Bill's Baseball Card Blog

  The 1940 Cincinnati Reds won the World Series in 7 games against the Detroit Tigers. The original 1940 commemorative card set was developed by Harry (Socko) Hartman, an award winning Cincinnati broadcaster. I recently picked up a 1973 TCMA reprint set featured herein. That Reds team featured 2 future National Baseball Hall of Famers and 12 Cincinnati Reds HoFers. At the time, the Syracuse Chiefs were the Reds AAA team, and several Reds came up through Syracuse. One player is in the Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame. Top L-R: Paul Derringer, Lonnie Frey, Ival Goodman Middle: Bill McKechnie, Ernie Lombardi, Mike McCormick Btm: Bill Myers, Bucky Walters, Bill Werber Bill McKechnie and Ernie Lombardi are in the National Baseball HoF and the Cincinnati Reds HoF. All of the others are in the Cincinnati Reds HoF. Frank McCormick Frank McCormick is in the Cincinnati Reds HoF and the Syracuse Baseball WoF. Johnny Vander Meer Johnny Vander Meer is best known for pitching no hitters in two con...

  Continuing with my posts on retired numbers, below are card scans of former MLBers whose numbers have been retired by the San Francisco Giants. No. 3 Bill Terry 1960 Fleer #52. No. 4 Mel Ott 2011 Topps Lineage #186. No. 11 Carl Hubbell 1984 Donruss Champions #55. No. 20 Monte Irvin 1975 TCMA #NNO. No. 22     Will Clark 1986 Topps Traded #24T. No. 24 Willie Mays 1972 Topps #49. No, 25 Barry Bonds 2002 Topps Opening Day #73. No. 27 Juan Marichal 1974 Topps #330. No. 30 Orlando Cepeda 1978 TCMA #50. No. 36 Gaylord Perry 1971 Topps #140. No. 42     Jackie Robinson 1997 Upper Deck #8. No. 44 Willie McCovey 1970 Topps TSN #450. Whose number do you think the Giants are going to retire next? No. 28 Buster Posey? No. 55 Tim Lincecum (2 Cy Young awards)? No. 40 Madison Bumgarner (2014 World Series MVP)? Other? My guess - No. 15 Bruce Bochy. Thanks for visiting. Stay safe! CinciCuse Bill

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...