Bill's Baseball Card Blog

Here are some some recent cards/memorabilia acquisitions of National Baseball Hall of Famers and Syracuse Baseball Wall of Famers to add to my collections. Some of you may recall, my goal is to get at least one legit card of each member of the respective Hall/Wall of Fame. And in the case of Syracuse Baseball, a card of them in a Syracuse uniform (not an easy task). The cards below help me attain, or in some cases exceed, that goal. I had no luck finding any cards of Syracuse Baseball WoFers Sandy Griffin, Lew Carr, or Jack Fifield, but I wanted to have SOMETHING in my collection of these players and I found the clipping shown below. I think it's pretty cool. The clipping below is of a Syracuse Stars 1908 team picture featuring Syracuse Baseball WoFers T.C. (Sandy) Griffin,  Lew Carr, and Jack Fifield. This is picture was removed from a 1908 Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide publication.  T.C. (Sandy) Griffin, was a native of Fayetteville, NY and Syracuse, NY. Between 1...

  This post features some recently picked up cards of National Baseball Hall of Famers that I have already posted about. These cards will be added to the respective collection.  I've featured Hank Aaron in several posts, including my initial National Baseball HoF card collection post , my No. 44's post , my reverse negative error cards post , and more recently in a  post when he passed away. 1989 Baseball Wit. I purchased the entire 1989 Baseball Wit collection and am really happy with the variety of cards in that set, especially the HoFers. Not only does it include relatively recent stars such as Aaron and Johnny Bench, but also the Grover Cleveland Alexander card noted below, as well as several other early day baseball pioneers. Grover Cleveland Alexander has been featured in my HoF post here , and Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame post here . Anderson is in the back row between Honus Wager and Tris Speaker. Eddie Collins and Babe Ruth are in the front row. 1989 Baseball W...

  Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Jim Maloney was one of the biggest pitching stars of the 1960s, winning 20 games twice and 134 overall in his career. His forte was the strikeout: he ranks #25 on the all-time list for strikeouts per nine innings. He was known as one of the hardest throwers of his time. In 1963, Maloney was 23–7 and struck out 265 batters; in 1965, he was 20–9 and struck out 244; in 1966, he was 16–8 and struck out 216; and in 1968, he was 16–10 and struck out 181. Maloney threw two no-hitters, both while with the Reds. The first, on August 19, 1965 at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs, was a 10-inning affair. Despite not allowing a hit, Maloney was in trouble most of the game because he walked 10 batters while striking out 12. The second was on April 30, 1969 against the Houston Astros at Crosley Field. Maloney only walked five (and struck out 13). His glory was short-lived, however. The next day, the Astros' Don Wilson no-hit the Reds. It was Wilson's seco...

  Pepper Martin was a 4-time NL All-Star, 3-time NL Stolen Bases Leader, and one time NL Runs Scored Leader (he scored 121 runs or more in a season 3 times). Martin finished his ML career with a .298 BA in 1189 games played. He also won three World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals (Gas House Gang). Martin's World Series career batting average of .418 (23-for-55) is still a series record. Before his ML career, Syracuse Baseball Wall of Famer Pepper Martin batted .300 with 144 hits, 30 doubles, 8 triples, and 9 for the 1926 Syracuse Stars. He finished the season with .452 SLG percentage. Dover Reprint of 1933 DeLong Gum #17. The back of the card has a tip on the hook slide! Dover Reprint of 1933 Goudy #62  Dover Reprint of 1935 National Chicle Diamond Stars #26. 1968 Fleer Laughlin #28. 1971 Fleer Laughlin #29. 1974 TCMA #NNO. 1979 TCMA Galasso #66. 1983 TCMA #28. 1987 TCMA #3-1934. 1988 TSN Conlon Series 3 #NNO. 1991 TSN Conlon #274. 1992 TSN Conlon #637. 1993 Hi-Pro #1...

Originally signed by the Yankees, from 1941-1959 Syracuse Baseball Wall of Famer Hank Sauer appeared in 1,399 MLB games for the Reds, Cubs, Cardinals, and Giants. During World War II, he missed all of 1944 and much of 1945 while serving in the US Coast Guard (thank you). In his first full season back after the war, Sauer hit .282 with 21 home runs and 90 RBI for the Syracuse Chiefs in 1946. Still with the Chiefs in 1947, Sauer led the International League in runs scored (130), hits (182) and runs batted in (141); he slugged 50 homers, and hit .336. He was named the circuit's MVP, and Minor League Player of the Year by The Sporting News. In 1948, at age 31, he finally became a regular in the outfield for the Reds and hit 35 home runs, at that time a club record. Early in the 1949 season, Sauer was dealt to the Chicago Cubs and hit 11 homers in his first month with his new team. He quickly became immensely popular with Chicago fans, earning the nickname "The Mayor of Wrigley Fi...