Blow Out the Candles April 6

Hall of Famer  Bert Blyleven is celebrating his 61st birthday today.

 1971 Topps #26

Bert's finally in the Hall of Fame!!!

OK?!  TMI

1938 NL MVP and 8 time all-star catcher Ernie Lombardi was born in Oakland, CA on this date in 1908

 1992 Conlon Collection #427

 2003 Flair Greats #90

 Ernie with the Giants

Cincinnati 1940

 Paul Derringer, Ernie, Bucky Walters at Crosley Field in 1940

State of Ernie outside Great American Ballpark

Two time AL MVP and three time World Series Champ, Mickey Cochrane was born in Bridgewater, MA on this date in 1903.

 2003 Flair Greats #70

One of the greatest catchers of all time Mickey was a two time MVP and three time World Series Champ.

 1992 Conlon Collection #551

Opening Day 1934

 Al Simmons, Mickey, Cy Perkins

Mickey with Joe Louis

Autographed Baseball Cards A-Z

When I got back into collecting five or so years ago one of the things that excited me was the availability of autographed cards.  Perhaps I went a little overboard but I think I picked up some nice cards.  This will be an A-Z series of posts with varying numbers of cards.

2002 Team Topps Legends #TT-PB

Paul was a must have for my 60's -70's era Orioles collection.

I bought the next two Yankee cards from the same Ebay seller one night in a bit of a bidding frenzy.  

2003 #PN-BL

The late Johnny Blanchard appeared in 5 World Series.  He called the pitch that Mazeroski hit out of the park to end the 1960 tilt against the Pirates.  He hit .455 in that series and .400 in the following year's rout of the Reds including 2 home runs.  Great signature on this card.

2003 #PN-RB

A member of the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Ron became the first designated hitter in baseball when he stepped to the plate on April 6, 1973.

1999 Fleer SI

Vida Blue is part of my Swingin A's autograph collection.  I also love the SI Covers series

2005 UD Past Time Pennants #BB

Finally a  member of the Hall of Fame!

Blow Out the Candles April 6

The #5 strikeout pitcher of all-time Bert Blyleven is a happy 60 years old today.

 1971 Topps #26

Bert's finally in the Hall of Fame!!!

OK?!  TMI

1938 NL MVP and 8 time all-star catcher Ernie Lombardi was born in Oakland, CA on this date in 1908

 1992 Conlon Collection #427

 2003 Flair Greats #90

 Ernie with the Giants

Cincinnati 1940

 Paul Derringer, Ernie, Bucky Walters at Crosley Field in 1940

State of Ernie outside Great American Ballpark

Two time AL MVP and three time World Series Champ, Mickey Cochrane was born in Bridgewater, MA on this date in 1903.

 2003 Flair Greats #70

One of the greatest catchers of all time Mickey was a two time MVP and three time World Series Champ.

 1992 Conlon Collection #551

Opening Day 1934

 Al Simmons, Mickey, Cy Perkins

Mickey with Joe Louis