Extreme close up. Back image is from a graded copy that sold for $420 at auction. Same day as Manny Sanguillen's card. It was a big day for the Brewers, winning both games of an unusual doubleheader - a morning game in Scottsdale against the Giants, and an afternoon game against the A's in Sun City. Top hitting prospect Gorman Thomas homered in both games ..read more

The front: Scratching the neck doesn't make for a very compelling card, though it's a bit unusual. The back: Two cards after Jay Johnstone, who also had a long career at this point. Hutton and Johnstone were teammates with the Phillies. In the late 80s Hutton was a Yankees radio color commentator, who was fired in '88 and replaced by Johnstone. The player: Usually known as Tommy, Hutton carved out a long career as a part-time first-baseman/pinch hitter. He played 12 seasons in the majors and only topped 250 at-bats once. A fine defender who had some big pinch hits for the Phillies in '77, hi ..read more

JJ Hoover pitched seven seasons in the major leagues for the Reds, Diamondbacks and Brewers. His best season was 2015 when he went 8-2 with a 2.94 ERA for the Reds. Overall in 290 major league games, all in relief, he went 19-21 with a 4.17 ERA. A lifelong fan of baseball and Pokemon cards, he now has is own online card shop, Hoov's Hangout, and is active on YouTube and Discord. He kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.     "I do not have any big stories that come to mind but I do wish I was shown the modern card market when I was playing.  I have a few cards of ..read more

  The card, in brief: Pitcher with a bat! Playing career, in brief: Doug Konieczny appeared in 44 games for the Astros between 1973 and 1977, 32 of them in 1975 when he went 6-13 with a 4.47 ERA. Post playing career, in brief: After his playing career he had a long career in procurement in the chemicals industry for DuPont and Invista. He is now retired. My collection: I have three of his cards - this one, and his 1975 and 1976 Topps cards. I would be interested in trading for 1975 Houston Astros Photos #NNO ..read more

One player per team, this was the Braves representative. Cepeda had a fine season, but Hank Aaron was far better. Maybe being a new acquisition made him more interesting. Some great cartoons here, with the mom and dad and the bull with the bat. The giant coach with the tiny Cepeda is really strange. Giant bat pictures are always fun ..read more

RIP Al Fitzmorris, who shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in July. Last time cake and gum tied at 4-4. Will there be a winner here? Frank Duffy take a practice swing at Oakland Coliseum wearing a blue jersey on his Hostess card. Meanwhile Topps goes with a batting cage candid in a red jersey. Duffy was a typical 1970s defense-first shortstop. He twice led the AL in fielding percentage and for a while had the team record (since broken by Omar Vizquel). He was not a great hitter, though. Over nine season for four teams, mostly the Indians, he hit .232 with 26 HR and 240 RBI. A ..read more

Vintage or retro? A few months ago I took a wallet card photo of the inside of this pizzeria in Hell's Kitchen. I passed by again this week and now they have a 7up sign on the front. I don't know if it's a real old sign or just a reproduction. Either way it's a nice look. "Fresh Up 7up"   ..read more

Last time 1962 cruised to an 8-1 victory. Who will win here? Cecil Butler poses at spring training with the batting cage in the background. Butler came up with the Braves in 1962 and got off to a fast start. In nine games (two starts) he went 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA. However, he hurt his elbow in May and never fully recovered. He made just two more major league appearances, with the Braves in 1964, with an 8.31 ERA over 4.1 innings. Good reminder that pitching injuries are nothing new. After his playing career he worked as a painting contractor for 40 years. He died in 2019 at the age of 82. Nice ..read more

The awkward shape of the card leaves the bill of Speier's hat cropped out. March 20, 1973.  The Giant's hosted the A's that day, but I couldn't find a score. The big news of the day was the special election of Roberto Clemente to the Hall of Fame. In other news, the US Attorney General ordered the Director of the FBI not to cooperate with the Watergate investigation, and a border skirmish between Iraq and Kuwait killed two ..read more

Latest Greg Morris winnings include the fantastic '53 Bowman Gil Hodges. One of the greatest vintage cards ever. I'm all about the photo for a card like this so I don't mind the trimming which doesn't take anything away from the card. Keeping on the '58 theme from the last post with a big Tigers star. A few cheap singles over the past couple of weeks including another big name Tiger from the '58 set. Vintage Billy Martin's can be more expensive than many vintage Hall of Famers. Makes sense because he was more famous than most of them, anyway. Finishing off my '59 Baseball Thrills subset. Alw ..read more