Wood vs. Wood #346

 Last time it was a 6-2 win for '87. Who will win this time?

There's a lot to see on Jack Kralick's card. It's spring training but there's bunting hanging from the roof. There are two bald men in street clothes standing on the field, examining a piece of paper. And Kralick is wearing the patch commemorating the Twins' first season in Minnesota. Kralick had a good rookie season with the Senators in 1960 and was even better with the Twins in 1961. That season Kralick went 13-11 with a 3.61 ERA, with 137 strikeouts in 242 innings. A nice season, but nowhere near as good as Cy Young winner Whitey Ford, who went 25-4 with 209 strikeouts in 242 innings. Ford was better than Kralick in advanced statistical categories as well - FIP, H9, HR9. And yet it was Kralick who led the AL in WAR, 6.0 to 3.7. Sabermetric blogger Phil Birnbaum used this example in a post to point out how WAR greatly exaggerates park factors and team defense in pitcher WAR. What's even weirder is Kralick's 1962 numbers are almost identical to his 1961 numbers, and yet his WAR plummeted from 6.0 to 2.1. Makes no sense! In 1963 Kralick was traded to Cleveland, for whom he had a couple more good season, but was basically done as a major league pitcher at the age of 30, retiring in 1967 to sell insurance. Kralick worked a variety of jobs over the next 20 years, eventually moving to a small fishing village in Mexico, where he lived for the next 24 years, passing away in 2012 at the age of 77.

Shawon Dunston has a much simpler photo, with just the cinder block wall of the dugout visible in his portrait shot. The son of an NYC taxi driver, Dunston grew up in East New York, Brooklyn. Dunston played 18 seasons in the major leagues for six teams, including 12 seasons with the Cubs. Known for his very strong arm at shortstop, he had good speed and decent power. Overall in 1,814 games, he hit .269 with 150 HR, 668 RBI and 212 SB. He has kept a low profile since his retirement, aside from some youth coaching and appearances for the Cubs.

Eureka! Golden!

I was able to pick up a cheap lot of vintage baseball stamps on eBay.

13 stamps from the 1955 Golden Stamps Dodgers. Lots of great vintage photos but it's tough to beat coach Jake Pitler holding three baseballs in his hand. 

Two more, which I had already and so are available for trade. Hopefully one of the Dodger fans or vintage collectors can use these.

23 needs from the 1949 Eureka Stamps set! So much fun to get cards from the first half of the 20th century. OK, stamps, but still - these are older than rock 'n roll. Largely Dodgers but also Giants, Phillies, and one Boston Brave. Richie Ashburn, Bobby Thomson, Don Newcombe, even Dodgers manager Burt Shotton in his street clothes.

There were actually six stamps I had already - three Dodgers, two Phillies and Giants manager Leo Durocher. Hopefully these will find a new home soon too.

 

Wallet Card at Baker Brush

This was the receiving entrance (rear, freight entrance) for Baker Brush, a prominent manufacturer of paintbrushes c. 1915-1975. Old Baker brushes can be found on eBay today for $100+.

 

Cake or gum? 1977 Don Sutton

RIP Darrell Jackson, who shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2013.

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

Both photos look like they were taken at the same time and place. Hostess has a portrait, while Topps has him starting his windup. Both avoided a shot of him Suttoning.

Don Sutton was an amazing model of consistency in his long major league career, winning at least 11 games in 21 of his 23 major league seasons. A four-time All-Star, he was the Dodgers' ace in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. He signed with the Astros after the 1980 season and remained effective for several teams well into his 40s. He pitched in four World Series, on the losing side each time, pitching well in '74 and '77 and poorly in '78 and '82. Overall in 774 games he went 324-256 with a 3.26 ERA. His 3,574 strikeouts are seventh all-time. Sutton was a longtime broadcaster, mostly for the Braves. He died of cancer in 2021.

1981 Topps Roger Erickson

 

The front: A fun card with lots going on in the background, including a couple of Twins who appear to be adjusting their equipment.

The back: Erickson's pickoff record was broken in 1990 by Mark Guthrie, who recorded 11.

Playing career: Erickson came up with the Twins as a 21-year-old rookie in 1978 and went 14-13 with a 3.96 ERA. However, injuries prevented him from sustaining that success. In 135 games for the Twins and Yankees from 1978 to 1983, he went 35-53 with a 4.13 ERA. He attempted a comeback with the Cardinals in 1989 and pitched well in AAA, but did not return to the major leagues.

Post-playing career: After his playing career he was involved in a variety of business pursuits, several of them related to baseball instruction. He is now retired. He shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2015.

My collection: I have 12 of his cards, from 1979 to 1990. I would be interested in trading for 1982 Topps Traded #30.
 

1976 SSPC Von Joshua

 

The card, in brief: Joshua wore #19 with the Giants, as can be seen on his bat knob. '75 was his first season with the Giants after five years with the Dodgers, where he wore #12. The back of the card has an error, it says his uniform number with the Giants was #12. (The actual #12 was teammate Gary Thomasson, who is correctly listed as #12 on his card.)

Playing career, in brief: Joshua was a big prospect for the Dodgers who never came close to living up to his potential with the team. He had a little more success with the Giants and Brewers, but did not stay with either team for long. Overall in 822 games, he hit .273 with 30 HR, 184 RBI and 55 SB.

Post-playing career, in brief: Joshua had a long career as a minor league hitting coach for the Dodgers and Cubs, managed the Taiwan national baseball team from 2014-2017, and is now a youth baseball coach in Michigan.

My collection: I have nine of his cards, from 1971 to 1980. I would be interested in trading for 1976 Kelloggs #39. 

1986 Renata Galasso Mattingly Puzzle #1

The last nine cards in the Galasso Mattingly are puzzle back cards. I've already shared the finished puzzle in this post.

Here's the first front of a puzzle-back card.

The blue padding makes it look like he's in a school gym. Perhaps he is.
 

Cards from Sir Nailhead

Another great trade with SirNailhead. I sent him some cards for three of his frankensets, and he sent me these fun cards, a nice find in a wet mailbox after an unexpectedly long day. The envelope was soaked, as was the layer of cereal cardboard, but the plastic pages kept the cards warm and dry.

Starting with some long hacker trucks from the '58 set. I'm guessing Frank Baumannn and his penciled-in braces was a holdover from Nailhead's trashed frankenset. 

Some newer cards, but only just barely. R.C. and Ray make a nice pair.

Some newer cards too! A terrific sample card of Don Mattingly; a shiny insert card of one of my favorite current Yankees, Giancarlo Stanton, and the bizarre pairing of Dick Allen and Luke Voit.

 

Wallet Card at Scheff's Work Clothes

In last week's wallet card photo, I noted that there was a painted sign on the side of the car dealership-turned-movie theater-turned office building. Here is that sign, which if you zoom in, has the word "clothes" still visible on the lower right. That sign was for Scheff's Work Clothes, which was next door to the old Nassau Garage, in the space occupied by the Total Wireless and it's neighbors in the photo.

In the pavement at the entrance to one of the stores, you can still see the sign for Scheff's, which moved out of this location in 1978.

Here is a photo of this location in 1960. As you can see, the word "clothes" is the same. However, when you look at the current sign, the large word ends with an N, so it's not Scheff's. The business that owned Scheff's was called Carlson-Scheff's, but I'm not sure that's Carlson either. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out what store came after Scheff's, but I'm guessing that store may have painted over "Scheff's" but kept "clothes".

 

 

Henthorn of plenty

Greg Henthorn of OBC is always very generous in what he sends around. This little seven-card PWE had plenty to write about.

There's a 1962 Babe Ruth card, that's always awesome. I guess there was a lot of interest in Ruth as Roger Maris had just broken his record. The '65 checklist is interesting; somehow the card's owner had almost every card after 371 but none before it. Some horizontal cards of Grady Hatton and Clay Dalrymple, each of whom spent a dozen years in the majors. And a '51 Topps card is always a treat. Cliff Chambers didn't have an illustrious career but he did pitch a no-hitter in 1951.

The two combo cards proved to be the most interesting though, as I researched the players on them. Starting with the Astros card, Alonzo "Candy" Harris had one major league at bat, and then seems to have disappeared. Aaron Pointer is a lot more prominent. Not because his career was longer - 40 games over three seasons. Not even because his four younger sisters became a world famous singing group. After his baseball career (which included three seasons in Japan), Pointer started refereeing high school football games in Tacoma, WA. In 1978, Pointer moved up to the college ranks, becoming the PAC-10's first Black referee. In 1987, Pointer made it to the NFL, and he served 17 seasons as an NFL referee. Highlights including refereeing a game where his sisters sang the national anthem, and a preseason game where his son Deron Pointer, attempting to make the Indianapolis Colts as a wide receiver, made his first catch. He served on the Tacoma Parks Commission board for over 20 years, retiring as Commissioner in 2024.

On the Mets card, there's Ron Locke, who pitched one season with the Mets, and continued to play competitive baseball and softball in his native Rhode Island his adopted home of Florida for decades. Steve Dillon was personally more interesting to me. Dillon pitched in only three major league games, one of which was the first night game at Shea Stadium. I saw he was a New Yorker which always piques my interest so I researched him further. After his baseball career, Dillon, who grew up in the Bronx, became an NYPD officer, and later his son did as well. That son is now the head of security at Citi Field, where his father threw out the first pitch on Old Timers Day in 2022. In the course of my research, I noticed where Dillon is living now. I looked up the address, and according to Google Maps, he lives 0.7 miles away from me. In fact I have probably walked past his house many times. I'm certainly not creepy enough to knock on the door an 83-year-old man and show him an old baseball card, but it's pretty cool that a former MLB player lives so close.