RIP - Cobra

 I just heard that Dave Parker died today at the age of 74, a month short of his Cooperstown induction.  His death came a bit over 13 years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.

Parker was a giant to me. He was at the top of his game at the time I was closely following the baseball season as a teenager.  He was MVP in the magical (to me) 1978 season that saw an early glimpse of the "We are Family" Pirates. In 1978, the Pirates didn't hit my radar. I was engrossed in the AL East, that saw transcendent seasons from Boston's Jim Rice and my Yankees Ron Guidry.  A race that culminated on the first Monday in October as Bucky "Fucking" Dent and my Yankees dispatched the Bosox in a one game playoff.  The Pirates didn't really occupy any space in my brain until the following year, with the Pirates seven game World Series victory over the Orioles.

This passing has given me a pause since my father had Parkinson's Disease. It is a cruel disease, slowly robbing the person of their coordination and, in the later stages, of their memories.  My family has never been particularly warm and close.  And living half a continent away, I didn't get to experience my father's slow decline. Since I didn't get back to visit but a couple times a year, the progression of the disease was more jarring to me. And, in the end, robbed us of a proper goodbye as he knew he had a son that lived in Oklahoma but he didn't recognize me for being that son.

I don't offer this looking for sympathy. What is done is done and I have made my peace.  I offer it only to say I am pleased that Parker was lucid enough to see his election into Cooperstown, even if he didn't make it to the induction ceremony. Certainly, not being able to attend the ceremony is a loss for him and the world. But, when I think of deserving inductees (specifically but not exclusively Ron Santo) that never even got to experience the joy of knowing they were elected, I take solace in knowing Parker was able to hear and understand the honor bestowed to him.

What I am listening to: Temporary Nature (of any Precious Thing) by Lucinda Williams

1961 Fleer Autograph Project - Part 48

Has it really been two months since I posted?  Yes, it has. Does it seem like I always start a post that way? Yes, it does.   I haven't done anything hobby-wise in over three months and probably won't for at least as long going forward.  Do you ever have one of those years where it seems like you have one problem after another?  That has been 2025 for me. A lot has gone wrong in 2025. Nothing existential, but expensive. But all y'all have your own lives and struggles and aren't here to listen to me whine. So, let's get on with it.

This is the 48th signed 1961 Fleer card in my collection. I have a total of 72 and of the 24 I haven't yet posted, 18 are in the Hall of Fame, including today's subject, Redlegs great Ernie Lombardi.  

So, what random, interesting things did I learn about him:

1. Lombardi had a 17-year career - 10 with Cincinnati, 5 with the NY Giants, and 1 each with the Brooklyn Robins and Boston Braves
2. Between 1928 and 1930, he hit .370 while playing for the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League.
3. He caught Johnny VanderMeer's back-to-back no-hitters, which we covered briefly in Part 39 of this series.
4. In 1938, he was the NL MVP. That season, he hit .342 with 19 homeruns and 95 RBIs. Modern statistics give his MVP season a total 4.8 WAR, far less than Bill Lee, Arky Vaughn and Mel Ott, all of who had greater than 8.0 WAR. 
5. Considered one of the slowest ballplayers, he also led the league by grounding into 30 double plays that year, an NL league record that stood for 70 years until 2008 when it was broken by Miguel Tejada.
6. Inducted into the Cincinnati Reds HOF in 1958, he was consistently overlooked by Cooperstown.  Indeed, he vowed to not attend the ceremony if ever elected. His eventual induction, championed by Birdie Tibbets, came in 1986, 9 years after his death.
7. He did not believe in signing autographs. It wasn’t until a youngster asked if he was illiterate that Lombardi, to dispute the point, signed the scrap of paper.
8. There is a picture of Lombardi holding seven baseballs in one hand. 
9. Lombardi struggled to find his place after his career ended and even attempted suicide in 1953.
10.  In 2004 a full-size bronze statue of Ernie was dedicated outside Great American Ballpark, joining those of Frank Robinson, Joe Nuxhall, and Ted Kluszewski at the entrance to the ballpark.

What I am listening to:  John Moreland

Revisiting an Old Friend

 Despite primarily being a vintage collector, I do have several modern sets that I dearly love.   2004 Fleer Greats of the Game is one. The Tristar Obak sets, issued between 2009 and 2011, are three more. Tristar played the variation game in these sets, including cards with different geometric shapes around the card number. But, I don't play that game, so I mainly collected the base set and the T212 mini parallels to a subset of the base cards.  I managed to complete both the 2010 and 2011 sets. But the high number short prints in the 2009 set were elusive.  They were rarely available and unreasonably expensive when they were.  Progress ground to a halt and, eventually, I forgot about the set. I can't even remember the last time I added one of these cards.  It could have been as long as 10 years ago, but I really don't know.

Recently, as I have had to curtail my hobby spending due to necessary adult obligations I decided to see if I could cheaply complete off a few side projects that captured my attention for a while, then fell of the radar.  I didn't complete 2009 Obak, but I did find three reasonably priced short prints of the seven I need.

Yeah, I'm being lazy by scanning all three at once and not editing to show them individually.  But, it is a beautiful day and I've got yardwork to do.

Of these three players, only Tony Sanchez made it to the majors, appearing in 52 games over the course of 4 seasons.  Donavan Tate made it as far as A+ and Matt Hobgood to AA.

What I am listening to: I am a Man by Spencer Davis Group

Close Enough, Part 2

 For the few of you that have been long-term readers of my modest little blog, you may be wondering when I did "Close Enough, Part 1." I didn't, at least not so named.  The title refers to sets that are not complete but, due to the cost needed to complete them, will never be.  My first "close enough" set is my signed 1963 Fleer set, for which I have 65 of 66 cards, only lacking the Roberto Clemente (on an unrelated note I was recently offered an ugly but authenticated signed '63 Fleer Clemente. As you might expect there was a significant gap between what I could afford and what the seller wanted. I expected that outcome, so there is no disappointment here.)  65 is close enough for me.

I am on the verge of my second "close enough" set, though this one is a non-sports set.

I believe I have mentioned previously, I really love Star Trek and Deep Space 9 is my favorite series. Last year, I bought a hobby box of DS9: Memories of the Future.  Each box comes with one autographed card. My box contained Aron Eisenberg, who played the young Ferengi, Nog.  Some time subsequent, I got it in my mind to get the autographed card of Louise Fletcher, who played Kai Winn, a character I consider one of the all-time great TV villains. That got me on the quest to finish the 20 card autographed subset.  Over the last year, I've added them here and there.  The above two represent numbers 17 and 18.

Majel Barrett, of course, is Star Trek royalty having been married to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. She has also appeared in every series as the voice of the computer, but also making live action appearances occasionally.  Nana Visitor is one of the central characters in DS9 and, I am not ashamed to admit, my celebrity crush.

So, why close enough?  There are two cards left:  Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax) and Rick Berman (series producer)  As it stands, the only Farrells currently available are overpriced.  But, they are plentiful enough that I will get one at my price point soon enough.  The Berman is another matter and is the reason I will stop at 19 out of 20. I have only ever seen 2 Bermans come up on eBay and both are fixed price listings with the BIN prices between $550 and $600. No thank you. Not for someone who didn't appear on screen.

As you might have surmised, I am home from the National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association Academy and trade show. I had a great time and learned a lot.  I realize this is probably of interest to exactly none of you, but I am a giant nerd and have to show my absolute favorite exhibit.  Feel free to skip past it.

That is a Deere 904 large wheel loader posed as if it is loading rock into a Kleeman MR100 mobile crusher.  My company doesn't use Deere, opting instead for equivalent Caterpillar and Komatsu loaders.  But we do have Kleeman's at our two small quarries, though ours are the larger MR170s.  I've always been fascinated by how things get done.  After 10 years in the energy industry, moving over to mining has re-ignited my desire to learn.  Even though I could retire in 6 years, I cannot imagine not working as long as I get the opportunity to learn new industries.

What I am listening to: Mississippi Queen by Mountain.

The Longest Journey

 I am going to try and post more. Mainly out of a need to distract myself from...well...everything.  I am heading out on Monday to attend this year's National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association's AGG1 Academy and Trade Show (My wife always laughs when I say that and, honestly, I can't blame her)  So, I am going to try and knock out a quick post and work on my next in my hotel room at night as opposed to trying to match some of my co-workers ability to consume alcoholic beverages.

I started collecting in late 2010, by starting on my Paul Blair player collection. Early in 2011, I started building sets. The first vintage set I built was 1978 Topps followed closely by 1974.  Both were completed during the year.  At some point subsequent (I don't remember exactly when) I decided to complete the 1974 master set and I managed to mostly do so.  I finished the 44 card Traded set, the Washington Nat'l League variations, The Jesus Alou No Position, and Apodaco/Apodaca.  The one I never completed was card 599, which came in three variations: Washington, San Diego large print, and San Diego small print. I never got the latter of the three.  Occasionally, over the years, I would remember that was still out there and look to see if I could complete it.  Alas, that last variation was always selling for over $30.  Now, I can certainly afford it, but I always chafed at dropping that kind of coin on a common.  

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I was talking to a friend that collects signed sets.  I am not sure how we got on 1974 Topps, but I mentioned that I was one card short of the master set.  He pulled out his duplicates and this is what he found:

Demonstrating generosity (a virtue seemingly in short supply these days) he sent it to me no strings attached. So, after 14 years, I have finally finished my 1974 master set.  And here are the three variations together.

Take care and stay safe.

What I am listening to: Slip Away by Clarence Carter

1961 Fleer Autograph Project - Part 47

How are you doing?  All things considered <looks around> I am doing fine. I am making an effort to post more. I figure if I can post one of these every two weeks, I'll be up to date a year from now.  It's plan. We are heading into a slong stretch of Hall of Fame players.  Of the 25 remaining subjects in this series, 20 are enshrined in Cooperstown.

Next up is a Hall of Famer, Hal Newhouser. He isn't a common name when talking about the great pitchers of the past, but he had a 6 year stretch between 1944 and 1949 when he was dominant.  

So, let's learn a little more about him:

1. He was born in 1921 to immigrant parents. His father was from Czechoslovakia and his mother from Austria.
2. As a child in The Depression, he helped his family survive by any means available to him, including gathering up discarded coal scraps at the coal yard to heat the family's home.
3. Elected to the Hall in 1992 by the Veteran's Committee after years of being overlooked, his main joy was the fact that his mother was alive to see it.
4. His induction was delayed due to his (undeserved) reputation as a Wartime Pitcher, ignoring that he continued to be an ace for 4 seasons after the war.
5. He had a (deserved) reputation for anger issues.
6. To be sure, his best years were 1944 (29-9, 2.22 ERA, 7.7 WAR) and 1945 (25-9, 1.81 ERA, 11.3 WAR) when he won back-to-back AL MVP awards.
7. However, a 26-9, 1.94 ERA, 9.7 WAR season followed in 1946, which warranted a 2nd place in MVP voting behind Ted Williams.
8. He was something of a pioneer. After a frustrating 1957 season (17-17, 2.87 ERA, 5.8 WAR) he spent time analysing his pitching by comparing film taken of his pitching in 1947 with his performances in prior seasons.
9. After his playing career, he was a Detroit area scout for several organizations.  His most notable signings were Milt Pappas and 1964 Cy Young winner Dean Chance.
10. His scouting career came to an end when he quit after his then employer, the Houston Astros, chose to ignore his advice to draft Derek Jeter as the first pick in the 1992 amateur draft. They chose instead to draft Phil Nevin.

What I am listening to:  The Joke by Brandi Carlile

1961 Fleer Autograph Project - Part 46

 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:

1. The son of a tobacco farmer, he took up the same work outside his baseball career. However, he was never a user of tobacco.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. After that final 1942 season he returned to farming and occasional scouting.
10. 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.
11. 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)