1990 Topps Big Deep Dive: Rick Sutcliffe

 Looks like a foul territory bullpen shot.

Gee, thanks, folks!

Since 1934 the Jaycees have presented 10 young Americans with this award, highlighting community service, military or scientific achievement. Sutcliffe was one of the 1988 winners (not 1987). Another winner that year was 38-year-old former NFL QB Archie Manning. The full list of winners contains not only many sports stars but famous people from many other areas, including future US Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Clinton and Biden, all when they were in their 30s.

A generous seller

 It's late so just a quick post tonight. I got this '53 Berra for a very reasonable price on eBay. I guess the missing corner scared others away but it takes away nothing from an all-time great. A noble portrait of a player whose cartoonish vibe leads many to underestimate just how great he was. Also, is that a Seagram's 7 ad behind him?

The seller included an extra card in the package. Usually extras are junk wax cards are current cards (a/k/a junk wax II). This seller threw in an extra '53 Topps card! It was one I already had, so it's some quite nice trade bait, #208 Jim Wilson.

TCDB Street Trade

I had my first in-person TCDB trade yesterday, with WSFNYC. As you can guess from his username, he's a New Yorker, and we met by my office during lunch hour to exchange cards. I gave him 100 Mets base cards from the 1960s to the 2020s (didn't pick 100 on purpose, just ended up being a round number). In return I got this fun haul.

Starting off with two terrific horizontal Aaron Judge cards.  

On to some fun modern cards. The Stanton and LeMahieu cards both look like they could be Star Wars cards. The Reggie has a really fun vintage photo, with someone handing him a program with this 1979 ad for a Magnavox color computer. Wood paneled monitor!

Various fun Yankee and other cards.

Shiny! The Yankee cards are great but that Lords of the Diamond Bagwell card has them all beat on sheer refractoricity. That is one gaudy card. Sheer luck that I got the shine just so in the camera that it looks like he's swinging a fiery lightstaber like Kylo Ren.

Vintage! Two Jerry Koosmans, no surprise from a Mets fan. And I can't help but love this unique card of the very first New York Met, Hobie Landrith, here in disguise as Chainman, Senators. 

 

More to round up

I forgot a trade in yesterday's post, and got four envelopes today, so time for a roundup! I also did my first in-person TCDB trade today but that'll be it's own post on another day.

The Angels no longer appear to be in order, but calangels is still active on TCDB.  Our latest trade had several 80's cards coming my way plus a fun modern card of two Yankees who were World Series MVPs.

OBC new guy Paul Stenshoel sent three great 1957 Topps cards, with some great views of the old, old Yankee Stadium.

mzentko is a triple threat. He's in TCDB, OBC and he reads the blogs. He reached out after I mentioned football cards in a post, and I gave him my '80s Topps wantlists. The football wants are so casual I don't put them on my blog or TCDB, but if anyone else wants to trade me some '70s or '80s Topps football cards I'll email you my wantlists. 1986 Topps Football was the first sports card set I ever collected, so adding new ones is always fun for me. I never had many Bears back then, so three at once is pretty cool.

TCDB's gormanvj sent three cards from three different eras. Dave Wickersham looks like a Pirate at Yankee Stadium but the photo was taken when he was a Tiger.

Finally, another TCDBer, Ed Fagan, sent some hits to my 1969 Topps set. Some big names in there like Carew and Wilhelm.

 

A dumb mistake, and other recent incomings

One sign you've been focusing two much on vintage is not remembering if you've seen a card alot because you have it already, or because it's just one you've seen alot. Such is the case here where I did the wrong order of:

1. That's a good price for that card, I should bid on it.

2. Don't I have that card already? I should check.

I ended up paying $15 for a card I had already. Still, it's in pretty nice shape except for that one crease. Anyone need a '52 Bowman Bob Feller? Would love to get this out to somebody in a trade. I haven't even taken it out of the plastic (which for some reason looks bent in the photo but it isn't).

At least not everything I added recently was a mistake. I only spent $5 on a trimmed second-year of some Mets pitcher.

 I picked up two needs for my 1953 set in a trade with TCDB's Robert08. Gene Conley looks like he's got two black eyes here. I was going to write that the sign on Jim Hearn's card was pretty ironic; that was before the gambling news this week. Now it's even more so.

OBC's Joel Freedman sent some 1966 Topps Rub Offs.

Finally, Night Owl sent another one of his generous packages. Starting off with a '90s Score need and a couple of big 1978 OPC names . . . 

 

. . . to some cereal and cake cards highlighted by vintage Reggie . . .

 

. . . topping it all off with a '61 Yankee! A Post card of Johnny Blanchard, the Yankees' #3 catcher who would have been a starter on most teams.

 

Cake or gum? 1977 George Foster

Last time it was gum winning, five and a half votes to one and a half. Who will win here?

Two photos at Shea Stadium, probably taken at the same time, although the Hostess photo came out much darker than the Topps phoot.

From 1975 to 1981, Foster was one of the most feared power hitters in the game, hitting 221 home runs in those seven seasons, including 52 home runs in 1977 at a time when topping 50 home runs was extremely rare. He led the NL in RBIs three straight seasons from 1976 to 1978. The Mets acquired Foster before the 1982 season expecting him to continue his power hitting ways, but his average and power both tailed off significantly as soon as he got to Queens, and he is known as an all-time bust for the Mets. Overall, in 1,977 major league games, he hit .274 with 348 HR and 1,239 RBI.  Foster is very active today working with youth as a baseball instructor and motivational speaker.
 

Wood vs. Wood #302

Last time there was a 4-2 win for 1962. Who will win here?

Johnny Edwards (called John here on his rookie card) shows off his red sleeves on a follow-through in spring training. Edwards had an OK bat but is considered one of the best defensive catchers of all time. He was a three-time All Star for the Reds from 1963 to 1965. He caught two no hitters and played in two World Series. In 1,470 games for Cincinnati, St. Louis and Houston, he hit .242 with 81 HR and 524 RBI. Edwards had one of the more unique winter jobs for a pro ballplayer. He had a degree in ceramic engineering from Ohio State, and worked for GE working on ceramic-based fuels for atomic reactor cores. Edwards ended his career with the Astros and stayed in Houston, working in engineering jobs for Cameron Ironworks and CTC International, moving up to plant manager before retiring in 2002. He still lives in the Houston area.

#21 Bill Schroeder waves around the bat of #17 Jim Gantner before a game in Detroit. Schroeder was backup or platoon catcher for the Brewers and Angels from 1983 to 1990. His best season by far was 1987, when he hit .332 with 14 HR and 42 RBI, catching Juan Nieves's no hitter. Overall in 376 games he hit .240 with 61 HR and 152 RBI. Since 1995 he has been an announcer for the Brewers.
 

1974 Topps Deckle Dating: Joe Ferguson

Apparently this is Candlestick Park; in the black-and-white it's too hard to tell.

August 4, 1973.

Ferguson was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts as the Dodgers fell to their archrivals, 3-2 in 11 innings. Tito Fuentes won the game with a walkoff home run off of Jim Brewer.

 In other news, astronomers were able to get their first ever look through Venus's thick cloud layer to observe the surface of the planet; rising meat prices were triggering anger at President Nixon and, in some places, meat hoarding; and Juan Peron and his wife Isabel were nominated to be President and Vice President of Argentina.

1969 Topps Decals

I only had a few 1969 Topps Decals, and those were only the unused kind. This little lot of 26 decals that I picked up from eBay were stuck onto cardboard and then cut out. I like that the cardboard makes them thicker like cards.

Most of these have similar photos to their base card counterparts, but a few are different. A few stars and minor hall of famers here.

A few bigger names here. The Hoyt Wilhelm card sticks out to me. His base card has a similar photo but with a logoless cap. On this decal he has a large airbrushed Angels logo.

 You might notice there are a couple of dupes, one of each color Sox. So I have a Harrelson of Boston and Ward of Chicago available.

Wallet Card at Rosenbluth Bros.

 Another Soho sign that has stood the test of time, this one on Mercer Street.

Rosenbluth Bros. was a travel agency that operated from the 1930s (possibly earlier) to at least the 1960s. There's not a whole lot about the company online, but I did find this cool item from a sold eBay listing.

Street trade 100+

I'd been giving Al a lot more cards than he'd been giving me lately. Today he brought in a big 3,200-count box that I hadn't seen before. I found plenty to make up the 105 or so cards he owed me. Some of these will surely turn out to be dupes but that's OK.

Starting off with a pile of 2003 Flair Greats, basically a throw-in. 

Lots of random cards that don't really fit a category. Lots of Bowman, more than I'd usually pick, but they're not bad.

Lots of these die cut SP minor league cards from 1995.

A few parallels, mostly the gold kind.

Lots of big stars and hall of famers.

My favorite of all, the shiny! The Bowman refractors really pop under street lights and in the train, more than at home for some reason.

 

1981 Topps Terry Puhl

 

The front: There's a lurker behind Puhl. Any idea who it is?

The back: Puhl played his high school sports at Melville Comprehensive High School in Saskatchewan.

The player: Puhl was a speedy outfielder with a decent bat who had trouble staying on the field due to numerous injuries. His .993 fielding percentage is eighth all-time for NL outfielders. His best hitting came in NLCS play. In 1980 and 1986 he hit a combined .545 with 3 2B, 0 HR, 3 RBI and 4 SB. In regular season play, in 1,531 games, almost all with Houston, he hit .280 with 226 2B, 62 HR, 435 RBI and 217 SB.

The man: After his playing career Puhl was the head coach at the University of Houston - Victoria for 16 years, winning over 300 games. He has been a financial advisor for the past 35 years, currently at CORDA Investment Management in Houston.

My collection: I have 45 of his cards, from 1975 to 1990. I would be interested in trading for 1985 Mothers Cookies Astros #7.
 

1976 SSPC Henry Cruz

 

The card, in brief: We manage to get three separate reflections of the camera's flash in Cruz's glasses.

Playing career, in brief: Outfielder Henry Cruz had cups of coffee with the Dodgers in '75 and '76, and the White Sox in '77 and '78. In 171 games he hit .229 with 8 HR and 34 RBI.

Post-playing career, in brief: Cruz had a long career as a scout and coach, mostly in the Dodgers organization, but now appears to be retired.

My collection: I have three of his cards, this one and 1976 and 1978 Topps. I would be interested in trading for  1978 SSPC 270 #152 

1990 Topps Big Deep Dive: Tom Henke

Henke delivers in California. This must be April 30, 1989. Henke entered a 0-0 game in the bottom of the 11th, allowed a one-out double to Johnny Ray, and a two-out double to Lance Parrish to give the Angels a walk-off win.

"Baseball's just a hobby!"

At East Central College in Missouri, Henke not only pitched, but he built the dugouts. He led a bricklaying crew in Jefferson City before and during his junior college days. The dugouts were destroyed by a tornado in 2020.

Cake or gum? 1977 Bob Watson

Last time it was a 7-0 shutout for gum. Will cake get on the board here?

Hostess has the Bull at spring training, taking a serious photo, with the photographer's flash doubly reflected in his sunglasses. I thought his uniform looked off-center but apparently the Astros name was right-justified on the jerseys with the front stripes. I never noticed that until now. Meanwhile Topps has Watson fielding his position at first, his bright Astros uniform in full display. It might be a spring training shot, but I also think it could be Shea Stadium.

Bob Watson was a two-time All-Star during his 19-year-career. He spent the first fourteen of those years with Houston, where he had good power numbers considering that the Astrodome was a notorious pitchers park. After a brief stint with the Red Sox, he signed with the Yankees in 1980. He put up good numbers during the regular season and great numbers in October, hitting .371 in four postseason series, and blasting two home runs in the '81 World Series. After that season the Yankees traded him to the Braves for the actor who played Elaine's spongeworthy boyfriend on Seinfeld. He retired after the 1984 season. In 1,832 games, he hit .295 with 307 2B, 184 HR and 989 RBI. After his playing career, he was a coach and front office executive. He became the GM of first the Astros and then the Yankees, with whom he became the first Black GM to win a World Series in 1996. He also worked as an executive for Team USA Baseball and MLB. He died of kidney disease in 2020.

Roundup

Been more than a month since I did one of these. 

The ever-generous Johnny had a giveaway at his Trading Spot. I really enjoy magazine cards, and hadn't seen football magazine cards before. The style of the old Philadelphia sets is really cool.

A couple of cheap '34 Goudeys, an eBay win. I love the Lou Gehrig Says, to think he was still an active player, and one of the league's brightest stars. The footers match up nicely when lined up this way.

A variety of cool cards from TCDB and OBC's Gunny Musgrove.

Corsair Outfield Trio is an awesome name. Another cheap eBay win. Topps really had a hard time getting rid of the background, you can see it in the outline almost all the way around each player.

Another mix of old and new(er) from another OBCer, Dan Williams.

Kent Goto of OBC was sending out a lot of newer cards. Some big highlights here including a Derek Jeter rookie and a terrific 1996 World Series card. Those were the days.

More from Goto, lots of cards from the 2006 Topps Update set. Nearing completion on this one.  Most poignant is the Cory Lidle memorial card. I was working in the city that day and saw the aftermath of the plane crash, not knowing at the time that it had been a Yankee pitcher on board.

Finally, another cheap but fantastic eBay win. Great looking card, missing absolutely nothing of importance.

 

A quick trip through time

It's late, time for just a quick blog post. How about a fun trip through time, via a Diamond Jesters Time Travel Trade?

Starting at the top in the 1950s. A simpler time, though not nearly as simple as they're often made out to be. Still, it was a time when, if the artist in charge of yellowing out the background of Al Walker's card also yellowed out a chunk of Walker's torso and arm, you simply gave up and moved on.

On to the oddball '80s, when baseball cards became much more than just a convenience store staple. You had major league teams giving out cards of their own, like the Minnesota Twins did with this Tom Brunansky card. And the minor leagues had cards that looked a little humbler than their big league counterparts.

 Finally on to the shiny modern 2020s. 1950s and even 1980s kids might have thought there would be flying cars and lunar cities by now, and would be disappointed, but I imagine if they would have guessed what a futuristic baseball card would look like, it might well be this.