Vintage fun from Night Owl

 Night Owl is the "Dodger Guy" but he always says he's a set collector first. He's working on a '67 set, and I was able to send him a bunch of cards from my recent '67 lot purchase. In return he sent me this great assortment of vintage cards.

Here's a '67 that I needed, a '68 Yankee I didn't have, a World Series card with Johnny Bench, and two early '70s high-numbers, including Bobby Pfeil wearing the famous Red Sox pinstripes.

Some much older cards here. Mostly Brooklyn boys here, but there's also Moose Skowron, who hit a grand slam against the Dodgers in Game 7 of the 1956 World Series to help the Yankees coast to the 9-0 win.

But the big highlight of this trade was 16 cards from 1956 Topps! So many great cards here. Hall-of-Famer Hoyt Wilhelm. Some great Yankee stadium backgrounds on Jackie Jensen and Jim Konstanty. Jerry Schoonmaker muffing a fly ball.

Team cards! A pitcher bunting! Another Yankee (Big Eddie Robinson!) And two catchers named Hal Smith.

Are you confused by two catchers named Hal Smith? Topps was too. Both cards feature the signature of the Orioles' catcher (look at the ld in Harold).

Dodgers cards from their biggest fan

 There are quite a few Dodger fan bloggers, but none more prominent than Night Owl. People from all over go out of their way to send him Dodger cards. Recently he declared that he had so many that he was giving some away. At first I didn't participate, figuring I would let the Dodger fans jump on it. But a few weeks later he still had more to give away, so I signed up, figuring I might get a few cards new to my collection.

I got the package this week from N.O. (along with some vintage cards from a trade - will recap that in a later post). I got more than a few new cards - of the 52 cards he sent (not including a sealed minor league set) - I actually needed 30 of them! This was no "mostly junk wax" package.

Some highlights: 

My '92 McDonald's and '96 Studio sets are almost complete. But those two were cards I still needed. And I love the great backgrounds on the Newcombe (Ebbetts Field) and Koufax (crew-cut '60s kids) cards.

I have so many Fleer box sets but this was my first card from '87 Hottest Stars. I also love the vintage photo of Gil Hodges and the shiny Nomo and Mondesi cards.

There was also this sealed 1988 San Antonio Missions team set! 

Every card was taken in the same location, with the players looking into the hot San Antonio sun, leading to some extreme squinting on a few cards.

And it wouldn't be a minor league set without a pitcher posing with a bat!

Cardboard cousins: '69 Topps/'18 Heritage

The series continues . . . 

#15 Chris Davis gets paired with fellow Orioles first baseman Boog Powell.

#37 His teammate Adam Jones, who used to get paired with Frank Robinson in earlier sets, only gets Curt Motton this time.

#171 Cubs second basemen

#175 Pirates star pitchers

#293 Giants catchers, Dick and Buster

#364 a couple of Mets fan favorites.

Cards and vintage things: Eastern Airlines playing cards

 Eastern Airlines operated from 1925 to 1991. I had gotten this pack of cards from the 1970s for two bucks on Don and Chris Old Stuff. Fun to get another product from a long-defunct company. Pairing it with a Fleer Twins card (stickerback) from 1989. That year Eastern Airlines board member and Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad almost managed to get former baseball commissioner Peter Uebberoth to buy the troubled airline.

Vintage backgrounds: A New York Yankee in Candlestick Park

 Here's another Candlestick Park card from the '76 (Traded) set. Has there ever been another card of a Yankee in their pinstripes at The 'Stick? Ah, the magic of airbrushing.

1981 Topps Rickey Henderson

 

The front: Once a staple of Topps cards, hatless ballplayers were pretty unusual by this time. No cap means Rickey has to squint in the Yankee Stadium sun.

The back: Henderson had more football scholarship offers than baseball, but his mom advised him against playing the more dangerous sport. When Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders became famous for being two-sport players, Henderson had discussions with Al Davis about joining the Raiders, but the A's wouldn't allow it. Considering what happened to Jackson, that was probably for the best. Rickey's seven steals the day after Star Wars came out in theaters is still the California League record.

The player: Henderson was one of the greatest offensive forces of all time. Best known for stealing bases (130 in a season and 1,406 all time will be very hard records to break), he was an excellent hitter besides, hitting .279 with an OBP of .401, as he hit out of a very pronounced crouch which led to lots of walks. Being on base 40% of the time with lots of steals meant he was in scoring position a lot, which explains why he also holds the MLB record with 2,295 runs scored. He hit 297 HR and drove in 1,115 runs, mostly from the leadoff spot - even without the speed he was a dangerous hitter. While sabermetricians debate the value of the stolen base today, they sometimes overlook the effect of a dangerous runner on the pitcher. A big part of why Joe Carter was able to hit that World Series winning walk off home run was because Mitch Williams was distracted by Rickey being on first base. 

The man: As a Yankee fan growing up in the 1980s Rickey was a favorite for his antics on the field, but his capacity for controversy, and conflicts with George Steinbrenner and Lou Piniella about taking too long to return from injury, made him more under-appreciated than he should have been. The Yankees' trade of Henderson to Oakland in 1989 for three minor contributors remains one of the worst in franchise history. With more time having passed since his playing days, Rickey is seen more today as a colorful character, like Yogi Berra, rather than the clubhouse cancer he was often portrayed during his playing career. Today Henderson works as a roving instructor for the A's.

My collection: I have 246 of his cards, from 1980 to 2003. I would be interested in trading for 1987 Fleer Hottest Stars #20.

Cardboard cousins: '68 Topps/'17 Heritage

 Continuing the series. I know I'm in the minority but I quite like this set's design.

#120 Yankees star pitchers.

#155 World Series Game 5. 

#214 Yankees rookies. That modern card is a great one, would be better if Judge could stay on the damn field . . . 

#320 Washington sluggers. 

#360 Tigers outfielders. Horton was a big star at the time. Collins didn't have much of a career.

#380 All Star pitchers. Topps went to the trouble of matching the All Star cards up, but still mixed up the leagues.

#390 Pirates second basemen.

Cards and vintage things: Not a matchbook. Really!

 I've been posting a lot of matchbook content lately. To answer a question from last time, I have a few of my favorites on display, some more favorites in an album I am still working on, and the remainder in a couple of big 24-pocket expanding folders sorted by state. 

This came out of my latest matchbook lot but it's not a matchbook. It's two Butter-Nut Coffee sewing kits shaped like matchbooks, designed to fit in a lady's purse. This was a brand that was big in the 1960s. In 1966, they did a promotion to win a Mickey Mantle glove. Naturally, anything with Mantle's name on it goes for big bucks today - a mint coffee can with the promotion can go for $60.

I don't have a '66 Mantle, of course, so I paired the kits with a card commemorating a home run Mantle hit on July 3, 1966 off of Washington's Pete Richert. Mantle hit a solo HR in the first inning. The Yankees eventually went out to a 5-0 lead, blew the lead, and won it 6-5, with Bobby Richardson hitting a home run in the top of the 11th.

More pick-pocket goodies

 Julie of A Cracked Bat has been giving away cards since before it was popular, with her Pick Pocket program. She always has a fun lot of cards to choose from. Here's what I picked this time:

Starting off with this great Japanese card of a young Masahiro Tanaka. Why does he have a heart on his hip? Too bad the Yankees wasted his five shutout innings yesterday. The Yankees haven't won in ten days, and the season might be starting to slip away, but happily Tanaka has shown no ill effects from his scary spring training injury.

Here's some reminders of happier days for the Yankees, with World Series champions from three different eras, plus good old (remodeled) Yankee Stadium.

It wouldn't be pick pockets without funny photos and shiny cards . . .

Or old TCMA, especially vintage minor leagues! Julie knows I love these. Glenn Gregson is now 70 years old but still active in pro ball, currently coaching for the Red Sox.

Vintage backgrounds: Bayview Hill

Here's an interesting angle of Candlestick Park you don't usually see on a card. Bayview Hill loomed just beyond the park and was considered responsible for the extreme wind that the stadium often experienced.