Quirks: The Toss.

       We all have certain quirks to our collection and some of them are of the pictures on the cards.  Hell, there are blogs related to and/or named after such photographic peculiarities.  Let's see if you can figure out which one this post is about...

Got it yet?  Good. 

Did you ever back into a collection?  I don't mean just accumulating cards of a failed prospect or a favorite star but did you ever just suddenly realize you have dozens of a certain kind of card and you wonder, hey, how did that happen?  I noticed on many of my 9 pocket pages of players and sets, I had a bunch of players doing "the toss" - a time tested pose.  I decided a few months ago to gather them together rather than let them breed in the wild. 

Sure, we all have a fondness for plays at the plate, vertical action shots, players leaping at second base during a double play, catchers in gear, etc.  Some folks might like posed shots with bats pointing at the viewer or specific position poses.  But for me, there is something so enjoyably goofy and childlike about The Toss, be it posed or candid. 

I am sure there are dozens more out there that I don't have in my collection - heck just looking at these pages I realize I don't have one of the more iconic Toss photos, the 1989 Topps Steve Avery draft pick card.  This is my first foray into photographically specific oddball collections and I hope to expand on the theme.  If you have any or come across any that you don't see here, feel free to send them or offer to trade them to me.  For now, I am going to go find a low grade 1972 Topps Roberto Clemente. 

Freedom.

       As every media outlet in the universe has no doubt let you know, today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

You will be inundated with remembrances, retrospectives, theories, and conspiracies about every aspect of this event.  As I have said before, I do not want to lament anyone's death, I would rather celebrate how they lived.  And boy, did JFK live.  Plus, what gets lost most of all in the canonization of the man and the lunatic myth-making of his death is all the actual stuff he did.  I think if you asked the average American about any of the legislation his presidency passed, most would give you a look akin to a dog being shown a card trick.

        One thing JFK actually did was set the standard for the current Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the highest civilian award in the United States.  Earlier this week, President Obama awarded this year's recipients and one of them was Mr. Cub Ernie Banks.  He is the ninth Major League baseball player to receive this medal.  As a change of pace today, let's look at all those winners, shall we?

Ernie Banks 2013

Poor Ernie not only never got to play in the postseason, he had to receive his medal from a White Sox fan...he probably deserved better than that. 

Stan Musial 2011

Musial was in the navy in WWII (as you can see in the card in the middle first row) and you would be hard pressed to find a better ambassador for baseball than The Man. 

Buck O'Neil 2006

OK, I take that back, Buck O'Neil might be the best ambassador for baseball ever.  He played in the Negro Leagues from 1937 until basically the Negro Leagues stopped being a thing.  He then was a scout for the Cubs (and helped them sign the aforementioned Ernie Banks) and was even the first African-American coach in the majors.  But Buck O'Neil became an icon late in life thanks to Ken Burns' documentary series Baseball.  If a 20+ hour film can have a star, Buck was it.  His knowledge and enthusiasm for baseball permeate the whole project and every moment he is on the screen is a joy. 

Frank Robinson 2005

Frank Robinson is simply the most underrated baseball player of all time.  His numbers somehow get lost in the shuffle, even though they are gargantuan.  He also was the first African American manager in the majors when he took the reins of the Indians in 1975.  Plus, if you ever want to ask a tricky trivia question, hit them with "Who was the first black manager in the National League?" because the answer is also Frank Robinson.

Roberto Clemente 2003

I have covered Roberto Clemente before on this blog.  If you don't understand why Roberto would get this award, you don't understand either.

Hank Aaron 2002

For all the scrutiny today's athletes say they have to endure, did any man have to put up with more nonsense while just trying to play a game than Hank Aaron?  And given those circumstances, could he have acted more humble and classy?  I think not.  America owes a huge apology to Hank Aaron and I like to think this award was part of that.

Ted Williams 1991

I snarkily celebrated Teddy Ballgame recently but really, to be honest, there is no way to overstate Williams' credentials as an American Badass: Maybe the greatest hitter of all time.  Maybe the greatest fly fisherman of all time.  Flew combat missions in two different wars.  Used his Hall of Fame speech as a call to have Negro League players enshrined.  I mean, John Wayne based his voice and cadence after him for crying out loud.  What is more American than that?

Jackie Robinson 1984

That it took until 1984 to give Jackie Robinson this honor is kind of outrageous, don't you think?  Shouldn't he have been on the short list, like, the very first year? 

Joe DiMaggio 1977

It proves that people were always kinda overestimating the value of Joe DiMaggio as he was the first baseball player to receive the Medal of Freedom.  That said, you have to remember that sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  Dividing The Myth, The Man, and The Player out of Joe D is almost impossible, so you kinda just have to go with it - and it seems history and pop culture always have when it comes to him.  Plus, you gotta figure since he was married to Marilyn Monroe for a short time, he and JFK had a lot more in common than we'd all care to think about. 

They Arrrrrr Goin' For It, Matey.

       I do not like the sports teams of Pittsburgh.  The Steelers seem to think they are the best team ever, when before 1970 they were, quite literally, the worst team ever.  Six championships in 40-odd years is impressive, but forgetting the 40-odd years before that seems selective at best and delusional at worst.  The only thing I like about the Pittsburgh Penguins is their cute little logo.  Every other single thing can die in a fire.  And that brings us to the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The Pirates replaced the Cardinals in the early 90's as my most hated team.  Sure, the Cardinals certainly had more hateable players, but the Pirates were far more infuriating - quality over quantity, I suppose.  It was a joy and a comfort to me that they have been invisible for the last 20 years.  Now, suddenly, they are back.  After a couple of near misses the last couple years, they are loaded up and ready to make a run to and through the playoffs.

Currently, they are led by NL MVP candidate Andrew McCutchen:

He is a fine enjoyable player to watch, except for the uniform.  I look forward to 2018 when they trade him because he wants too much money (of course, it will probably be to the Yankees...yuck).

The embodiment of my hatred for the Pirates can be stated quite simply:

Most people hate Barry Bonds now.  Like some kind of music loving hipster, I was a Bonds hater way before it was cool; my dislike for him started his rookie season (1986) and never waned. 

I have to admit, I didn't always hate every single Pirates player.  Willie Stargell was pretty awesome.

He won the MVP in 1979 as a fat 38 year old.  That is a feat I can get behind.

If you have read my required posts, you know that I am also a huge fan of Roberto Clemente:

I covered this a while back.

The most striking reason I hate the Pirates, other than the fact that they stole 2 or 3 division titles from the Mets, is they gave the world - and more specifically the Mets - Bobby Bonilla.

This is the only Bonilla card I have highlighted anywhere in my pages and that is only because I love the look of that insert set.  The worst part of the saga of Bobby Bo?  Because of the Mets stupidity - or Bonilla's incredible business acumen *eye roll* - he will be getting over a million dollars a year from the team until 2035.  Yes, I am probably just jealous I am not clearing all that cash for doing nothing myself, it's just that the Mets make me sad sometimes.

So why spew all this hate for the Pirates?  I mean, they are gonna make the playoff after two solid decades of utter futility after all.  Well, I am not wishing them well nor am I rooting for them, but...

Today, September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  And while I think I have certainly made my point that I hate baseball Pirates, I love plank walking, keelhauling, sword fighting, ship ramming pirates.  So raise the mizzenmast and a cup of grog and tell your mateys you be lovin' them today...and root for the Red Sox in the playoffs.

Clemente.

       Forty years ago this evening saw the far too premature end to the life of Roberto Clemente.  I am not here to recant the heroic and tragic events of that night; far better writers have done a far better job of that than I could ever imagine.  What I am going to do is run down my Roberto Clemente collection and what it means to me.  Celebrating a man's life is always far more important than lamenting his death. 

I am proud that I was way ahead of the curve when it comes to collecting Clemente.

This page shows card from 1998, when Topps commemorated the shit out of him for the 25th anniversary of his death.  I got into Clemente more than a decade earlier when I saw a TWIB report on him.  This was when I was around 10-11 and pre internet, so I (gasp!) had to go to the library to look up the stats and story of the man.  Even at that jaded age, I was impressed.

Some of these cards are from that late 80's bygone era, some of them are more recent.  I always enjoyed getting a retro card of Clemente - 1987 was a good year for that.

On this page you will see Edgard Clemente, the nephew of Roberto.  His major league career didn't amount to much, but he did do a lot in the minor and Mexican leagues.  He adapted/adopted the name Clemente before the 1998 as a tribute (and some would say publicity stunt). 

OK, so those are the pages I have of Clemente, they are nice but nothing spectacular.  Well, Let's go a little deeper into the shoe boxes and see what else awaits us.

First thing you see is the one game used Roberto I own:

This card is very very shiny (the scan does it no justice) it is also from his game used pants.  Sassy.

There are 40+ cards in my faux-vintage hall of famer box, and I am gonna show you every last one:

I love that Stadium Club card, I believe the ladies over at Dinged Corners were nice enough to send me that a few years back.  You also can see my Triple Threads addiction well represented.  That sepia Clemente in the upper right corner looks tremendous. That lower right picture is from his 1971 Topps card (or from the same group of pictures)  The lower left from his 1969.  I didn't have to look that up.


I'd like to get that Upper Deck Masterpiece in a better color than the Green, I think the black might be a good choice, since I don't think they make a gaudy yellow.  His very upright batting stance is on full display in this group.  Those bottom three are quite a handsome triumvirate.


A couple of paintings in this group, also a shot of him showing off his arm - you would think there would be more pictures like this to represent his legendary cannon.  I picked up that 1954 Topps Archives card in a dime box years and years ago.  That is a $5 card now all day long, if you can find one.  Oh, and I do love those mini Diamond King puzzles; I believe that came out of the 1987 The Rookies set.


Some cards from 2000-01, when Upper Deck went nuts with their faux-vintage phase.  I have never seen that picture of him holding up a page with "3,000" on it; it certainly echoes another famous picture. And you see some of the Topps reprints they did, here in Finest form. That 1956 reprint is a refractor...more on the '56 later.


Look! More reprints.  The 1973 card is seminal, and I have both the Archives and insert reprint of that one.  I also have the rookie reprint from the Archives and the Rookie of the Week card from a few years back that is similar but very different.

Wait?  Are you tired of the fake retro stuff?  OK, lets dive into the true vintage shoebox and see what there is to see.

Here we have a real copy of that 1973 Topps.  I once built the 1972 Topps set, so these are the second copies of these cards I have owned.  I was always fond of his 1972 card because of that 1987 Turn back the Clock card. 

What else?  How about 1965?


Or a handsome 1964? 


I got this 1962 Topps card for a song years ago.

I never understood why, in 1957, Topps started calling Roberto "Bob" - was this a colloquial choice?  He was called Bob and Bobby by his teammates and the announcers. Was it xenophobic?  The 50's were not a good decade to be a person of color in America.  I have never gotten a good answer to this question.  So anyway, from 1957 to 1969, he was known as Bob, which I always thought was dumb since Roberto Clemente is such a lyrical name.

What is the oldest Clemente I own?  I have his 1956 Topps, which is just a fantastic card.  I gushed about it here a while back.  Let's look at it again.

I never get tired of this card.

I once owned this card:

I had to sell it years ago to pay the bills.  So sad.

Last but not least, I own a good dozen baseball jerseys. Only one of them does not depict a Mets or Red Sox player:

I bought this jersey in 1996 in the Bergen Mall.  It has a mustard stain on the front from a Kahn's hot dog in Shea Stadium (not shown).  I like to wear this jersey whenever I am at a 'neutral' baseball situation.  I also wore it to a pirate themed party once when I didn't have time to make a costume - most people found that quite amusing.

Anyway, that is my Roberto Clemente player collection.  Clemente the Man often overshadows Clemente the Player.  He has been deified in some circles, perhaps a little too much, but in a way, his deeds both on and off the field cannot be overstated.  He was a great player and he was a great humanitarian.  That he was taken from us too soon is a loss to us all.  Godspeed Roberto.

***

I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year.  I am still getting over a cold and I don't particularly like to go out on what I consider "amateur night" so I will be home tonight watching bad movies.  But if you do go out and have a good time, please get home safe and do not, under any circumstances, drive drunk. I want to see you all in 2013!

Refugee Report: Boston.

       We are now in day five of my electric exile from my home.  The first couple of days found me in Pennsylvania taking care of my brother's adorable doggie.  The last couple have found me visiting friends in Boston.  To be honest, a good friend of mine is in town and I am really slumming it staying with her.  This trip was planned well in advance, so it has turned into quite the serendipitous refuge.  I will be spending the rest of the weekend with some good friends in the Boston suburbs.  It turns out I made a very wise decision in fleeing the northern Jersey area, since things there have gotten worse since Tuesday.  I don't own a generator and I have no stomach for panic, so I would just like to thank my friends and family for putting me up (and putting up with me).

       Lemme tell you, being stuck in a luxury hotel for three days is no picnic.  I mean, I am right by the waterfront and downtown, how on earth am I supposed to cope and keep myself occupied?  I mean, I had to have lunch with a couple of good friends at a wonderful (tastefully named) deli.  And then I could easily walk to one of my old and all time favorite baseball card haunts, the venerable Bay State Coin.  I have known the proprietor Andy for almost 20 years and I even have worked there and done some online work for him over the years.  He is a prickly yet loveable character; they don't make them like him anymore.  He is a huge Cardinals and Stan Musial fan (and erstwhile Albert Pujols supporter as well, though bring his name up now and all you will get is a loudly shouted "traitor!!!").  He is also one of the biggest Celtics fans I know.  He goes to just about every home game and in fact I found out today that he has been to every Celtics home playoff game since 1966 but two - and one of those he missed to meet Stan Musial.  Anyway, Andy was happy to see me as I don't get in much to see him anymore.  We gabbed and jabbed for an hour or so and then, just so I wouldn't appear to be a freeloader, looked at some of this years Topps inserts.  Seeing how I have some time to kill, I will now show them. You will have to forgive me as I do not have access to a scanner and my photography skills are not exactly on par with Ansel Adams, but being a refugee, I am making do with what I have.

First, I saw that he had multiple copies of my favorite insert set from the first series of 2012 Topps, the Classic Walk Offs: 

While not the best designed cards in the world, I do like the subject matter (they would be far better if they enlarged the main picture and better highlighted the background secondary picture, but who am I, a graphic designer?).  They got a nice mix of modern and vintage players and with the inclusion of such memorable homers like Bill Mazeroski, David Ortiz, and of course, Carlton Fisk, it is a very comprehensive set as well.  I don't always like to mix current and retired players on a page, but this set kind of calls for it.  I also kind of like how they got Jay Bruce and Jim Thome in the exact same pose.  I am glad I didn't have to go online to find these and pick them off one by one.  There is something to be said for a well stocked Local Card Shop.

I also picked up a few Mets and player odds and ends from this years inserts that I didn't have yet:
 
There is an awesome Dwight Gooden card that I had been hungering for.  As memory fades from the 1980's, we have all forgotten how awesome Doc really was. Also, with the same old school players in the same Topps sets over and over again, it is nice to see someone as underutilized as the Doctor used and I'd like to see them use him more - to the point where I get sick of him.  Just like, say, Tom Seaver (this is, of course, preposterous, as I could never get tired of Tom Seaver). I grabbed the Golden Moments, which I wasn't sure if I had or not, and a rare non-Mets card of him.  I really dig those horrifyingly ugly 80's White Sox unis.  There is also the David Wright Golden Memories, which I thought $30 a Week Habit had sent me - turns out he sent me something much better.  Lastly, I grabbed a bunch of the 1987 mini type cards, just because, well, minis!!!  The Roberto Clemente is a wonderful photo that I hadn't seen before, too bad my picture on the hotel bed does it no justice.  Oh wait! I forgot Yaz! How could I forget about Yaz?  I am not entirely sure if I have expounded on my love of Carl Yastrzemski on this blog yet.  I am not going to now, but trust me, he is one of my all time favs.  I am puzzled about the logo on that card.  Is that a Red Sox B?  Is that current? Period?  Is that just a mistake and it is a Brooklyn Dodgers B?  I am stumped and to be honest, I just don't have the energy right now to go looking it up...not with all the great bars in Boston just waiting for me to go and drown my sorrows in.

Piety and Charity.

       It is Good Friday and Passover, so I will celebrate with a double dose of blasphemy by eating nothing but bacon-wrapped steaks all weekend.

But to make up for it, I will remind you I have a charity auction up on eBay with one day left.  If you are a New Jersey Devils fan or know someone who is, spread the word and give to a good cause, The Red Cross.

I will be tied up with the joys of family for the next few days, but I promise I will get back to the joys of baseball card pages soon.  Can't wait that long?  OK, fine...

While I may have mocked faith in an above paragraph, Roberto Clemente was a man of god and gave his life trying to help people.  This makes him far more than a ballplayer in most people's eyes.  This beauty is my 1956 Clemente.  I was way ahead of the curve on Clemente.  It seems the late 90's brought all the Clemente worship and card craze out in people, but I was on the Roberto bandwagon way before then.  I bought all his early cards at shows in the late 80's and did not pay an arm and a leg for them.  Sadly, I sold my 1955 Clemente rookie about eight years ago when it was the choice of cardboard or rent.  I kept my '56, though, as I always preferred it to the '55 anyway.  I will probably be clutching this card while living in a refrigerator box, because I am not selling it.  Ever.