Cake or gum? 1977 Larry Bowa

 Last time was a 5-1 win for gum. Who will come out on top this time?

Hostess has Bowa in a spring training shot, with lots of interesting things going on in the background. Topps has him in a batting cage shot, with his Phillies jacket in their unusual purplish red color.

Larry Bowa held several shortstop fielding records during his career and remains the all-time NL leader in fielding percentage. In addition to his excellent glove Bowa had a solid bat. He led the NL in triples in 1971 and hit .375 in the 1980 World Series. Overall, in 2,247 games he hit .260 with 15 HR, 525 RBI and 318 SB. Bowa has been a coach for several teams and had managerial stints with the Padres and Phillies. He is currently Senior Advisor to the Phillies General Manager.

1981 Topps John D'Acquisto

 

The front: At Three Rivers Stadium, posing with his DAC42 glove.

The back: D'Acquisto no-hit the Tacoma Twins that day. The only Tacoma batter to reach base was future Twins manager Tom Kelly, who walked in the sixth inning.

The player: 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.

The man: 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.
 

Bimonthly roundup

It's been over two months since I did one of these posts  . . . 

A nice vintage trade with cdorso, TCDB.

Fun mix of cards from Randy Welk, OBC.

Elston Howard rookie! eBay

'65 Rose! eBay

10 OPC cards from  OBCer Scott Jensen.

Really nice Koufax oddball, '63 Fleer. eBay

Semi-high number cards from Casey Branton, OBC.

Gum and cake from Jennifer Roach, OBC.

Greg Henthorn from OBC, four from the fifties.

My first '51 Berk Ross cards, eBay. Willie Jones, Andy Seminick and Eddie Waitkus.

 

Street trade - 1984 Topps Traded

This was a fun find in one of Al's boxes today - 85 cards from 1984 Topps Traded! It's one of the few early 80s "major" sets I still haven't completed. I needed 37 of them, so a nice mix of cards I needed and cards to trade. I'm down to needing 25 for the set, so I've added the set to the wantlist on the blog, and will soon add it to my TCDB wants.

Cards I needed part I. Lots of players I don't get to add a new card from these days. 

Cards I needed part II. These were mostly commons but a few bigger names as you can see. 

Cards to trade part 1. Let me know if there's a player here you collect, or a team, or if you just have a wantlist you want me to check out.

Cards to trade part II. Hope to find good homes for these!

 

Wallet card in Nashville: Acme Farm Supply

This building, built in 1890, housed various businesses before Acme Feed and Hatchery moved in in 1943. In 1965 the business changed it's name to Acme Farm Supply. The business closed in 1999, and the building was vacant until 2013, when a bar/music venue was opened on the site, one of many catering to the tourists on Nashville's Broadway. What I really like here are the Purina privilege signs on this side of the building.

 

1976 SSPC Bruce Miller

 

The card, in brief: The dark, cloudy background makes it looks like he's standing on a foggy pier at night.

Playing career, in brief: Infielder Bruce Miller played in parts of four seasons with the Giants. In 196 games he hit .288 with 1 HR and 51 RBI. In September of 1976 he punched the Giants' team statistician. The Giants released Miller after the incident, ending his pro baseball career.

Post-playing career, in brief: Miller was a long time teacher and baseball coach at North Side High School in Ft. Wayne, IN. He is now retired.

My collection: I have four of his cards, from 1975 to 1976. I would be interested in trading for  1976 Cramer Phoenix Giants #NNO.

1986 Renata Galasso Mattingly #15

 Mattingly in the red, white and blue of the Nashville Sounds.

Error card! Mike Flanagan's name is misspelled. Looking at baseball-reference, if I am using their tool right, here's Mattingly's batting record through 1985 against each of these pitchers.

Candelaria: 0-for-5

Flanagan: 3-for-13 with two doubles

Hurst: 5-for-36 with two doubles

Boddicker: 6-for-21 with two doubles

The biggest ones missed are Mike Smithson (6-for-28 with three doubles); Storm Davis (2-for-15, most AB without an XBH) and Teddy Higuera (0-for-8, most AB without a hit).

1988 Domino's Denny McLain

 

Very classic pitching motion in this photo. 

Denny McLain had a meteoric rise to success in the major leagues, and an even more sudden plummet to the depths. He won 20 games as a 22-year-old in 1966, and in 1968 became baseball's last 30 game winner. He had another AL win title in 1969, but lost most of 1970 due to suspensions for gambling and for carrying a gun on a team plane. He was traded to the Senators in 1971, openly feuded with manager, Ted Williams, and lost a league leading 22 games. A year later he was out of baseball at the age of 28. Overall in 280 games McLain went 131-91 with a 3.39 ERA. After his career he was involved in numerous illegal activities and served jail time for cocaine trafficking, embezzlement and racketeering. In the past 15 years he has managed to stay out of legal trouble, and currently is involved in sports radio, magazine columns, and podcasts.

I have 14 of his cards, from 1965 to 1973. I would be interested in trading for 1966 Topps #540 and 1971 Topps #750. 

Burgers or gum? Aurelio Lopez

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

Like many players in this series, we have a Wendy's card with a spring training portrait and a Topps card with a Tiger Stadium action photo.

Lopez pitched eleven seasons in the major leagues, seven of them for the Tigers, for whom he won 53 games and saved 85. His best season was 1984, when he went 10-1 with 14 saves and a 2.94 ERA, and threw six scoreless innings in the postseason, winning a game in both the ALCS and World Series. The popular Lopez served as mayor of his home city of Tecamachalco, Mexico from 1990 until his tragic death in 1992 in a car accident, the same cause of death of the only other MLB players named Aurelio (Monteagudo in 1990, Rodriguez in 2000).
 

Street trade set kill

As the name of this post suggests, Al did bring the Yoo-Hoo's back today and I was able to knock off that pesky Yogi Berra to finish my 1993 Yoo-Hoo set.

Lots of other fun cards. Random highlights include red foil versions of both of Gregory Polanco's 2014 Topps Update card, and a Topps archive card of female trailblazer Eleanor Engle.

Years ago I got some on-card auto's from Al, all from 1986 and 1987 cards. I imagine these two came from that.

About a third of the cards I picked out I had already, so into the trade boxes go these.