Wood vs. Wood #350

Last time it was a 6-0 win for 1987. Will 1962 fare better here?

Frank Robinson looks like he's admiring a home run he just hit, something he did more than almost anyone else. Outfielder Frank Robinson was one of the best players in the major leagues in his ten seasons with the Reds from 1956 to 1965. He hit at least 29 home runs in nine of the ten seasons, hitting .303 with 324 HR and 1,009 RBI in his decade in Cincinnati. After the '65 season, calling Robinson "an old 30", the Reds gambled that Robinson was past his prime and traded him to Baltimore, despite coming off a season when he hit .296 with 33 HR and 113 RBI. Robinson responded with his best year in 1966, winning the Triple Crown with a .316/49/122 season, and earning World Series MVP honors with two home runs off Don Drysdale in the World Series. Though he never came close to Triple Crown type numbers again, Robinson was still a highly productive player throughout the late 1960s, and was considered the leader of the team that won three straight pennants from 1969-1971. He was traded to the Dodgers for the 1972 season, and after one disappointing season was traded to the Angels, where he took advantage of the new DH rule to eke out a couple more productive seasons. He retired with a .294 batting average, 2,943 hits, 586 HR and 1,812 RBI. Robinson was a tough competitor and respected leader, and in 1975 he was named player-manager for the Indians, becoming the first Black manager in the major leagues. He hit a home run in his first game as manager. Though he won a Manager of the Year award in each league, Robinson was unable to make the playoffs in any of his 17 seasons managing four different teams between 1975 and 2006, with a 1,065-1,176 career record. He died of cancer in 2019.

Keith Hernandez had some very good seasons for the Cardinals and Mets, most notably 1979 when he was NL co-MVP, when he hit .344 with 11 HR and 105 RBI. Often considered one of the best defensive first baseman in baseball history, his offensive numbers, while solid, haven't been able to get him to crack the Hall of Fame, even as standards have watered down considerably over the past decade. In 2088 games he hit .296 with 162 HR and 1,071 RBI. Hernandez has been a lightning rod for controversy during and after his career. The Cardinals got rid of him when they thought his drug use was a bad influence on the team. He gets credit for helping lead the Mets when they won a World Series in 1986, but doesn't seem to get as much blame for the way the team quickly fell apart and underachieved with him as captain in the years since, most notably getting into a fistfight with Darryl Strawberry in spring training 1989. Hernandez, who posed in a Confederate uniform for a magazine profile in 1986, has made some controversial sexist and homophobic remarks in his 20 years as a Mets announcer.
 

Cake or gum? 1977 Catfish Hunter

Last time it was another big win for gum, 7-1. Will cake do better here?

I believe the Hostess photo is a Shea Stadium shot from 1975. Topps meanwhile has an extreme closeup of a sweaty but happy pitcher.

Hall-of-Famer Jim "Catfish" Hunter was the ace of the staff of the great A's teams of the 1970s, going 66-24 over the three-year period where they won three World Series. He proved that those numbers were no fluke by going 7-1 in the postseason over that span. One of the first players to challenge the reserve clause and become a free agent, he signed with the Yankees in 1975 and had a great first season, going 23-14. However, degenerative arm problems robbed him of his effectiveness, and over the rest of the 1970s his value to the Yankees was more of a veteran mentor to a young pitching staff, though he still managed to win some big games, most notably the decisive Game 6 of the 1978 World Series. Overall in 500 games he went 224-166 with a 3.26 ERA. After his playing career he retired to his farm in North Caroline, where he died of ALS in 1999 at the age of 53. 

Brewer Hicklen on baseball cards

Outfielder Brewer Hicklen made his major league debut with the Royals in 2022, and has had stints with Milwaukee and Detroit. He was recently called up by the Atlanta Braves and is having success with them - in 12 games he is hitting .294 with 4 doubles, 3 RBI and 7 runs scored. He is also a youth baseball coach and has a website where he sells game-used merchandise to support non-profits in Northern Alabama. He kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

 

- Do you have any stories about cards of yourself or of other players?

- I have a good friend that owns a card shop in MIN and he always keeps me in the loop and will occasionally run across my 1 of 1's. He has bought a few for me.  

 

- Do you have a favorite card of yourself or of another player?

- I don't really collect other than what my friends have given me.  

 

- Do you collect baseball cards?

- not really, but i have 4 of my 1/1 cards. 

Thanks!

 

Silver street trade

There wasn't much I needed from Al's boxes today, but these silver pack cards are always reliable.

 

2023 cards in the 1988 design. I like retro designs best when the cards look like they could have been from the year of the design, like that Cubs card.

Wallet Card at the Beer Shed?

One building being torn down can lead to the ghost of another building being revealed. Such was the case on Main Street in Hempstead, NY. There has not been a delicatessen in this spot in a long time, certainly within the past 20 years. There's also the word "Beer" and the word "Shed" next to each other, but I am thinking they may be from two different signs. (I think it's beer? Open to other interpretations.)

 

Lindy and the Ladies

 Let's do another page from the scrapbook.

 

 Lots of fun frivolities on this page. On the top right, girls at an Augusta High School get a yo-yo lesson from none other than Pedro Flores (kneeling), the inventor of the modern yo-yo. The caption calls them both "whirling doorknobs" and "the new-fangled tops". The top right is a four paragraph column describing the birthday party of a six-year-old boy. On the bottom we have beauties from near (524 Olivia Place) and far (the Estonian Republic).

 

Meanwhile, the right side is dedicated to Charles Lindbergh and his son's kidnapping, the major news story of 1932. (The next few pages don't seem to always be in chronological order, skipping around the early '30s).