Just looked at the last post and couldn't believe it's been over a month. And then I realize that the freelance I have picked up has almost become a second full-time job. Certainly not complaining but between work, freelance, and my commute I find I haven't been able to find time to blog. Some days I feel lucky I have five minutes to go to the bathroom.
Well without further rambling, I will jump right into this while I have the time. Over the past month, I have made a couple of trades (My Cardboard Mistress, Smed, and Angels in Order) that I have scanned, just need to write and post. I have some vintage eBay winnings to post but right now, I will throw some vintage (cheap, cheap) from the LSC.
So I keep finding myself going back to a 1600 shoebox that has all sorts of 1960's Topps odds and ends, mostly '61, '62, and '63s and managed to pull these out. Still like the simple look to the 1961 Topps, strong colors and one of the largest photo image areas in the 1960's Topps. I like the Fairly card because it's clearly Spring Training and you can see that the "dugout" is barely a bench against the stands. Nice touch with all the batting helmets lined up too. I knew I had a 1968 Curt Flood but something about this fielding shot drew me in.
These four cards came from the same shoebox at the LSC. Always love grabbing some vintage leader cards, especially when they have some HOF'ers on them (in this case Jim Bunning). Jim King hit for the cycle on May 26, 1964 and Perranoski was a hell of a reliever for the Dodgers during the 1960's. I think the '65 set is one of my all-time favorites. Nice design with the baseball pennant, great colors ...
Next box I jumped into was a 3200 count of 1969 Topps. While it's not my favorite design, it certainly yielded some awesome cards!!! One them, the Say Hey Kid. Soft corners, and a crease but for $5.00 I was not going to Say Ney. I had been looking for a Mays off condition card but couldn't land one this cheap on eBay. Nice showing of three other HOF'ers as well, although Topps was lazy and had used this Joe Morgan pic in it's 1968 set.
Next up some star pitchers from the 60's including the two stars of the 1968 Tigers World Series championship.
Some Miracle Mets although I was a little shocked I didn't come across a Seaver from this set. I believe Terrific Tom is a double, if not a triple print in this set. It's on my list of cards I definitely want to track down.
Next batch I pulled had some stars and minor stars from that decade. In all the vintage Topps '60s I have gone through at the LSC, this 1969 All-Star was the first Willie Horton I came across. Had to have it. Odd to see the "A" on the A's hats not have the "A's". They had just moved to Oakland in 1968 and it wasn't till the 1970 season did the apostrophe and "s" appeared.
And finally, some vintage leaders cards. I think I grab the four of these for maybe a buck total. Where else can you find three HOFers on the same card? Marichal, Gibson, Jenkins!!!! McCovey, Santo, Williams!!!! Love these and don't mind that they're a little beat up.
And with that, it comes time to make lunch for the kids. Have a bunch of stuff to post and hope to do some writing tonight while putting back a Shipyard Pumpkinhead or two.
One of baseball's toughest feats for a hitter, is hitting for the cycle. One of those few ball players to do so was Cleveland Indians first baseman, Tony Horton.
Trying to find a card of Tony Horton might be as tough as hitting for the cycle. Tony never appeared on a Topps card, even though he had made his Major League debut for the Boston Red Sox in 1964. He appears on a couple of regional issues and a Kellogg's card from the 1971 series.
So with that in mind, I decided to design a Topps Lost Card featuring Mr. Horton. He makes his Topps trading card debut in the 1971 Topps set, card number 753.
1970 was a curious season for Horton. He batted .269 with 17 home runs and 59 RBIs in a season full of ups and downs. On May 24 of that year in the second game of a doubleheader, he hit three home runs in an 8-7 loss to the New York Yankees; he reportedly was upset about not hitting a fourth. Exactly one month later against the Yankees, in the first game of another doubleheader, Horton fouled off a “folly floater” from Steve Hamilton. Horton asked for another "Folly Floater," and Hamilton again threw one, and again Horton popped it into foul territory behind home plate—this time into Thurman Munson's mitt for an out. An embarrassed Horton crawled back into the dugout.
On July 2, Horton hit for the cycle in a 10-9 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. The end of Horton's playing career came unexpectedly on August 28, after he took himself out in the fifth inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the California Angels. A batting slump and constant booing from the Indians fans led to such emotional distress that Horton would attempt suicide that evening. He would receive treatment and recover, but the stress of professional baseball forced him to leave the game prematurely; he had played his last game three months shy of his 26th birthday. His manager, Alvin Dark, in his book When in Doubt, Fire the Manager, would call Horton’s sudden exit “the most sorrowful incident I was ever involved in, in my baseball career.”
In his very short career, Horton batted .268 with 76 home runs and 297 RBIs in 636 games played.
A little while back, Johnny over at Cards from the Quarry emailed me about trading. Like myself, he had just got his blog up and running. He has been quite busy as he's had a number of trades on his site lately. Going his way was around 400 cards from various set needs along with a number of Rockies cards.
Coming back to the WALL was a first for my collection. A jersey relic/autograph card and numbered 25 of 50! This is my third jersey swatch card I have of Lester and first autograph. Lester's story is amazing one if you have never heard before. Coming into the 2011 season, many are predicting it could be a Cy Young type of year for the lefty. His last three years have been rock solid and is truly the ace of a pretty strong rotation that includes, Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett, John Lackey, and if you must, Dice-K.
I think the following line sums it up best:
He beat cancer.
He beat the Rox for the World Series.
He threw a no-hitter.
What's next... Hall of Fame?
Next up are three Red Sox cards I have never seen before and still not sure what set they come from. They are pretty cool and the only other card I have found on eBay is a Johnny Damon. They are some sort of 2006 Upper Deck product. In any case, these are cool and wonder is there is a Lester or Youkilis out there that I can add to my player collections.
Next up, the card that first started off our initial trade talks was a 2009 Topps Update Short Print variation card of Bo Jackson. While I may never obtain all these SP variations, I am always on the look out for them. Others I have are a Lou Gehrig (series 1), Robin Yount (series 2), and a Honus Wagner (Update series). If you have any, I've got a 2010 Topps Rickey Henderson SP variation to trade.
Next up, a couple of cards off from No-Hitters Club collection. A 1989 Topps Tom Browning and a 1992 Mark Williamson. On September 16, 1988, Browning, pitched a perfect game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The game was delayed two-and-a-half hours, but when it finally started, Tom Browning was at his best, throwing 102 pitches, 72 of which were strikes. The small crowd that patiently waited nearly three hours for a 10 p.m. start were treated to a magnificent pitchers' duel that featured Tim Belcher taking a no-hitter into the the sixth inning and Tom Browning completing the first ever Cincinnati Reds perfect game. The following season, Browning barely missed becoming the first Major League pitcher to pitch two perfect games, taking his second bid into the ninth inning on July 4, 1989 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium. A lead-off single by Dickie Thon ended Browning's attempt.
On July 13, 1988, Mark Williamson was part of a combined no-hitter. Baltimore Orioles starter Bob Milacki and three relievers, Mike Flanagan, Williamson and Gregg Olson, combined for the O's first no-hitter since 1969 in a 2-0 victory at the Oakland Coliseum. Milacki pitched 6 innings and struck out three batters before giving ball to the bullpen. He was taken out of the game when he was hit by a line drive in the seventh inning. Flanagan came on to finish the seventh and them Williamson and Olson three 1-2-3 innings in the 8th and 9th innings to preserve the no-no.
And finally, we have three cards off of my other baseball feats collection, Players Have Hit for the Cycle. We've got a 1988 Topps Chris Speier, a 1989 Topps Gary Redus, and a 2010 Topps Chrome Troy Tulowitzki. On July 9, 1988 Chris Speier hit for the cycle as the Giants mauled the Cardinals, 21-2 at Candlestick Park. It marked the second time Speier had accomplished the feat and was almost 10 years to the day of his previous cycle for the Expos on July 20, 1978.
On August 25, 1989, Gary Redus' cycle came against the Reds, who were playing their first game since Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life. The Pirates racked up 17 hits and downed Cincinnati 12-3 at Riverfront Stadium.
On August 10, 2009, Tulo had five hits and drove in seven while hitting his cycle against the Cubs in a 11-5 win at Coors Field. Tulowitzki, who had a home run denied in the first video review at Coors Field, came to bat to lead off the seventh a triple shy of the franchise's fifth cycle and first in nine years.
Thanks again Johnny for the trade, I'm sure we'll trade again down the road and for those of you who haven't checked out his blog out yet, go take a look!
