2001 UD Hall of Famers -- A's to Cards

I really miss sets like this 2001 UD Hall of Famers.  I picked this one up for $8.00 shipped.  Lets look at them all.

I was never a big fan of the "colorful" 70's uniforms but I always liked the A's green and gold.

Reggie never scored 100 runs in a season?

I don't want to get into it but to me Hank remains the Home Run King.

How do you get to 755?  Consistency.  Check out 1959-63.

Eddie is one of only 16 third basemen in the HOF.  POW!  He'll be forever tied with Ernie Banks with 512 home runs.  Quite a one two punch with Aaron.

 

Wish I could have seen this guy pitch.

Mr. Brewer?  I guess so!  

It sure doesn't show in his stats but The Kid only made 3 All-Star teams.  He's tied with Fergie Jenkins for second least among HOFers behind Bert Blyleven.

Glad this isn't in color because I hate those striped helmets.  Perfect choice of photo otherwsie.

Talk about consistent greatness.  Check out 1964-74.

Great portrait shot of Diz.  I like the mixture of color and B&W photos.

Diz has a short career and you can debate whether he belongs in the HOF.

No debating that this guy deserves to be here.

Maybe not as charismatic as some of his contemporaries but Stan the Man is undoubtedly one of the all-time greats.

Other than "the Mad Dash" in the 1946 World Series i don't have much of a feel for Slaughter's career.

Any debate about who was the all- time best second baseman includes this guy.

More to come.

1989 Kahn's Cooperstown Collection

I saw these on Ebay and they looked interesting and they were cheap.

The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards says:
"This 11-player card set was available through a mail-in offer,  One dollar and three proofs of purchase form Hillshire Farms were needed to obtain the set.  The card fronts feature  paintings of recent Hall of Fame inductees.  A coupon was also included with each set."  I'd add that the card stock they used is very thin.

Classic Clippings -- 1726

1726 was the total number of home runs hit by these three gentlemen at the end of the day this paper came out.

I believe it's from August 16, 1973.  The Braves were in town for a three game set.  On the left is Cubs coach Ernie Banks, middle is Braves skipper Eddie Mathews and holding the ball is Hammerin' Hank.  Banks and Mathhews will always be linked by the the number of home runs each hit in their Hall of Fame careers, 512.  On this day Hank would belt #702 off Jack Aker.  It came in the top of the 8th inning as part of a 9 run outburst that made a winner out of Joe Niekro who had entered the game in the 7th with the Braves trailing 2-0.  Coincidentally, Joe's brother Phil was the 15-1 winner the previous day pitching a complete game.  The Braves swept the series outscoring the Cubs 31-5.  Both teams would finish the season in 5th place with almost identical records.

This was on the back of the photo.

  Kaat would finish the year 4-1 for the Sox and would follow that up with consecutive 20 game win seasons in 1974 and 1975.  Coco Laboy's brief career was over but we still remember him.

PS I'd like to think that kid still has the ball.  Not  a bad trio of signatures.

Blow Out the Candles -- October 13

One of the greatest third baseman in history, Eddie Mathews was born in Texarkana, Texas on this date in 1931. The only man to play for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta, Eddie hit 512 home runs, second only to Mike Schmidt for third basemen.

Eddie appeared on the cover of the first issue of Sports Illustrated on Aug. 16, 1954.

 Game 3 of the 1957 World Series

I'll bet to the Cubs it seemed like they each hit with two bats.

Today marks the 106th anniversary of the birth of William "Pickles" Dillhoefer. Pickles played for the Cubs, Phillies and Cards before he passed away from typhoid fever at age 27.


Below is his obituary from The Sporting News:

One of the all-time great jazz pianists, Art Tatum was born in Toledo, Ohio on this date in 1909.

Celebrating his 70th birthday today is my favorite singer/songwriter, Paul Simon.