Achieving Maximum Valo-city

You may recall that from the very start of this blog, I've enjoyed the lesser known players in MLB history. Elmer Valo came to my attention even earlier, thanks to other bloggers posting the magnificence of his 1957 Topps card. Above is a "Philadelphia Fan Favorites" card, commissioned by the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society. I'm digging deep to find Elmer Valo cards that may not be on everyone's radar.

But let's start a little more conventionally - Here are a couple Topps buybacks of "Valiant" Valo, from 1958 and 1961. 1961 was his last Topps card, he's listed as a Minnesota Twin, but the photo is obviously taken at Yankee Stadium, where he spent a portion of 1960 as a Bronx Bomber. Oddly enough, it is probably a Washington Senators uniform he's wearing, as he went from New York to D.C. before the team moved to the Twin Cities. If you see a buyback of the AWESOME 1957 Elmer Valo, please let me know, I would very much like one.

Here's a 1990 card issued by Target and the Dodgers, commemorating 100 years of the franchise. Valo played in the final Dodgers home game at Ebbets Field.

In 1984, TCMA released a set based on the Play Ball cards from the 1940s - this card was not part of the sets in 1940s, in fact it would have been Elmer's rookie card if it did exist - his first card came in the 1948 Leaf set.

This was a new one to me - it is a standard size card (unlike most of the cards in this post), released in 2011, this 40 card set features the 1957 Dodgers team. The art on all cards was created by Ronnie Joyner.

The backs are pretty familiar, though! Just like the 1960 set. They probably could have used 1957 backs, but this is a nice choice too.

Who is this guy? Not Elmer Valo....

This is a 1992 Yankees set produced by WIZ home entertainment centers and American Express.

Kinda looks like Bobby Richardson to me. Valo could possibly be flattered by the comparison, though in his career, Valo's OBP was almost 100 points higher, and he had over 200 more runs batted in.

I also found an autographed 8X10 on eBay, It was fairly cheap, so I'm guessing there's a fair chance that it's not authentic (no JSA / PSA / or even AAA certification) but it was more for the photo than the autograph.

If you know of any more oddball Elmers, drop me a line! I've got my eye on a couple Rodeo Meats cards, but they are a lot spendier than I am comfortable with at the moment...