Surprise! Baseball!

I was planning on posting about another tobacco card set I got, but it is a 50 card set and I haven't decided yet which cards to scan, so I am going to divert back into something that might actually interest readers: baseball!

I haven't paid much attention to my 1960s Fleer autograph project for over 7 months. The last card I added to my collection was the 1961 Joe Sewell and I posted about it on June 23.  Recently, on a lark, I looked at the eBay store for one of the key autographed card sellers, Mill Creek Sports.  I found two cards on sale for 50% off, making them around $25 each.  Quite coincidentally, one of them was Joe Sewell's brother, Luke:

Sewell enjoyed a 20 year career as a major league player and managed in 10 different seasons. Sewell was a catcher by trade and, if Baseball Reference is to be believed he was about replacement level, totaling 3.8 WAR over his career. Even if you discount is 1939 and 1942 seasons where he played a total of 22 games and hit .125, he still averaged about 0.23 WAR per season. He did catch three no hitters: Wes Ferrell on 4/29/1931, Vern Kennedy on 8/31/1935 and Bill Dietrich on 6/1/1937.

 During that 1942 season with the St Louis Browns he was actually in his second season as manager.  He led them that year to their first winning record since 1929. Two years later, he led the Browns to the AL pennant, only to loose to their Sportsman's Park co-tenant, the St Louis Cardinals.  Since both the Browns and Cards played at the same ballpark, they were never home at the same time.  So, Sewell shared an apartment with Cardinals manager Billy Southworth.  Since they were both in town for the Series, they flipped a coin to see who got the apartment.  Sewell won the toss.

By 1946, the Browns were basement dwellers again and Luke was fired prior to season end.  He faired no better at a second managerial stop in Cincinnati. He took over the helm with 3 games left in 1949 and continued through the 98th game of 1952. He managed a few years in the minors before leaving the game and going into business as owner of Seville Centrifugal Bronze in Akron, Ohio. He retired from business in 1970 and passed away 17 years later at the age of 86.

The other card I picked up was Johnny Mize.

I wrote about Mize when I got a signed version of his 1960 Fleer card. You can find that post here.

So, where am I on adding autographed 1960 Fleer cards?  Here is a chart:

Year	Total Cards	Possible	Have	Percentage
1960	79	40	7	17.5%
1961	154	95	19	20.0%
1963	66	66	63	95.5%
Total	299	201	89	44.3%

What I am listening to: Fisherman's Blues by The Waterboys