4 reasons to celebrate today

April 15th is designated as Jackie Robinson Day - the day baseball changed forever and is forever grateful for the courage, sportsmanship and athletic ability of # 42. The barriers of color were removed from the major leagues in 1947 and we do celebrate that !

Twenty five years later another barrier was broken - that of facial hair with Reggie Jackson appearing in a game on this date in 1972 with a mustache. Nowhere equal in its significance as Jackie Robinson but certainly worth celebrating.

Here are my latest mustache finds . . . thanks to Reggie.


April 15th also marks "tax day" - a reason to celebrate if you know any or are an accountant (I am not but do have friends that celebrate the end today)

And lastly today, April 15th, we celebrate a birthday; Woodie Fryman. A two time all-star (1968, 1976) Fryman played for 18 seasons; most notably with the Pirates, Phillies, Tigers and Expos. A career record of 141-155 with 1587 strikeouts, Fryman had a very solid career.
Fryman also played one season with the Chicago Cubs, 1978, going 2 - 4 and appearing in only 13 games. Fryman had four one hitters in his career and is my fourth reason to celebrate today.

April 15th . . . a day to celebrate for many reasons.

more from the show

this being my second (and last) post "showing off" my finds at the card show this past Saturday I want to remind everyone that I did remember my promise to stick to my budget etc . . . and most of my "to do" promises for the wife . . .

For starters, I did pick up several 1970 Topps cards (mostly mid-high numbers) in addition to the ever elusive Al Oliver # 166 (gold trophy topps all-star rookie card). Since I am chronicling this set card by card I will not post any scans . . . yet. I am now at 683 of 720 or 95 % complete; soon I will have to splurge on the Reggie Jackson (#140), Henry Aaron (#500) and the Nolan Ryan (#712). Those are my only missing big ticket cards. Getting closer I am . . .

At the last show I went to I was introduced to the 1995 Flair set with my the one only card, Sammy Sosa #334 - I really like this card / set and added them to my "look for" list. I found a small handful, actually 13 of these heavy card stock cards, in a bargain basket.

These three show off the fronts of my new favorite "modern" set. I really like the horizontal look, double photo, and scripted initials of the players (the scans may not be so clear for that ). Finding a future HOF'er (possibly two in Larkin and Johnson) as well as a Mark Grace was nice.

I also scanned a back for you to see. The backs show a third (different) photo of each player, is the traditional up/down orientation but only shows five or six years of stats (the only down side to these cards). I liked this Ryan Klesko photo . . . each hand holding a batting glove as he seems to be leading off of first base.

I also could not pass up on a few (actually found five) Ken Griffey Jr cards . . .

including two 1991's for my daughters binder and one for me with Griffey Sr and his two sons.

My real "splurge" came from the 1976 Topps set . . . The Sporting News All-Time All Stars !

This small (10 card) sub-set is a real classic. I added these three cards to bring me only one short of completion (missing Babe Ruth # 345). Who can resist these classic black and white photos of when baseball was so different.

I also picked up a few random Cubs cards to fill some gaps; including these two; a 1968 Lee Elia # 561, though more famous for his managerial days / tirade he did appear as a pinch hitting infielder for the Cubs (though appeared in only 15 games) and a 1968 NL Pitching Leaders #5 with Fergie Jenkins.

And I could not pass up three great mustache cards !

So, all in all, I kept all (most) of my promises, had a blast looking around, added cards to several parts of my collection and now Opening Day is here !

Thanks for allowing me to share my limited yet fun additions.

Package from Michigan

Last week I received a mailer from Paul at Wrigley Wax, a fellow Cubs fan, great contributor to the blogsophere and reader of many blogs. With the usual generosity of bloggers Paul sent me many cards from my "want list" and I am extremely happy to share this with all of you.

Paul helped out in two of my current conquests; the Topps 1970's set and the Topps All-Star Rookie cards (those with gold trophies) from the sixties and seventies.

He actually sent me nine (9) Topps 1970 cards, all of which I needed/wanted (you just have to really appreciate bloggers who actually look at ones "want lists") including the always hard to find Seattle Pilots team card # 713. I will be highlighting this card as I chronicle the entire set but as a teaser to say I really like the back of this card with the team leaders for the Pilots (alot of unknown players) along with the total team batting and pitching stats.

I dont want to share too many of these but I had to mention this Cubbie, Al Spangler # 714 (a member of the much cherished Cubs of 1969). While Paul knew I had this card, he also knows I am trying to put together a second set of the 1970 Cubs team as my first set is framed behind glass (note my first post and center piece of my collection).

Paul also sent eleven (11) different Topps All-star Rookie cards, 10 of which I needed (the only one I had was the 1972 Bill Buckner ad having an extra Buckner even though he is wearing Dodge blue is never a bad thing).
Here are a few:
1969 Gary Holman # 361: after his .294 BA in 1968 he deserved this gold trophy, however it must have gone to his head as Holman appeared in just 41 games in 1969 and called it a career.
1969 Dave Nelson # 579: a 10 year 4 team "journey man" and one-time all-star (1973 in Texas)
1969 Ken Boswell # 402: a "hated" Met ! That's all !

1975 Arnold Ray "Bake" McBride # 174: the NL ROY in 1974 did not disappoint; a career .299 BA, one time all-star (1976) and one World Series ring (1980 Phillie). Love those sideburns !

1975 Frank Tanana # 16: as Chris Berman dubbed him Frank Tanana "Daiquiri", had a 21 year career, 3X All-star (1976, 77, 78) and a 100+ mph fastball. His career numbers are impressive, 240-236 WL, 2773 strikeouts and over 4000 innings pitched.

Thank you Paul . . . for inching me closer to completing my 1970 set (currently at 675 / 720 or almost 94 %) and these Topps All-Star Rookies (some who made it !)

Topps 1970 set preview

For those of you who read my blog regularly (or semi-regularly) you probably know the following (or not):
a) my favorite team are the Chicago Cubs
b) my favorite baseball year is 1969 (from my youth of course, which makes me "old"er than most)
c) am working (using the slow and low budget method) on completing the 1970 Topps basic set (currently at 667 / 720 or 92.6 %)
d) the centerpiece of my collection are the 1970 cards (of the 1969 Cubs) framed alongside the pennant that never came true (please note my very first post in December of 2008)
e) am constantly in awe of the "modern" collectors and the number of sets, subsets, variations, short prints, manufacturers, parallels, abbreviations, redemption's, autographs, reprints, black, gold, chrome, platinum and etc etc
f) prefer the simple days of yester-year and collecting being a "fun" hobby and not discussions of value or the "investment"

Having said all of this, I do love this new forum termed the blogsophere and learning (and sharing) so much about a game and hobby I do enjoy.

So in another attempt at stealing an idea, I will be highlighting the Topps 1970 set, card by card (in order). This will give me more of a focus on my "vintage" posts and hopefully persoanl motivation to complete this set.

A few comments about the 1970 set. I like it ! It will not be known as the favorite set design of all-time but the large photo outlined with a white border (yes mostly posed and portrait style, which was the norm from that day) to the gray border is appealing. The team name is bold, capitalized and clean looking, the players name in script (adds a touch of class) with their position spelled out. Nothing fancy, nothing unique, nothing spectacular - just nice, clean and grey.

The backs are the very "day baseball" colors of the sky and sun; bright yellow and blue. Day baseball as in outdoor baseball. Most cards also feature a cartoon / comic about the player, the basic nine statistics of the game and the players entire career (sometimes even with minor league and gaps described). I will scan several backs (of selected players) to give you a good sample of these as well.

The set also boasts Rookie Cards of Vida Blue/Gene Tenace (#21), Thurman Munson (#189), Bill Buckner (#286), Larry Bowa (#539), and Darrel Evans (#621) with HOF's galore in the League Leader and All-Star cards.

So this is my preview of a new "irregular special feature" of mine, highlighting card by card the "grey flannel" set of 1970.

Duplicate Initials: B.B.

The second letter of the alphabet and my second entry of my "irregular special feature" called Duplicate Initials must highlight the letter B, or in this case B.B. as the players initials.

Many of you might have already thought of "stars" Bobby Bonds or Barry Bonds or Bert Blyleven. There is also Bob Boone, Bob Brenly, Bob Bailey and Bobby Bonilla. There's Bill Bene and Billy Beane and so many others from various decades. "B.B." is not uncommon . . .

My choice is a player who "starred" for the Cubs yet came to into the League as a Dodger and came to "fame" as a Red Sox (or should I say Red Sock). None other than Bill Buckner !

I like this 1970 card, since I am 92 % of the way to complete the 1970 set, but more importantly for this blog post, Buckners card represents a double Duplicate Initial with Jack Jenkins appearing with him.

So there you go . . . my second in my simple series of Duplicate Initials. Next entry will be C.C. . . .who is your favorite C.C. . . . who will I "feature" ?

A package from the UK

Many of you know the generosity of John from the UK and his blog "pursuit of 80s"; now I do too. Our bubble mailers waved at each other as they were floating along high above the Atlantic and mine arrived today. Knowing that I am was looking for Cubs cards and the Topps All-Star Rookie cards (you know those gold little trophies); John sent me a fine selection.

Here is the first group I will share:

Three pitchers from the last place (ok tied for last with Montreal) 1975 Cubs, who won only 75 games that year. Starting in the middle is Ray Burris who led the team in wins (15) and innings pitched (238) and to the right is Darold Knowles who led the team in appearances with 58. Then there is Mike Garmen who I put in the first position only to make him feel a bit better about his 1975 stint as a Cub. My research found he did not play for the Cubs at all in 1975, going 3-8 with the 3rd place Cardinals.



Also in this package were two Bill Buckners:

A clean shaven, young looking 1972 Topps All-Star Rookie card (I like those little gold trophies) even if it looks like he is going to knock the top off of it with his bat and his 1979 card when he hit .323. Buckner would go on to have his most productive years as a Cub, winning the batting championship in 1980 (with a .324 BA) and elected to his only all-star team in 1981 - while wearing Cubbie Blue. While he may be most remembered for that single ground ball in game six of the 1986 World Series, Buckner should be remembered most for his great hitting and for being a "great" Chicago Cub.

Thanks again to John of the UK . . .I will post a second blog about more cards he sent when my scanner starts working again.