Can't Have Too Many Cards

Thursday, February 11, 2021

This Day in Sports

On this day 50 years ago Jean Beliveau scored his 500th goal, just the fourth player in NHL history to reach the milestone. Gentleman Jean won 17 Stanley Cup Championships, 10 as a player and an additional 7 as an executive.

Jean had one of the all-time great signatures. As classy as he was. This card is never leaving my collection.

Monday, February 8, 2021

My Turn at Bat

I'm sure lots of you keep your eyes open for old sports books (or new ones). I was excited to find this one at a local thrift store. Did you know that in the UK they're called "charity shops"? I like that. I also like their term "wheelie bin" for the plastic garbage can you take to the curb. I call ours that now. But I digress.

Here's the book I found recently. Some of you have probably read it. I think I've seen The Science of Hitting but I don't think I've ever seen any edition of this one. The book is copyrighted 1969. This copy is a 4th edition.

I don't seem to have either the 1969 or 1970 cards but I did find this one. Ted had such a winning smile, didn't he?

Here's Ted not looking quite as happy. He was a complicated man.

This is a bound galley of Leigh Montville's book on Ted.

I took this one out from the library. I do not retain well what I read but I do know I preferred this one to the Montville. On Amazon they've both received 4-1/2 stars.

This book, a larger format paperback, is on my sports bookshelf. I think it was a gift. I haven't read it yet.

I did a post about this about 6 years ago. A friend of my Dad's gave it to me. I have no clue whether the autograph is authentic or not. It looks reasonably good but there are a lot of fakes out there. I read, probably in one of the books above, that Ted's son, John Henry, signed a lot of things. Who knows. Any opinions?

What's your most exciting book find, sports or otherwise?

Thursday, February 4, 2021

Before the Bridge

As I've said, my main postal focus is Chicago but as with trading cards I love variety as well. This is a card that just came in the mail a few days ago. Probably dating from around 1907 it is titled Golden Gate from Lands End S. F. Cal. Yes, that Golden Gate. Take a look into the distance. This photograph would have been taken decades before the beginning of construction of the iconic bridge that bears it's name.

This is from approximately the same place..

Back of the postcard.

A short video about the Golden Gate Bridge.

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Now Playing Center Field, Tippi Hedren

My wife is a big Alfred Hitchcock fan. I did like Rear Window and North by Northwest. I didn't care for The Birds myself. I'd much rather see a good comedy any day.

Tippi Hedren played Melanie Daniels in this movie. Coincidentally, her daughter is Melanie Griffith. The Working Girl star was six years old when the film was released.

I came across this great card in a drawer the other day. Reed Johnson was already a fan favorite in Toronto when he joined the Cubs in 2008. During two stints he would become a Chicago favorite as well.

As I recall the gulls would come around late in the afternoon presumably looking for scraps from the fans.

Reed spoke with Ryan Dempster recently on Demp's podcast, Off the Mound.

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Smooth As Silk

Topps has issued a variety of cards featuring some kind of image on "silk". This is one I pulled from a blaster in 2013.

2013 Topps Rookie Patch Sandy Koufax

As with postcards, covers offer a great variety of subject matter. A subset are the silk cachet envelopes. There are a good many baseball subjects available. This one is, of course, of actor and writer Alan Alda.

I was a M*A*S*H fan. I'm sure I saw every episode when it first aired. Toward the end of the series I felt the actors became a bit too sanctimonious and it left a sour taste for me. M*A*S*H may have had more to say than "Hogan's Heroes" but it was still a sitcom.

I came to a new appreciation of Alda through his memoirs and his great work on PBS as a fantastic liason between the scientific community and the general public.

How many people do an Alan Alda impression?

Monday, January 25, 2021

Dropping a Dime

I hear that basketball cards are more popular than they've ever been. Is that right? Are you collecting them? Can you even find them? Can you find anything? Even if I could I'm not interested in chasing some rookie's shiny new card. Certainly not as an investment. If you're reading this you probably collect for the fun of it like I do.

So I don't have any Zion Williamson or Ja Morant cards. No Luca Doncic, no La Mello Ball.

I suppose I'd like my collection to be worth something but that's a bonus. I'm irritated by the recent news about Target having to limit sales on cards because investors are buying them up. I haven't been buying cards very often but I like knowing I can walk in a store and find a variety of packs if I'm in the mood. Maybe it's a good thing for the hobby in the long run but it's certainly not now for the casual collector.

I do have some basketball cards. They're not serial numbered and they don't shine. Luckily I never gave my Mama a chance to throw them out. My total investment was $.10, one dime. That's about $7.00 in today's money.

These guys aren't Zion but I think they were pretty good.