Bill's Baseball Card Blog

  We all know of ballplayers that become announcers, actors, or writers. This post shows cards for a few notable examples, as well as a few other players with occupations that you may not be aware of. Announcers 1952 Topps card #227. Not only was Joe Garagiola a catcher for parts of nine season with four clubs, but he was also an announcer, writer, and host of numerous television shows. Joe was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award for outstanding broadcasting accomplishments and he was named as the 2014 recipient of the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, presented once every three years by the Baseball Hall of Fame for positive contributions to Major League Baseball.     1965 Topps card #65. Tony Kubek played for the Yankees for nine seasons, winning the 1957 Rookie of the Year award and selected to three All-Star games. Kubek played in six World Series in the late 1950s and early 1960s, starting in 37 World Series games. U...

  Recent pickups of older cards for my Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame card collection. 1961 Fleer card #101. Fleer 61's are one of my favorite, and largely affordable, old time card sets. 1936 National Chicle Red Lucas Cincinnati Reds (3" x 5" on thin stock), NNO, blank back. Note: The ebay description included "(KCR)" - does anyone know what that means? 1939 Play Ball Billy Myers, card #38. Note: The ebay description says "Upper & Lower Case" - does anyone know what that means? FYI, the back has a combination of upper and lower case text. 1973 TCMA 1940 Cincinnati Reds W711-2 Billy Werber Reprint, NNO. Autographed, but can't read the date. 1991 1922 American Caramel (E120) Reprint, NNO. 1991 1922 American Caramel (E120) Bubbles Hargrave Reprint, NNO. Unlike the Donohue scan, scanner didn't copy the text "Gene (Bubbles) Hargrave, Catcher, Cincinnati Nationals." 1991 1922 American Caramel (E120) Dolf Luque Reprint, NNO. Unlike the Do...

  A short blog on some recent pickups of National Baseball Hall of Famers and Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famers. I really like the colors and art work on the first two cards. National Baseball Hall of Famer and Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi. 1982 Ernie Lombardi Diamond Classics Big League Collectibles, card #32. National Baseball Hall of Famer and Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Edd Roush. 1982 Edd Roush Diamond Classics Big League Collectibles.  National Baseball Hall of Famer and Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Johnny Bench. There are no bad cards of this great! 1985 TCMA, #NNO. Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Jake Daubert. 1991 1922 American Caramel (E120) Reprint, #NNO. Scanner cut off the front text that reads "Jake Daubert, First Base, Cincinnati Nationals" National Baseball Hall of Famer and Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Eppa Rixey. 1991 1922 American Caramel (E120) Reprint, #NNO. Scanner cut off the front text that reads "Eppa Rixey, Pitcher, Cincinnati Nat...

  Jefferson Burdick is regarded as the father of baseball card collecting. His entire collection of over 300,000 items dating from the 1860s to 1963 were donated to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. A major part of his gift is one of the largest collections of baseball cards now held by any public institution. In the process, Burdick devised a cataloging system and published the American Card Catalog. The "bible" is still the most important reference guide to collecting baseball and all types of cards. Burdick (1900–1963) suffered from severe arthritis so bad that, according to Sean Kirst, author of  "The Ashes of Lou Gehrig and Other Baseball Essays" Burdick couldn't open his mouth wide enough to put in a ball of hard candy, and that he often struggled to lift his arms off of a table. Kirst writes that Burdick "...had no direct survivors. That may explain Burdick's decision, late in life, against selling his collection. Burdick chose instead to leave a g...

  Danny Clark is a Syracuse Baseball Wall of Famer that played for the Syracuse Stars in the International League. In 1926 Clark was having an exceptional season hitting .362 with 32 homers when in September the St. Louis Cardinals obtained the rights to his contract and took him away from the Syracuse ballclub (SABR). Hence, the Wall of Fame recognition. As far as I can tell, other than reprints, there have been only two Danny Clark baseball cards ever produced. One is 1923-24 Exhibits W461, #5 when Clark was with the Red Sox. This card is available on ebay, ungraded, for $150 (see snip below). The only other original card of Clark is a 1927 Middy Bread, #NNO card, when Clark was with the St. Louis Cardinals. This card is currently available on ebay, graded (VG), for $800 (again, see snip below). Clearly, I'm not paying that kind of money for either one of those. But, I waneed a Clark card for my SYR WoF collection! Thank goodness for reprints!  In 1992 I understand that...