I researched game situations for several 1956 Topps cards in my 17-March post, including #171 Jim Wilson. This post revisits and revises my initial take. Baltimore purchased Jim from Milwaukee a few days into the 1955 regular season and he proved their most dependable pitcher, even if going 12-18 meant leading the AL in losses. I guessed this #171 action photo shows Richie Ashburn running to first, with someone other than Jim catching that high throw. Pittsburgh's Paul Smith, perhaps? Another writer encourged me to look at the Giants instead, given Topps penchant for photos in New York st ..read more

Introduction I spent this week inspecting 1956 Topps baseball cards in more detail than usual. Many cards with background action show actual games and some contain enough context to suss out date and situation. Play at the plate for ol' Puddin' Head, but which one? Today's post investigates several of them, seeking clear dates and situations. I rely on Baseball-Reference.com for box scores, Dressed to the Nines for uniform design, and compare my take to the 1956 Topps blog, which wrote in detail about all 340 player cards. Things to consider when investigating 1956 cards Pho ..read more

Things can exist in the hobby for decades, yet never pierce my veil of collecting awareness! I discoverd this slim book of "tat-oos" via an overseas site in late 2023 and am fascinated by how well it survived. That ink still looks fresh off the presses. I believe this pose, familiar to many Philly fans, ended up on its cover following an NL Pennant run by their "Whiz Kids," which made that young ace Roberts an eye-catching choice for kids who followed baseball. "Tat-oos" behave like most other skin transfers and this book spreads 16 images across four pages. Hold one of them against a moi ..read more

Introduction Most collectors who know the 1922 American Caramel set (Old Cardboard profile) will recognize their baroque borders and aspire to own any big name from its star-filled checklist. The company, an important 1920s candy maker, made a comprehensive set (15 guys on 16 teams team) and attractive albums to display them, something seldom seen in our hobby's prewar era. Those intricate borders drew me in first. I spent a week going through E120 card by card, searching for insights into its players, photos, and peccadilloes. This post digs into five of them. 1. Borders = teams Each E120 car ..read more

This classic baseball pose under sunny Dodgertown skies made me wonder why I knew so little about its #5, Norm Larker. He even compares favorably to a HOFer, Red Ruffing, six-time World Series winner with the powerhouse 1930s Yankees. Does that mean Norm's been overlooked for Cooperstown in the six decades since his retirement? There's a catch! Red Ruffing earned his pay on the mound every fourth day, so Norm's similar to a good-hitting pitcher, an altogether different context. Larker notched some good seasons, including an All-Star year in 1960, without peaking for long enough to stand out a ..read more

Introduction If you're like me, Roy Carlson's Topps team card analysis for Sports Collectors Daily started a wave of enthusiasm for vintage player identification that's yet to crash. Discovering pre-rookie Tim Raines on Montreal's 1980 team card justifies his work all by itself. I turned back our hobby clock to prewar for a related investigation of Goudey's All-Star team premiums, cataloged R309-1, and cleared up several naming errors. Today's article focuses on three brothers who appear in its photos under a shared name, "Sharkey." We'll track those Comiskey Park staffers from photo to ..read more

The 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, also called A Century of Progress, included baseball's first All-Star Game, an assumed one-off benefit that became MLB's annual midseason event thanks to vigorous fan response. Plans coalesced into a real game midyear and team owners rearranged all scheduled games for July 6, allowing top stars to face off that day in Chicago, where the AL triumphed 4-2. Full ticket auctioned for $4300+ in 2004 Breathless pregame coverage included complete position-by-position and "who will pitch first?" analysis, little different than what you expect from modern spor ..read more

Our hobby's fortunate several 1950s veterans remain with us who sign through the mail (TTM) in 2023. Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Vern Law's own history goes all the way back to 1951 Bowman and he signs for $10/card to support his son's cancer care and no doubt pay other living costs that come from being 93 years old. Check out some of those card inscriptions! (Comeback Player of the Year, Lou Gehrig Award, 1960 World Series Champ, Cy Young, 2x All-Star, etc.) My 2021 return from Vern Law Edited letter from Vern: "Our son is home with us and is doing quite well under the circumstances, a ..read more

People who pursue sets between the world wars notice a certain sameness to what's on offer. Some 1930s companies recycled their limited number of images, year by year, tweaking things just enough to keep their gum moving. Even 90+ years later, hobby malaise can set in. Think about spending hundreds on this top-tier HOFer. "How do I feel about such similarity? Are two cards twice as good as owning one? Half as good?" When kids opened penny gum packs in spring 1934, they found a familiar Foxx pose, as Goudey copied series one (#1-24) from existing 1933 cards. Any frustration ove ..read more

Say Hey! What did I send you again? In November 2023, I mailed some vintage Giants to a collector friend. When they arrived, he said, "thanks for the Willie Mays card!" That gave me pause. Did I package up a key card, a top-tier HOFer, and then forget about it? Is age catching up with me in a way that benefits others? (That'd be my preferred outcome for aging, to be honest.) In truth, I sent a sort-of Willie Mays, and he clarified receiving my 1960 Topps Giants team card in the name of its biggest name. 1960 Topps #151: Say Hey! (lower right) My own player collections (Spike ..read more