1976 SSPC Gary Thomasson

 

The card, in brief: What's so interesting in the upper deck?

Playing career, in brief: Thomasson was a part-time outfielder for the Giants in the 1970s. In 1977 at the age of 25, he had what looked like a breakout season, hitting .256 with 17 HR and 71 RBI.  The Giants sold high, packaging him to Oakland as part of the deal that brought Vida Blue to San Francisco. Thomasson struggled with the A's, and was traded to the Yankees midseason, where he was a little-used bench player. He ended his US career with the Dodgers, and signed a big contract to play for the Yomiuri Giants. He struggled mightily in Japan, nearly setting the league strikeout record before being benched. 

Meanwhile, the Japanese artist Genpei Akasegawa developed a fascination with objects that were no longer in use but were still maintained, originally inspired by a staircase with no entranceway on the top, but was still regularly repaired. He published a popular book of photos of this "hyperart" - objects not intended to be art but still maintaining an artistic quality. The books showed images of objects that were "maintained in good condition, but with no purpose, to the point of becoming a work of art." A baseball fan, Akasegawa named these after the expensive but useless artifact languishing on the Yomiuri Giants bench - "Hyperart Thomasson". The concept was popular in the 1980s and regained popularity in the 2010s. According to one art blog, Messy Nessy, "On Instagram, there are over 3,000 posts alone under the Japanese “Tomasson” hashtag: トマソン".

Post playing career, in brief: Thomasson has kept a low profile since his baseball career. Anyone know what he is doing now?

My collection: I have 13 of his cards, from 1974 to 1981. I would be interested in trading for  1980 Los Angeles Dodgers Police SGA #NNO.

1986 Renata Galasso Mattingly #20

We're getting to the section of the set with the modern photos of Mattingly. 

 Yankee fan and famous drummer Jack Scarangella was so popular with the team that there was an informal Yankee Stadium Drum Room. The site Not So Modern Drummer has photos of Scarangella drumming with Mattingly, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph and Paul O'Neill.

 

1988 Domino's Jim Price

 

This is a nice photo, not very different from the type of photo Topps would use at the time, though I don't think they usually shot from below.

Jim Price spent five seasons as a backup catcher for the Tigers. In 261 games he hit .214 with 18 HR and 71 RBI. He hit just .174 in '68 and was 0-for-2 in the World Series. After his playing career he had a long career as a Tigers announcer, from 1993 to July of 2023. He died in August of 2023.

I have seven of his cards, from 1967 to 1971. I would be interested in trading for 1971 Dell Today's Team Stamps #NNO.

Burgers or gum? Alan Trammell

 Last time it was 3-1, burgers. Will gum win here?

Coca-Cola/Wendy's has Trammell pose in front of a chain link fence at spring training. Topps has Trammell at bat on a sunny day in Yankee Stadium. Trammell played in five games at Yankee Stadium in 1984, but all were night games, meaning this photo was taken in 1983 or earlier.

Alan Trammell was the best shortstop in the American League in the 1980s. He was a big part of the Tigers' early season run, hitting .340 over the first 40 games. He tailed off over the rest of the season but still had a very good .314 average. He had a terrific postseason, hitting .419 (.450 in the World Series) with 3 HR and 9 RBI. In his 20-year career with the Tigers, Trammell hit .285 with 185 HR and 1,003 RBI. He was a good defender, with four Gold Glove awards early in his career. He was voted to the Hall of Fame in 2017. Trammell, who had brief managerial stints with the Diamondbacks and Tigers, is currently a Special Assistant to the General Manager of the Tigers.
 

Wood vs. Wood #342

Last time 1962 won, 3-1. Will there be more votes this time?

Ed Rakow leads off this battle of righty relievers in a traditional windup pose at Yankee Stadium. Rakow came up with the Dodgers at the end of the 1960 season, then was traded to the KC A's where he mostly pitched in relief. In 1962 he moved into the starting rotation and had a tough season, leading the American League with 17 losses and 111 earned runs allowed. In 1964 he was traded to the Tigers where he returned to the bullpen. He ended his career with a brief stint with the Braves. Overall in 195 games (90 starts) he went 36-47 with a 4.33 ERA. During and after his baseball career, he worked as a truck driver. He died in 2000.

Bob James where a White Sox pullover in a spring training shot. James came up with the Expos and also had a stint with the Tigers before being traded to the White Sox before the 1985 season. He had an out-of-nowhere star season with the White Sox in '85, going 8-7 with 32 saves and a 2.13 ERA. He was not nearly as good the following two seasons. Arm injuries ended his career at age 28 in 1987. Overall in 279 games he went 24-26 with 73 saves and a 3.80 ERA. After his playing career, he had a long tenure as baseball coach at Vasquez High School in Acton, CA.
 

Roundup, not roundball

I couldn't care less about basketball, so while everyone around me is losing their minds about the Knicks, I'll just post the great baseball cards that I've gotten from generous bloggers and traders over the past two months.

 Nice mixture of real vintage, fake vintage, and fun shiny from yobshabob, TCDB.

Two minis, two Canadians, and a generous throw-in of two Posts, from threegreatgirls, TCDB.

May time travel winnings from Diamond Jesters. Those Canadian oddballs are great, as is my first '81 Fleer "finger" card. The "finger" is so hard to see and kind of looks like another body part.

Four fun oddballs, including my first '84 Nestle, from srose007, TCDB.

SirNailhead, my favorite new blogger, sent this dazzling shiny mizture. My favorite is the bottom middle card of Hilltop Park, home of the New York Highlanders.

Batting Out of Order, TCDB/blogger. This is our 11th TCDB trade, a personal record for both of us (on that platform, at least). My favorite is the oddball among oddballs, a Joey Meyer magazine card. It is not sitting on top of another card, that is the design.

A small lot from eBay, plus a '57 single that came in at the same time. A couple of dupes in here, but most I needed.

One card but a good one, a '72 high number of Dirty Al Gallagher, from pcantara, TCDB.

It's hard to find affordable Topps stars on eBay anymore, but this '57 Banks slipped through, probably because of the insignificant paper loss on the front.

A couple of '30s matchbooks from eBay. I believe Walter "Jumbo" Brown, who I believe is my first Yankee matchbook. I looked him up and it turns out he lived on Long Island, only a couple of miles from where I live now. Very cool!

Another affordable pre-WWII card from eBay.

It's been so long that I rounded up that we're onto the second TTT from Diamond Jesters.

Three affordable '52 Topps cards, from eBay. Really got lucky with these. I did already have the Mitchell.

Got some Posts in the post, from Mark Camps, OBC.

Two shiny birds from philliesphan, TCDB.

Love those '80s oddballs! And Yankee cards of course. MDog23, TCDB.

When I added my '84 Topps Traded needs to TCDB, mattheinz23 pounced!

ILLRIMESAYA does some damage to my '98 Metal needs list. TCDB

Finally, two trimmed cards printed a decade apart, from eBay.

 

Bottled up

Here's something a little different. This came up in some eBay search for baseball cards, and as most of you readers know, I have a think for old soda advertising. It had no bids and it was under $15 shipped, which is a very good price. I made a "what the heck" minimum bid and it was enough.

I love the disco-era 7-Up package, the logo really pops in person. And if you look closely you can see that these are no ordinary 7-Up bottles. 

The six bottles salute the 1978 All Star Game in San Diego. Here's the front . . . 

. . . and the back, with the scores of all the All Star Games through 1977.

There are six identical bottles in the cardboard. I don't necessarily need six of the same bottle, so I'd consider trading bottle(s) for cards if someone has an interest in one or more. I'd have to figure out how to ship a single bottle, and the cards would have to be worth the postage of sending the bottle, but maybe it fits into someone's collection.
 

Thanks, Johnny!

I got a nice PWE from Johnny's Trading Spot today. He was giving away some vintage football cards and I claimed this 1957 Topps card of Giants great Kyle Rote.

Rote was a star wide receiver on the great Giants teams of the late 50s and early 60s.

Don't like old football cards? Maybe shiny new baseball cards will cheer you up. Johnny generously threw in these with the football freebie.

Cake or gum? 1977 Ray Burris

Last time was a 6-2 victory for gum. Who will win here?

Looks like two photos that were taken in the same shoot at spring training. 

Burris had some decent seasons with some bad Cubs teams in mid-70s, winning 44 games between 1975 and 1977. He pitched badly in 1978 and by 1979 he'd lost his place in the rotation. That year the Yankees traded popular reliever Dirt Tidrow for Burris, and Burris was awful for the Yankees, who released him before the season was over. He signed with the Mets and wasn't much better. He hung around the majors for a few more years, and had a brief resurgence with the A's in 1984. Overall he pitched for seven teams over 15 seasons. In 480 games (302 starts) he went 108-134 with a 4.17 ERA. He has since had a long career in coach, and for the past decade has been the rehabilitation pitching coach for the Phillies.
 

1981 Topps Dave Roberts (#431)

The front: The second Dave Roberts in the set, this Dave is captured pregame at Tiger Stadium.

The back: Roberts was the #1 overall pick in the 1972 draft, and the sixth player to go straight from the draft to the major leagues. He came into the game in the 12th inning, and went 0-for-3 as the game went on for 18 innings.

The player: Roberts never lived up to the hype of being the #1 pick. By mid-1973 he was in the minor leagues, and he bounced around for four teams over 10 seasons as a utilityman. Overall in 709 games he hit .239 with 49 HR and 208 RBI.

The man: Roberts seems to have kept a low profile since his career ended, and a brief stint coaching and managing in the minor leagues in the 1980s. He now lives in Texas.

My collection: I have 17 of his cards, from 1973 to 1983. I would be interested in trading for 1977 O-Pee-Chee #193.