Burgers or gum? Chet Lemon

Last time it was a 4-2 win for gum. Will burgers do better here?

Wendy's has a portrait of Lemon at spring training, while Topps has him at bat at Tigers Stadium. Chet Lemon played sixteen seasons in the major leagues, making three All-Star teams and winning a World Series in 1984, hitting .294 in the Fall Classic. In 1,988 games he hit .273 with 215 HR and 884 RBI. In addition to his fielding records, his highlights including leading the American League in HPB four times and in doubles in 1979. After his playing career he owned the youth baseball program Chet Lemon’s Juice, considered one of the top programs in the country. He shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2011. Chet Lemon passed away in 2025.
 

Wood vs. Wood #333

Last time was a 5-1 win for 1987. Will 1962 do better here?

Frank Cipriani wears the black and red of the old Kansas City A's. Though he would play in the minor leagues through 1966, his brief MLB career was already over when this card came out. In 13 games for the A's in '61, the outfielder hit .250 with 0 HR and 2 RBI. After his playing career he served as a lieutenant in the Lackawanna Fire Department for 35 years. He and his brother, Mario, also operated several restaurants, including Big Wheel in West Seneca, N.Y., and Macaroni Company and Garcia’s Irish Pub in Buffalo. He died in 2022.

Ken Phelps digs into the batters box in Anaheim. The only day game at California that Phelps appeared in during the 1986 season was August 10. Phelps went 0-for-4 as the Mariners lost 4-0. Phelps was a low-batting-average slugger whose high slugging percentage and OBP numbers made him an early sabermetric darling. He had four 20+ HR seasons during his tenure with the Mariners, who famously traded Phelps to the Yankees for Jay Buhner. Phelps quickly ran out of gas after the trade, while Buhner developed into a big star. Overall, Phelps played in 11 seasons for six teams. In 761 games he hit .239 with 123 HR and 313 RBI. He now does some announcing and community service work.
 

Cake or gum? 1977 Dave Kingman

Last time was a 7-0 shutout for gum. Will cake get on the board here?

Hostess has Kingman posing for a portrait in spring training, while a llama in a blue sweater looks on. Either that or one of his teammates is about to peg a ball at his head. Meanwhile Topps shows Kingman in a follow through, tracking the progress of a fly ball to left. Judging by the way he's twisting his body, and the lack of reaction from the fans, this ball was probably well foul.

Dave Kingman was the forefather of today's big-HR, big-strikeout sluggers. He twice led the NL in home runs, hitting over 30 seven times and finishing with 442 in his 16-year career. He also struck out over 100 times in 13 seasons, back when 100 strikeouts for a batter was a lot for one season. As a rookie he played in the 1971 NCLS with the Giants, but never again made it back to the postseason as he was usually the biggest star on some bad teams, most notably with the Cubs and Mets. Overall in 1,941 games for seven teams, he hit .236 with 442 HR and 1,210 RBI. He was known to be one of the more difficult personalities in the league, especially when it came to dealing with the media. After his career he owned a tennis club in Lake Tahoe and continues to reside in the area, where he raised his family. His son Adam, a carpenter and designer, won season three of the reality show Making It.
 

1981 Topps Al Bumbry

 

The front: This is one of the more action packed cards in the set. The speedy Bumbry is off to first after hitting the ball hard somewhere.

The back: Bumbry played in six postseason series in his career. In four games he hit .250 (4-for-16), scoring 5 runs. In the other five series, he played in 18 games, hitting .086 (5-for-58), scoring 4 runs.

The player: Bumbry was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1973, hitting .337 with 7 HR, 34 RBI and 23 SB, leading the AL with 11 triples. He remained a fixture at the top of the Orioles lineup for a decade, with speed and doubles power. Overall in 1,496 games he hit .281 with 220 2B, 52 3B, 54 HR, 402 RBI and 254 SB.

The man: Bumbry served in the ROTC while in college, and was drafted into the Army, where he lead a platoon in Vietnam for 11 months. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his service. After his playing career he was a coach for many years, and since 1989 he has been a co-owner of Robbie's First Base, a baseball card store in Timonium, MD, where he can often be seen interacting with fans.

My collection: I have 32 of his cards, from 1973 to 1986. I would be interested in trading for 1982 Fleer Stamps #147.
 

1976 SSPC Marc Hill

 

The card, in brief: Some of the Giants cards in the set are possible night cards; this one is a no-doubter. While I don't show the backs in these series, it's worth noting that it's an error card, calling him Mark Hill.

Playing career, in brief: Marc Hill played parts of 14 seasons in the major leagues as a backup catcher, mostly for the Giants and White Sox. In 737 games he hit .223 with 34 HR and 198 RBI.

Post-playing career, in brief: Hill had a long career as a minor league manager. He died last year at the age of 73.

My collection: I have 19 of his cards, from 1975 to 1986. I would be interested in trading for 1979 San Francisco Giants Police SGA #NNO. 

Bloggers old and new

Highlighting a couple of recent incomings from bloggers . . . 

Night Owl has got to be one of the longest running blogs out there. We've exchanged cards many times over the years. This time, in response for sending him some unloved '89 Score junkwax, he more than generously gave some vintage classics.

A lot of World Series history in these cards. That 1908 card is a bit snarky - "Ty Cobb's Only Good Series". 

Lots of Yankee wins here, many at the expense of the Dodgers. I'm sure Night Owl couldn't wait to get rid of these.

A couple of even older Fleer cards, highlighting a couple of long-forgotten baseball lifers.

On the other end of the spectrum, Sir Nailhead is one of the newest bloggers out there. He's doing a poor-condition frankenset which is right up my alley! I'm sure this is the first of many trades as I dig into my many poor conditioned cards. He's also on TCDB so we worked out the trade over there, with me getting a nice mixture in return.

Some late 80s early 90s sets with cards I still needed. I really like the Denny's cards, especially the year they did the city skylines. 

Nailhead is a big Cubs fan, so he had a lot of extra Ernie Banks. And that Walker Cooper is an interesting early 80s oddball, with a vintage car in the background.

Ironically from a guy with a poor-condition frankenset, he sent me some of the best-conditioned '58-'60 cards I've encountered.

Scrapbook: Test your knowledge of Aunt Het

Another scrapbook page.

There are three distinct themes here. The first is a series of "Test your Knowledge" Q&As.  These include "What job is held by Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis?" and "What American Indian was a famous baseball pitcher on Philadelphia Athletics team for many years?"

The answers are "National Baseball Commissioner" and "Chief Bender". Landis was 10 years into what would be a 24 year term, and Bender was a coach with the New York Giants.

The next two articles detail the same car accident which seriously injured several people in one family; presumably a family the owner was close with. These days were always hear how the injured in the hospital are resting comfortably - here two of the victims were "not resting so well". Hopefully everyone had a full recovery. 

Finally, some country humor from Aunt Het. Aunt Het's got quite an attitude - my favorite here is "I mean't to give away that old black taffeta, but Pa's been ailin' lately and' there ain't no use takin' chances." If you're interested in more Aunt Het, someone has a blog called, If Your Aunt Had Balls, She'd Be Aunt Het.

 

1986 Renata Galasso Mattingly #13

The Hit Man - as in, a hit with the ladies, and with the dogs?

Error card! Mattingly's high school coach was Merkel, not Merkle. Quentin Merkel retired in 2013 as the second winningest high school coach in Indiana.

1988 Domino's Eddie Mathews

 

Looks like a spring training shot. I kind of wish this was in color.

 Never the best hitter on his own team, Eddie Mathews was nevertheless one of the best hitters in the National League in the 1950s and 1960s. A nine-time All-Star, Mathews hit .271 with 512 home runs and 1,453 RBI. Hitting in front of Hank Aaron, Mathews saw lots of good pitches to hit, most notably in the tenth inning of Game 4 of the 1957 World Series, when the Yankees elected to pitch to Mathews with first base open and Aaron on deck; Mathews hit a walk-off homer that turned the tide of that series. The only player to play for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta, Mathews ended his career with stints in Houston and Detroit, where he played in 31 games in 1968, hitting .212 with 3 HR and 8 RBI. He retired after appearing for two games for the Tigers in the 1968 World Series, going 1-for-3 with a walk. Mathews was a well-respected teammate who frequently got into fights with the opposition, including on-field blows with Frank Robinson, Jackie Robinson and Don Drysdale, among others. He briefly served as Braves manager in the 1970s, and was the team's skipper when Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run in 1974. Mathews was fired later that season, and later admitted that his alcoholism cost him that job and others in baseball. He died of pneumonia in 2001.

I have 17 of his cards, from 1953 to 1969. I would be interested in trading for 1952 Topps #407, 1955 Topps #155 and 1956 Topps #107.

Burgers or gum? Rusty Kuntz

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

Wendy's has Kuntz on the road in the dark. What AL park had green walls and blue seats? I'm not sure. The Topps card is clearly Tigers Stadium, with Kuntz in the cage on a sunny day.

Kuntz was a backup outfielder for the White Sox, Twins and Royals from 1979 to 1985. In 277 games he hit .236 with 5 HR and 38 RBI. He set most of his career highs in 1984, with 140 at-bats in 84 games, hitting .286 with 2 HR and 22 RBI. He drove in the game-winning RBI of the clinching Game 5 of the 1984 World Series with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly. After his playing career, he has had a long career in coaching, and has served in various roles in the Royals organization since 2007.