Arthur Ashe Makes History

It was on this date 45 years ago that Arthur Ashe beat the heavily favored defending champion Jimmy Conners to become the first and so far only Black man to win the Wimbledon men's singles championship.

This card is part of a 49 card set.  The cards are rather flimsy but the checklist is wide ranging and unique.

If you're into tennis or sports strategy this is a fascinating insight into how Ashe pulled off his big upset.

Happy Independence Day!

Here are a couple of pieces for you on this 4th of July, 2020.  I'm staying in.  If you go out, please be safe.

This postcard is circa 1940

This is a First Day Cover.  The back is blank.

The history of Tyne and Wear is too complicated to go into but here's a picture.

Miss My Dad.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there.  I don't have kids and my Dad has been gone for a couple of decades.

Here he is outside of his School in Chicago

My Dad's favorite player growing up was Cubs third baseman, Stan Hack.  He acquired the autographed card below as an adult but I'd like to think he had a copy as a kid.

Coincidentally my favorite player growing up was also the Cubs third baseman, in my case Ron Santo. I miss my Dad and I miss Ronnie. Both Hall of Famers in my book.

I got this card signed TTM right after Ron retired.

One of 1934's Film Stars

How often does another blogger inspire you to piggyback on one of their posts with one of your own?  Often enough for me.  On Monday the man known as Fuji led off with a card that caught my eye.  "Hmm", I thought,  "do I have any Ginger Rogers cards of my own?"  Well, one of the better organized, though surely not completely, parts of my collection is my vintage tobacco cards.  They reside in one two inch black binder.  I even knew where that was.  (I know, I'm impressed too.)

Ginger is #38 in the 1934 Player's Film Stars Series 2 set.  BTW don't be fooled, as I almost was.  The "Radio" listed on the front and back refers not to the medium but to the movie studio RKO Radio Pictures.  The more times I see Ginger Rogers the more I like her.

Here's a few clips just for fun.

Ginger's first talkie

The Gay Divorcee (1934)  

I don't love it but The Continental was the very first to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

This is from the 1936 musical, Follow the Fleet.  Let Yourself Go was written by Irving Berlin.  A bit of trivia -- Betty Grable is the middle backup singer.

Marx Brothers Poster Cards

It should go without saying that I'm a big Marx Brothers fan.  I have been since the 70's.  I wish I could say I have some hugely awesome collection of memorabilia.  Most of what I have is books.  I learned about these cards from a post by Corky at Pack War two years ago.  I recall looking at the individual cards on ebay.  I ended up getting a complete set of 72 cards for $8.00 shipped.  As you can see from the backs, the set includes a strange mishmash of  Stars, Monsters and Comedy.  The Duck Soup poster looks like it belongs in the monster genre if you ask me.  I'm not sure where they found all of the images.  Anyway here are the five Marx Brothers representatives.  I doubt anyone will take the time to watch all the videos but those from the first three movies are cinema classics.  I wouldn't waste my time on the last two.  I think they made them primarily to cover Chico's gambling debts.

Hey, Whitey!

A previous post featuring Blackhawks favorite Pat Stapleton got me thinking about his nickname, "Whitey".  

I'm guessing this is the most famous "Whitey" of them all, "The Chairman of the Board", Whitey Ford.

It's an often overlooked fact that Whitey Ford was part of a successful US Military time travel experiment.  In 1953 Whitey was sent back in time and went 18-6 for the 1933 Yankees.  True story.

Whitey Herzog was a baseball "lifer" starting in 1949 as New York Yankees farmhand and ending in the Angels front office in 1994.  Along the way he became a manager and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2010.

Whitey Lockman also had a long career in baseball as a player, coach, scout, and front office man.  

Whitey  scored the tying run preceding Bobby Thomson across the plate as part of the "Shot Heard Round the World".

Yet another baseball "lifer", Whitey Weitermann spent over 40 years as a player and coach.

Jim from Downington added:

Any other notable Whiteys you can think of?  

Strange Days Indeed

These are strange times we're living in.  I thought this card would be appropriate.

I have a small collection of these cards, known as "Tall-Tales".  They feature mostly exaggerated fruits, vegetables, and animals.  This one dates from around 1910.  There is a second version with the same card number 530 but with a younger man with a mustache.

Burdick at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I have a complete base set of 2009 Obak and bought a box of 2010.  Unfortunately I'm missing this card so I borrowed the image from COMC.

My wife has a subscription to The New Yorker magazine.  She knew I'd be interested in this.  In case you missed it I thought I'd pass it along to you.

Here's the link

This is from an earlier exhibit of football cards

This one comes via Matthew Glidden of Number 5 Type Collection.

Whitey Stapleton 1940-2020

An inevitable side effect of growing older is the loss of the heroes of our youth.  On April 8 Pat Stapleton died.  Along with greats like Hull and Mikita my first memories of the Chicago Blackhawks include Whitey.