Blow Out the Candles February 1

Orioles fan favorite Paul Blair is celebrating his 68th birthday today.

1968 Topps #135

Paul appeared in six World Series and was on the winning side four times, twice with the Orioles and twice with the Yankeees.  He was an All-Star twice and won eight Gold Gloves.

July 2, 1969

April 8, 1971

Conn Smythe was born on this date in 1895.

Smythe was the  principal owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1927 to 1961 and was responsible for the building of the Maple Leaf Gardens.  He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame  in 1958.

1972-73 Topps #176
The Conn Smythe Memorial Trophy honors the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins was last year's winner of the trophy.

S.J. Perelman was born on this date in 1904

Perelman co-wrote the Marx Brothers films, Horsefeathers and Monkey Business.

Perelman also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1956 film, Around the World in Eight Days for which he won an Oscar.

Over the years, Perelman wrote scores of humorous pieces for magazines including The New Yorker which can be found in numorous anthologies. 

Here's Perelman's self-description:

"Under a forehead roughly comparable to that of the Javanese or the Piltdown man are visible a pair of tiny pig eyes, lit up alternately by greed and concupiscence. His nose, broken in childhood by a self-inflicted blow with a hockey stick, has a prehensile tip, ever quick to smell out an insult; at the least suspicion of an affront, Perelman, who has the pride of a Spanish grandee, has been known to whip out his sword-cane and hide in the nearest closet."

Don Everly of the Everly Brothers turns 75 today.

Comedian Garrett Morris celebrates his 75th birthday today.

Garrett as ballplayer Chico Escuela

Garrett "helping" Chevy Chase deliver the news.

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!

2002 Topps Super Teams Relics

I recently added another card to my 2002 Topps Super Teams relic collection:

#STR-PB

Here are the others:

#STR-RH

#STR-TM

#STR-DM

#STR-BC

#STR-SBB

Blow Out the Candles Feb 1

Paul Blair is celebrating his 67th birthday today.

1968 Topps #135

Paul appeared in six World Series and was on the winning side four times, twice with the Orioles and twice with the Yankeees.  He was an All-Star twice and won eight Gold Gloves.

July 2, 1969

April 8, 1971

Conn Smythe was born on this date in 1895.

Smythe was the  principal owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1927 to 1961 and was responsible for the building of the Maple Leaf Gardens.  He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame  in 1958.

1972-73 Topps #176
The Conn Smythe Memorial Trophy honors the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks was last year's winner of the trophy.

S.J. Perelman was born on this date in 1904

Perelman co-wrote the Marx Brothers films, Horsefeathers and Monkey Business.

Perelman also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1956 film, Around the World in Eight Days for which he won an Oscar.

Over the years, Perelman wrote scores of humorous pieces for magazines including The New Yorker which can be found in numorous anthologies. 

Here's Perelman's self-description:

"Under a forehead roughly comparable to that of the Javanese or the Piltdown man are visible a pair of tiny pig eyes, lit up alternately by greed and concupiscence. His nose, broken in childhood by a self-inflicted blow with a hockey stick, has a prehensile tip, ever quick to smell out an insult; at the least suspicion of an affront, Perelman, who has the pride of a Spanish grandee, has been known to whip out his sword-cane and hide in the nearest closet."

Don Everly of the Everly Brothers turns 74 today.

Comedian Garrett Morris celebrates his 74th birthday today.

Garrett as ballplayer Chico Escuela

Garrett "helping" Chevy Chase deliver the news.