As I mentioned in my previous post, my hobby activity has basically gone on hiatus for a while. I have added three cards to my player collections.
I have always been ambivalent about buybacks. While I don't necessarily consider them a defaced vintage card, I do consider them little different than the pre-stamped vintage original. But, my Paul Blair player collection has stalled with only a few additions each year. Certainly, so few I can count them on one hand. Currently, I sit at 159 unique cards in my Blair collection out of 211 on my list, for a respectable 75%. The problem is what I lack.
Of the 52 cards I need, most are cards that I have little interest in:7 more vintage buybacks, 13 unlicensed cut autos (mostly Tristar), 10 low-pop serial numbered cards from 2004 UD Timeless Teams, 4 printing plates, and three uncut panels for cards I otherwise have. See what I mean? I am too much of a completist to just throw up my hands and consider this done, but further progress means picking up cards I would otherwise ignore. I am not sure whether it is a blessing or a curse, but most of those remaining cards are valued too highly by their current owner and are priced well beyond what I will pay. An unlicensed cut auto card for $40. No way. But these two were cheap enough with both being around $10 delivered.
Anyways, this is what I am most excited about:
I realize that may look like a well-loved 1960 Topps card of Johnny Antonelli. And, it is. But, what isn't obvious from the image is that it is on thinner, poorer quality stock which identifies this as a Topps Venezuelan. In well over a decade of collecting, this is only the second 1960 Venezuelan card of Antonelli I have ever seen. And I got it for about $15 delivered.
With regard to progress, I have 71 unique Antonelli items out of my identified population of 100. The remaining items I don't have are mostly photocards/postcards, buybacks, and a handful of reprints. I've never seen most of them, so this may be one of the last cards I acquire for this collection.
What I am listening to: Bring Me to Life by Evanescence.
Now back to your (ir)regularly scheduled programming: the real Part 38 in this series.
A little over a week ago, Night Owl had a post that referenced cards that featured Comissioner Bowie Kuhn and mentioned how rare it is that any card features MLB commissioners. And guess what card was next up in this post series?
Warren Giles! Night Owl mentioned a Beckett article that he just finished about commissioner cards. Alas, I don't read Beckett and when I do read I apparently have comprehension issues as you will see in the comment from NO below. I've already got books that have been on the nightstand for over year untouched and I always feel a twinge of guilt when I climb into bed and see them sitting there waiting for me. So, I have no idea whether he mentioned 1960 and 1961 Fleer in that article. Hopefully, he will confirm or deny in the comments {stares in cardboard appreciation.}
Strictly speaking, Giles was never commissioner. Rather he was the NL President from 1951 through 1969. His tenure mostly overlapped with Ford Frick occupying the MLB Commissioners office. Frick will appear in Part 53 of this series, assuming I get there before I shuffle of this mortal coil. In case you are wondering, the AL Commissioner during this time, former HOF player and manager Joe Cronin, does not appear in the set in any form. Anyways, let's learn a little bit more about Warren.
The last two years of my life have been dominated by career issues and have involved two separate job searches. One interview question I hate is "Where do you see yourself in five years?" If you were to parachute into any time during my 35-year post college work life and ask me that question, then drop back in 5 years later, you would find that not only was I not where my 5-year plan said I would be, I was nowhere close. That is a tortured, and all too long, set-up for how Warren Giles kicked off his baseball career.
After serving as an army officer in France during the First World War, Giles returned to his home in Moline, IL to work as a tradesman with his father, a general contractor. He was involved in running a local football team which led to being invited to a meeting regarding how to save the locally owned minor league team, the Moline Plowboys. In a classic case of no good deed goes unpunished, speaking out at the meeting led Giles to be appointed to the unpaid position as President of the team.
Ater turning around the Moline club, his career as a baseball executive took off with 4 subsequent stops before assuming his post as NL President:
1922 - 1924 -St Joseph (MO) Saints 1925 -1927 - Syracuse (NY) Stars 1928 - 1936 - Rochester (NY) Red Wings 1938 - 1951 Cincinnati (OH) Red Legs
During his tenure as NL President, he was considered an effective representative of ownership and, thus, not necessarily friendly to a nascent labor movement in organized baseball. However, he had a decent working relationship with the umpires, likely due to his time as a basketball and football referee early in his career. Indeed, the NL umpires unionized during Gile's tenure. He also presided over a period of team moves, including both the Giants and Dodgers moving west, while the Braves vacated Milwaukee for warmer climes.
I could go on, but you would better served reading his SABR biography. I will share one interesting anecdote about Giles, who's s advocacy for ownership was tainted with accusations of undue deference specifically to the Dodger's Walter O'Malley. In 1963, Giles promulgated a directive strictly enforce the balk rule that said a pitcher must stop his windup for one full second while pitching from the stretch. Why does this show favoritism towards O'Malley? Well, the rule worked to the advantage of a baserunning oriented team and theprevious season, the Dodgers young phenom Maury Wills won the MVP while stealing 104 bases, the most since Billy Hamilton swiped 111 in 1891.
What I am listening to: Worn Out American Dream by BettySoo
