Chicago's Greats

Finally! I finally landed a baseball card of Hall of Famer Bill Veeck! With this card, after a re-count, I'm down to waneeding four "cards" to complete my goal of having at least one card of every National Baseball Hall of Famer. My new self-imposed definition of a "card" excludes postcards. You see, I have postcards of the following individuals, but I waneeded a "regular" card of Veeck, and I waneed a "regular" card of Bill Foster, John Schuerholz, Frank Selee, and Deacon White to meet my goal. By "regular", I'm thinking of something that, in my mind, was more of a retail issue size card and will fit in a 9-pocket sleeve.

BTY, I hereby coin the terms "waneed," "waneeded", and "waneeding" as something that you want, wanted, or are wanting so badly that you convince yourself that you need, needed, or are in need of it, respectively, - LOL! 

The cards shown herein were from the Chicagoland Collectors Association Fourth Annual Baseball Nostalgia Expo held on June 4, 5, & 6, 1976, presumably somewhere in Chicago. Below you'll see 9 cards of 10 Hall of Famers, one card of a former Negro League player, and one card of a Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame member. Each one considered a great in Chicagoland, and I must say would stack up in most any land. Each of these cards are destined for one of my collection binders.

Not shown, but included in the 25 card set, are Phil Wrigley, Charlie Grimm, Riggs Stephenson, Jimmy Dykes, and a few others I never heard of but had fine careers in "Chicagoland."

I picked up this oddball set off of Ebay for $15 - not bad for a small vintage-age card haul of Hall of Famers and a couple of others that fit nicely into my other collections!

Here we go...

Bill Veeck (Veeck rhymes with "wreck" - see card reverse). I've been searching for a card of this guy for a long time. In  fact it was a search for him that led me to this set!

Ernie Banks! Mr. Cub was featured here.

Banks' card reverse.

Ted Lyons (top) and Urban "Red" Faber. Lyons played 21 years, all with the White Sox (interrupted by three years of military service during WWII - thank you). His W-L record was 260-230, and he won over 20 games three times. Faber played 20 years, all with the White Sox (including during the 1919 Black Sox scandal). His W-L record was 254-213, and he won over 20 games four times. Lyons and Faber were teammates from 1923 - 1933.

Al Lopez. Lopez played in the majors for 19 years, but was elected to the HoF as a manager. He managed for 17 years and ended with a 1410 - 1004 W-L record and two pennants, one with the Indians and one with the White Sox. The 14 years he managed full time he never had a losing season.

Billy Herman. Herman played 15 years (interrupted by two years of military service during WWII - thank you). The 10 time All-Star finished with a .304 BA and .367 OBP.

Gabby Hartnett. Catcher Hartnett played for 20 years, 19 with the Cubs. The 6 time All-Star won the MVP award in 1935, and finished with a .297 BA and .370 OBP.

Luke Appling. Appling was featured here.

Nellie Fox. Fox played for 19 years, all but five with the White Sox, was a 15 time All Star, and won the MVP award in 1959. I wonder what the number 478 marked on his bat means? I did a quick search but came up empty. 

Ron Santo. Santo played for 15 years, 14 with the Cubs and one with the White Sox. He was a 9 time All Star, and finished with 342 HRs, 1331 RBIs, and a .362 OBP.

 

Hank Sauer. Sauer played 15 years (interrupted by one year of military service during WWII - thank you), seven with the Cubs. The two time All Star won the MVP award in 1952. 

As noted here, Sauer hit 50 HRs with 141 RBIs and a .336 BA for the 1947 Syracuse Chiefs. Sauer is only former Syracuse ball player to have his number retired by the team. He's joined by former GM Tex Simone and Jackie Robinson.

Minnie Minoso. The former Negro League player played 17 seasons in the majors, and his best season might have been 1954 with the White Sox when he hit 29 doubles 18 triples, 19 HRs, and had 304 total bases.

For those of you that have been following my blog and may have noticed a relatively lengthy pause in my posting frequency, thank you for continuing to monitor this site. My pause wasn't intentional and I have no one reason for it. During this time I've enjoyed following other blogs, and I hope to get back out there and post more often.

Thanks for visiting, and be well!

CinciCuse Bill