It appears I am back to my intermittent posting. I have been busy at work and home and, honestly, gawking in grim astonishment at the world around us. But cards should be an escape from reality, so I will put that aside.
Here is another example of a player in the 1961 Fleer Greats set that really isn't necessarily what you would consider all all-time great, though his career was a bit different than the other players I tagged previously with that scarlet letter. The others were players that had long, but workmanlike, careers. Alexander had a short career of only 5 years but was quite the phenom for most of that time. A career (!) .331 hitter, he topped .325 in every year in the majors with the exception of his final injury plagued year, where he put up a creditable .281 over 339 plate appearances.
So, let's learn a bit more about Dale:
The son of a tobacco farmer, he took up the same work outside his baseball career. However, he was never a user of tobacco.
A college graduate, he played baseball for both Milligan College and Tusculum College. He was inducted posthumously in the Tusculum Hall of Fame in 1985. He was joined by his grandson, Steve. in 2001. Steve played baseball there and was the 1990 and 1991 team MVP.
He put in 5 years in the minors, starting at his hometown Class D Greeneville Burley Cubs in 1924 and topping out in 1927 and 1928 with the AA Maple Leafs.
His 1928 season in Toronto saw him hitting .380 with 236 hits, including 49 doubles, 11 triples, and 31 homeruns. That was good for 144 RBIs.
In 1929, in his first season with Detroit, he hit .343, with 215 hits, including 43 doubles, 15 triples, and 25 homeruns. That led to 137 RBIs.
In 1931, he seemed to lose all power though he still batted .325. 1932 started off poorly and was put on waivers by Detroit. On June 13, he was traded to Boston where he caught fire. In 101 games down the stretch for the Red Sox, he hit .372 with a .454 OBP and captured the AL batting title beating out none other than Jimmie Foxx.
A injury on Memorial Day in 1933 led the Boston trainer to use diathermy, a new technique to use deep heat to speed healing. Unfortunately, the trainer left the device on too long and burned Alexander's leg.
After 1933, he only appeared in the minors, but was successful over the course of 5 full and 4 partial seasons including time as a player-manager, finally hanging up his spikes after the 1942 season.
After that final 1942 season he returned to farming and occasional scouting.
He never really received recognition from Boston as their first batting champ, but not one to look back, he never was embittered by his MLB career ending injury or his subsequent shoddy treatment by the team.
He passed away in 1979 after 9 years of fitting prostate cancer.
What I am listening to: If the Sun Never Rises Again by Johnny Blue Skies (Sturgill Simpson)
Posts two days in a row? Is this a harbinger of a level of posting beyond the normal once a month or so that has characterized this blog for the past 4 years? Probably not. However, I did add something new to my Johnny Antonelli player collection this week. But first, a little background.
I got back into collecting late in 2010, so my first real year of being a collector was 2011. Like most anyone new to the hobby or returning after a long layoff, I collected everything. Modern, vintage, and even some junk wax era stuff.
I have always been forgetful as my stupid mind is usually dwelling on something other than the proximate world. But, I believe that the first set I ever completed was Topps Lineage. Lineage was a one-time issue of 200 cards celebrating Topps 60th Anniversary and featured cards that (more or less) used designs from previous Topps flagship sets. It was a set with feet in both vintage and modern worlds but more affordable than Heritage. It was right in my wheelhouse.
But, as I have recounted before, my feelings for modern turned sour in 2012 and I sold off my 2011 Topps flagship (including the Mike Trout RC) and Lineage sets with the intent of focusing only on Heritage. 2013 came and my love for Heritage died due to the expensive quest for the short prints.
However, I still have two Lineage cards in my collection: a 1975 mini CC Sabathia jersey relic card that I got from Night Owl and a Johnny Antonelli 1952 reprint autograph insert. This week I added a third:
Also a 1952 reprint, this is the Canary Diamond parallel that is serial number 3 of 10. Despite upcoming adult life stuff that will limit my hobby activity early this year, I would say that my 2025 is off to a great start.
What I am listening to: Highway 65 by Paige Plaisance
Part 73? Wait, what? It seems like we were on Part 45 a week or so ago.
We were. But, on occasion, I get excited about a new addition and have to jump ahead. I believe I have done that once before, when I was able to pick up the signed Jimmie Foxx. This isn't nearly as great a player, but it certainly a much rarer card.
Bobo Newsom may very well be one of the hardest 1961 Fleer cards to find autographed since he died on December 7, 1962, at the age of 55. This left a window of more than one, but less than two, years when he could have signed. By my reckoning there are only two other players that had a shorter signing window for 1961 Fleer: Ty Cobb, who died on July 17, 1961, and Mickey Cochrane who passed on June 28, 1962. A friend of mine who collects autographed cards told me he thinks this Newsom is a $1,000 card. I don't know if he is right or not, but if he is, I got this card for less than a third of its value.
Back when I was collecting this set unsigned, I noted that there were only four players nicknamed Bobo who played in the majors and 3 of them were all active during the 1953 season (Newsom, Milliken, and Holloman.)
What can we learn about Bobo:
He is one of only two pitches to win over 200 games but end his career with a losing record (211-222) Given that he chalked up 51.3 WAR and a 107 ERA+ in his 20 season MLB career, he wasn't a bad pitcher but seemed to be stuck on bad teams. The other player is Deadball Era hurler Jack Powell (245-255) though the modern era player Charlie Hough almost made it a threesome with a 216-216 career record.
Indeed, during his career he only appeared in two World Series. In 1940, he put up a 2-1 record with a 1.38 ERA in the series Detroit lost to Cincinnati. His second appearance in the fall classic was in 1947 with the NY Yankees in their win over the Brooklyn Dodgers. In that series, he delivered a 0-1 record with a 19.29 ERA in two appearances, including a start where he didn't survive the second inning.
He was a well-traveled player. Over the course of his 20-year career, he played for nine different teams. There was only 16 teams in the majors at that time. His longest tenure with one team was appearances in 8 different seasons with the Washington Nationals. But even that was accomplished in 5 different stints with the team. His longest continuous stint with a team was 3 full seasons with Detroit between 1939 and 1941.
He had a reputation for being quarrelsome which undoubtedly led to his frequent team changes as he would clash with management. Indeed, an argument with manager Leo Durocher during the 1943 season led to being traded by Branch Rickey back to the Nationals later in the season.
He has thee 20-win seasons during his career. The first was 1938 for the St Louis Browns when he went 20-16 with a 5.08 ERA. It must have been a hitter's year because his high ERA was coupled with a 98 ERA+, which means he was just about league average. His second 20-win season was the following year, where he started of 3-1 for the Browns then, after being part of a 9 player trade, went 17-10 for the Detroit Tigers. The final 20-win season was 1940 when he went 21-5 with a 2.83 ERA in a full season for the Tigers. That ERA was good enough for a league leading 168 ERA+
After that excellent three-year stretch, he added his first 20 loss season for the Tigers in 1941. A 19-loss season followed in 1942 and a second 20 loss season in 1945. Again, this is generally misleading as his career statistics put him at just above league average.
Like most pitchers, he wasn't much of a hitter, with a .189 career batting average. He had one career home run hit on May 8, 1937, of Detroit pitcher Jake Wade.
He was a tough old cuss. On May 28, 1935, he suffered a broken kneecap on a third inning Earl Averill line drive. He still managed to pitch a complete game.
On opening day 1936, he suffered a broken jaw in the fourth inning when he forgot to duck out of the way of a throw by third baseman Ossie Bluege. He still managed to complete the game. In attendance was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. When asked, Newsom responded “When the president comes to see Ol’ Bobo pitch he ain’t gonna let him down.”
His 20-year major league career wasn't even contiguous. His first MLB appearance was in 1929 and his final in 1953. During that stretch he played in the minors during the 1931, 1933, and 1949-1951 seasons.
His SABR biography makes no mention of him being a heavy drinker, but his early death was attributed to Cirrhosis of the liver, which does have a number of additional causes
While sports card blogs are no longer the fashion, the year-end retrospective is still a thing amongst those of us who still do blog (some more than others.) So, I suppose I should review my 2024. As a word of warning, I have just reused images from elsewhere in my blog and, as such, they may not all present as the same size. I just couldn't work up the ambition to rework or rescan images. Mea culpa.
2024 was one of the odder years in my collecting life. There were several long periods of inactivity when adult life interfered in my personal (and financial) lives. I've had such layoffs before, notably in 2011-2012 and 2021-2022 when I was faced with job changes. But, that wasn't the case in 2024, just general life stuff. Anyways, it wasn't a completely unproductive year. I did manage to finish three sets:
1958 Topps Baseball - I started this set (in a manner of speaking) in 2012, when I bought a low grade Mantle card for the then princely sum of $100. I finished it 12 years later, with the Ernie Banks base card.
1973 Topps Football - I bought a partial set (65% complete) of 1973 football back at the beginning of 2020 and finally knocked it off 4 years later. The last card wasn't actually Fran Tarkenton, but rather one of the unnumbered team checklists. Fran was actually the last base set card and one I actually scanned.
1972-1973 Topps Basketball - I started this set back in 2018, so just over 6 years to complete. This was another situation where I bought a partial set. I don't remember what the last card was. I finished the set with about a dozen commons from Sportlots. so I'm just going to post a random card.
I did also make progress on other areas of my collection:
1967 Topps baseball - I went from 35% to 86% complete in 2024. I really didn't realize I made that much progress. Though, in another sense, I didn't. I am 96% complete on the first 5 series, 68% complete on the semi-high 6th series and 45% for the high number 7th series. Unfortunately, most high numbers I acquired were double printed in the series. So, with one exception, most of the expensive high numbers are still on my want list. My one victory, if you will, was that I was able to pick up the Carew RC in December.
I would like to finish in 2025, but the Seaver RC and Brooks short print will make that a challenge even beyond the 40 other high numbers. And while I try to keep things positive, I do need to crab about card 605, Mike Shannon. Despite a Beckett high book value of $50, this card almost always sells for 2 or more times that price. Even in mid-grade condition.
1969 Topps Football - I am only 42% complete but I have all the major stars. I haven't really haven't spent any time recently moving this forward. When '67 baseball gets me down, I should probably work on this one.
1970Topps Football - 13 cards to go. 95% complete. I have all the major stars, but I am having trouble finding reasonably priced commons to finish this out. Truthfully, I could probably finish this out for around $50 on Sportlots. But, the cumulative high book value on the remaining needs is $37. Which means, I am willing to pay up to $20 for the remaining cards. Sportlots is odd. I try to maximize what I buy from each seller. I was able to finish out my 1973 football set quite reasonably. For 1970 though, there is only one seller who has all the cards I need (and in several cases the only copy of a card on the entire site) and he is pricing them well beyond where they should be. In the end, paying his prices won't break the bank, but I struggle with rewarding such behavior.
Fleer Autograph project: I added 3 new signed 1960 Fleer cards (Sam Rice, Paul Derringer, and Pie Traynor) and 2 new 1961s (Babe Adams and Donie Bush.) That isn't a huge number, but I am at the point in the project where all the commonly available cards are already in my collection and I am down to the cards that are either ungodly expensive or ungodly rare.
Paul Blair collection - I have written about this several times this year and won't go into depth here. My major accomplishment was reorganizing the collection. My favorite addition was a 1968 Venezuelan.
Johnny Antonelli collection - Not unlike the Fleer autograph project, this is collection is generalu stalled due to the rarity of the remaining needs. I did add a few picture pack photos although I did complain about trying to differentiate them in an earlier post. My favorite was the packaging for a 1956 Big League Statue.
So, what is on the agenda for 2025?
Nothing definitive. I am anticipating additional adult responsibilities this year, so I am not planning on any big hobby achievements. I would like to make progress on each of the projects mentioned above, but I am not going to put a number to most of it.. The only thing I definitely want to complete is the first five series of 1967 baseball for which I am only 17 cards short of completion. The only major cards among those 17 are Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Neither are cheap, but both will probably still be had for a price less than even the commonest of high number commons.
Additionally, I would like to start putting together the 1969-70 Topps basketball set. I probably shouldn't due to the Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) rookie card, but since I already have the Wilt Chamberlain, I don't see much issue with slowing adding to the set build in anticipation of having a time in the future I might be able to get the Alcindor and complete the set.
That is about it. No huge plans. I would like to make a trek down to Dallas this year for the big show they have every other month. I have been wanting to since I was last at that show in 2022. But the fund commitment needed to justify a 3 hour drive each way may preclude it.
Anyways, I am looking forward to 2025 and I hope you have a safe, fun, and successful year!
What I am listening to: Locked in the Trunk of a Car by The Tragically Hip
It had taken five years, but I have finally managed to achieve something: I caught COVID.
Lordy, did I feel like crap. Christmas day started off normal enough, but as the day wore on, I got more and more tired. By early evening, I was having chills and was achy all over. The next two days were a blur. I tried working from home, but both days I only made it to lunch before I crapped out; Friday I went to bed at 6 PM and basically stayed there for the next 12 hours. I was feeling better on Saturday, better still each subsequent day, and I hope to return to the office Thursday (1/2)
Anyways, in my attempt to not overdo it, I am going to knock another one of these posts out.
Hughie Critz was considered one of the best defensive second basemen of his era. A light hitter, his facility with the glove saw him mentioned in the same breath with his more offensively adept contemporaries like Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins, and Frankie Frisch. What else do we know about Hughie?
He was the son of a university president. His father was at various times president of the universities know known as Arkansas Tech and Mississippi State. Despite being a ballplayer himself, the elder Critz was not happy when his son went out for baseball during his junior year Mississippi State (nee Mississippi A&M)
After graduating college, he started working as a cotton broker in Greenwood, MS but a agricultural depression that crashed cotton prices put paid to that choice. He became a pro ball player when his semi-pro team joined the Class D Mississippi State League.
After the 1921 season, his contract was sold to the Memphis Chickasaws of the Class A Southern Association. Following that season, he was promoted to the Double A Minneapolis Millers where he put in one full, and one partial season before being called up to Cincinnati in May of 1924. He was inserted immediately as the everday second baseman for the Redlegs and hit .322 over the course of the season. This represented his career high water mark for batting average.
He went 2 for 4 in his debut game; hitting two singles off of the great Chicago pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander.
He had a reputation as a smart player, though in self-effacing style he once said “Such stars as Johnny Evers and Eddie Collins had set the fashion and brains and second base sort of went together, So I decided to appear smart, too. I shifted to the right for this batter, to the left for that one, guessed wrong half the time but got away with it.”
In 1929 after a hard slide by Riggs Stephenson took out Hughie, injuring his knee, an on-field fight ensued between the Cubs and the Reds. Making the incident noteworthy, the teams continued the brawl post-game while waiting for their respective trains.
Critz was long coveted by NY Giants manager John McGraw, who finally managed to trade for him in 1930. This allowed him to make his sole post season appearance with the Giants in their 1933 World Series victory.
Critz was very superstitious. One such superstition was the need to move his rival second baseman's glove when he took the field at the start of an inning. Frankie Frisch would deliberately take his glove with him to the bench and Fritz would have to chase him down to touch the glove in order to satisfy his compulsion.
In retirement, he owned a 1,000 acre plantation and a Ford-Lincoln dealership in Greenwood.
While not a familiar name today, Hughie was elected to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and was chosen by Cinci fans as the second baseman on the Reds’ all-time team in 1969, nearly 40 years after he was traded away.
I suppose I should do a 2024 retrospective and goal setting for the 2025 collecting season. Perhaps this weekend. In the mean time...
I suppose the title is a bit confusing if you have been following my long term, but infrequent series on the players featured in my signed 1960 and 1961 Fleer collection. To the extent that your interest rises to that level, allow me to clear it up. This post will feature my 18th signed 1960 Fleer card and my 44th signed 1961 Fleer card since they are both the same player: Hall of Famer Sam Rice
What is interesting about Sam Rice:
Over the course of a 20 season major league career, he tallied up 2,987 hits.
He actually broke in as a pitcher. He appeared in 9 games over his first two seasons compiling a 1-1 record with a 2.52 ERA. In his first ML season, he only appeared as a pitcher, but hit .375.
He didn't appear in professional baseball until the age of 22 in 1912. Prior to that, he did play semi-pro ball in Watseka, IL where he worked on his family farm. At the time of his pro debut, Sam had already been married for 4 years and had two children.
Unfortunately, his wife, both children, mother and two sisters were killed by a tornado. The storm was part of a multi-day tornado outbreak which was significant enough to merit it's own Wikipedia page.
Following the 1912 season, he ended up in the Navy and stationed on the battleship USS New Hampshire. He and his shipmates were part of a landing force that took the port city of Veracruz after tensions between the US and Mexico escalated.
In 1914, after his furlough from the Navy, he resumed is baseball career with the Petersburg Goobers of the Virginia League. The following year, the Goobers struggled financially (as well as on the field) and the owner of the team gave Rice's contract to the major league Washington Nationals in repayment for a loan.
In 1916, after several successful appearances as a pinch hitter, he became a full time outfielder.
Rice didn't have much power, stroking only 34 home runs over the course of his career. He did have speed and had 351 stolen bases over his 20 years and hit over 30 doubles in 10 of those seasons.
During spring training in 1918, he was drafted into the military and deployed to France. However, WW1 ended before he saw any combat and he found himself back at Spring Training in 1919.
He and teammate Joe Judge held the record for longevity as teammates after 18 seasons together with Washington. The record has been broken twice in recent decades, first by George Brett and Frank White, then by Alan Trammel and Lou Whitaker.
In Game 3 of the 1925 World Series, Rice made a catch on a long drive by Pirates catcher Earl Smith that saw him fall over the outfield wall and not return to sight until after a short delay. Controversy ensued whether he really successfully caught the ball. It waw ruled he did and, well into his retirement when asked if he truly caught that ball he always responded, "the umpires said I did."
He continued to play well through is age 42 season, after which his decline was notable. After the 1933 season he was released and signed with Cleveland to play for his former teammate and Nationals manager Walter Johnson. He struggled as the season wore on and finally retired in September.
In retirement, he had a chicken farm for a while, bred racing pigeons, and invested in real estate.
Sam Rice was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1963 and was a regular at the induction ceremonies through 1974, after which he passed away.
In 1965, at the request of a HOF historian he wrote a letter documenting the definitive story of that controversial catch in the '25 World Series with the stipulation that it not be opened until after his death. Once the letter was subsequently found and opened, it was revealed that Sam had made the catch and never lost possession of the ball. The delay in returning to the field was due to being dazed by the fall on the opposite side of the outfield wall. However, the controversy was never resolved as there were witnesses who continued to claim the opposite.
What I am listening to: Something We Regret by Willow Avalon
After my little hissy fit about cut signatures a few months ago, my player collections went into early hibernation and I resigned myself to only adding new cards once a year or so. In particular, with my Paul Blair collection.there isn't much left. It breaks down mostly like this:
That actually looks like a lot, but the two flagship categories are, to a certain extent, filler. I have the complete run of Topps flagship Blair cards, but thought I would put together both signed and unsigned versions just to have something to do with this PC. However, since making that decision, I have done exactly nothing to make it happen. So, was it really decision? Trees, forests, etc.
There actually is two other categories not mentioned above. The first is regional and team issues from the late 1960s that I have never seen in the wild and (enjoy the contrast) 2004 Upper Deck Timeless Team parallels.
2004 UD Timeless Teams is a confounding set. It covers the significant team or teams from between 1964 and 1995. Great concept and I love the design. It is a set I would want to collect. Except that the execution is horrible. You would think they would have the one dominant team for each year and perhaps the dominant team from each league for each year. Makes sense right? However, there are no teams represented from 1971, 1989, 1990, 1993 and 1994. But, there are three teams for 1969, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1986. There are 11 players each representing the 1969 and 1970 Orioles (the same 11 players mind you,) but only 3 players representing the 1987 and 1991 Twins, and the 1992 Blue Jays. 1977 and 1981 had both the Dodgers and the Yankees, but 1978 was the Yankees only.
See what I mean? A complete mess.
Anyways, there are 6 versions of each card:
Base
Bronze (# to 50)
Gold (# to 5)
Signed
Signed Gold (# to 5)
Signed Platinum (# to 1)
I have a saved search on eBay that I scan daily for new items, but I have probably failed to find Blair cards I needed from this set because I scan quickly. However, at this point, I have 8 of the 12 Blair cards. Of the 4 that I am missing two are, not surprisingly, the 1/1s. I will need to do a better job of looking for the other two (1 Bronze and 1 Gold).
I am starting to wake up out of 4 month hobby slumber. I have a new (to me) signed 1960 Fleer card being delivered tomorrow. Hopefully, I will be able to whip up a post about it on Tuesday.
What I am listening to: Outlaws and Mustangs by Cody Jinks
