Mattingly with a beard! He famously was never the most comfortable with the Yankees' hair regulations. Seeing Yankees with beards the past couple of years has been weird. Some of them just look like a sloppy mess, like Dominguez and Rodon. Amed Rosario has a really good one though.
I wonder where this was, with the low ceiling - a finished basement maybe? My first thought was a garage but that's an odd place to hand a trophy.
McMahon was an excellent relief pitcher at a time when relief pitchers were not as valued as they are now, so he pitched for seven teams over an eight-year career where he put up excellent numbers - in 874 games he went 90-68 with 152 saves and a 2.96 ERA. As a Milwaukee Braves rookie in 1957 he held the mighty Yankees scoreless over five innings in three games, helping the team win the World Series. Neither he nor the Braves fared as well in the following Series, though McMahon did make his only All Star team in 1958. He was traded in the middle of the season four years in a row - 1966 to 1969. In 1968 the Tigers sent Dennis Ribant to the White Sox for McMahon, who became a key member of the team's bullpen, going 3-1 with a 2.02 ERA in 20 games. He was traded to the Giants the next season, and retired at the age of 42 after the 1972 season. The Giants named him their pitching coach, but the team's bullpen was so depleted that McMahon was reactivated in both '73 and '74. The oldest player in the majors those years, he pitched in 31 games and went 4-0 with 6 saves and a 1.93 ERA. McMahon had gone to Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush with future Raiders owner Al Davis, and even scouted for Davis during his playing career. In 1986, Davis recommended McMahon to his friend Tommy Lasorda, who hired McMahon as a Dodgers coach. In July of 1987, while pitching batting practice at Dodgers Stadium, McMahon suffered a heart attack and died shortly after.
I have 14 of his cards, from 1958 to 1972. I would be interested in trading for 1962 Topps #483, 1963 Topps #395 and 1965 Topps #317.
This page of stamped envelopes leaves little doubt as to the owner of the book.
Chronologically, we have here Christmas cards from 1920 and 1921, both To Ruth May, From Miss Carter. A letter postmarked February 3, 1929, addressed to Miss Ruth Martin, Rt, 1 Box #924, So. Jacksonville, FL. The rest, all postmarked between October and December 1930, to Mrs. Ruth Greeson, or Mr & Mrs. Kelley (or K.U.) Greeson (sometimes Greason), 510 Tuttle Street, August, GA.
It certainly seems that Miss Ruth May Martin of Jacksonville married Mr. Kelley Greeson and moved to Augusta in 1929 or 1930.
Thanks to the magic of the internet, specifically Ancestry.com, we can indeed confirm it.
In 1962 Kelly and Ruth moved to Keystone Heights, southwest of Jacksonville. Kelly passed away in 1988, but Ruth, who was an accountant, lived until 2000, passing away at the age of 90, a great-great-grandmother.
Here is her full obituary. At some point I might try to track down some of these people, though the common names and large cities will make it difficult, not to mention that this information is over 25 years old. I am very curious if John might recognize a name here, particularly the one from Ocala.
(source: https://www.genlookups.com/fl/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/2413)
Ruth Greeson
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS - Ruth May Martin Greeson, 90, died Sunday, Nov. 12, 2000.
Born in Bainbridge, Ga., Mrs. Greeson lived most of her life in Jacksonville before moving to Keystone Heights in 1962. She was a past recorder, senior regent and junior graduate regent of the Women of the Moose, Chapter 305 and was an accountant.
Mrs. Greeson is survived by: two daughters, Dawn Greeson Smith Gordon of Charlotte, N.C. and Wanda Greeson Phillips of Jacksonville; a sister Cornelia Harrell of Moorhead City, N.C.; a brother Paul Martin of Ocala; seven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. She was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Kelly Greeson, and a grandson Kelly H. Smith.
Funeral services for Mrs. Greeson were Nov. 15, 2000 in the chapel of Jacksonville Memory Gardens Funeral Home with the Rev. John Hunt and the Rev. Buddy Friedman officiating. Interment followed in Jacksonville Memory Gardens, Garden of The Last Supper.
Memorial contributions may be made in her memory to Hospice of NE Florida, 4266 Sunbeam Rd., Jacksonville, FL 32257 or Fresh Start Fellowship, Keystone Heights, FL 32656.
When I knew I was going to Nashville I did some research on ghost signs in the area to look for. One of the most prominent is one for Yorke Men's Shop. As a much smaller city than New York, there aren't as many people documenting these signs, and one post I saw about this sign doubted that this store had ever existed, so I didn't even plan to take a photo, but I ended up passing by it and so I decided to, just in case it was real. Upon further research, it seems quite possible it is.
Not much pickings in Al's boxes this time. He says he has dozens of long boxes of cards at home, and he brings one or two each time for me to look at, marking them when I'm done so they don't repeat. These boxes are almost always junk wax or maybe recent Topps base cards, very few cards that I need. Stars are almost always gone, and there are virtually never rarities. Sometimes, like today, it's just picking out the very few cards that are not 1988 Donruss or 1992 Score.
Mostly dupes this time; heck, the originals in my collection for a lot of these probably came from his boxes over the years. A Jake Peavy rookie and a bunch of Bowman's mostly 2014.
Last time it was a 3-1 win for Wendy's. Hopefully there are more voters this time!
Like the whole Tiger team, Jack Morris's 1984 started off with a bang - in his case, a no-hitter on April 7. Morris started the season 10-1, tailed off a bit and finished the regular season 19-11, with a 3.60 ERA. However, he was dominant in October. In three postseason starts, two in the World Series, Morris went 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA. The Hall of Famer pitched 14 seasons for the Tigers, and then spent time with the Twins and Blue Jays, helping both teams win World Series. Overall in 549 games, he went 254-186 with a 3.90 ERA. He has since been an announcer for each of the three teams he won a World Series with.
Last time it was an 8-0 drubbing by 1962. Will this be closer?
1986 was Don Sutton's first spring training as an Angel, and his influence is apparent on Darrell Miller's card, with the young catcher "Suttoning". Nice background with the stadium, the mountain, and possibly a palm tree. Miller played in parts of five seasons for the Angels. In 224 games the backup hit .241 with 8 HR and 35 RBI. After his playing career he became the Angels' Director of Community Relations, and later a scout. Since 2001 he has VP and Director of MLB's Urban Youth Academy in Compton, CA. In 2021 he became the first Black to be ordained as a Catholic Deacon in the Diocese of Orange, performing those duties at St. Juliana Falconieri Church in Fullerton, CA.
Last time was a 5-1 win for gum. Who will come out on top this time?
Larry Bowa held several shortstop fielding records during his career and remains the all-time NL leader in fielding percentage. In addition to his excellent glove Bowa had a solid bat. He led the NL in triples in 1971 and hit .375 in the 1980 World Series. Overall, in 2,247 games he hit .260 with 15 HR, 525 RBI and 318 SB. Bowa has been a coach for several teams and had managerial stints with the Padres and Phillies. He is currently Senior Advisor to the Phillies General Manager.
The back: D'Acquisto no-hit the Tacoma Twins that day. The only Tacoma batter to reach base was future Twins manager Tom Kelly, who walked in the sixth inning.
The man: D'Acquisto was involved in a wide variety of business ventures after his playing career, and is a published author and artist. He shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2010.
My collection: I have 11 of his cards, from 1974 to 1983. I would be interested in trading for 1982 TCMA Richmond Braves #4.
It's been over two months since I did one of these posts . . .
