1930 scrapbook: Wedding bells

Here's the first page of the album that Johnny sent. 

Several wedding announcements, and also a couple of poems. I'm guessing these were friends or acquaintances of whoever was keeping this scrapbook. Were they quiet, pious girls, or a wild bunch?

The two poems are loose in the scrapbook. Googling them came up empty, so I am guessing they are local poets. One of the poets has the byline W.O. Gibson. Googling that name comes up with a book called "Rambling Meditations of W.O. Gibson", published in 1973, in the archives of Valdosta State University.

Mary Ford Hernlen died in 1970, at the age of 62. 

Madeline Sallas married Frank Roberts on February 28, 1930, and died on 82 years later, at the age of 100, outliving her husband by 20 years. She had 13 great-grandchildren at the time of her passing. 

Martha and Nathaniel Turner did get married in 1930 and had a son the next year, Nathaniel II. Nathaniel died in 1974, Martha in 1996.

Finally, not a wedding announcement, but the charming Miss Waudelle Tucker, chosen the "most beautiful girl" at the University of Florida summer school. This local news seems to have made newspapers far and wide in August of 1930, as far north as Indiana and as far west as Missouri. She married Latimer Long, the only attorney in Auburndale, FL, and worked as his office manager. They had two daughters. Waudelle died in 2001 at the age of 89.
 

Time Travel 2026

My latest Diamond Jesters time travel trade had some fun early 80s stuff.

But as has been my tradition my past few years, I scoop up the leftovers from the first pack of the new year that gets added to the stack.

As just about the last person to get 2026s, I'll keep my thoughts brief. Obviously I like the Bronx Buddies card a lot, though I wish it wasn't so dark. I like how the stripes can line up with other cards, though it's spoiled a bit with the stripe being thicker on horizontal cards. I think the jersey-style design is a solid one, but it's annoying that Topps didn't fully commit on the front. They did on the back and I think that looks better.

So this means I'm officially on a 2026 Topps setbuild. As a sign of how disconnected I'm getting from modern cards, after finishing 2025 Series I last year, I never ended up with a single 2025 series II! I thought about putting a wantlist up here and TCDB, but I checked out eBay and saw that I could get 350-700 for $25, which seems cheaper than what the postage on many trades would be.

So should I do that again for Series I? Looks like 1-350 sets can be had in the $30 range or so. I think I'd only be interested in trading for all or nearly all the set at once. It might seem silly to claim the cards if I'm just going to buy the set anyway, but it's a fun tradition. So, open to any trade offers on substantial lots of '26s, otherwise I'll probably just look for a cheap enough full set on eBay. Some years I've built through TCDB trades but I doubt I'll do that this year, certainly not for hundreds of cards.

Cake or gum? 1977 Rick Manning

Last time there was a 4-4 tie. Will there be a winner this time?

Two cards that were quite probably taken at the same time but look very different. Hostess has a portrait of a contemplative-looking Manning, while Topps has him following through on his swing, looking like he's under a bridge (though I assume it's just an unusual spring training grandstand).

Rick Manning was a speedy outfielder who won a gold glove in 1976. He played 13 years in the major leagues for some bad Cleveland and Milwaukee teams, never making the postseason. He was never all that good himself. He didn't hit for average (.257 lifetime) or power (never more than 8 HR in a season). Only 11.7 WAR in 13 seasons indicates that he was little more than replacement-level during his career. His most notable accomplishments with Cleveland were stealing teammate Dennis Eckersley's wife (leading to Cleveland trading the future Hall of Famer to Boston) and for his 35-year ongoing run as Guardians announcer, the longest active streak in the majors.
 

1981 Topps Dan Ford

 

The front: Extreme closeup here, though there is enough background visible to see that this is Yankee Stadium. We do get a reflection of the photographer in Ford's glasses.

The back: From August 6-12, 1979, Ford hit .269 (7-for-26) with 2 HR and 7 RBI. Highlights included a grand slam on the 8th, and igniting a winning 9th inning rally, scoring the tying run, on the 11th.

The player: Outfielder Dan Ford played for the Twins, Angels and Orioles from 1975 to 1985. His best season was 1979, when he drove in and scored over 100 runs and earned an MVP vote in helping the Angels to their first AL West title. Overall, in 1,153 major league games, he hit .270 with 121 HR and 566 RBI.

The man: After his playing career Ford has devoted time to working with disadvantaged youth, as well as working in the real estate business and raising horses. He briefly answered my questions about baseball cards in 2011.

My collection: I have 30 of his cards, from 1976 to 1986. I would be interested in trading for 1977 Burger Chef Fun Meal Discs #NNO.
 

1976 SSPC John Montefusco

 

The card, in brief: Nice composition here, with the flag on one side and the scoreboard on the other.

Playing career, in brief: John Montefusco won the NL Rookie of the Year 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. 

Post-playing career, in brief:  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. 

My collection: I have 32 of his cards, from 1976 to 1986. I would be interested in trading for 1976 Hostess #41. 

1986 Renata Galasso Mattingly #10

 Not much to say but a cool photo. Mattingly's 11 years old here.

One of the disappointments from the last World Series is that Mattingly, as Blue Jays coach, was so close to his first championship but denied again. Now he's a Phillies coach, maybe I'll root for them once the Yankees are eliminated. (Is it too early for pessimism yet?)

1988 Domino's Fred Lasher

 

Nice action photo of Lasher. Don't know what stadium it is.

Lasher was a submarining reliever who pitched for four teams over six seasons, mostly for Detroit. In 151 games he went 11-13 with 22 saves and a 3.88 ERA. After his playing career he was a drywall installer and a recreational specialist for youths with substance use disorder. He died in 2022. 

Burgers or Gum? Johnny Grubb

 Last time was an easy 6-3 win for gum. Will burgers fare better here?

Wendy's has a portrait of Grubb with his bat, while Topps has a sunsoaked action shot of Grubb at Tiger Stadium. Johnny Grubb was a solid outfielder with a little power and a little speed who was a useful bench player in '84. In 86 games he hit .267 with 8 HR and 17 RBI. His big highlight for the year was an 8th inning 2-RBI double off of Dan Quisenberry in Game 2 of the ALCS to give the Tigers a 5-3 lead.

Grubb started his career with the Padres and was an All Star in his second season. As he drifted from team to team in the late 70s and early 80s he saw less and less playing time, and was a full-time backup by the time he got to Detroit. Overall in 1,424 games over 16 seasons, Grubb hit .278 with 99 HR and 475 RBI. After his playing career he was a minor league coach for a while, and is now retired.
 

Wood vs. Wood #328

 Last time it was an 8-4 win for 1987. Who will win here?

Ken Walters poses in front of the screen, with his #17 on his bat knob. Walters was coming off two mediocre seasons for the mediocre Phillies, which would turn out to be the bulk of this major league career. Walters was sold to the Reds shortly after this card came out, spent all of '62 in the minors, and had one last cup of coffee for the Reds in 1963. In 259 major league games he hit .231 with 11 HR and 58 RBI. He kept a low profile after his baseball career, and passed away in 2010.

Bob Welch poses at spring training, with his whole name printed on his glove. Welch gained national prominence as a rookie striking out Reggie Jackson with two runners to end Game 2 of the 1978 World Series. Less well remembered is Welch giving up a walkoff, series-tying hit to Lou Piniella two games later as the Yankees came back from 2-0 down to take the Series. An excellent pitcher, Welch had seven seasons of 3-or-more WAR. Not one of those is 1990, with the A's, when he went 27-6 with a 2.95 ERA, the most wins in a season since Denny McLain's 30 win season, and still the last 25-win season. He only had 2.9 WAR, which if you believe WAR means a replacement-level pitcher would have gone 24-9, still one of the best win totals of the past 50 years. Personally I'm not buying it, even if he was helped by some good luck. Overall in 506 games for the Dodgers and A's he went 211-146 with a 3.47 ERA. After his career he was a pitching coach. He died from a fall in his house in 2014.
 

Something else from Johnny

Here's the other thing that was in the box from Johnny. This huge book took up almost the whole box! (And sorry about the shadows, I've been shoveling for the past two hours and don't want to redo the shots.)

It's a ledger book from 1927. By itself that would be cool, but it's a lot more interesting than that.

It's a scrapbook! It looks like after the ledger book was filled in 1928, it got re-used as a scrapbook. Johnny doesn't know anything about this history, but I'll certainly have a lot of fun looking into it. In fact I plan to do a blog post about every page. Warning - there is no baseball and almost no sports here, this will be one of those blog series I pretty much just do for myself. There is a lot of variety, though.

There is a lot more than just newspaper in the scrapbook, which really helps beef up my "old things" collection. 

Lots of interesting stuff here! This will be a lot of fun to go through; and if there is a particular item that would fit someone else's collection better than mine, I'd be happy to pass it along.