Cake or gum? 1977 John Montefusco

Last time it was Topps in a close one, 6-4. How will this one go down?

Hostess has Montefusco at Candlestick Park, some advertising visible above him, not sure what they are selling. Looks like a red car in one of the ads. Topps has him in a spring training shot, his glove dominating the photo.

John Montefusco won the NL Cy Young Award in 1975, going 15-9 with a 2.88 ERA. The following year he went 16-14 with a 2.84 ERA, leading the NL with 6.9 WAR. However, injuries hampered his effectiveness and he didn't live up to those first couple of outstanding seasons. In 298 games for four teams, he went 90-83 with a 3.54 ERA. In the late 1990s he spent two years in jail awaiting trial on domestic violence charges, of which he was acquitted on almost all counts. He spent a few years as a minor league pitching coach but appears to now be retired.

Wood vs. Wood #297

Last time was a 7-2 win for 1987. Will 1962 be more competitive here?

Ron Perranoski warms up, his jersey over his jacket. In the background another jacketed Dodgers is running into the frame. Perranoski was one of the first modern closers. In a 13-year career that spanned from 1961 to 1973, he pitched in 737 games, 736 in relief. With the Dodgers he had five seasons of 15+ saves. He eventually lost his closer job to Phil Regan and was traded to Minnesota, where he blossomed into a star, leading the AL in saves in 1969 and 1970, topping 30 saves both times. Overall he went 79-74 with 178 saves and a 2.79 ERA. However, Perranoski struggled mightily in the postseason. In 10 games in five different series, he went 0-1 with a 7.98 ERA. After his playing career he was a pitching coach for the Dodgers and Giants. He died in 2020.

Don Schulze seems to be caught in mid-conversation. Schulze pitched for five teams in six major league seasons, including stints with both NY teams. In 76 games (59 starts), he went 15-25 with a 5.47 ERA. He also pitched three seasons in Japan for the Orix Blue Wave, going 12-11 and hitting the last home run by a pitcher in Japan's Pacific League during the era when they had a DH and no interleague ball. He has been a pitching coach in the Athletics organization since 2006.
 

1974 Topps Deckle Dating: Tony Oliva

The black-and-white makes it hard to tell, but I assume those are trees behind Oliva, not mountains.

March 25, 1973.

The clouds are a good sign this might be the right date - the Twins beat the Braves 1-0 in a spring game shortened by rain. In other news, the Battle of Tong Le Chon began in Vietnam, Argentinian terrorists took over a nuclear power plant (but only to steal weapons), Chicago ran it's last electric trolleybus, and Immaculata University repeated as US women's college basketball champions.

 

Roundup

 Some long overdue thanks for some great PWEs over the past month from around the web. TCDB, OBC and a blogger.

Lots of city lights on these cards from Biggiocollector.  My favorite is definitely the holographic New York's Finest card.

Ed Fagan sent a '68 high number, with many 1969 Topps stamps along for the ride!

Some really nice vintage cards from AdamD. Great shots of '70s Shea Stadium and '50s Yankee Stadium.

Only one card from last month's Diamond Jesters time travel trade but it's a good one, a 1960 Topps Art Mahaffey.

Eclectic mix of mostly Cubs from RParsons17. Turk Wendell on the old phone is great. The '86 Dale Murphy is interesting, the photo is clearly from the 1984 All Star Game so a year out of date.

Steve Sankner sent Mickey McDermott on a 1955 Bowman card, from his Washington Senators days.

I love the photos on early 80s Fleer products. These came from 49ants. Down to needing just three 1984 stickers: 2, 28, 48.

Kyle Dworchak sent a PWE stuffed with 90s superstars. He finished my 1996 Donruss set with the two biggest names of the era, Griffey and Jeter.

Last and least (only in size!) are four minis from Casey Branton.

Three from '53

I've already shown the purchases I've made from eBay over the past few weeks now that I'm back to buying on there. But I haven't shown the first lot I bought in July. That's because it took a very long time to get to me, with the seller mailing it to the wrong person and that person taking a long time to send it back. Finally here they are, 3 for $3 on '53 is always a good deal. A couple of nice portraits and Billy Loes pitching in his pajamas.

 

Wallet Card with a newly-revealed old phone number

My eagle eye for old signs caught this in my town recently. A pawn shop closed, the sign got taken down and beneath it was an old phone number: RO 4-3495.

RO (Rockville Centre) numbers are common here as it is the nearest large town. There are still lots of numbers that start with 76. Looking online I couldn't find a ton of information about what was here. There may have been a glass business here in the 1970s (though it may have been the next building over) but that one had a different phone number. There was an electronics repair business with this number but it had a different address, though it's possible it had been here at some point.
 

1981 Topps Nino Espinosa

 

The front: Warming up in the bullpen. I don't know if this is Veterans Stadium or spring training.

The back: Espinosa and his older brother moved from the Dominican Republic to the Bronx in 1970, after Nino's high school graduation. He quickly drew the attention of a Mets scout who signed him that September.

The player: Nino Espinosa came up with the Mets in 1974 and became a member of their starting rotation in 1977. After two good seasons with some bad Mets teams he was traded for the Phillies. With Philadelphia he encountered recurring injuries and struggled to contribute. Overall in 140 games he went 44-55 with a 4.17 ERA.

The man: After his playing career he became a scout for the Cubs, setting up their Dominican scouting organization. In 1987, at the age of 34 he died of a heart attack. The next season Cubs minor leaguers wore black armbands in his honor. (can be seen on many 1988 Cub minor league cards - example)

My collection: I have seven of his cards, from 1977 to 1981. I would be interested in trading for  1979 Topps Burger King Philadelphia Phillies #11.

 

1976 SSPC Ken McMullen

The card, in brief: Lots going on in the background. (Was just reading Night Owl's post which mentioned the lack of background in Topps photos these days - I miss cards like these!)

Playing career, in brief:  McMullen bounced around for several teams, including two Dodgers stints, but had his best seasons as a Washington Senator. He was a fine defensive 3B who hit more for power than average. In 1,583 games for five teams, he hit .248 with 156 HR and 606 RBI.

Post playing career, in brief: After his playing career he was a youth baseball instructor and briefly owned a minor league team, the Ventura County Gulls. He still makes appearances on behalf of the Dodgers.

My collection: I have 20 of his cards, from 1964 go 1977. I would be interested in trading for 1963 Topps #537 (might be a little tough!) and 1972 Topps #765. 

1990 Topps Big Deep Dive: Dave Valle

Valle gives it his all, warming up the pitcher between innings while the starting catcher gets his equipment on.

Long before Uber Eats.

Right job, wrong food. Valle delivered food for a Chinese restaurant in Bayside, Queens, during high school and his first couple of minor league offseasons. (I was living in Bayside for part of that time, though I was a baby and a toddler so I don't remember it.) His best friend had the same job. That friend, future Mets GM Omar Minaya, introduced Valle to his future wife, Vicky, who worked as a perfume girl at Bloomingdale's.

Gum or cake? 1977 Rick Monday

Last time it was a 5-3 victory for Topps. How will they fare here?

Topps has Monday in his Cubs uniform, in a follow-through pose at spring training. Monday was traded to the Dodgers in January of 1977, and the move is reflected on the Hostess card, where a Dodgers logo was airbrushed onto his hat. To me it's a bit reminiscent of 1958 cards where Topps airbrushed an LA onto the Brooklyn caps. This photo looks like it might have been taken at the same time as the other one.

Rick Monday had a solid 19-year career for the A's, Cubs and Dodgers, and would hit a career-high 32 home runs in '76. That year the ex-Marine made national news for foiling a flag-burning attempt in the Dodger Stadium outfield. Monday explained afterwards, "I’ve visited enough veterans hospitals and seen enough guys with their legs blown off defending the flag." To this day it is still unknown exactly what the two perpetrators were protesting. On the field, Monday's biggest moment came as a Dodger, with his ninth-inning home run in Game 5 of the NLCS giving the Dodgers a 2-1 over the Expos, a moment remembered by Expos fans as "Blue Monday". Monday remains in the Dodgers organization, currently in his 33nd season as an announcer for the team.

Hey hey, got some Jay

 Picked up a lot of Jay photo cards from various Yankee sets. A lot of them were '64s. I really like the Downing and Howard cards, but they're all great photos. Interesting left field wall on the Downing card, it's DC Stadium, later known as RFK Stadium, in Washington.

A few more, late 50s and early 60s. Even a dupe, an extra 1958 Andy Carey available for trade.

 

A very "important" autograph

I picked this up from eBay on a whim for $3. I think I was looking at some other things this seller had and I decided to put in the minimum bid. On the front is a nice standard photo of the famous Yankee Joe Pepitone.

The back is where the interesting part is. Certainly an unusual autograph. It matches other Pepitone autographs, and I found some inscriptions written in print and they seem to match soon. I'm guessing he had a stack of these and in this case used one to leave a message to the mailman. I'm guessing that mailman kept it for a while and then sold it, probably expecting more than $3 for it.

I guess it could be from any time from the early 1970s to his death in 2023, but I'd like to assume it's from the 70's. Overnight mail is more a product of that time anyway. Certainly an unusual item.
 

 

Wallet card with a hidden vintage Pepsi sign

Any long-time readers of this blog know I love finding vintage Pepsi signs in the wild. This one I never would have found on my own, I found a reference to it online. This is an old Pepsi sign with a bit of the "Say Pepsi, Please" logo visible. "Say Pepsi, Please" was the soda's slogan in the early 1960s. This one has been painted over and had some holes punched in it to accommodate a sprinkler and a fire alarm.

This is near the ground, on the steps of a building on Broome Street and Wooster Street in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood. Wallet card for scale. (I really need to remember to tape that thing up!) This clearly wasn't the original location of this sign, but I'm guessing at the time something was needed to cover up this window, the sign was readily available. A 1940s tax photo of the building shows it was a luncheonette, so my guess is that the sign is from that luncheonette a couple of decades later.
 

Wood vs. Wood #296

Last time was a 6-3 win for 1987. Will it's roll continue here?

Up close and personal with Ken Hamlin, listed as a Senator but still in his Angels jersey. Hamlin was a good fielding, OK-hitting infielder who had stints in the majors with the Pirates, A's, Angels and Senators between 1957 and 1966. Overall in 468 games he hit .241 with 11 HR and 89 RBI. After his playing career he was a high school coach and ran a sports camp in Michigan for many years. He is now retired.

Andres Thomas busts out of the box in a spring training game at West Palm Beach. Thomas was similar to Hamlin, but with more power and more errors. In 1988 he hit 13 HR but led the NL in errors and had 14 walks compared to 95 strikeouts. A notorious free swinger, that was Thomas's career high in walks for a seasons, though he had five seasons of 290+ plate appearances. Overall in 577 games he hit .234 with 42 HR and 228 RBI. After his playing career he was a minor league coach, but he appears to now be retired.

Easily avoided mistakes

This was not one of my better ebay purchases. $17 for six cards. Seemed like a fun eclectic mix but if I'd done a minute of research I wouldn't have bothered.

These were three of the cards. I knew I had the '57 McDaniel. Apparently I have enough '52s now that I forgot I had Mele already. Well it's my first ever dupe of a '52 Topps. The Buck Weaver card looked cool, even though I knew there was a chance that a playing-days card of a Black Sox player might not be real. Again, if I had done even a tiny bit of research I would have seen that it was a reprint.  

At least I needed these three. Any 1936 card is a good one. The Bowman commons are nice even if too pricy at what I paid.

The Kuzava is an interesting one. (Pictured with the back of the Weaver card with the same brown spots as every Weaver on Etsy.) Kuzava looks like a Yankee here but he's actually a Senator on this 1951 Bowman card. He was traded to the Yankees in June of '51 and quickly became a 1950s version of a closer, getting the final outs of both the 1951 and 1952 World Series. Until I had the card in hand I didn't even realize what was written on it. I have no idea if it's a real autograph, but if it is it looks like the inscription is describing the picture? Starts with "While in the warmup" but I can't make out the last word.

 

1974 Topps Deckle Dating: Reggie Jackson

REGGIE! REGGIE!

June 30, 1973. These are TCDB "scans" - though the watermark here gives it away. I'm of the opinion that it's better to have the record of the image then for it to be an exact scan.

This was the same day as Wilbur Wood's card. Here Topps got the name of the ballpark right. As noted on that post, it was a great day for Reggie who hit two home runs as Oakland beat Chicago, 3-2, to take first place from the White Sox for good. The major news of the day was the unusually long solar eclipse (92 minutes - there won't be another until 2150).

You can see a color version of this photo on Jackson's '74 puzzle.

 

1981 Topps: Phillies Win First World Series

Topps cropped out Tug McGraw's glove on the card that commemorates the Phillies becoming the last original MLB team to win a World Series. They would win a second World Series in 2008; only the Phillies and Cleveland have failed to win three World Series among teams around for all 120 years of the Fall Classic. No expansion team has won a third World Series yet, but several have won two. Two of those teams are in first place right now (Toronto and Houston), but so are the Phillies.

There are lots of photos of this moment online; there wasn't anything sinister being avoided by cropping out Tug's hands. Still a good card though.
 

Street trade fun

Picked up some fun cards today at Al's table.

Start off with some parallels. Two very similar Mariner cards, pure coincidence. 

Some great commemoratives of vintage Yankees.

I made sure to grab these two, I have a feeling his cards are going to be hard to get for quite a while.

Some more shiny cards!

These don't fit into any other category but are just nice cards, especially that throwback jersey.

 

Wallet Card at JARR Fuel

JARR Fuel was a family-owned heating business that built this truck garage on Wooster Street in NYC's Soho neighborhood in the early 1920s. By the 1980s the neighborhood had changed from an industrial, working class area to a center for modern art, and to this day the building has been home to various art galleries, all of whom have kept the JARR Fuel sign.

 

1976 SSPC Davey Lopes

 

The card, in brief: After so many close-up shots, it's nice to see one where the photographer took another step back.

Playing career, in brief:  Part of the legendary Garvey-Cey-Russell-Lopes infield of the Dodgers of the 1970s and early 1980s, Lopes was one of the games’ preeminent speedsters who also had a powerful bat for a second baseman of the era. A four-time all-star who led the NL in stolen bases in 1975 and 1976, Lopes finished his 16-year career with 155 home runs and 557 stolen bases. 

Post playing career, in brief:  After his playing career he spent 30 years as a coach for several major league teams, and served as the manager of the Milwaukee Brewers from 2000 to 2002. He retired from coaching after the 2017 season.

My collection: I have 50 of his cards, from 1973 to 1988. I would be interested in trading for 1975 Hostess #67. 

1990 Topps Big Deep Dive: Keith Hernandez

After two years of using the landscape orientation to great effect with their photos, Topps's 1990 Big design was a big letdown.

He sure does seem to wish he was in Dixie, with his clear admiration for the Confederacy. 

He sure looks proud of his painting as he poses in costume in September of 1986. He is presumably on the roof of his East 49th Street apartment building, where he lived until 2006.

 

 

Cake or gum: 1977 Randy Jones

Last time was another win for Topps, 6-2. Will gum's 1977 domination continue here?

Hostess has a nice portrait of Jones at spring training, with an interesting background. Topps has Jones in the regular season warming up before a game. Possibly he's throwing so hard that his cap fell of his big head of hair.

Randy Jones won 100 games in his ten-year major league career. A two-time All-Star and twenty-game winner, he was the NL Cy Young Award Winner in 1976, going 22-14 with a 2.74 ERA and 25 complete games for the Padres. After his career he owned a restaurant and had a barbecue sauce business. He is now the chairman of the Randy Jones Foundation, which provides opportunities and resources for military families. He shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2014.
 

Wood vs. Wood #295

Last time we had another easy win for 1987 - 7-0. Will 1962 fare better here?

Vern Law poses before a game at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. There's a Phillie running in the background. Johnny probably sees a camel in the shadow. Law was a bit of a late bloomer who started to become an excellent pitcher for the Pirates in his late 20s. At the age of 30 he had a career year, winning the 1960 NL Cy Young Award, going 20-9 and beating the Yankees twice in the World Series. However, he hurt his ankle that series and was never the same again, struggling to become even close to the pitcher he was before the injury. Overall in 483 games, all for Pittsburgh, he went 162-147 with a 3.77 ERA. After his playing career he was a coach in the major leagues, minor leagues, college ball and in Japan. He is now retired and living in Utah.

Len Dykstra scampers off third in a spring training game, while right behind him third base coach Bud Harrelson is locked in on the pitcher. Dykstra platooned with Mookie Wilson and was best known for his walkoff home run in the 1986 NLCS. He was traded to the Phillies in 1989 with Roger McDowell and Juan Samuel, a steal of a trade for Philadelphia. The Phillies made him a regular and he quickly became one of the best outfielders in the National League. He was an All Star three times, and in 1993, when he did not make the All Star team, he was second in MVP voting, leading the league in hits, walks, and runs scored. Overall in 5,282 games he hit .285 with 81 HR and 404 RBI. He was truly remarkable in October. In 32 postseason game he hit .321 with 10 HR and 19 RBI. Since his playing days he has been involved in a variety of legal and personal scandals. He suffered a stroke last year and is now living in Pennsylvania, and at last report was looking to start a charitable organization for stroke survivors.
 

1974 Topps Deckle Dating: Ron Blomberg

I guess that's a Yankee T-shirt poking out.

August 11, 1973. This image comes from eBay, a card being auctioned by Greg Morris currently.

The biggest highlight for Yankee fans came before the actual game. It was Old Timer's Day, the last in the original Yankee Stadium, and Mickey Mantle hit a home run off of White Ford. In the regularly scheduled game Ron Blomberg did not play, and the Yankees fell to Oakland 7-3. Gene Tenace hit a 3-run HR for Oakland.

In other news, an Icelandic ship rammed a UK ship in one of the few violent incidents in the "Cod Wars" over fishing rights between the two nations; the Prince of Cambodia sent a peace proposal to the United States, and, just a mile-and-a-half from Yankee Stadium, a performer named DJ Kool Herc played at an apartment party in the Bronx in what is widely considered the first public performance of hip hop music.

Street trade!

One nice thing about being back in the city regularly (3-4 days a week in the office) is trading with Al again. It started to rain yesterday so we had to cut it a bit short but I got some fun cards.

Al's always got some of those silver pack cards. It's mostly rookies I've never heard of but I found some familiar names. 

Some other random cards I hoped I might need. Haven't had a chance to check yet, I imagine some are duplicates for me.

Finally, a few Signature signatures. Joe Randa had a pretty good MLB career and a great nickname. Eric Zeier had a respectable NFL career, his card is a "Franchise Duo" card. The back of the card is the other half of the "duo", but no autograph, which is too bad because it's Kordell Stewart.