A Pinch of Lint and a Random Screw

One of my guilty pleasures is cruising Listia for baseball cards.  In case you've never heard of it, Listia is an auction site similar to eBay, but you "pay" with points, not money.  Points can be earned through surveys, completing tasks, "selling" items or outright purchase using real money.  

I've put a few items up for auction on Listia, and I've done more than my fair share of surveys, so I've accrued a respectable amount of points without having to put a cent into the Listia business model.  However, my main gripe with Listia is there is a lot of garbage to sift through.

Finding a card that you're actually interested in can be quite daunting.  I may not bid on a card for days on end because of poor selection and outrageous "prices."  Which leads to my other problem with Listia, inflation.  A point just doesn't go as far as it used to.  Auctions used to start in the 1-100 point range and would end in the 250-500 point range.

Now auctions usually start at the 499 mark, and end much, much higher.  I guess this is due to popularity of the site, but it is aggravating.  If any of you are Econ majors, it might make a good paper to study the Listia business model.  It some regards it reminds me of a runaway economy in the European Union where the currency has no standard.      

Alright, alright, enough with the economics drivel, let's look at some cards!

Last week, I was able to land three cards of my want lists.  One for a set I'm building and two for my HOFer/Superstar project.

For the equivalent price of two shirt buttons, a pinch of pocket lint and a random screw, I won this card for my 1987 Donruss set.

Next on the block, was this snazzy 1959 Lindy McDaniel card.  For this one I had to turn to the kid's couch cushions for some extra scratch.  I shelled out four cheerios, a piece of congealed milk, six ponytail holders and the lower torso of a GI Joe figure.  

 

Finally, through patience and my lack of card condition caring (paper-loss on the back of the card, meh), I now own a 1971 Catfish Hunter.  I pulled out all the stops on this one, and paid via the household junk drawer.  For this lovely card it cost me two AAA batteries, one of those rubber jar opener pads, a pen from my last hotel stay at the Courtyard Hotel and seven, I said seven!, trash bag twisty ties.  

 

Not a bad haul for worthless points and free shipping!   

Cameo Cards - 1971 Topps Bud Harrelson

This week’s Cameo Card was almost a Name the Game card, but I couldn’t be 100% certain of the exact play depicted.  Hence, that is why this 1971 Topps Bud Harrelson (#355) card has been relegated to the Cameo Card Club.  My research on this card showed that it is the May 30, 1970 matchup between the Houston Astros and New York Mets.

I was able to deduce that nugget because of who’s on the mound.  #30.  The Ryan Express.  Nolan Ryan tossed one home game against the Houston Astros and that was the May 30th matchup.  Well, given all that information, you’re probably asking why I couldn’t name the exact play shown on the card.

It’s obviously a stolen base attempt, since Ken Boswell is backing up the covering Bud Harrelson, while Nolan Ryan is off on the 1st base side of the mound.  Problem is, there were two stolen base attempts in that game.  One by Jim Wynn and the other by Joe Morgan (both safe).  I’m almost positive that is Jim Wynn sliding into second because of the monster sideburns in the photo.  However, the distance is too far and the resolution is too low to correctly Name the Game.

Yet, this card fits nicely into the Cameo Card Club.  I love the action in the shot with Nolan Ryan appearing to clench his right fist in a “we got’em out” gesture.  But, if you look really closely, second base umpire, Ken Burkhart is beginning his “safe” motion.  Man, I would have loved to have seen Ryan’s reaction after the “safe” call was made.

By the way, this 1971 Bud Harrelson card is an inexpensive way to pick up a ‘71 Topps Nolan Ryan (cameo) card!!

Spot the Ǝrror - 1971 Topps 2nd Series Checklist

This is the third in a new series comparing error and corrected card versions.  If you spot the error, leave a comment.  First one to correctly identify the difference between the two cards wins the round.  "Standings" will be updated continually with an eventual prize.

No cheating, the honor system applies!
 

Standings:
Fuji (1)
Wilson (1)

Background Noise - 1971 Topps Ken McMullen

This card has so much going on, it’s overwhelming.  Why do you say that?  It’s just Ken McMullen fielding the hot corner.  Alright, look to the left of Ken, look to the right of Ken, and look below his signature.  It’s a virtual cornucopia of background noise.

The first time I saw this card, I thought it was an ERR.  For the life of me, I thought that was Brooks Robinson, and that Angels read Orioles.  It must have been the dingy uni and the baby blue team font.  Once I overcame my disbelief, I began to notice all that is awesome with this card.  I think this may possibly be one of the best cards ever.

Why you ask?  Two words, Monument Park.  That’s right, the heralded Monument Park prior to the 1970s Yankee Stadium renovation.  Originally constructed in 1929, this park consisted of a Flag Pole and multiple monuments to Yankee greats of yore…in the outfield…in play.

At the time of this photograph, the center field wall in Yankee Stadium was 461 feet, and all of Monument Park was in play.  Makes Enron Field seem even lamer.

Here is a composite photograph of Yankee Stadium when Monument Park was in play (see the bottom left corner).

Another reason why this card is just over the top breathtaking is the dirt third base coach’s box.  I can’t say I’ve ever noticed one of those before.  I can almost see Larry Bowa refusing to wear a helmet in one right now. 

Name the Game - 1971 Vada Pinson #275

Before I get started, thank you to those of you who sent your well wishes concerning my 4-year old son.  He is doing great with the new glasses, and if I can ever get him to sit still long enough, I’ll be sure to make a custom card of/for him.  By the way, his first words after getting the new specs were, “Daddy, I can see where I am going!”  Awesome.

Alright, I’ve been wanting to do this Name the Game post for a long time now.  I have researched this bad-boy for going on six months, well, actually like two hours if you combine all the time spent, but it took me six months to produce this.

The 1971 Vada Pinson has to be one of my all-time favorite cards.  I am surprised that Play at the Plate hasn’t had this card as his header, yet.  The card shows a sprawled out Thurman Munson, and Vada Pinson emerging from the home plate dust.  Classic card that surprisingly has a huge back story.

Well, I consulting Baseball Reference and found out that the Indians played at Yankee Stadium nine times during the 1970 season.  Of those nine games, one was a night game.  Scratch.  In another, Thurman Munson did not don the Tools of Ignorance.  Scratch.  In two more, Vada Pinson never reached base.  Double scratch.  And finally, in three of those games, Pinson never had a play at the plate.  Triple scratch.

This left two games where Vada Pinson was involved in a home plate dust-up.  Both games were on June 24, 1970 in AN EPIC DOUBLEHEADER.  Let me breakdown what happened on this day:

Four Home Runs – Bobby Murcer hit four consecutive home runs, tying Lou Gehrig.

Firecrackers! – A “fan” threw a cherry bomb from the upper deck, where it exploded next to Indians Catcher, Ray Fosse, causing burns through his stirrup, sock and shoe.  The fan was arrested, and Fosse played on.

Folly Floater – Yanks pitcher, Steve Hamilton, lobbed a high soft pitch to Tony Horton, who promptly popped it up.  Horton called for another one, Hamilton obliged, Horton popped out and then proceeded to crawl back to the dugout on his knees.

Fight Night – Pinson tried to score from second on a wild pitch.  Munson retrieved the ball and threw it to Stan Bahnsen at home.  Bahnsen tagged high and hard, prompting a response from Pinson.  Bahnsen threw the ball hitting Pinson’s foot, and then Pinson laid Bahnsen out with a single left hook.  BAM.

Here are the write-ups I found on this game:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nJ9RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Cm0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2691,3558315&dq=stan+bahnsen&hl=en

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=799&dat=19700625&id=UcNOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=I0gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1174,4954923

http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=2079&pid=4613

Anyways, that all leads to WHAT IS THE PLAY ON THE CARD, ALREADY?  Unfortunately, it’s not the fight scene on the card, as that would be Bahnsen at home, not Munson.  Turns out in Game 1 of the double dip, Pinson and Munson were in a play at the dish.  Here’s the setting…

Top of the 8th, Indians Batting, Ahead 6-0, Yankees' Ron Klimkowski intentionally walks Vada Pinson.  Ray Fosse singles to CF and Pinson goes to third.  Nettles flies to center, and Pinson is thrown out at home on a sac fly. 

While fruitlessly looking for pictures of The Fight, I found something even more interesting.  Turns out there was a 1970s movie called Bang the Drum Slowly (You can read about it on Wrigley Wax).  In this movie, they used action footage of the real Yankees.  Check out this screen cap from a certain home plate encounter used in the movie.

Look familiar?  Munson is positioned to catch and tag from a center field throw.  Pinson is sliding into home.  The moment just before the picture used on Pinson’s 1970 Topps card was taken.  

How cool is that?

Name the Game - 1971 Cookie Rojas #118

While reorganizing the blog, I found some old posts I had written for a new series I was trying to develop.  I have attempted new topics in the past, some flopped mightily and others were actually interesting, such as this one, Name the Game.  The point of these is to find an action shot from a baseball card and then try to determine the exact play and game that the photograph occurred.  I have done three previous versions, so I thought I’d raise this genre back from the dead.

Sticking with my original plan of starting at the first action shot (1971 Thurman Munson) and working forward (plus the fact vintage rocks), the next determinable card is the 1971 Cookie Rojas #118.  This card has all the trimmings for determining the game and play. 

1.    Double play ball at second base.
2.    Opponents jersey and number is clearly visible.
3.    Day game.
4.    Bonus – Score board visible in the background.
 

Because of these four items, this card was easy to identify.  First step was to identify the stadium.  It’s obvious the Royals are on the road, and I do spy pinstripes sliding into second base.  So, it’s a day game at Yankee Stadium.  At the beginning of the 1970 season, Cookie was a Cardinal and then traded to the Royals for Fred Rico, after Cookie was hitting an abysmal .106 after 23 games for the Red Birds.  Cookie played 98 games for the Royals, and checking out Cookie’s game logs for 1970, we see the Royals played three games at the Yanks during Cookie’s tenure that year (August 14th, 15th and 16th).
 

The 14th game was a Friday nighter, so it’s out, but Cookie played in both the Saturday and Sunday day games.  So, we’ll look at the mysterious #9 sliding into second.  That’d be Ron Woods, who was in both games, but Ron never actually played in the Saturday game.  He was a pinch hitter that was then pinch hit for.  He never swung the bat in that game.  That makes the Sunday, August 16th the game on the card.  This is also confirmed by the scoreboard in the background that matches the Sunday game.
 

So, what play is it?  Looking through the box score of that game, we see that Ron Woods led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to left field against Ken Wright.  Gene Michael then hit into a 6-4-3 double play.  There you go!
 

The 1971 Topps Cookie Rojas #118 is the first half of a double play in the bottom of the sixth inning during the August 16, 1970 day game at Yankee Stadium!

Name the Game #3 - 1971 Casey Cox

I'm coming off a nasty bought of illness (I say flu, wife says ecoli), and thought I'd post a softball of Name the Game.

Akin to the 1981 Donruss enigma I mentioned in an earlier post, Topps action shots in the 1971 set have the uncanny coincidence of being almost entirely shot in New York. If you look through your binders, you'll notice (almost) every action shot includes a Met or a Yankee. That being said, review of the Casey on the Mound card shows him at the original house that Ruth built.

Note the Visitor's Bullpen

A quick glance at the handy Baseball Reference shows that Casey pitched one game at Yankee Stadium in 1970. July 4th, 1970. Casey had a decent game, but lost 4-2 to the Damn Yankees.

Senators	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	BF
C Cox, L (4-6)	6	6	4	4	1	3	0	4.50	25

And before someone says that's not Yankee Stadium! Yankee Stadium had not undergone renovations or alterations to the outfield until 1974-75.

Note the bullpen between the LF-CF stands & the Monuments in CF

Not a hard game to find, but it does add an added dimension to our favorite baseball cards when we actually know the game in which the picture was taken!

As noted before, I am taking requests (Plunger!) on Name the Games, otherwise I will continue marching through the 1971 set until now!

Name the Game - 1971 Lee May #40

I had so much fun doing the Thurman Munson card, I thought I'd move on to the next 1971 Topps action card that is even remotely possible to determine the game. This card is of Lee May holding a currently unknown Phillie on first base.

Intense base holding action!

So, we are left with a Phillies home game, Lee May on first and an unknown Phillie with a jersey number beginning with 2, obviously a 20-something. But what number?

Review of the Phillies roster from 1970 gives us: Jim Hutto (#20), Ron Stone (#21), Larry Hisle (#22), Oscar Gamble (#23), Byron Browne (#24), Scott Reid (#25), Sam Parrilla (#27) and Grant Jackson (#29). Hisle, Gamble, Browne and Jackson are out for obvious reasons.

That leaves us with Hutto, Stone, Reid and Parrilla. Philly hosted the Reds 6 times in 1970, and Parrilla did not appear in any of those games, so now we are left with Stone, Hutto and Reid. Stone appeared in 5 of those 6 games, Hutto in 2 and Reid in 2.

From the card, we can plainly see that it is a day game, sorry Night Owl, and of the 5 potential games, only one was played during the day. The June 14, 1970 day game. In that game, Stone and Reid appeared, so Hutto is out. Reid pinch hit, but grounded out to second. That leaves Stone.

Our mystery baserunner has been solved!

Stone was 1 for 3 in the game with a RBI and a walk. May was 2 for 2 with 2 runs and 2 ribbies. Stone had a single in the first scoring Gamble, but advanced to second on the throw. McGlothlin walked Stone in the bottom of the 4th, lined out in the 6th and hit into a double play in the bottom of the 9th. Looks like the 4th inning is it!

Therefore, the action in this card is of Lee May holding Ron Stone at 1st in the bottom of the fourth after a walk from McGlothlin. Stone would later be forced out at second, and the Reds beat the Phillies 10 to 1 on a CG by McGlothlin.

Name the Game - 1971 Thurman Munson #5

I thought I would shake things up a bit and introduce a new feature for this fledgling blog. I went through my Topps Baseball Card Book and found what I consider to be the first action shot produced, the 1971 Topps #5 Thurman Munson. I know 1955 and 1956 have sort of action shots, but it is really a face portrait with an inlaid action painting.

So, after going through all of the sets, I settled on Mr. Munson as being the first, as his card is the first action shot in the 1971 set.

Anyways, so the name of this game is to determine which major league game the action shot took place. I won't be able to figure out every game because it requires both teams in the picture, either in the play or in the background, and some will be removed because of spring training games.

So, let us give this a go!

Munson making a play at the plate!

The Yankees played the A's 6 times at home in 1970, and Munson played in 5 of the games and all of those games were day games. In none of those games was an Athletic called out at the plate. Problem is who is the head first slider?

Possible candidates:

April 25, 1970 - A's win 3-0 with Mincher scoring on a single (nope-slider is thinner); Bando scores on a double (nope); and Green scores from second on a double (nope-no play likely at the plate when scoring from 2nd on a double).

April 26, 1970 - A's lose 3-8 with Munday scoring on a passed ball (nope - Munson would be retrieving the ball).

July 16, 1970 - A's win 8-2 with Murcer scoring on a GRD (nope); Dobson scores from 2nd on a RF single (hey now); Rudi scores from 2nd on a single to CF (maybe).

July 17, 1970 - A's lose 1-7 with no candidates

July 18, 1970 - A's lose 2-7 with no candidates.

So, it comes down to Dobson and Rudi. After looking at hair cuts, shoes and stirrup height, I'm going to have to go with Chuck Dobson the PITCHER! Who else could make it close at the plate than a pitcher scoring from second, plus only a pitcher would wear his stirrups so high.

The headfirst home plate sliding pitcher!

In conclusion, card #5 from 1971 Topps is Chuck Dobson safely sliding headfirst under the tag on Thurman Munson in the top of the 4th from a Joe Rudi single to right field on July 16, 1970!

PS - Edited thanks to an Anonymous dude.