Bill's Baseball Card Blog

Ten Million on a Monarch Corona reprint.  " Ten Million" - seriously?!? Baseball history has been littered with players with great names! Some are great because announcers have fun almost singing their names by lengthening every syllable, like John Boccabella, Nomar Garciaparra, and Buddy Biancalana. Others stand out because of familiarity with certain products like board games and cereals. Others are just plain imaginative. This blog contains some of my favorites. 2011 Topps Milton Bradley 2014 Topps Coco Crisp  Coco's card also belongs in a wildest hair style or sunglasses collection! 1991 Classic Best Rich Batchelor. A pick-up line gift! 1982 Topps Shooty Babitt 1986 Topps  Razor Shine's name reminds me of Chip Glass, a former tight end with the Cleveland Browns. 1995 Upper Deck - Wonderful Terrific Monds! We have a winner! 2009 Chris Kroski 1991 The Sporting News Conlon Collection. He would fit right in at Wrigley Fi...

Though nicknamed "Home Run," Frank Baker hit only 96 home runs in his career, and never more than 12 in a season as he played during the dead ball era. 1960 Fleer Monarch Corona 1968 Fleer R.G. Laughlin 1981 TCMA Galasso (The caption "Home Run Baker, Third Baseman - Philadelphia Athletics" is cut off. Stupid scanner). Great photo! 1987 (?) Baseball Immortals. Nicely colorized. 1981 TCMA Galasso (with the caption intact - yea!) 1981 Cramer 1992 The Sporting News Conlon Collection. Except for the Monarch Corona card, the 1992 TSN Conlon is the most recent card I have of Baker. That's okay because my goal is at least one card of every HoFer, but It's kind of weird that I haven't stumbled on something newer after all these years of collecting. I appreciate you stopping by to check this blog out. Be well! CinciCuse Bill

Well, I've yet to pick up Harold Baines' Hall of Fame plaque post card, so I don't have that to showcase. It's on my to-do list. I imagine I'm not alone, but Baines was not on my radar or in my "future hall of fame" collection album when it was announced that he had been elected to the Hall, so I had to go through nearly my entire collection looking for Baines cards. That took some doing. I had the same situation with recently elected Ted Simmons, and I still have that task ahead of me for Larry Walker too. When Baines was elected to the HoF there was a lot of noise about whether he was worthy of enshrinement. I wouldn't argue that, but looking closely at the HoF membership you can see that there are many others that certainly don't fall into the "elite" category, yet there they are in the majestic Hall in Cooperstown. I don't vote - I just collect. My collection: First sheet, top row, left to right: 1981 Topps (rookie car...

Jeff Bagwell spent his entire 15-year playing career with the Houston Astros. Originally a Boston Red Sox, he was traded to the Astros in 1990 for relief pitcher Larry Andersen in what is regarded as one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history. Bagwell won the NL Rookie of the Year in 1991, and the NL MVP Award in 1994. He was a four-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger winner, and a Gold Glove recipient. He and Craig Biggio were known as the "Killer B's." Bagwell collection - First sheet, top row 1991 Fleer update card (no major league experience); 1992 Fleer (is this his "rookie" card?); and a 1992 Topps. Second row: 1993 Hostess; 1993 Topps with "Rockies 1993 Inauguration Year" emblem; and 1993 Upper Deck. Bottom row: 1993 Upper Deck shiny; space to grow; and a 1993 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Astros checklist. Second sheet, top row: 1994 Donruss and Donruss "Special 85 Edition" (whatever that means); and a 19...

1992 R.D. Retort Enterprises "Negro League Legends" In keeping with Black History Month, I thought I'd show a sampling of my Negro League postcard collection. According to Baseball Reference, Sherwood Brewer played four different positions in four East-West Games in the dying days of the Negro Leagues. Wilmer Fields Autograph - Oil Painting by Ron Lewis (Capital Cards Production) Fields was reportedly considered one of the most consistent, reliable, and versatile two-way players in the Negro League and also in Canada and several Latin American leagues. In most leagues he was a pitcher, but played at third base or outfield in games when he was not scheduled to pitch. Artwork by Susan Rini - Historic Limited Editions "Negro League Series Dials played from 1925 to 1936 with several teams. After his playing career, he became a scout for the Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles. Herbert Albert "Rap" Dixon - Oil on l...

1986 Larry Fritsch Cards I saw this Fritsch set in a Cooperstown card shop (a mecca for collectors) many years ago and bought it because it had several Negro League players that were in the National Baseball Hall of Fame (HoF), which is my main collection. Such cards were, and many still are, quite hard to find. After removing the HoFer cards from the set I decided to use the remaining cards to start an album of the non-HoF Negro League players. The cards below are a sampling of different manufacturers of such cards. I commend Larry Fritsch Cards for creating this 119 card set dedicated to Negro League players.  Monarch Corona Centennial Series card of Rafael Almeida. From what I understand, Monarch Corona made 200 of the 104-card sets of these mini litho-printed cards. Bob Lemke Custom Art Card of Charlie Pride Bob Lemke's blog was the first I ever ran across, and I followed it for several years until his passing. He created many custom art cards over the years, a...

1994 Ted Williams "The Negro Leagues" In my Unique Cards album, I have a "Barrier Breaker" page for players (and others) that were instrumental in breaking a barrier or being known/credited/etc. for something really notable. I start with Moses Fleetwood Walker, who as noted in my first Syracuse Baseball post, is credited with being one of the first African-Americans to play MLB, and last, until Jackie Robinson in 1947. Walker was a catcher with Toledo Blue Stockings in the American Association in 1884. Unsure. Beer card? On the back it says "Test Card/50." Along with her husband, Effa Manley co-owned the Newark Eagles baseball franchise in the Negro leagues from 1935 to 1946 and was sole owner after his death. Throughout that time, she served as the team's business manager and fulfilled many of her husband's duties as treasurer of the Negro National League. She was the first woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, a reflec...