1976 SSPC Ralph Garr

 

The card, in brief: The photo is cropped to the side, which might offend some sensibilities but I like it. You can see in the background someone in the stands waving. Maybe trying to get a player's attention for an autograph?

The player, in brief: Garr was a speedy, free-swinging outfielder who had several good seasons and one great one, winning the 1974 NL batting title with a .353 average. Twice the NL leader in triples, Garr played in 1,317 games for the Braves, White Sox and Angels, hitting .306 with 75 HR, 408 RBI and 172 SB.

Post playing career, in brief: Garr has worked as a Braves scout since 1984.

My collection: I have 15 of his cards, from 1970 to 1980. I would be interested in trading for 1977 Hostess #108.

Incoming: TCDB and OBC

Lots of incoming mail this week, including two OCB trades.

 I've had a few great trades now with OP_Cards where I send him a lot of modern cards for a few big-name vintage ones. I sent him 100+ modern Bowman, Fleer etc and came back with these big six. Can't go wrong with any of them but the '53 Monte Irvin is definitely my favorite.

 A couple of vintage cards in this trade with twinscollector34 but I really love all the junkwax-era oddballs. My favorite here is the Smokey Bear card at Yankee Stadium with Mike Pagliarulo, who was my favorite Yankee when I first started following baseball. Also, check out the card of Dave Winfield pitching!

 

 Meanwhile, the OBC welcome wagon continues. To answer a comment from last time, this isn't anything special for me, this is how they greet all new members. Even though they tell me I don't need to, I've been trying to send something back to everyone who sends cards to me, though some have wantlists that are extremely tough to hit.

Tom Biggs sent this tasty lot of cereal and cake cards.

Two more Milwaukee Braves from Gunny Musgrove. That '62 Shaw is more Panini than Panini, but the Wrigley background on Del Crandall's card is fantastic.

Randy Griffin with two 1971 cards, including a high number in Tischinski.

Steve Sankner sent this great card of one of the two-sport O'Brien brothers.

More 59's from Brian Betza. I spy the Yankees' manager's grandpa.

Byron Boyd sent these five - I ended up with three 1959 envelopes on the same day. Some 58's too, including another Milwaukee Braves basketball player.

Jeff Grever sent this great mixed lot, ranging from vintage stars to current prospects. Quite a mix to get George Kell and Ke'Bryan Hayes at the same time.

Mike Jackson sent this great mixed lot. Fun to get the '72 Marichal right after getting the In Action a day before (that TCDB trade above).

Fun 1961 (Topps and Fleer) PWE from Tom Housley. A couple of HOF pitchers in Roberts and Chesbro, but I love how there was a Hal Woodeshick card, and then a Jack Wickersham card miscut with part of another Woodeshick clearly visible. (A while back I linked to a great Flickr site that clearly delineates the '62 green tints from the regulars. I only learned last night on an OBC Zoom call that Housley is the guy who made that site!)

Five from Rob Bessette. Some pretty big names for 1968, but my favorite is the '63 Bill Rigney, probably the best manager card of all time.

Ken Pillion with three 1970 needs including Jim Bunning.

Neal Thomas with some '68 and '69 needs highlighted by Gaylord Perry. Neal is working on a fun project - a '65 Topps set in as poor condition as possible, "downgrades" welcome. I have a few to send him, perhaps some of you have some lousy-shape '65s too?

These three PWEs were picked out to me by mentor Andy Huntoon. Andy is mentoring another potential OBC member and was sending us both '59s and accidentally switched them, so he had us send the cards to each other. I recognized the name that I was sending the cards too - it's another blogger, so I really hope this guy joins too!

Thanks everyone!

Cards from The Collector

 Chris, The Collector, had a nice giveaway recently and I was fortunate to be able to pick a few fun cards.

I think the retro Charlie Keller is my favorite. Herb Score, one of the best ballplayers to come out of Long Island, is great too. The other two look like teammates warming up in the bullpen.

Some chrome and shiny cards here. Hard to tell but the Morales is very shiny too.

I found some football cards I liked too. The thousand yard inserts take me back to my childhood, as does an Eric Dickerson sighting. Got to admit I don't remember Jerell Adams, but Jason-Pierre Paul had a good Giants career.

Expanded baseball cards XVII

Post cards through time

I picked up a lot of four 1962 Post on eBay for $5. More than I would usually spend per card but for four big stars, no problem.

These cards were cut from their cereal boxes in 1962, but the owner obviously held onto to them for a long time after that. He was still updating them in 1966, when Bobby Richardson retired . . . 

. . . and the Braves moved to Atlanta. (Getting a vintage Hank Aaron card always makes my day!)

Seven years after the cards were cut from the box, the owner was still updating them. Billy Martin was first named manager of the Twins in 1969.

At some point in the 1970s, however, I guess the kid lost interest. By 1977, when Brooks Robinson finally retired, he was no longer updating his baseball cards.

On a completely different note, this is a 1961 Post card I received in an OBC package I've yet to show here. However this card seemed to fit well with this theme. Not the team name change this time, that was only in 1962. Post, like rival Kellogg, was based in Battle Creek, MI (Kellogg still is). So it amused me to see that last sentence - "Ken hails from Battle Creek, Mich., Cereal Capital of the World."

Cake or gum? 1976 Rennie Stennett

Last time gum squeezed out a 4-3 victory. Who will win this time?

Topps's photo has Stennett at spring training, still early enough in the spring to need a warm shirt under the jersey. Hostess's photo has Stennett during the season at Shea Stadium. No need for an undershirt, and looks like he got a haircut too. 

A player going 7-for-7 in a game is a once-in-a-century event. Between Wilbert Robinson's 1892 feat and Brandon Crawford's in 2016, the only 7-for-7 game was accomplished by Stennett in a 1975 22-0 rout of the Cubs. The seven hits included two doubles and a triple. Stennett was the Pirates' regular second baseman for most of the 1970s, helping the team win a championship in 1979. In 1,237 games, including a late-career stint with the Giants, Stennett hit .274 with 41 HR and 432 RBI. After his career he did some youth baseball coaching in the US and his native Panama. He died of cancer in 2021.

Wood vs. Wood #180

Last time 1962 cruised to a 6-1 victory. Who will win this time?

Simple spring training headshot for Bob Allison. The AL Rookie of the Year in 1959, Allison played his entire 13-year career for the Senators/Twins franchise. A big slugger with low (for the time) batting average and high walk and strikeout totals, his stat line looks more like a 2020s player than a 1960s player. His best season was 1963, when he hit .271 with 35 HR and 91 RBI, leading the AL with 99 runs scored and a .911 OPS. Overall, in 1,541 games he hit .255 with 256 HR and 796 RBI. After his career he was a sales manager for Coca-Cola. He died at the age of 60 in 1995, having battled a rare neurological disorder for years.

Chris Brown looks skyward after a big swing. Long home run or high pop-up? Probably a pop-up judging by the lack of reaction from the SF fans. Chris Brown had a great rookie season in 1985 and was even better in 1986, hitting .317 with 7 HR, 49 RBI and 13 SB. Unfortunately he seriously injured his shoulder that season and was never the same, and after brief stints in San Diego and Detroit, he was finished as a major leaguer in 1989. In 449 games he hit .269 with 38 HR and 184 RBI. After his career he held a variety of jobs, including a truck driver for Halliburton in Iraq for three years. He died in 2006 of burns he suffered in a mysterious fire in a vacant home he owned in Texas.

Vintage Equipment: 1977 Topps

Starting off with a great look at one of the more unusual uniforms in baseball history. In 1975 the Astros hired the well-known marketing firm McCann Erickson to create a futuristic new look for their uniforms. They came up with the orange, yellow and red rainbow uniform we all know and love. But in that first season of the new uniforms, the player's number was unusually located in a giant round patch on the player's back. The players hated the patch, which would get very hot in the warm weather, and in 1976 the Astros returned to a more traditional back uniform number. Though you can see side angles of the patch in some 1976 Hostess and Topps cards, I believe this is the only card to feature a full-on view of the patch. This may be a 1975 photo that Topps could have used a year earlier, but it's also possible the Astros still used these in their 1976 spring training.

 I only found one instance of a player borrowing someone else's bat. That's Cito Gaston, #43, with the bat of #12 Tom Paciorek.

Only one number to a player, so that makes more sense for labeling bats than using the player's initials. Therefore it's a bit unusual to see Al Cowens with an "AC" bat. Cowens did not have a teammate with "AC" initials until 1983 when Al Chambers joined him on the Mariners. Hopefully he switched to numbers by then, or didn't mind Chambers using his bats.

Finally, any overview of interesting equipment in the 1977 set has to include the White Sox team card, with their famous short pants uniforms!
 

Incoming roundup

I am trying to balance not having too many "look what I got" posts while still giving proper thanks to everyone who has sent me cards lately, so I am trying to cram a bunch into a post every few days.

A fun small variety trade with fritz63 of TCDB. I like the various magazine cards of the late 80s and early 90s.

Everything else here is more OCB welcome packages. I include links to each person's website - you don't have to be OCB to trade with these folks.

These ten cards came from Steve Archibald. Among other things he collects any cards of people named Archibald, Archie, Arch, etc. If you have any extra Archie Corbin, Archi Cionfrocco, Archie Manning etc he would be a fun person to trade with.

Erik Greenwood sent three cards, two of which were wooden team cards.

Some of you may remember a blog called Nolan's Dugout. Kyle doesn't post much anymore on the blog he named after his son, but he is still a very active trader. Some big names in here, especially that '71 Carew!

Dan Angland sent some cards highlighted by four from the last Hostess set.

An all-oddball bunch from Ron Hoehne. A couple of Hall of Famers here, but my favorite player in this batch is former Yankee star Mickey Rivers.

Six fabulous '59's from Dave Hogan. Legendary Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard listed Jerry Lumpe as the name he least liked to announce. (His favorite was Jose Valdivielso.)

Finally, a second very generous PWE from Greg Henthorn. Just these cards were certainly generous enough . . .

. . . but once again some heavy star power was included, highlighted by a Deckle Edge Roberto Clemente!

Thank you all!
 

New York Times July 19, 1969

 You don't get a much cooler NYT cover than Buzz Aldrin wearing sunglasses on the Apollo.

Interesting article on space food. Also the ad is a good reminder that most people rented their telephone from the phone company at this time.

Big brawl at the Mets-Expos game.

Joe Namath's "retirement" lasted a month, as Pete Rozelle wins the battle of wills and gets the Jets QB to sell his stake in a restaurant with supposed mob ties.

Wouldn't you love to go back in time and check some of these out?

My favorite TV show is Get Smart, which was still airing at this time. Summer was re-run season back then. I haven't watched that golf-themed episode in a long time, I probably should check it out again. Martha Vasconellos was apparently miserable in her year as Miss Universe and quickly receded from the spotlight after she crowned her successor, Gloria Diaz, who went on to a long acting career in her native Philippines. The results of the beauty contest were relayed to the astronauts on the Apollo.