The 1930 album: Tragedy and Romance

There's a lot happening on this page of the album from Johnny, even ignoring the poetry on the top of the pages.

As a reminder, the album was owned a Miss Ruth Martin who married a Mr. Kelly Greeson. The first page has newspaper clippings detailing a death in the family: Kelly Greeson Sr., aged 52, died of a heart attack in his car. One clipping kept referring to the automobile as "the machine" - cars had been around for a generation by that point, but only one. A couple of cards too, including a graduate nurse with the phone number 5-7583-M. Another one of those new fangled machines.

There's a decidedly lighter tone on the other side, consisting mostly of calling cards. Ruth has four of her own, and four more presumably belonging to her friends. But that orange one in the middle is by far the most interesting. "K.U. Greeson - Dealer in Love, Kisses, and Up To Date Hugs". He manages to fit seven flirtatious lines onto one business card - my favorite is "Special Attention Paid to Other Fellows' Girls". According to National Geographic, "escort cards" like these were popular in the late 1800s, and I guess were still effective into the 1930s, as that Victorian-era rizz certainly had an effect on Ruth May Martin.

 

Phillies and stars

In today's street trade with Al, I took a handful of cards from a box of Phillies, and some from a box of minor stars. Almost all the cards in the boxes were from sets I've already filled, junk wax or Topps base sets. I pulled out any others I might need - to keep what I needed, and return the rest.

I found 10 cards that I needed. Three were Darin Erstad. Also got one card closer to the '84 Topps Traded set, and even an '88 OPC. 

Here are the ones I didn't need. Happy to pass these along to any bloggers who need them before I give them back next week. This includes three more '84 Tradeds.

 

 

1988 Domino's Earl Wilson

The final card in the set features a nice action shot. I'm not sure what ballpark this is, especially with what looks like a temporary outfield fence.

Earl Wilson came up with the Red Sox in 1959 and was a regular in the starting rotation by 1962. That year he threw a no-hitter and went 12-8. He had losing seasons each of the next three years, and in June of 1966, with a 5-5 record, he was traded to Detroit. He immediately improved in Detroit, going 13-6 the rest of the way, leading the AL in pitching WAR. In 1967 he led the AL with 22 wins. In 1968 he had almost the same numbers but was only 13-12, and lost his only World Series game. In 1970 he was traded to the Padres where he finished out his career. Overall in 338 games Wilson went 121-109 with a 3.69 ERA. For a pitcher he was a good hitter. In 838 AB9 he hit .195 with 35 HR and 111 RBI. His 7 HR in 1968 ranked him ninth on the team. After his playing career he owned two auto parts businesses and was a high school gym teacher. He died of a heart attack in 2005.

I have 13 of his cards, from 1960 to 1971. I would be interested in trading for 1964 Topps #503. 

Wood vs Wood #349

 Last time it was a 3-3 tie. Will there be a winner here?

Paul Foytack looks serious in this photo taken at Yankee Stadium. Foytack was a solid starting pitcher for the Tigers in the late '50s and early '60s, hitting double digits in wins six times. In 11 major league seasons, 10 with Detroit, he went 86-87 with a 4.14 ERA. After his playing career he was a plastics salesman and a batting practice pitcher for the Tigers. He died in 2021.

Storm Davis looks a lot happier in his photo, taken at spring training. Davis pitched five seasons for the Orioles, 1982-1986. In those five seasons he appeared in 202 games (123 starts) and went 61-43 with a 3.63 ERA. Those pedestrian-looking numbers were good enough to get him inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame earlier this year. He went on to pitch for four more teams, most notably Oakland for whom he went 16-7 in 1988 and 19-7 in 1989, despite a 0.2 WAR that year. He is now a youth pitching coach in Florida.
 

Kurt Lundgren on baseball cards

Kurt Lundgren pitched five seasons in the Mets organization, from 1983 to 1987. In 109 games (49 starts) he went 26-17 with 6 saves and a 3.39 ERA. Now an attorney at the law firm of Thwaites, Lundgren & D'Arcy in Harrison, NY, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

"I never collected cards (though it's a great hobby).  Similarly, the only impressive thing I can look back on when I look at my cards is how skinny I was back in the day!!  LOL.  Plus I had hair back then, but you cant see it under my cap!"

Thanks!

 

Thanks Collector!

 

I was one of the fortunate bloggers to be on the receiving end of some care packages sent out by The Collector on the occasion of his 40 years of collection and his 10 years of blogging. Here's to many more! 

There were a lot of loose Yankee cards, most of which I needed. A few I had already including a '62 Whitey Ford! There was one Series II from 2026 which was my impetus to buy the rest of the set, which I showed earlier this month. 

Lots of fun cards from newer sets, including two modern Paul O'Neill cards.

Here are some really shiny cards which I love. I don't have the attention span to watch box breaks and I wanted it to be a surprise anyway, but I did see all the comments about the Bucky Dent autograph. That's a great card to add to my collection.

There was a rack pack of 1986 Topps in honor of his first year of collecting. I already have this set and the All Star set, so happy to give this away to someone else; the pack of penny sleeves too.

There were a couple of packs I did open. I already have the '92 Topps set but was curious if there was a gold card inside.

There was not. No really big names but put the pitchers together and you'd have a really great staff in 1992.

Finally, a pack of 2026 Bowman. These I definitely did need.

I did not know that Bowman mixed packs from different sets. The top four are base cards. (Ohtani!) and the rest are from BP/BCP. Nice little variety pack.

These cards were a lot of fun to go through, and there was a lot of higher end stuff that normally wouldn't find it's way to me. Thanks Collector!
 

Street trade

Al had a few new piles of cards for me to look at yesterday. I found a few I could use. Last weekend's garage sale had ended up being good fodder for street trade material.

A few random cards mostly from the late 90s. Only the Mo Vaughn was a dupe. I like the name Tommy Troy, fun to say. And check out Todd Van Poppel wearing a Washington Nationals cap years before the team existed.  

I know, I know, the old Washington Senators wore the same caps, and I guess his high school team used the design. Still pretty funny.

The Yankees team card is a Burger King version. It's a dupe but I grabbed it just because BK cards are cool and someone will want it, I'm sure. That Nolan Ryan card is a cool junk wax era card, I like that they included the football. Finally some Mets Bowman cards, not the most exciting but it's cards that I didn't have. And hey one of those is now a Yankee. 

 

A sweet dessert

Two days, two inexpensive vintage dessert oddballs. Royal Desserts printed cards on the sides of their gelatin dessert boxes in the early 1950s, kind of a precursor to a more famous gelatin brand doing the same in the early 1960s.

Another eBay stumble-across, was about $5. The dot-matrix look of the alliterative star Ferris Fain is cool. One thing I really like is the old "New York 46" postal code. I found a map of Manhattan postal codes online and there were only 35; I'm guessing higher numbers were only for PO Boxes. 

1910 Standard Caramel Deacon Philippe

Not something I would usually seek out, but I stumbled across one of these and somehow won with a $15 bid. From 1910 it's one year newer than the oldest card in my collection, but it is right up there with the oldest and coolest. It's not a tobacco card, it's a caramel card, 1910 Standard Caramel. Char'es "Deacon" Phillippe is a player I remembered reading about when I was a kid, though I had to look him up again to remember why. In 1903 he won the first World Series game, and he won 20 games in six different seasons. By 1910 the 38-year-old veteran was primarily a reliever, but went 14-2 with a 2.29 ERA, leading the NL in winning percentage.

The card is pretty thin, not paper thin but thinner than the typical baseball card. Even the back is cool with the checklist full of baseball demigods. "Base Ball" Stars! They even note that the drawings are "from original photographs". Modern technology! I also love the font at the bottom, which is very 19th century looking.

His last name is misspelled, making this an error card. What I did not know until looking him up just now is that he has a famous relative, a distant cousin who became an actor, named Ryan Phillippe. When Phillippe and actress Reese Witherspoon had a baby in 2003, they named him Deacon after Ryan's famous relative. Now Deacon Phillippe is an up-and-coming young musician and actor.
 

Cake or gum? 1977 Cesar Geronimo

Last time it was a 6-0 win for gum. Will cake get on the board here?

It looks like there is a steamboat in the background of the Hostess card, but I guess it's just the grandstand. Topps also has a spring training shot, in a more conventional location.

 Originally a Yankees prospect, Geronimo was a Rule V selection by the Astros in 1969. After three years in Houston with little playing time, he was a throw-in in the trade that sent Joe Morgan to the Reds. Though never a star like Morgan, Geronimo developed into an integral part of the Big Red Machine. The center fielder won four straight Gold Gloves from 1974 to 1977. In his best years he hit for some average with doubles power and a little speed. His production tailed off significantly when he turned 30 in 1978. He ended his career with three seasons as a backup outfielder in KC. Overall in 1,522 games he hit .258 with 161 doubles, 51 HR, 392 RBI and 82 SB. After his playing career, he was involved in many coaching and development endeavors in his native Dominican Republic. He is now retired.