Wood vs. Wood #325

Last time it was a 7-3 win for 1987. Who will win here?

Luis Aparicio is photographed at the old Yankee Stadium, with the facade, grandstand and bleachers all nicely represented. Luis Aparicio came up with the White Sox as a 22-year-old shortstop, and led the AL in stolen bases. It was the first of nine straight seasons for him to lead the league in steals. Considered the greatest-fielding shortstop of his generation, he also had a great batting eye, walking as often as he struck out. A walk and a steal were considered an "Aparicio double".  He had some of the least impressive "traditional" hitting stats of any Hall of Famer - .262 batting average (only one season above .280); 83 HR (only one season with 10), and 791 RBI (never more than 61 in a season). He did have 2,677 hits, but never more than 182 in a season. After his playing career he returned to his native Venezuela and was a manager and an announcer. He is now retired, and since 2024 is the oldest living Hall of Famer.

Garry Templeton gets a simple spring training shot. Templeton's career started off looking like he could be an equal or better than Aparicio, at least as a hitter. In his first three full seasons for the Cardinals, Templeton led the NL in triples each year, and he led the NL in hits in 1979. Unlike Aparicio, he was a poor defensive shortstop, and was traded straight-up to the Padres for their shortstop, Ozzie Smith. Smith blossomed into an Aparicio-like HOFer in St. Louis, while Templeton devolved into a mediocre shortstop who still managed to hang around for a decade in San Diego. Overall he hit .271 with 2,096 hits, 70 HR, 728 RBI and 242 SB. Numbers that were on the surface quite similar to Aparicio's, but most of those numbers came in his first few years in St. Louis, dragged down by his decade in San Diego, where he managed just 10.1 WAR in 10 seasons. After his playing career Templeton was a minor league coach and manager. He is now retired.
 

Cake or gum? 1977 Ron LeFlore

Last time the voting went, in order, cake-gum-cake-gum-cake-gum-cake-gum-cake-gum: a 5-5 tie. Who will win here? And will we get another fun vote pattern?

Two spring training shots, two very different photos. I'm not sure if these were taken at the same time or not.

Ron LeFlore's first experience playing organized baseball came when he was in prison for armed robbery. An inmate with connections to Tigers manager Billy Martin (who but Billy would have prison connections for baseball talent?) convinced Martin to give LeFlore a tryout. LeFlore was released from prison in July of 1973, and a year later he was in the major leagues. He immediately became a star, as one of the fastest players in the league and an excellent hitter as well. From 1976 to 1979 he was one of the best hitters in the American League. He hit .300 in three of those four seasons, and in 1978, hitting .297, he led the AL with 126 runs and 68 stolen bases. However, his continuing association with drug dealers and mob figures led new Tigers manager Sparky Anderson to trade LeFlore to Montreal. In his one season with the Expos LeFlore led the NL with 97 stolen bases, though he hit just .257. After the season LeFlore signed a big free agent contract with the White Sox. In Chicago LeFlore's baseball skill rapidly declined, while he continued to make bad decision off the field. At the end of the 1982 season, he was arrested for drug and gun possession. He failed to make the White Sox roster in spring training of 1983 and retired. After his career he worked in a variety of jobs, even attending umpire school. He was also arrested twice for failure to pay child support. At last report he was retired and living in Florida.
 

OBC Roundup

 It's been almost a month since my last roundup post. I've gotten some nice cards from OBC members since that last post.

Six cards from 1986, three Leafs and three True Values, from Randy Griffin.

Four 1960s Topps cards, from Bob Chapman.

Six 1988 Sportflics cards, from. Rick Lyons.

A mix of old and new, from Ron Hoehne.

Nine '62s, from Jon Jeans.

 Finally, four from Fifty-Three, from Cesar Capio.

 

Wallet Card at a Waldbaum's that burned down 60 years ago

 

Waldbaum's was a major Long Island supermarket chain that went bankrupt in 2015, the same year I started doing wallet cards. There are still plenty of Waldbaum's remnants that felt too new to include as wallet card entries. 

This one is more interesting, though. I had passed by this strip of stores on Broadway in Hewlett, NY hundreds of times without noticing the back. It's pretty faded but the WALDBAUM'S is still fairly legible. It took a fair amount of internet detective work to figure out that this Waldbaum's was destroyed by fire in 1965. A New York Times article mentioned that it was "suspicious". Articles from other more local papers are behind paywalls, but I wonder if it's suspicious that another, larger Waldbaum's had been opened in the same town a few years earlier? Whatever is the case, it's cool that this sign survived a big fire and still is visible 60 years later.

1981 Topps Tom Hume

 

The front: Hume follows through on a pitch at Shea Stadium. Hume pitched in one day game at Shea, July 26, 1980. Hume pitched four shutout innings to save a 5-1 Reds win. 

The back: Hume went to Manatee after being drafted in the 35th round of the 1971 draft by the Dodgers. After one year at Manatee he was a first round pick of the Reds, with whom he signed.

The player: Hume was an ace reliever for the Reds for several years, winning NL Fireman of the Year in 1980. Overall in 11 seasons, 10 with the Reds, Hume went 57-71 with 92 saves and a 3.85 ERA.

The man: In November of 1980, shortly before this card came out, Hume, teammate Bill Bonham and their wives were staying at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas when a massive fire broke out, kiling 87 people. The Humes and Bonhams were among 300 guests that were evacuated off the roof via helicopter. They had been staying on the 24th floor, where 10 people were later found dead. After his playing career, Hume was a Reds bullpen coach for several years but is now retired.

My collection: I have 34 of his cards, from 1978 to 1988. I would be interested in trading for 1978 SSPC #120.
 

1976 SSPC John D'Acquisto

The card, in brief: Another night card. Looks like just about all of the Giants cards were taken at or after sunset.

Playing career, in brief:  John D'Acquisto pitched ten years in the major leagues from 1973 to 1982. In 1974, he was the National League Rookie Pitcher of the Year. Overall in 266 games (92 starts) for six teams, he went 34-51 with 15 saves and a 4.56 ERA.

Post-playing career, in brief: D'Acquisto was involved in a wide variety of business ventures after his playing career, and is a published author and artist. He shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2010.

My collection: I have 11 of his cards, from 1974 to 1983. I would be interested in trading for 1982 TCMA Richmond Braves #4.

1986 Renata Galasso Mattingly #7

Even future major league stars took photos like this if they were a high school senior in 1980. Sears?

Once again reiterating that he was not really a big baseball fan. I think few big leaguers were growing up.

 

1988 Domino's John Hiller

 

One of the things I like about this set are the great photos. They can't all be winners, though.

The chubby young southpaw seen here pitched well during the 1968 regular season as both a starter and a reliever. On August 6 he set a record by striking out the first six batters of a game, and two weeks later he pitched a one-hitter. In January of 1971, Hiller suffered a heart attack, and everyone but him assumed he would never pitch again. In 1972 Hiller, who lost 40 pounds, was offered a minor league coaching job with the Tigers, but he was able to prove to them he was in pitching shape and was back on the team by July. The next year he had an extraordinary season, going 10-5 with a 1.44 ERA, and led the AL with 38 saves, earning Comeback Player of the Year honors. Hiller remained the Tigers closer throughout the 1970s, and when he retired in 1980 his 545 games pitched was most for the team all time, and it still is today. After his retirement he owned a farm and worked a variety of jobs. The 82-year-old Hiller has participated in the Mackinac Island 1880s Vintage Baseball Game for over 20 years - you can see him at the 2025 event here. 

I have 17 of his cards, from 1966 to 1980. I would be interested in trading for 1977 Hostess #28. 

Wallet Card with a Deadly Disease

I noticed some empty spaces for advertising posters on Track 18 at Penn Station. I've had surprisingly good luck with really old flyers that have been hidden underneath ads, stuck on for good with adhesives that are no doubt banned today. This one is a weird one.

Not much to go on but just a hunch that these were old. I actually was thinking they were probably just modern rat poison warnings, but it's actually more interesting.

While there's a lot to dislike about modern Google search, one great thing is that Google Images now automatically searches for text in photos, not just in the website the photo is on. I tried googling "Deadly Disease Stay Away From", with no luck in the regular results but a perfect match in Images.

This is a photograph by acclaimed photographer Louis Clyde Stoumen, called Deadly Disease, Times Square, New York. There are copies of the photo in the museums of Amherst University, who date the photo as 1980, and Duke University, who date it 1978. 

I couldn't find any more information about who was posting these flyers about tuberculosis around New York City in the late 1970s or early 1980s, but it's cool to know that at least a little bit of these 45+ year old amateur flyers are still visible today. 

Burgers or gum? Darrell Evans

Last time was an easy win for Topps, 6-1. Will this one be as easy?

Wendy's has Evans in spring training, with a nice view of the stands. It is clear that the Tigers logo on his helmet is a decal. Topps has him leaning on the Tiger Stadium dugout roof, signing autographs pregame.

The Tigers were slow to enter the world of free agency, and after the 1983 season finally made their first big-time free agent signing, bringing veteran NL slugger Darrell Evans to the Junior Circuit. Evans hit just .232 but walked more than he struck out, and hit 16 HR with 63 RBI. He hit .300 in the ALCS but was one-for-fifteen in the World Series.

Evans played 21 years in the major leagues, 10 of them with the Atlanta Braves. The other 11 were split between San Francisco and Detroit. He was the AL home run king in 1985 with 40 HR. Overall in 2,687 games he hit .248 with 414 HR and 1,354 RBI. Unlike many other sluggers from his era, Evans had an excellent strikeout-to-walk ratio (1,605-1,410). Since retiring as a player, Evans has coached professional baseball in the US, Canada and New Zealand. He also gives private instruction.