Scott Grove on baseball cards

Scott Grove pitched in the Braves, Brewers and Blue Jays organizations from 1988 to 1993. His best season was 1992, when he went 10-6 with 6 saves and a 3.23 ERA for the Dunedin Blue Jays. Overall in 169 games he went 33-34 with 12 saves and a 3.84 ERA. Now a physical education teacher, director of baseball operations and head baseball coach at Coffee High School in Douglas, GA, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

Do you have any stories about cards of yourself or of other players? My favorite card was of Turk Wendell brushing his teeth in between innings when he pitched. Turk and I have been friends for over 30 years. 

Do you have a favorite card of yourself or of another player? I have attached my favorite card of myself.

Do you collect baseball cards? I did when I was younger. The only cards I have now are team sets of the teams I played on from 1988-1994.

Thanks!

 

Cake or gum? 1976 Bucky Dent

Last time gum won a close one, 6-4. Who will win here?

Once again the Hostess photo is much bluer than the Topps photo. Other than that, the photos are nearly identical. (Not actually the same photo though - you can see a gap between the bat and trees in the Hostess photo but not the Topps.) 

Bucky Dent was an excellent fielding shortstop with a decent, though not overpowering bat. At the time of this card he was coming off an All-Star season in 1975 after winning Rookie of the Year in 1974. After a down year in 1976 the White Sox traded him to the Yankees for Oscar Gamble, in what turned out to be a great trade for the Yankees. Dent provided good defense, and famously had one of the all-time great Octobers in 1978, hitting the go-ahead 3-run home run in the one-game playoff against the Red Sox, then winning World Series MVP honors for hitting .417 with 7 RBI against the Dodgers. In 1982 the Yankees traded him to the Rangers for Lee Mazzilli. He ended his career with the Royals in 1984. Overall in 1,392 games he hit .247 with 40 HR and 423 RBI. After his career he was a coach for several teams and had a brief stint managing the Yankees.

Wood vs. Wood #247

Last time it was a big 7-1 win for 1962. Who will win here?

Joe Pignatano is in his KC A's uniform, but is listed as an SF Giant. The back of the card said he was expected to see a lot of time for the Giants, but after just seven games he was sold to the expansion Mets, ending his career by hitting into a triple play on September 30. Previously he had spent four years as a backup catcher for the Dodgers, winning a World Series ring in 1959. Pignatano had a big hit in the playoff against the Braves in 1959, but mostly struggled as a hitter. In 307 games he hit .234 with 16 HR and 62 RBI. He had a long career as a Mets coach, winning another ring in 1969. He died in 2022.

Jeff Reed hangs out in the Twins dugout. His career was much like Pignatano's, only it was three times longer, as his bat was a little stronger than Pignatano's. In 17 games for six teams, as a backup and occasionally platoon catcher, Reed hit .250 with 61 HR and 323 RBI. His biggest highlights were with the Reds, catching Tom Browning's perfect game in 1988, and winning a World Series ring in 1990. After his playing career he was a long-time minor league coach for the Twins. He is now the head baseball coach at Providence Academy in Johnson City, TN.

Vintage star cards roundup

Almost a month since I did one of these. 

I'd been settling into a decent pattern with the Friday Greg Morris auctions. A few oddballs and a star or two. The second year Billy Williams is the highlight here.

Sparky Anderson rookie, an early Early Wynn, and the surprisingly tough '68 Joe Sparma.

This one was really fun - a '52 Bomwan Bob Feller, and two '49 Bowmans!

The one from last Friday hasn't arrived, but it was quite good. Then last week was possibly my weakest Morris winnings. It really is unpredictable.

Not much otherwise this month. I did pick up a 6-stamp 1962 lot with Banks and Hodges.

1957 Billy Martin!

I still pick up an occasional dime oddball off of eBay, though I don't usually put them on the blog. I did want to show this unusual fun aRod mini-poster from the 1997 Sports Illustrated card set.

 

Blogger/TCDB/OBC roundup

Lots of fun cards that came in the last few weeks.

It was a big month in the Diamond Jesters Time Travel Trades. Some real vintage with a 1960 high-number and a 1972 TCMA Gas House Gang card. Some fun modern ones too.

 

Some more free cards from View from the Third Floor. Needed all the cards on the bottom, including both Gary Sanchez parallels.

Another generous blogger giving away cards was Crocodile. I picked up one of my favorite players, Alfonso Soriano, as well as a nice-looking Stadium Club card.

Lots of activity on TCDB lately. Starting off with this oddball quartet of Blue Jays playing cards from Jeff9679.

A nice vintage hit - a 1961 Al Dark card from ILLRIMESAYA.

Eight hits to my 1982 Fleer Stamps set from bhk5150. I love the off-center action photos.

A really nice trade with Chickengood. A 1964 Mickey Lolich rookie, two vintage George Brett oddballs, a big star for my 1998 Metal set, and a lot of fun Heritage Flashback inserts.

 

Finally, a couple of OBC envelopes. These came from Joe Stout. With this and the Too Many Verlanders package I actually got two '65 Johnny Klippsteins on the same day.

Closing out with two 1950s Sox from Mark Talbot.

 

1974 Topps Deckle Dating: Willie Stargell

Stargell appears to be crouching, and the photo was cropped in a way to make him appear to be standing upright. That is why the ground is at an angle.

March 19, 1973. Same date as teammate Manny Sanguillen.

The same image can be seen in color on Stargell's 1974 Topps Jigsaw Puzzle.

The photo for his 1974 Home Run Leaders card was probably taken at the same time. His cap is at the same jaunty angle.

Cards from my son

Today my 10-year-old gave us the gifts he bought a few weeks ago at his school's holiday boutique. To my surprise he got me a pack of baseball cards! I've never gotten cards as a gift before (maybe as a kid, I don't remember) so this was a lot of fun for me.

We had a lot of fun opening the pack together. I'm showing each card and what I told him about the player.

He hasn't been much into baseball himself but he did watch some of the playoffs with me this year. He recognized Gerrit Cole, the Yankees' best pitcher and the only current player in the pack.

Pat Kelly was a Yankee for a few years when I was a teenager.

Robinson Cano was a great Yankee for a few years. This and all the other cards in the pack that look like base Topps cards are actually from that year's Yankee team set, which means I very likely needed them all! (I haven't checked yet; anything that I had already I am keeping separate and not adding to my trade boxes.)

Andy Pettitte was one of four great Yankees known as the "Core Four" . . . .

. . . and so was Jorge Posada!

My son informed me that this is called a "needle kick".

He knew right away that Chamberlain was listening to the National Anthem. Judging by his neck craning straight up he might even be watching planes fly overhead. This is a different photo than his base card.

Brett Gardner was very fast, so this is a good picture of him.

Bernie Williams was a great Yankee for many years.

This is an "Opening Day" card which is a little different. Phil Hughes now has a baseball card business himself.

Kevin Youkilis was a great Red Sox player who was with the Yankees for a short time.

CC Sabathia was a terrific pitcher for many years who will be in the Hall of Fame someday.

1981 Topps Dave Concepcion

 

The front: Concepcion played in two day games at Shea in 1980. In one game he batted ahead of Ken Griffey, the other in front of Ron Oester. Therefore this must be July 27, when Concepcion batted ahead of Ron Oester, who would be the on-deck batter. Concepcion went 2-for-5 with a run scored an an RBI in a 10-4 drubbing of the Mets. Most of the damage came in a 6-run third inning. In that inning, the batter before Concepcion, Johnny Bench, drove in two runs on an RBI single; perhaps the aftermath of the two runs coming in is the commotion we see in the dugout. Concepcion and Oester would each follow Bench with RBI singles of their own. All three hits came off of reliever Ed Glynn, who failed to record an out.

The back: Concepcion hit .266 with 1 HR and 12 RBI in 20 World Series Games. He hit over .300 in three of his four World Series.

The player: Dave Concepcion was an all-around great player for the Big Red Machine. A shortstop for the Reds for his entire 19-year-career, he was a nine-time All-Star and won five gold gloves. A pretty good hitter with speed and doubles power, he hit .267 with 389 2B, 101 HR, 950 RBI and 321 SB. In 34 postseason games he hit .297 with 2 HR and 13 RBI.

The man: Concepcion lives in his native Venezuela where he owns a farm and a trucking business.

My collection: I have 54 of his cards, from 1971 to 1989. I would be interested in trading for 1975 Hostess #47.

Baseball Card Stories from Brett Caradonna

Outfielder Brett Caradonna played six seasons in the White Sox organization. In 622 games he hit .251 with 26 HR, 237 RBI and 59 SB. Now the Athletics Director and PE Teacher at Saint John Bosco Catholic School in Phoenix, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

"My best baseball card story is shortly after I signed to play for the White Sox. After my first season, I went to Reno, Nevada to visit my brother who had just moved there. He has always been a big sports collectibles junkie. We stopped by a local card shop close to his new home. We purchased a few packs of 1997 Bowman Chrome. Inside the first pack was my rookie card. What made it special is that I had no idea that I was even in this series of cards. We will always cherish this moment!

My favorite card is a 92 Donruss Elite Ken Griffey Jr. I pulled it from a pack many years ago and it is still a beautiful card.

I collected cards as a kid, but not anymore. My kids love Pokemon cards and basketball cards. My brother is huge into collecting baseball and basketball."

Thanks!

Too Many Great Cards

Recently Dennis of Too Many Verlanders acquired a huge collection including a whole lot of trimmed 1960s cards. I asked him to take a look at my wantlists to see what he might have that I could use. I figured there might be one or two, but he found fifteen that I needed!

Here are ten. Mostly from the 1966 set but a couple from 1965. The klipped Klippstein has already been upgraded - I happened to get another in the mail the same day! I'll be able to pass the trimmed one to an OBCer working on a worst 1965 set.

Here are the big pickups from what he sent - five 1966 high-numbers! This is one of, maybe the toughest sets for getting high numbers, so to get five at once is amazing! One of them is the very famous Claude Raymond "open fly" card, so that makes it even better.

Dennis generously threw in some modern cards too, like ten Sportflics needs!

Some other randoms too, including a great Topps Magazine card and a baseball card of a chess player.

Dennis didn't ask for anything in return but this was so nice that I'm finding some cards to send back his way.

Skip Nelloms on baseball cards

Skip Nelloms played in the Yankees organization from 1988 to 1990. In 274 games he hit .238 with 9 HR, 114 RBI and 30 SB. After his career he became a teacher and later administrator. He recently retired from school administration and in October opened the Something Special Bar & Lounge in Conyers, GA. He kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

"I have 3 personal baseball cards and hundreds of baseball cards that I own."

Thanks! He had one card for each of his three seasons. This one is 1990 Star.

1976 SSPC Joe Niekro

 

The card, in brief: Not a whole lot to say about the front, except I really like the ones where you can see the lampposts from the Shea Stadium parking lot.

The player, in brief: Knuckleballer Joe Niekro pitched for 22 years for seven teams. His best seasons were with the Astros, with 20-win seasons in 1979 and 1980. Overall he was 221-204 with 1,747 strikeouts in 702 games.

Post-playing career, in brief: After his playing career he coached for the Twins and Rockies. He died of a brain aneurysm in 2006.

My collection: I have 48 of his cards, from 1968 to 1988. I would be interested in trading for 1967 Topps #536.

1970 Topps Booklets: The Mike Epstein Story

Like many other booklet covers, this is based off the photo that would be used for his '71 Topps Coin.

Epstein was born in the Bronx, but moved to Westchester County when he was three, and went to high school in California. Bit of a stretch to say he grew up in the shadow of the Stadium.

The boxing gloves in the batters box is a cool idea.

That's flower power, man!