1960 Union Oil Seattle Rainiers

RIP former major leaguer Doug Creek. He shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2011.

On a whim I made a bid on a lot of 1960 Union Oil Seattle Rainiers. All I knew was that they were nice-looking vintage minor league cards. I won with the minimum bid, about a dollar apiece for seven cards. Turns out to have been quite a good deal.

Union Oil (76) put out several PCL sets in the early 1960s, but this is the only one in full color. They photos really look nice. They were taken at Sicks Stadium in Seattle, a longtime minor league park, and the home of the Pilots in 1969. The stadium was torn down in 1979 and the location is now a Lowe's store, where there is a marker noting the location of home plate and a small exhibit about Seattle baseball.

Here are two photos down the right field line. Hal Bevan and Buddy Gilbert. Seattle was a Reds minor league team. The sign in the background is for Royal Red canned tuna.

Down the left field line, Bill Hain and Gordy Coleman. I love the ball in front of the glove, and the cropping of the Coleman card. The apartment complex behind is called Baker 38 now, I don't know if it was then. It's all shrouded by trees now.

Pitcher Ken Rudolph in the bullpen, and Joe Taylor a little further down the right field line, with more of a center field view.

The lot had seven cards, and it turns out it was only a nine card set. I'm missing Lou Skizas and one of the short prints, Ray Rippelmeyer. But I was fortunate to get the other short print, which I didn't know was an SP at the time. It was the image of this card that compelled me to bid. It has to be one of the best vintage cards of all time.

Eskimo Pie tastes better! Even without that sign, the classic fielding pose and the Coca-Cola sign would have made Chico Obregon's card a winner. But that Eskimo Pie sign makes it an all-time great!

The backs are worth a mention on these. There are great write-ups on the players, with lots of bygone language. (Taylor used to be a singles hitter but now he "squeezes the sawdust out of the bat".) They also give the player's marital status and children, have a big ad for the old Union Oil Company, and a note that they were created by Pete Luther Photo. (The cards do have a photo paper feel to them.) Don Rudolph's writeup is particularly interesting.

Patti Waggin's story is an interesting one. She was the first woman to combine burlesque dancing with motorcycle riding, and hers was one of the most popular photos requested by GIs during the Korean War. She appeared in Playboy magazine in 1955, the same year she married Rudolph, her third husband. Rudolph managed her, with her appearances usually coinciding with Rudolph's baseball travel. They had a daughter in 1961. Rudolph retired from baseball in 1966 and started a contracting company, but was killed in 1968 when his truck overturned. Patti never remarried and died in 1992.