1981 Topps Gary Lucas

 

The front: Lucas shows a funky delivery as he delivers a pitch at Shea Stadium.

The back: The game referenced on the back may well be the game pictured on the front. Lucas did pitch a 2-1 victory in a day game on May 3, taking a shutout into the ninth before giving up a one-out solo HR to Joel Youngblood. Lucas was then relieved by Rollie Fingers who got the last two outs to save the win. However, this could also be August 26, though I think most game photos came from earlier in the year. In that game, Lucas came on in relief, pitching perfect 7th and 8th innings to preserve a 6-5 lead. In the ninth, however, Lucas gave up a leadoff single to Steve Henderson, and this time Fingers failed to save the game, allowing a game-tying double to Youngblood. The game stayed tied until the 18th inning, when Willie Montaney and Jerry Mumphrey drove in runs to give the Padres an 8-6 lead, which they held on to.

The player: The move to the bullpen was a permanent one for Lucas, who never started a game after his rookie season of 1980. In 1981 he led the NL in appearances (57 in the strike shortened season), and had three straight seasons of double-digit saves. In eight seasons for the Padres, Expos and Angels, Lucas went 29-44 with 63 saves and a 3.01 ERA.

The man: After his playing career he had a long career as a minor league pitching coach. He is now retired.

My collection: I have  31 of his cards, from 1981 to 1988. I would be interested in trading for 1984 Stuart Montreal Expos #12.
 

1976 SSPC Bobby Murcer

 

The card, in brief: An interesting change of pace, with Murcer's photo in what is presumably the Shea Stadium dugout.

Playing career, in brief: Bobby Murcer was the best player on the Yankees in the early 1970s. A five-time All Star, he was a high-average, good-power outfielder. He was traded to the Giants before the 1975 season, and over the next few years was not as good in the National League as he was with the Yankees. He returned to the Yankees in 1979, just missing their two championship years, and was a reliable bat off the bench until his retirement in 1983. Perhaps his most famous moment was driving in all six runs in a walk-off, come-from-behind victory the day after the funeral of his good friend Thurman Munson, 47 years ago this week. Overall in 1,908 games he hit .277 with 252 HR and 1,043 RBI.

Post playing career, in brief: One of the most popular Yankees of his era, Murcer was a beloved member of the announcing team for the Yankees for over 20 years, with a folksy, humble manner. He died of cancer at the age of 62 in 2008.

My collection: I have 35 of his cards, from 1966 to 1983. I would be interested in trading for 1969 MLB Photostamps #NNO.

Post playing career, in brief:  

1988 Domino's Jon Warden

 

Not a great photo of Warden, whose only major league experience came in 1968. In 28 games he went 4-1 with a 3.62 ERA. He never had a playing-days card with the Tigers, but he was drafted in the expansion draft by the Royals and got a card in the '69 Topps set. However, he got hurt in spring training and never pitched in the majors again.

After his playing career he was a high school teacher and coach, and is a long-standing participant in Tigers and Royals fantasy camps, as well as speaking appearances and baseball alumni events, where he is noted to be a very funny guy. In 1989, he started taking a Baseball Encyclopedia wherever he went, getting autographs along the way. As of 2010 he had over 1,200 autographs in the book.

Batting Out of Order giveaway

Batting Out of Order had a nice giveaway with lots of great cards to choose from.

I picked three Yankees I needed, an interesting Padres coaches team-issue oddball, some oddball football game card, a vintage football need, and three starting lineup talking baseball cards, one of the more obscure issues from the junk wax era.
 

Big and small

I came across a random lot of late 90s - early 00s cards on eBay. I wasn't looking for a lot like this but happened to stumble across it. I still need so many cards from this era, that it was a fun get for the minimum bid. Kind of what I used to sometimes find at garage sales, back when you could find cards at garage sales.

Some cards that stuck out to me. Interesting shiny insert card that's a video game ad. Two '86 Angels rookies from a 2005 set. I was annoyed that they didn't color match, until I realized the orange is actually a parallel numbered to /399. It's perfect for an Angels card. I already had the two UD cards on the bottom but wanted to highlight how we still would get interesting photos 20 years ago.

While there weren't many star cards, there were a few A-Rods. Some more obscure modern cards of older players as well. 

Earlier today, I traded Al another box of Braves cards. He didn't have much in return today, just some sheets of junk wax and slightly older Topps. I did take one sheet home, as I noticed the yellow OPC logo. There was even an extra OPC on the back. I only needed the top two cards; the others are all available.

 

Wallet Card with a phone number that has been defunct for over 100 years

This is a really cool one.

This coal chute cover on East 9th Street was crafted by Empire City Iron Works, who included their phone number, CIRCLE 1500. According to research by the signage expert Walter Grutchfield, Empire City Iron Works was founded in 1907, and from 1915 to 1919 was located on Manhattan's 8th Avenue. In late 1919 or early 1920 the business moved to Long Island City, Queens, where it got a new number. Over 100 years later, the business remains at that Queens location. Pretty cool that there is still a remnant from a phone number that hasn't worked in over a century, and even cooler that the business still exists today.
 

Wood vs. Wood #347

Last time it was a 7-0 win for 1962. Will 1987 get on the board here?

Chuck Hinton poses with his bat at Yankee Stadium, with the big flag in centerfield (in the field of play!) dominating the background. Hinton was a solid outfielder for some bad Senators and Indians teams from 1961 to 1971. An All-Star in 1964, Hinton played in 1,353 major league games, hitting .264 with 113 HR and 443 RBI. After his playing career he was the long-time head baseball coach at Howard University (1972-2000) and founded the non-profit Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association. He died in 2013.

Mickey Brantley is shown in a candid shot in the Tiger Stadium dugout.  While a minor-leaguer at home in the off-season in Catskill, NY he worked in the local Boys Club with a high-school boxer named Mike Tyson. Tyson often ate at the Brantley’s home and according to Brantley, "Mike wanted to date my younger sister -- that was not going to happen.” Brantley invited 49 friends to his first game at Yankee Stadium in August of 1986, among them Tyson, who three months later would become the youngest ever world heavyweight champion. Brantley played for the Mariners from 1986 to 1989. In 302 games he hit .259 with 32 HR and 125 RBI. He is now a youth baseball coach.
 

Salvaged from the curb

A house in my neighborhood had a yard sale yesterday, and I noticed afterward that they had put lots of full boxes out for garbage. An old lady was there picking, and once I saw what was in the boxes I joined her. We had different interests and were looking out for things for each other. When I told my wife about it, she said it's like little kids becoming best friends for 20 minutes on the playground. (And don't worry, we left everything very neat when we were done!)

I was able to fill a big box with a variety of interesting old things, mostly publications of some sort. The kind of eclectic random stuff that fits nicely into my random collection of old stuff. All of this stuff I enjoy, but very little needs to stay with me permanently, so if you see anything of interest, let me know!

This was the only thing baseball card related. It's less interesting than it looks, just a rundown of the top 120 stars and rookies and what their '87 cards might be worth. 

Here's an example of the inside.

This was probably the oldest thing I kept, a 1933 Eddie Cantor Picture Book from NBC Radio (really more of a foldout poster with articles).

A 1973 German music magazine, Musik Expess. If any of the publications in this post are interesting to readers, I'd be happy to do individual posts on them. I know there are a lot of music lovers on the blogs.

The magazine had some sort of cards inside.

I looked for the Rod Stewart on TCDB but I didn't see it.

11 years of the Rolling Stones, alongside a German Clearasil ad.

 Here's another baseball-related item. A reprint of a Willie Mays drawing, distributed by Equitable Life. I see TCDB does consider this a card, (c. 1967-1973), so I guess I can consider it a card for my collection!

Some 1960s spinner-rack refugees! Get Smart is my favorite TV show. I used to have all of these novels, nice to get this one back. They're not much like the show but still kind of a fun read. I've never read a Doc Savage novel but I'll give it a try.

These are much more recent than the other publications. Two fancy-looking comic books from 2008. I've never heard of Aquablue but I'll give it a try.

New York World's Fair! I definitely should have more items from this in my collection. This will be a fun little read, bascially a small promotional newspaper.

Another European music magazine. Circus Magazine from 1983.

Judas Priest is one of my favorite bands, so this is a fun one for me. Though personally I find reading about music not nearly as fun as listening to it.

An assortment of old post cards and stamps. A lot of items from the various World's Fairs of the 1960s to the 1980s in the US or Canada.

 New old stock! This box is taped up, the Kard Kaddie presumably still inside. As you can see from the bottom this predates the use of zip codes in the mid-1960s.

A TV Guide from Christmas, 1976. Not a lot of content inside other than the TV listings, but still fun to have.

This is unusual, and I'm not too sure what it is. They are glossy printed photos, all with the same instructions on the back. PM Magazine was a syndicated news show in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Doing a little bit of research, I figured out that this mystery autograph was Wesley Walker, #85 on the Jets.

A whole lot of 1969 and 1970 issues of Collector's Weekly newspaper, starting with the first issue. It will be interesting to see if there is anything baseball card related in these. They look like they have been folder for decades (each is about ten newspapers folded into each other), so I imagine the process of opening up each one and reading them may be difficult. I can't find out much about this publication online. There is a website with this name but it appears to be unrelated.

Finally, some more fun New Old Stock. These are not in the best shape, but still pretty cool. There's Dick Clark (who is still in plastic but has detached from the cardboard) and Ricky Nelson. Looks like sealed packages are not that hard to find - eBay and other sources seem to date these to c. 1958-1960.

 

1986 Renata Galasso Mattingly Puzzle #3

I can never get used to Mattingly without the mustache.

 

Cake or gum? 1977 Mark Belanger

Last time it was a big 8-0 shutout for gum. Will cake get on the board here?

Two photos from the same shoot. Do you prefer bat or no bat?

Mark Belanger is considered one of the greatest fielding shortstops of all time. He was Baltimore’s regular shortstop from 1968 to 1980, replacing Hall-of-Famer Luis Aparacio and replaced by Hall-of-Famer Cal Ripken. He was an eight-time Gold Glove winner and was a regular in the lineup despite being a very weak hitter. In only three of the 13 seasons he was Baltimore’s regular shortstop did he hit as high as .230, and he had only 389 RBI in over 2000 major league games. After his career he had a leadership role in the MLB Players Association, supporting Donald Fehr. A notorious chain-smoker, he died of lung cancer in 1998.