artwork I ordered while in Mexico arrived last week while I was in Arizona. It unexpectedly arrived framed and was definitely more stunning in hand than online. Unfortunately my camera skills do not do it justice. The artist, Mark Penxa, also has his online gallery available on Flickr.
Another opportunity to combine my interests in art and baseball on this blog. This print by Mark Ulriksen was from a 2008 World Series double header on 20x200, an online art gallery / blog offering affordable prints, photographs, and originals in limited editions. This one is numbered 33 / 200! Perfect!
From the artist:
The second half of the twin bill: Stars and Stripes. Numbered 198/200.
How many posts can I milk from one shop visit? Let’s bleed this one dry and find out… This time a Topps type-card stroll through the 60’s + 1.
1960 – Bill White
1961 – Nada
1962 – Bob Duliba
1963 – Carl Sawatski. That might be one of the best baseball names I’ve never heard. Can you imagine ESPN highlights whenever he’d bash a homer?
1964 – Ray Sadecki
1965 – Ron Taylor
1966 – Dal Maxvill.
1967 – Nada
1968 – 1967 World Series Highlights
1969 – Ron Willis
1970 – Chuck Taylor. Sir, my son wears your shoes… red ones of course.
Here are the other posts:
Only a few more to go…
Isaac loves the 2008 Heritage but, being six, didn’t understand that the set was based on the Topps 1959 design. Fortunately, these were part of the vintage haul so he could see old and new in person. I’m considering building Cardinal team sets around these random cards from various years but imagine that could be a fairly costly proposition given the likes of Musial, Gibson, Brock, Carlton, etc… We’ll see.
Jim Brosnan
1980 – Brock & Yaz 1979 Highlights
Now this is a highlight card. Not one of those modern manufactured highlight or year in review insert cards, this card celebrates two legends from two of baseball’s most storied franchises eclipsing the 3000 hit mark in the same year. The card is appropriately #1 in this set and it certainly is fitting that the Brock photo appears to be at Wrigley.
A by product of Jawdy’s Basement Heroes January Break was a trade with Ernest at Blue Heaven: a stack of Cardinals for a stack of Dodgers. I returned from a trip to Guadalajara to find Blue Heaven’s very generous package. He sent a mix of 80’s & 90’s Cardinals, a smattering of vintage cards and then some really, really vintage cards.
Isaac loved the Ozzies, especially the action shots.
Two current Cardinals. Ankiel’s story truly is amazing and I’m reminded of it every time I see his older cards as a Pitcher.
A few vintage cards… plus four 1972 Topps not pictured.
Three interesting Victorian cards from the 1800’s. Check out these links from Blue Heaven for more info: Victorian Baseball Cards, Merchant’s Gargling Oil Cards. Click on the cards for larger images. I doubt we’ll go search these out but, like Japanese cards, they’re fun and interesting.
And finally a pin for Isaac’s jean jacket.
Thanks again to Blue Heaven for a great trade. I only hope the cards we sent in return came close in offering the sheer enjoyment with these cards. Check out his blog for Dodgers info and vintage baseball card and memorabilia information. It truly is a great resource and has pointed us to several items of note we would not have known about.
Another pair from the vintage haul, this time Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm and our first vintage Stan Musial card. That’s him in the back row, second from the left.
- Junior waving goodbye in a White Sox uni is wrong
- Yadier Molina will not be #660 this year
- Glad to see Turkey Red back. The two we have picture modern stadiums
in the background.
- Are we losing a card or gaining a checklist?
- They couldn't find a better shot of Pujols for the MVP card? Really?
- Photography overall is much nicer this year.
- The player cards will give Isaac even more reasons to like Topps
Town. Look for gold parallels in addition to regular TT cards.
Another day, another package for Isaac. Dave from Fielder’s Choice sent a package in exchange for some 2008 Heritage High and some U & H’s. Here are Isaac’s favorites:
David Kopp – 2008 Bowman Chrome Auto. Never heard of him so I told Isaac to look him up in his Cardinals prospects book. He said, without looking, that he wasn’t in the book. I told him to check the book… sure enough he wasn’t listed. The kid has a memory. He loves autographs since the Winter Warmup.
Isaac loves coming home and seeing a package in the mail. I was out of the country last week and it was nice hearing how excited he was each evening as he told me what state the package came from, opened it up, and told me about each card inside. It felt like we were opening the package up together… almost like I was home.
This was our usual trade: a stack of your favorite team for a stack of Cardinals. This time, All Tribe Baseball sent a box of Cardinals our way along with a nice note about collecting with his sons for 16 – 17 years. He sent a ton of nice cards. These are Isaac’s favorites.
Brian Barton – 2007 UD Timeline. More on one of Isaac’s favorite players here.
Two Musial 2004 Diamond King Variants
Two Brocks & one Gibson
Grady Sizemore – 2008 X. Not sure when he became a fan of Sizemore, not to mention Ryan Braun, but he’s started pages for both of them in his Favorite Players binder.
Thanks again, Jack. We’ve filled up the box with Indians and will be sending them tomorrow!
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