RIP Glenn Beckert 1940-2020

There are a lot of things I don't like about getting older.  One of them is hearing about the deaths of  athletes and entertainers I grew up with. Such was the case last Sunday with the passing of Glenn Beckert.

1969 Tasco Poster.  It's hanging in my dining room with Hundley and Santo.

A couple of great mug shots.  "Strong armed outfielder"?  Glenn ended his major league career having played a total of ten innings in the outfield with two chances.  He did make the catches. If you check out his actual records you'll find this must have been a Topps error.  Glenn was an infielder for his entire  three year minor league career.

Captain Serious.  I still love cute Cubbie patch.

One of my two Milk Duds boxes.  The other is Ron Santo.

As far as I know none of the card companies has ever issued a certified auto of Glenn Beckert.  Don Kessinger has at least a couple.

You could probably find this game.  Duke Sims only played in 140 games with the Dodgers (90 in 1971 and 50 in 1972).

This is a photograph I took at a Cubs Alumni vs. Hollywood Stars game at Wrigley Field.  Glenn is at the far right, smiling.  Did Ernie just say something amusing?  

  

If You Caught It, It Was Never a "White Whale" to Begin With, Right?

In my experience whenever the subject of  a literary classic comes up in conversation there's almost always a reference to high school or college:  "I had to read that in high school" or " I read that in college.  Often it's,  "I never had to read that."  Perhaps it's more a reflection of my intellectual shortcomings than the the talent of the teachers I had but I didn't really enjoy most the books I read in school.  One of the classics "I never had to read" is Herman Melville's, Moby Dick.

So what pray tell does this have to with cards?  This--I've always thought, in collecting terms, of the phrase "White Whale" as something that you're always hunting for and can never seem to acquire.  And I guess in reference to Moby Dick that's true enough.  But what if you finally do get what you've been searching for?  Wouldn't it be true that by definition it was never a "White Whale" to begin with?

Here's a card that I thought was a "White Whale".  Happily it wasn't.  It did take me years of sporadic looking and lost bids to finally add this to my collection.   While not the priciest card I've ever bought it's the most I've spent on a single item in years.  

If you're interested in learning more about this set here's a great article from Sports Collector's Daily.

Here's my only other Milk Dud's card which, graded the same, makes a nice companion.  It features Ronnie's road roommate Glenn Beckert:

This Card is No Dud

I came close to catching my white whale a couple of weeks ago.  This one, that I did manage to reel in, is one it's cousins.  While I failed again to pick up the Ron Santo I did get his road roommate and fellow All-Star infielder Glenn Beckert.  69 players were featured including most of the fondly remembered Cubs of the era.  Here's a nice article on the set from Sports Collectors Daily.  Capturing this card may inspire to me build a more complete Glenn Beckert collection.  Do you own any of these?  Anyone from the Chicago area remember buying any?  I don't have any memory of them.

The Milk Duds people misspelled Glenn's name, as well as three others in the set.  A quick ebay search showed at least one other instance of the same error in the 1989 Pacific Sports legends set.

Flipped!

I recently shared some of the cards from a blaster of Topps Winter Olympic cards.  I purposely left out the hit.  It turned out to be a pretty good one.  Noelle won a silver medal.

As nice as this card is (and I do have the base card) I don't own it anymore.  By the time Noelle won her medal I had sold the card on ebay.  While it was listed I found the three items below for what turned out to be just about the same amount of money I made on the card.

The 2006 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards lists these as "1969 Tasco All-Star Collection Caricatures".  Of the 46 posters 9 are Chicago Cubs.  They're an impressive 11-1/2" x 16" and cost under a dollar when issued.  They were  sold shrinkwrapped and  backed by cardboard.  I already have the Beckert and Santo in their original state as well as three others.  They've been in my "I'll post these some day" stack.  The great thing about these three, other than that I did not have the Hundley, is that they were custom framed.  Judging by the condition they were probably framed back when they came out.  

Three vintage framed posters of Cubs legends I grew up with for a sticker auto of an Olympian?  Noelle could have won gold and I'd still be happy with this "flip".  What do you think?  Do you have a favorite flip?

Who's Next, Bump Wills?

Another Cub's second baseman is trying to sell me cable service.

Who's next:

Manny Trillo?



Glenn Beckert?


I know, Bump Wills!

Card of the Day

The Card of the Day is a 1966 Topps Glenn Beckert. The Cubs color on these cards always reminded me of butterscotch Jello pudding, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The card says that "the Cubs feel that with a year of experience under his belt, Glenn is on his way." He did in fact have a good year in 1966 hitting .287 with 59 RBI.

Is it me or is this drawing a little creepy?

'69 Cubs are SWELL Part 1

For 3 years SWELL put out sets of Baseball Greats cards. These are all of my 1969 Cubs.

1989 Swell #112 Don Kessinger

The patch on Don's right sleeve commemorates the State of Illinois Sesquicentennial, as presented below. Lovely girl, very 1968. I can't help noticing that her dress seems to be made from the same exact material as the flag. Hmm.

1989 Swell #116 Glenn Beckert

1989 Swell #120 Billy Williams

Billy's special. Billy's in the Hall of Fame. Billy deserves a red shield. Yea, Billy!

1989 Swell #129 Ken Holtzman

This is a really nice shot of Kenny taken at Wrigley Field.

1989 Swell #36 Ron Santo

The scan didn't pick this up very well but inside the "C" on Ron's helmet is the number 18. This was common for the Cubs, something Yosh Kawano the longtime clubhouse manager did. I think it's been discussed elsewhere,(Wrigley Wax?). The thing is, Santo's number was and will always be 10. He's wearing his friend and road roommate Glenn Beckert's helmet.

For the 1990 set Swell added BASEBALL GREATS to the front of the card.

1990 Swell #69 Don Kessinger

Don's helmet has the number 11. That's his number. OK. Glad we got that straightened out!

1990 Swell #13 Billy Williams


1990 Swell #64 Ron Santo

Here's Ron sometime in the '70's. I'm sure someone out there can identify the ballpark. Not me.

1990 Swell #95 Ernie Banks