Blow Out the Candles February 25 My Favorite Player, A Marx Brother, A Giant HOFer, and Renior

My favorite player, Ron Santo, was born in Seattle, Washington on this date in 1940.  Although Ernie Banks is "Mr. Cub"(I think he copywrited it) no one personified the Cubs more than Ron Santo.  Everyone knows his accomplishments by now and you'll be hearing a lot more come Hall of Fame induction time so for today I'll just share some of my favorite items and maybe a little multimedia.

1961 Topps #35

I got this signed TTM right after his retirement in the mid 1970's.

 2009 UD Goudey

This is the smiliest photo of Ron I've ever seen.  Love it!

2001 UD Decade 1970's
What a happy card!

1964 Topps Stand Up

This is the rarest Santo vintage card in my collection.

2008 Ultimate #UJ-RS

This is an autographed replica of the flag that flies on the left field foul pole at Wrigley Field.

Negro Leagues and New York Giant Hall of Famer Monte Irvin is 92 today.

2005 Upper Deck Classic #70

Monte Irvin, Willie Mays and Henry Thompson

Monte played his last season (1956) for the Chicago Cubs

Zeppo Marx was born in New York City on this date in 1901.

 Harpo, Groucho, Zeppo and Chico

Zeppo, Harpo, Chico and Grocuho

Zeppo, the youngest of the five Marx Brothers appeared in the first five Marx Bros. films before giving up acting to become an agent.

French impressionist, Pierre August Renoir was born in Limoges, France on this date in 1841.

Here are some of his works:

 These works all reside at The Art Institute of Chicago.  Until our recent move we visited them regularly.  My favorite of these is Seascape.  

 Chrysanthemums, 1881/82

Seascape, 1879

Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881

Young Woman Sewing, 1879

Autographed Cards A-Z Irvin to Jenkins

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.

Hall of Famer Monte Irvin on my favorite set.  Monte was the fourth player to break the color barrier when he debuted for the New York Giants on July 8, 1949.

 2005 UD Signature Decades #SDS-MI

I collect autographs from the 1964-1968 era Cardinals.  Julian hit .360 in the 1967 World Series.

 2004 UD Timeless Teams #19

Here are a handful of Fergie cards.  He was of course a beloved member of the 1969 Cubs.  The Hall of Famer won 20 or more games in 7 of 8 years between 1967 and 1974, including six in a row for the Cubs.

 2005 UD Signature Decades #SD-FJ 19/50

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game

 2002 Topps Archives Reserves Reprint #TRA-FJ

2006 UD SP Legendary Cuts #PH-FJ

2010 Patch Cards

My first thought on Topps 2010 manufactured patches was "they're not real so who needs them".  Now that I have a handful of them I've changed my mind.  I think they're pretty cool.

 #MCP-31

I pulled this from a pack earlier in the year.  Good luck with the Iron Pigs, Ryno.

#MCP51

I just pulled this one from a rack pack that was a Christmas gift.

These three were from my last COMC semi-annual mega shipment, my Christmas gift to myself.

 #MCP-5

 #MCP89

#MCP61

I'm interested in knowing your opinions on these.  Like, dislike, take or leave them?

2005 UD Signature Decades The 1950's Part 2

The 1950's

2005 Topps Pristine Relic Cards

These are the only 5 cards I have from this series but I really like them . They look better in person than in the scan. They're basically a chrome card with a relic window. I can see myself picking up a few more of these sometime.

#TT-JC

#TT-MI

#TT-CS

#TT-OC

TT-RF

Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Favorites G-J

Topps put out 150 card sets of retired players in 2003-2004-2005. Players are pictured on card designs from their playing days but with different photos than were in the originals. Here are my favorites, alphabetically.

2005 #102

This is a sharp portrait shot of everyone's favorite fro wearing outfielder. His original 1976 card pictured Oscar with his previous team, the Indians. His "traded" card was airbrushed.

2004 #51

Politics aside I like Rudy. Anyone who was on Seinfeld gets points with me too.

2004 #127

This is an alternate Tony Gwynn rookie card from the 1983 set.

Like so many of these, I like the new one better. And was Tony ever any thinner than he was here? By the way, Gwynn is on my short list of admired ballplayers. Surely one of the great ones on and off the field.

2003 #107

I'm partial to the 1968 design. It's the earliest set I collected as a kid that I still have in quantity. I guess Topps chose 1968 for Ernie since the Tigers won the World Series that year.

2004 #142

Speaking of the Detroit Tigers, here's longtime Tiger oufielder Willie Horton on a 1969 design. I like the flash effect.

2004 #107

Here's a young Charlie Hough. Charlie played into the 1994 season and the uniform he's wearingis either from 1971 or 73. The knuckleballer finished his career with an even 216-216 record.

2003 #108

I don't know why, but the reprint is missing Monte's signature. Below is the original from 1952:

2004 #5

I like the Sporting News All-Star subsets. The 1970 original has Reggie in a batting stance.

2004 # 121

Two favorites here, Fergie and the 1967 set. It looks like Topps was off a bit on the team lettering (a little skinnier in the reprint). The original is below: