I picked up a couple of cheap lots of '52 Topps from eBay. I've been willing to pay a couple bucks a card for this set.
This was a two card lot featuring Walt Dropo and Frank Hiller. Card Boredom did some research on the Hiller card and determined the photo was probably taken when Hiller was a Yankee. #9 behind Hiller is probably 5-time All-Star Charlie "King Kong" Keller, a Yankees fan favorite.
The back: Over a decade in the majors prevented room for a blurb.
The man: After his playing career he worked in restaurant and real estate business, and was a baseball coach at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. He died of a heart attack in 2002.
My collection: I have 31 of his cards, from 1970 to 1982. I would be interested in trading for 1971 Dell Today's Team Stamps #NNO.
Playing career, in brief: Matthews was the Rookie of the Year in 1973, hitting .300 with 12 HR, 58 RBI and 17 SB. He went on to a very solid 16-year major league career for five teams. In 2,033 games he hit .281 with 234 HR, 978 RBI and 183 SB.
Post-playing career, in brief: Matthews was a coach and an announcer for several teams, but is now retired.
My collection: I have 50 of his cards, from 1973 to 1988. I would be interested in trading for 1976 Hostess #142.
Tracewski was a good fielding, light hitting backup shortstop for the Dodgers and Tigers in the 1960s. Though he only played six full seasons (1963 - 1968), he was on the World Series winner in three of those. 1968 was his last full season as a major leaguer, hitting .156 with 4 HR and 15 RBI. He retired during the 1969 season and immediately joined the Tigers' coaching staff, where he stayed through 1995, picking up another World Series ring in '84. Overall in 614 major league games he hit .213 with 8 HR and 90 RBI.
I have six of his cards, from 1964 to 1969. I would be interested in trading for 1968 Topps #488.
Last time it was a 6-2 win for '87. Who will win this time?
There's a lot to see on Jack Kralick's card. It's spring training but there's bunting hanging from the roof. There are two bald men in street clothes standing on the field, examining a piece of paper. And Kralick is wearing the patch commemorating the Twins' first season in Minnesota. Kralick had a good rookie season with the Senators in 1960 and was even better with the Twins in 1961. That season Kralick went 13-11 with a 3.61 ERA, with 137 strikeouts in 242 innings. A nice season, but nowhere near as good as Cy Young winner Whitey Ford, who went 25-4 with 209 strikeouts in 242 innings. Ford was better than Kralick in advanced statistical categories as well - FIP, H9, HR9. And yet it was Kralick who led the AL in WAR, 6.0 to 3.7. Sabermetric blogger Phil Birnbaum used this example in a post to point out how WAR greatly exaggerates park factors and team defense in pitcher WAR. What's even weirder is Kralick's 1962 numbers are almost identical to his 1961 numbers, and yet his WAR plummeted from 6.0 to 2.1. Makes no sense! In 1963 Kralick was traded to Cleveland, for whom he had a couple more good season, but was basically done as a major league pitcher at the age of 30, retiring in 1967 to sell insurance. Kralick worked a variety of jobs over the next 20 years, eventually moving to a small fishing village in Mexico, where he lived for the next 24 years, passing away in 2012 at the age of 77.
Shawon Dunston has a much simpler photo, with just the cinder block wall of the dugout visible in his portrait shot. The son of an NYC taxi driver, Dunston grew up in East New York, Brooklyn. Dunston played 18 seasons in the major leagues for six teams, including 12 seasons with the Cubs. Known for his very strong arm at shortstop, he had good speed and decent power. Overall in 1,814 games, he hit .269 with 150 HR, 668 RBI and 212 SB. He has kept a low profile since his retirement, aside from some youth coaching and appearances for the Cubs.
I was able to pick up a cheap lot of vintage baseball stamps on eBay.
13 stamps from the 1955 Golden Stamps Dodgers. Lots of great vintage photos but it's tough to beat coach Jake Pitler holding three baseballs in his hand.
This was the receiving entrance (rear, freight entrance) for Baker Brush, a prominent manufacturer of paintbrushes c. 1915-1975. Old Baker brushes can be found on eBay today for $100+.
RIP Darrell Jackson, who shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2013.
Last time, there was a 3-3 tie. Will there be a winner here?
Don Sutton was an amazing model of consistency in his long major league career, winning at least 11 games in 21 of his 23 major league seasons. A four-time All-Star, he was the Dodgers' ace in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. He signed with the Astros after the 1980 season and remained effective for several teams well into his 40s. He pitched in four World Series, on the losing side each time, pitching well in '74 and '77 and poorly in '78 and '82. Overall in 774 games he went 324-256 with a 3.26 ERA. His 3,574 strikeouts are seventh all-time. Sutton was a longtime broadcaster, mostly for the Braves. He died of cancer in 2021.
The back: Erickson's pickoff record was broken in 1990 by Mark Guthrie, who recorded 11.
Post-playing career: After his playing career he was involved in a variety of business pursuits, several of them related to baseball instruction. He is now retired. He shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2015.
My collection: I have 12 of his cards, from 1979 to 1990. I would be interested in trading for 1982 Topps Traded #30.
Playing career, in brief: Joshua was a big prospect for the Dodgers who never came close to living up to his potential with the team. He had a little more success with the Giants and Brewers, but did not stay with either team for long. Overall in 822 games, he hit .273 with 30 HR, 184 RBI and 55 SB.
Post-playing career, in brief: Joshua had a long career as a minor league hitting coach for the Dodgers and Cubs, managed the Taiwan national baseball team from 2014-2017, and is now a youth baseball coach in Michigan.
My collection: I have nine of his cards, from 1971 to 1980. I would be interested in trading for 1976 Kelloggs #39.
The last nine cards in the Galasso Mattingly are puzzle back cards. I've already shared the finished puzzle in this post.
Here's the first front of a puzzle-back card.
Another great trade with SirNailhead. I sent him some cards for three of his frankensets, and he sent me these fun cards, a nice find in a wet mailbox after an unexpectedly long day. The envelope was soaked, as was the layer of cereal cardboard, but the plastic pages kept the cards warm and dry.
Starting with some long hacker trucks from the '58 set. I'm guessing Frank Baumannn and his penciled-in braces was a holdover from Nailhead's trashed frankenset.
In last week's wallet card photo, I noted that there was a painted sign on the side of the car dealership-turned-movie theater-turned office building. Here is that sign, which if you zoom in, has the word "clothes" still visible on the lower right. That sign was for Scheff's Work Clothes, which was next door to the old Nassau Garage, in the space occupied by the Total Wireless and it's neighbors in the photo.
Greg Henthorn of OBC is always very generous in what he sends around. This little seven-card PWE had plenty to write about.
The two combo cards proved to be the most interesting though, as I researched the players on them. Starting with the Astros card, Alonzo "Candy" Harris had one major league at bat, and then seems to have disappeared. Aaron Pointer is a lot more prominent. Not because his career was longer - 40 games over three seasons. Not even because his four younger sisters became a world famous singing group. After his baseball career (which included three seasons in Japan), Pointer started refereeing high school football games in Tacoma, WA. In 1978, Pointer moved up to the college ranks, becoming the PAC-10's first Black referee. In 1987, Pointer made it to the NFL, and he served 17 seasons as an NFL referee. Highlights including refereeing a game where his sisters sang the national anthem, and a preseason game where his son Deron Pointer, attempting to make the Indianapolis Colts as a wide receiver, made his first catch. He served on the Tacoma Parks Commission board for over 20 years, retiring as Commissioner in 2024.
On the Mets card, there's Ron Locke, who pitched one season with the Mets, and continued to play competitive baseball and softball in his native Rhode Island his adopted home of Florida for decades. Steve Dillon was personally more interesting to me. Dillon pitched in only three major league games, one of which was the first night game at Shea Stadium. I saw he was a New Yorker which always piques my interest so I researched him further. After his baseball career, Dillon, who grew up in the Bronx, became an NYPD officer, and later his son did as well. That son is now the head of security at Citi Field, where his father threw out the first pitch on Old Timers Day in 2022. In the course of my research, I noticed where Dillon is living now. I looked up the address, and according to Google Maps, he lives 0.7 miles away from me. In fact I have probably walked past his house many times. I'm certainly not creepy enough to knock on the door an 83-year-old man and show him an old baseball card, but it's pretty cool that a former MLB player lives so close.
The 25-year-old Stanley had his first full season in 1968, hitting .259 with 11 HR and 60 RBI. He won his first of four Gold Gloves as a centerfielder, but famously moved to shortstop during the stretch run and World Series to replace the struggling Ray Oyler, a move that worked well for Detroit. Stanley played 15 years in the majors, all for the Tigers. He had a little power but low average and speed. In 1,516 games he hit .248 with 117 HR and 500 RBI. After his playing career he worked in commercial real estate, though he is now retired.
I have 21 of his cards, from 1966 to 1979. I would be interested in trading for 1971 Topps #524.
Last time there was a 5-5 tie. Who will win this matchup, the final one in the set?
The blogger voters have been remarkably divided on these sets - of the previous 21 matchups, nine were won by burgers, nine were won by gum, and three were ties!
Like Stuart who inspired this series, I've not been voting myself to keep impartiality. Personally, I tend to like the Topps cards more in these matchups due to the variety, but it's a lot of fun to see the different reasons people pick one card over the other. Hopefully now that we're at the end, Stuart will weigh in on his preferences!
Milt Wilcox came up with the Reds in September of 1970 and pitched well enough - 3-2, 2.42 ERA in five games - to make the postseason roster. That October he won Game 3 of the NLCS, but lost Game 2 of the World Series. Over the next five seasons he pitched for three teams without fully living up to his potential. After a disappointing 1976 season with the Cubs AAA team, he was released, and his career looked like it was over. That offseason, at his doctor's suggestion, he took up bowling to strengthen his arm. Wilcox credited that for his success when he signed with the Tigers and was back in the majors after two years. Rejuvenated at the age of 27, Wilcox quickly became a mainstay in the Tigers rotation, with seven straight seasons of double-digit wins. In 1984, he went 6-0 to start the season, tailed off a bit to finish at 17-8, but came up big in the postseason, winning Game 3 of the NLCS and Game 3 of the World Series. He had shoulder surgery after the season, however, and would win just one more major league game over the course of the next two seasons. Overall, in 394 games over parts of 16 seasons, Wilcox went 119-113 with a 4.07 ERA. For the past 20 years, with his son Brian, he has been the owner and MC for Ultimate Air Dogs, billed as the "premier dock jumping organization in the country". These are competitions where dogs jump off docks and do various tricks for large crowds.
With only 22 cards in the set, including the manager, who got left out? Looking at the World Series roster, the omissions were Doug Baker, Howard Johnson, Ruppert Jones and Dave Rozema. Johnson, Jones and Rozema were with new teams in 1985. Doug Baker was actually with the Tigers in April of 1985, but spent most of the season back in AA.
I haven't gone into the 1930s scrapbook in a while, but I wanted to do something to commemorate this special day. I decided there must be something relevant in that scrapbook Johnny sent me a while ago, the one that was put together a few years after America's 150th. Most of the scrapbook is focused on family members or popular culture (how American!) but I did find a page that fit close enough.
This page was actually detached and loose, I'm not sure why. It seems to be from 1935, a few years later than the pages I've shown previously.
Well, colorized, anyway. I'm not sure tanks had pink treads in the 1930s. I guess that was AI coloring 90 years ago. This color spread from the Sunday Mirror shows how America was preparing for the "next war", which was only a few years away. (Note that these were pasted over some ledger entries from 1927). It's easy to forget now, in the relatively peaceful 21st Century, how much an upcoming "next war" seemed inevitable for the generations coming after the two World Wars.
Last time it was an 8-0 shutout for 1987. Will 1962 get on the board here?
Andre Dawson hits one high and far at a spring training game in West Palm Beach. Andre Dawson was a five-tool player who excelled at every area of baseball. In 2,627 games, mostly with the Expos and Cubs, the Hall-of-Famer hit .279 with 438 HR, 1,591 RBI and 314 stolen bases. Injuries from playing the first decade of his career on the artificial turf in Montreal prevented those numbers from being even higher. He signed with the Cubs in 1987 and was rejuvenated playing on grass, hitting .287 with a league leading 49 HR and 137 RBI as he won the NL MVP award. He now owns the Paradise Memorial Funeral Home in Miami, FL. He runs the business, drives the hearse, picks up bodies from hospitals, and occasionally poses for pictures and signs autographs for surprised mourners.
This building on Main Street in Freeport, NY has the sign Nassau Garage. This was originally built in the 1920s as a Packard Automobiles dealer. The Packard dealership moved out shortly after, and became a movie theater which went by various names through the 1980s.
Last time it was a 3-0 win for gum. Hopefully this matchup draws more interest.
Buddy Bell played eighteen years in the major leagues for the Indians, Rangers, Reds and Astros. A five time all-star, he was a contact hitter, walking more than he struck out. He had moderate power – twelve seasons of 10-20 home runs, but never more. Once Brooks Robinson retired, he was the best defensive third baseman in the American League, winning six straight Gold Gloves from 1979 to 1984. Stuck on bad teams his whole career, he played in 2,405 regular season games but zero postseason games. After he retired he spent some time in the White Sox front office, then became the the first base coach for the Indians in 1994 and 1995. He then managed nine seasons for the Tigers, Rockies and Royals, never finishing better than 82-80. That was interspersed with a couple of stints as Indians bench coach in the mid-2000s. In 32 years as an on-field player, coach, and manager, he only reached the postseason once (1995 Indians). He then spent some time as a front office executive for the White Sox and Reds, and is now retired.
