Van Slyke follows through in San Diego.
Van Slyke was one of the more intelligent and colorful players of his time.
Van Slyke still plays chess today, and has participated in St. Louis Chess Club charity events with other former Cardinals such as Al Hrabosky, John Costello and Jason Simontacchi.
Rounding it out with some rare baseball card appearances by Coltrane and Haydn.
Last time it was a 6-2 victory for gum. Who will win here?
Last time it was a 6-1 victory for 1962. Who will win here?
LaMarr Hoyt has a much quieter background on his card. This is a final tribute card for someone who was briefly one of the best pitchers in baseball. With the White Sox he led the AL in wins in 1982 and 1983, winning the 1983 Cy Young Award with his 24-10 record, despite a rather high 3.66 ERA. In 1984 he led the AL in losses, and was traded to San Diego in the offseason. He had an excellent season in 1985, making the NL All Star team. However, he was arrested twice during the offseason on drug charges. He hurt his rotator cuff, leading to a down year, and was arrested twice more, leading to a year in federal prison, ending his chances at a baseball comeback. Overall in 244 games he went 98-68 with a 3.99 ERA. After getting out of prison he returned to South Carolina where he raised a family and generally kept a low profile, though he was regularly involved with White Sox alumni events. He died of cancer in 2021.
A few weeks ago, my wallet card post I had a bit of a sign from an old shoe store, Billy & George. Just "Geo" was visible. I went by today and a lot more of the old sign is still visible, though surely not for long.
10/29: Picking up my wife's shoes at Billy & George in Hewlett, I heard, "we're growing very serious and that's the next step to being dull."
12/2: "The the director said to me . . . Put more feeling into it, it isn't mamby pambies, it's for bloodthirsty children."
12/9: "I wish he'd call up sometime and say he's not coming home to dinner like other men do."
Kind of an odd way to get free advertising but there you have it.
Not the best photo for this format.
That is the same date that they gave for teammate Rod Carew. In that post, I noted how that couldn't have been the right date, though there was a chance it was the 28th or 29th in 1972. If it was April 28, 1972, that would have been a game that Blyleven pitched. He pitched a complete game, knocking off the Yankees 4-1. However, that was a Friday night game so somewhat unlikely Topps was taking photos that game.
There don't seem to have been any other cards with photos from the same shoot.
The back: An unnecessary apostrophe in Blue Jay's. I guess that makes this an error card.
The man: For many years he has owned a baseball academy in Lynbrook, NY, only a mile or so from where I live.
My collection: I have 11 of his cards, from 1975 to 1981. I would be interested in trading for 1979 Bubble Yum Blue Jays #NNO.
Playing career, in brief: Downing originally came up with the Yankees in 1961 but had his first full season in 1963, going 13-5 with a 2.56 ERA. His 1964 was even better, leading the AL with 217 strikeouts. As the Yankees' fortunes waned in the late 1960s, so did Downing's. He put up solid numbers but not as good as his first two seasons, though he was an All-Star in 1967. After the 1969 the Yankees traded him to Oakland, who quickly flipped him to Milwaukee. Before the 1971 season the Brewers traded him to the Dodgers, where he was named Comeback Player of the Year, going 20-9 with a 2.68 ERA in 1971. He had a couple more good seasons, hanging on through 1977. Overall in 405 games he went 123-107 with 1,639 strikeouts and a 3.22 ERA. Despite these very good numbers, Downing is best known as the pitcher who allowed Hank Aaron's 715th home run.
Post playing career, in brief: After his playing career he was a Dodgers announcer for many years. He is now retired but still makes appearances for the Yankees and Dodgers.
My collection: I have 16 of his cards, from 1962 to 1976. I would be interested in trading for 1967 Dexter Press New York Yankees #DT-22292C.
It's been almost a month since I did one of these. I haven't bought cards lately but there's still occasionally some card mail, most notably from some generous bloggers with packages that have definitely brightened the days.
CardBoredom surprised me with a terrific envelope. Five fabulous fifties card and a shiny, numbered Don Mattingly card. My favorite is the '53 Bowman Toby Atwell, I just love the photography in this set. The '53 Topps George Crowe is cool, with the artist inexplicably paining the NLer in Yankee Stadium. And adding two 1952 Topps cards at once is so unusual.
When I said terrific envelope, I meant that literally! This one is a keeper.
Pascual Perez!
The Perez brothers were two of my favorite Yankees in the early 1990s. Pascual was so entertaining, and Melido was quiet but really good.
The story about Perez getting lost is well known, but I did not know he had just gotten his driver's license that day. Certainly makes it a little more understandable. I also did not know that the Braves had been in a bad slump, but they won that day (with emergency starter Phil Niekro) and then the next day Perez won, the team went on a hot streak and credited the Perez incident with relaxing the team and setting them up for their division win.
I do wonder about the color choice for the Eskimo's fur hood, though.
Last time it was an easy victory for Topps, 10-1. Will this be closer?
Last time it was a 6-0 shutout for 1962. Will 1987 get on the board here?
Gene Nelson poses at spring training. He so rarely is seen with a beard on his cards that I find it hard to link him mentally to the same guy who pitched for Oakland all those years. Nelson came up with the Yankees in '81, was traded to Seattle in '82, the White Sox in '84, and the A's in '86. With his first three teams Nelson was sometimes a starter, sometimes a reliever. When he joined the A's Tony Larussa put him in a set-up role where he thrived, helping the team win three straight pennants. He won two games in the 1988 ALCS against Boston, and had his best season in 1990 when he went 3-3 with 5 saves and a 1.57 ERA, pitching 6.2 scoreless innings in the postseason. However his ERA ballooned to 6.84 the next season and he was out of baseball two years later. Overall in 493 games (68 starts) he went 53-64 with 28 saves and a 4.13 ERA. Nelson is now retired and lives in Florida, where he races homing pigeons.
Bert Campaneris
July 22, 1973. Campaneris went 0-for-4 but Reggie Jackson hit two home runs and Deron Johnson also went deep, while Ken Holtzman pitched a complete game as the A's rolled past the Indians, 5-2.
In other news, a plane crash off the coast of Tahiti killed 78 people, another 15 died when a bus went off a ravine in Hong Kong, and David Pearson won the Dixie 500, his ninth win in ten races, which is a NASCAR record that remains unbeaten.
The back: Another player who started their career in the 1960s.
The player: Originally a Yankees prospect, Geronimo was a Rule V selection by the Astros in 1969. After three years in Houston with little playing time, he was a throw-in in the trade that sent Joe Morgan to the Reds. Though never a star like Morgan, Geronimo developed into an integral part of the Big Red Machine. The center fielder won four straight Gold Gloves from 1974 to 1977. In his best years he hit for some average with doubles power and a little speed. His production tailed off significantly when he turned 30 in 1978. He ended his career with three seasons as a backup outfielder in KC. Overall in 1,522 games he hit .258 with 161 doubles, 51 HR, 392 RBI and 82 SB.
The man: After his playing career, he was involved in many coaching and development endeavors in his native Dominican Republic. He is now retired.
My collection: I have 29 of his cards, from 1971 to 1984. I would be interested in trading for 1975 Hostess #121.
Playing career, in brief: Howard split between outfield and pitching early in his minor league career, before dropping pitching after the 1969 season. In six seasons, mostly with Houston, Howard played in 466 games, hitting .250 with 6 HR, 71 RBI and 60 SB.
Post-playing career, in brief: Howard kept a very low profile after his playing career. He died in 2022.
My collection: I have nine of his cards, from 1974 to 1979. I would be interested in trading for 1979 TCMA Charleston Charlies #17.
Bit of an awkward looking swing at Cleveland Stadium.
The center cartoon has the factoid that Lansford was a descendant of Sir Francis Drake, which was also mentioned on his 1987 Topps card. The cartoonist doubles down on the claim - "Really, it's true!" It turns out that Sir Francis Drake had no known children, and claims to be the heir to a supposed Drake inheritance were so common at one point that the British government put out a statement that there is no Drake fortune. (Drake's wife inherited the pirate admiral's fortune, which was later turned over to the government.) The 1980 Topps Blog says he is also related to Tex Ritter (and therefore, I suppose, John Ritter) but there is no source for that claim and I did not see any other references to that connection.
Last time it was 9-1 gum. Will cake have a chance this time?
The heart and soul of the Yankees 1976-1978 pennant winners, Thuman Munson was the MVP in 1976, the Rookie of the Year in 1970, and was a 7-time All Star and 3-time Gold Glove winner. Before his death in a plane crash in 1979, Munson played in 1,423 games and hit .292 with 113 HR and 701 RBI. He was even better in the postseason, including his legendary 1976 when he hit .435 in the ALCS and .529 in the World Series. In six postseason series his lowest average was .278, and in 30 total games he hit .357 with 3 HR and 22 RBI.
Last time it was an easy 8-1 win for 1987. Will this be closer?
Andres Galarraga waits for a pitch in what must have been a Braves home game at the teams' shared spring home at West Palm Beach. Galarraga was known as "El Gran Gato" - the Big Cat. I learned both of those Spanish words from this card. Galarraga was a powerful first baseman with a big swing who had some big years with the Expos, but seemed to be a fading star when he signed with the expansion Rockies in 1993. The thin Colorado air brought new life to Galarraga's bat, and over the next five years he won a batting title, a home run title, and two RBI titles. He signed with the Braves in 1998 and was just as good as he was in Colorado, hitting .305 with 41 HR and 121 RBI. He was diagnosed with cancer in 1999 and missed the season. He returned in 2000 and had a good season at age 39, and hung around until another cancer diagnosis in 2004 effectively ended his career. Overall in 2,257 games over 19 seasons, he hit .288 with 399 HR and 1,425 RBI. He did some coaching for Venezeula in some WBCs but is now retired and living in Florida, where his grandson known as "Little Cat" is a rising youth baseball player.
Loehmann's - short for Chas. A. Loehmann Co., was a discount department store chain that started in Brooklyn in 1921 and grew to over 100 stores by the end of the 1990s. In 2014, the now-bankrupt chain closed it's last 40 locations, including this spot in Hewlett, NY. A variety of stores have been in the spot in the last eleven years, but I noticed that they've stripped down a lot of the stucco and other siding, down to the bare brick. On the side of the building this has exposed an old Chase A. Loehmann labelscar. As far back as 2007 Google Streets photos there was a different sign on the stucco, but a 1977 NY Times article mentions a script sign just like this one.
A scruffy look for the usually well-groomed Palmer.
This is the same date that the Willie Davis card was supposedly taken, the one with all the bridge news. (The new London Bridge opened; a new record was set for the heaviest weight ever lifted, as part of the construction of the Fremont Bridge in Portland, OR; and the US Department of the Interior blocked a plan to construct a bridge connecting Oyster Bay and Rye, NY.)
The photo was almost certainly taken two years earlier, however. The Orioles last had those stripes on their away jerseys in 1971. Maybe 1972 spring training. And why would he be wearing an away jersey at home?
If the tree and hair are any indication, this looks like it was taken the same time as Palmer's 1972 Topps candy lid.
Which was also used on his 1973 candy lid . . .
. . . and the inset on his 1973 Topps boyhood photos card.
The back: Pattin was one of the few remaining active Seattle Pilots. The last Pilot to retire was Fred Stanley.
The man: His nickname was "Duck", as he was known for an profane impression of Donald Duck, famously chronicled in Ball Four. He was the Head Baseball Coach at the University of Kansas in the 1980s, and was heavily involved in Royals alumni activities. He died of a heart condition in 2018.
My collection: I have 17 of his cards, from 1969 to 1981. I would be interested in trading for 1978 SSPC 270 #231.
Playing career, in brief: Gross played 17 years in the major leagues. He was a regular outfielder for the Astros from '74-'76, then settled into a role as a pinch-hitter extraordinaire for the Cubs and Phillies until his retirement in 1989. He holds the major league record for pinch-walks with 117, and is fifth all time with 143 pinch hits.
Post playing career, in brief: He had a long career as a minor league manager and coach, and is now retired.
My collection: I have 43 of his cards, from 1975 to 1989. I would be interested in trading for 1976 Hostess #90.
