Sweet Lou Quote of the Day

My favorite Cubs manager of all times announced yesterday that this will be his last season.  Somehow I missed this great quote from last June:

Lou Piniella bristled at the suggestion he has lost the fire that has been so much a part of his persona throughout his long and successful baseball career.

"What do I need to show fire for?" Piniella said. "I'm not a dragon."

(graphic courtesy of the Sporting News)

1955 All-Star Game Program -- What's Inside -- 2

Continuing with the contents of the 1955 All-Star Game Program:

:

Interesting letter referencing the team's move to Milwaukee just two years back from Boston.

I found very little about this series online other than that this was it's inaugural year. Does anyone know anything about it?

The Big Kahunas.

One of these things is not like the others...

Yes Virginia, baseball executives can smile!

Growing up, I swear there was some sort of big Schlitz plant or distribution center near where I lived on Ridge Blvd in Chicago but I can't find any reference to it on the web.

Four generations of Quinn's, starting with John's father, Bob, have been and continue to be players in the sports world.

I guess we don't care but the Sales Promotions Direction Harold was Good 'nough.

Couldn't they at least have had a graphic of Milwaukee here?  Very folksy text, "y'all come back now, y'hear!"

Nice shot of Leo.  Leo managed the previous year's World Series Champs, the New York Giants.  Mayo Smith would go on to become manager of the Detroit Tigers where he would lead the team to a 103-59 record and World Series title in 1968.  Fred Haney moved on to manage the Milwaukee Braves where he won two pennants (1957, 1958) and a World Series (1957).

More to come.

Santo Saturdays

Here's a nice on card autograph from one of my favorite autograph sets, 1999 Fleer/SI.

Here's the original cover from SI's website:

On June 30, 1969 the Cubs lost 5-2 to the Montreal Expos but the team was 50-27 and had a 7-1/2 game lead in the division. Santo finished the day 0-3 but had a .311 batting average.

Check Out My COMC Cards #7 -- Ted Lilly

There are two Cubs whose cards I plan to collect even if they leave the team (and for Ted it may be soon). One is Ted Lilly. I picked up these 6 cards in my first Check Out My Cards purchase.

2010 Tpps Finest Refractors # 95 (Numbered 127-599)

paid $0.50

2006 UD #483

paid $0.10

2007 Allen and Ginter mini #288

paid $0.25

2003 Donruss #179

paid $0.16

2001 Bowman Heritage #258

paid $0.24

2005 Zenith Artist's Proof Silver #7

paid $1.00

Here's a short video from a Cubs Convention. Please do watch, it's funny!

1955 All-Star Game Program -- What's Inside -- 1

Yesterday I posted the cover of the 1955 All-Star Game program.  Here's a look inside:

Do take a moment to read this.

In the 1950's Allis-Chalmers, a Wisconsin company,  made tractors like this one:

I love the great cartoon at the bottom.  So 1955!  Here it is in close-up:

I WANT THE SET!!!!!

More to come in the days ahead!    

1955 All-Star Game Program

My Dad had the good fortune of attending the 1955 All Star Game at old County Stadium in Milwaukee.  Here's the program cover.  So far it's all I've scanned.  Anyone want to see more?  Note on the cover there were just 16 teams in all of major league baseball back then.  The Athletics had just moved to Kansas City from Philadelphia and the future Minnesota Twins were still the Washington Nationals/Senators.  In the National League, the Giants and Dodgers were still in New York and the Braves were, of course, in Milwaukee.

Card of the Day -- Mike Remlinger

The Card of the Day is:

1992 Donruss #336 Mike Remlinger

Why I like this card:

1.  I'm a big fan of the throwback uni.  This one is particularly nice.  It's the NY Giants 1925 home version.

2.  With the mustache, Mike has a sort of 1925 look.

3,  The back of the card shows Mike again, from the same game, with a different photo.  Nice work Donruss!

Santo Saturdays -- All-Star Game Edition

This being All-Star week I thought it appropriate to post Ron's Topps All-Star items. Ron was on 9 NL All-Star squads and played in 8 games. Overall, he did alright in in the Summer Classic. Though his five hits were all singles he did end up with a .333 average and with five base on balls his OBP was an even .500. He drove in 3, scored 1 and never struck out.

These coins were found in packs of 1964 Topps regular issue cards. Of the 164 coins in the set the last 44 were the designated All-Stars. Ron's coin follows Ken Boyer's, appropriate I guess, since in the 1964 All-Star game Boyer started at third base ---and finished there. This was the one time Santo did not play. Boyer did go 2-4 with a solo HR and the NL won the game 7-4 on a 3 run walk-off homer by the Phillies' Johnny Callison.

1968 #366

1968 was the first time since 1962 that Topps included All-Star cards in the set. I'm not wild about the design not to mention the photo was taken at Shea Stadium. A year later it would take on more significance.

1969 #420

I like this card but I don't think that's Ron hitting.  Is it?

1970 #454

Not too exciting but I like the the Sporting News theme.

Unlike the previous two All-Star sets which had puzzle pieces on the back this one had a fun cartoon and caricature on the back.

1974 #334

Arguably the two best third basemen of the sixties.  Ron belongs in the Hall of Fame too. Check this out for a pro-Santo comparison.

Check Out My COMC Cards #6 -- Double Whammy

About half of my first group of cards from COMC were of the vintage variety.    I came across these two cards in a book of Topps cards of the 1950's.  In preparing for this post I've found that others are also fond of them. Check out this article on MiLB to for more information on Whammy.

1959 Topps #431

paid $0.86

1958 Topps #306

paid $0.48

Card of the Day -- 1911 Hassan

The year is 1911.

The President is William Howard Taft. Last year he became the first President to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a major league baseball game.

This year's newborns include, Ronald Reagan, Lucille Ball, Ginger Rogers, Roy Rogers, Vincent Price, Jean Harlow, Hank Greenberg, Buck O'Neil and Josh Gibson, Joe Medwick and Walter Alston.

On December 14 Roald Amundsen and his team reach the South Pole.



Marie Curie receives the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

In baseball:

Ty Cobb .420 and Joe Jackson .408 lead the majors in batting average.


Grover Cleveland Alexander wins 28 games as a rookie with the Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Athletics win the World Series 4 games to 2 over Christy Mathewson's New York Giants.

Somewhere, someone walks into a store and buys a pack of Hassan cigarettes. Inside he finds the card below. Somehow the card survives for the next 99 years until it arrives in Chicago where it is now a treasured part of my collection.