I was fortunate to win a free box of cards in a recent giveaway by Crocodile Sports Cards. I had no idea what would be in there, and was happy to see that there were plenty of cards that I needed.
Four shiny refractors!
Last time, cake won in a shutout, 6-0. Will this be another easy win for cake?
These photos were almost certainly taken at the same time. As was often the case, Topps went for the tighter shot on the player, while Hostess went with the photo where the background was much more prominent.
Born Ricky, always known as Rick, and never Rickey, Reuschel was the ace of the Cubs' staff in the mid-to-late 1970s, and after losing a lot of time to injuries, enjoyed a resurgence with the Pirates and Giants in the late 1980s. He was not considered a Hall of Fame candidate during or immediately after his career. However, with the recent popularity of the WAR statistic, some writers consider him Hall-worthy based on his high WAR total. However, others remain unconvinced of a candidacy based almost entirely on one statistic. Over his 19-year career he went 214-191 with a 3.37 ERA. He did pitch for a lot of bad Cubs and Pirates teams which may have depressed his win totals a bit. However, he did make three postseasons and was quite bad in October, going 1-4 with a 5.85 ERA in seven starts. Since his career he has stayed out of the spotlight, retiring to his family farm.
Last time, 1987 triumphed, 4-2. Who will win this time?
There's a lot going on in the background of Frank Baumann's card as he strikes a pitching pose for the photographer. Baumann came up with the Red Sox in 1955 and had several undistinguished seasons in Boston. He was traded to the White Sox before the 1960 season and had by far his best season that year, going 13-6 in 47 games (20 starts) and leading the AL with a 2.67 ERA. He was unable to replicate that success over the rest of his career, which ended with a brief stint with the Cubs in 1965. Overall in 244 games (78 starts) he went 45-38 with a 4.11 ERA. After his career he worked for several businesses in the St. Louis area. He died in 2020.
A lone palm tree makes up the background for Steve Ontiveros's card. Much like Baumann, Ontiveros was an unheralded part-time starter/reliever who had one excellent season resulting in an AL ERA title. Ontiveros came up with the A's as a reliever in 1985. In 1987 Tony Larussa made him a starter and he had a solid season, but injuries curtailed his usefulness from 1988-1990, and kept him out of the majors in 1991 and 1992. After a comeback with Seattle in 1993, Ontiveros made a triumphant return to Oakland in 1994. In 27 games (13 starts) he went 6-4 and led the AL with a 2.65 ERA. In 1995 he was good enough to make the All-Star team, but injuries cut his career down after that, and he did not return to the major leagues for five seasons, when he made a brief 3-game return to MLB action with the Red Sox. Overall in 207 games (73 starts) he went 34-31 with a 3.67 ERA. He is now a youth baseball coach in Arizona.
There may be no better set for bat-rack shots than 1970 Topps. There are lots of great ones, but for this series the relevant cards are the ones where you can see numbers on the knobs.
Jay Johnstone: Most are pretty blurry but I can make out a #12 in front. That would make it Ruben Amaro's bat.
The front: This is a more interesting background shot than most of the posed photos. By all accounts it was not unusual to capture Monge smiling.
The back: Monge's actually gave up a double in his no-hitter, but the batter was called out for missing first base.
The player: Sid Monge spent 10 seasons in the major leagues for five different teams. He was known for being able to pitch almost every day and doing whatever was asked of him. His best season was 1979 with Cleveland, when he went 12-10 with 19 saves and a 2.40 ERA, making his only All-Star team. Overall in 435 games he went 49-40 with 56 saves and a 3.53 ERA.
The back: A baseball life, Monge had a long career as a coach in both the US and his native Mexico. He was elected to the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004.
My collection: I have 20 of his cards, from 1976 to 1985. I would be interested in trading for 1984 Padres Smokey NNO.
The card, in brief: This is a nice photo - it appears the photographer tried to get as much blue sky as possible behind Blanks, with just a bit of the Shea Stadium right field upper deck in view.
Playing career, in brief: "Sugar Bear" was a pretty good hitter for a shortstop, but fielding woes curtailed his attempts to be more than a backup/pinch-hitter. In nine seasons with Atlanta, Cleveland and Texas, he played in 629 games, hitting .253 with 20 HR and 172 RBI. In 407 games at SS, he had a .957 fielding percentage (62 errors).
Post career, in brief: After his career he was a teacher and tennis coach at his old high school in Texas. He has remained very active and is an accomplished golfer. Last year at the age of 72 he won the two-day Texas Individual Golf Tour tournament in Fort Worth, and was the oldest player in the tournament.
My collection: I have 11 of his cards, from 1973 to 1980. I would be interested in trading for 1977 Pepsi Discs #NNO.
I've had a few more trade packages from TCDB come in this week. None have been very large, but they were all filled with some really great cards.
I recently traded with OP_Cards for a 1970 Thurman Munson rookie. He reached out to me for another trade which I was very happy to do. I sent him about 30 cards, vintage and modern, a lot of Piazzas (he is a Mets fan). In return I was able to knock off two big names from my 1969 setbuild, which has gotten down to just 62 to go. It's a nice pairing of two pitchers who would square off in the World Series that year and go on to be the best pitcher in each league for the next decade.
These have been some tight battles - last time it was cake by a 6-4 score. Another KC Royal to decide on today.
Amos Otis was one of the stars of the great Royals teams of the 1970s and early 1980s, though he retired before the team finally won the World Series in 1985. A four-time all-star and three-time Gold-Glover, he led the AL in doubles in 1970 and 1976 and steals in 1971. In 1,998 games (including a brief stint with Pittsburgh in 1984) he hit .277 with 374 2B, 66 3B, 193 HR, 1,007 RBI and 341 SB. After his playing career he was a long-time hitting coach, and is now retired.
Got some more cards in from various TCDB members. Also have NOT gotten cards from one member - I sent him cards in March, it's now two months later and no reply, not even an indication if he's gotten it. He's logged in a few times since then, but no response to my messages, I don't even know if he's gotten the cards that I sent him. Have any of you been in that situation? Do you change status to "Problem" and/or give bad feedback? Fortunately not much of value was going either way.
On to the good guys of TCDB (and it does seem to be all guys):
BLWinborn40 hit my wantlists again with a few more '18s.
Last time 1987 won, 6-1. Who comes out on top this time?
Dick Stuart poses for the photographer at what I think is Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Stuart was best known as a terrible fielder, famously nicknamed "Dr. Strangeglove". From 1961 to 1964 he was one of the best hitters in baseball, topping 30 HR and 100 RBIs with the Pirates in '61 and the Red Sox in '63 and '64. He was not able to maintain that success thereafter as he bounced around several teams in the US and Japan. After his career he hosted several sports TV shows. He died in 2002.
Julio Franco displays his unique batting stance on a sunny day in Anaheim. Franco was 3-for-8 in two day games at the Angels in '86. Franco was 27-years-old on this card, but still had another 20 years of baseball to go. Franco spent 25 years in the US major leagues, as well as time in Japan and Korea. His best seasons were with the Rangers from 1989-1991, when he was an All-Star three times and won the AL batting title in 1991. From age 42 to 47, Franco was a solid pinch-hitter and backup first baseman for the Mets and the Braves; from 2002 to 2006 he played at least 100 games a year, and hit at least .273 or better each year. He holds just about every batting record for a player over 40, or for oldest to accomplish something. Franco has stayed in baseball since his retirement from playing, coaching and managing in the US, Japan and Korea, and is currently a hitting coach in the Mexican League.
I sent Night Owl a PWE with some of his 1965 needs, and he sent me a really fun PWE packed with a fun vintage and modern variety.
Spencer Strider is the next-to-last card I need for the 2022 set. Now I just need Wander Franco. Might be a while until I get that one. Hardball Galaxy is a fun insert set, but my favorite is that Joe DiMaggio card, mostly for the patch on the Clipper's sleeve. The pyramid and sphere are the Trylon and Perisphere, the symbol of the 1939-40 World's Fair in New York. I've seen World's Fair patches on photos of the Yankees in 1939-40 and the Mets in 1964-65, but that is the most prominent one I've seen.
I've been blogging for a long time, and I don't take old blogs off of my blogroll. (Sadly, Blogger doesn't seem to let me add new blogs to it anymore.) Recently, a long-dormant blog called Stats on the Back, which used to have a lot of fun posts about interesting card backs, came back up. Mark, who now runs the very successful IDrawBaseballCards twitter site, had updated his want lists and it showed up in the blogroll. I saw that I could help him out with a lot of it, and reached out to him for a trade. I ended up sending him a couple hundred cards to finish off his "Childhood Collecting" frankentset and help out with a few others. In return, he sent me a really nice package that was a combination of some of my wantlist needs and a lot of fun random cards.
He whittled down some of my needs for recent Topps flagship sets, which is greatly appreciated.
