A Family That Plays Together, Stays Together

Felipe

Matty (sorry, this card is still stuck in its original Topps holder)

Jesus

Moises

Now the family is all together!

Day Twenty Five - 1976 SSPC Rod Carew #214

Day 25: A Favorite Oddball From the 1970s

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the twenty-fifth of 30 posts, using the prompts provided. I won't necessarily post one every day, but I will do one for each card, toss in a few "insights" (as insightful as I can be, anyway), and usually include an honorable mention or two, just because I'm like that.

Here's my pick - I'm a little conflicted about this - the big wad of chaw is really cool, but it's also a really dangerous habit. I remember on my high school team there were two players that dipped and I always declined to join in. I think it was one of many things that eventually pushed me out (the number one reason being that I just wasn't too good) from playing on the team after my junior year. It is digusting, but also it is a major cancer risk with prolonged use. Regardless of your opinions of chewing tobacco, the design and execution of SSPC cards in the 70s was excellent. A big full color photo with little to no text on the front of the card. Lots of personality and lesser seen moments around the ballpark were captured on these cards.  

Since these are basically one card posts, why not share the backs too? No text on the front, but plenty to make up for that on the backs! The text, as you may already know, was supplied by Keith Olbermann. The blog 1975 Baseball Cards has a great essay on the set.

Here are some honorable mentions:

I am a big fan of commemorative patches, and Luis Aparicio is rocking a unique one that was only worn for one season (but by two teams). This is a 1970 Kelloggs' Card, the patch is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the state of Illinois. The Sesquicentennial patch was worn by the Sox and the Cubs during the 1968 season, and they didn't show up on any of the 1969 or 1970 Topps cards. This Kelloggs' card and a handful of MLB Photostamps have the patch, though. Also from the SSPC set is the only card featuring Harmon Killebrew as a Kansas City Royal. The two Tony Os are examples of a couple fun food issue sets. on the left is the 1976 Hostess Set, with Red-White-Blue stripes in honor of the bicentennial. On the right is a 1971 Milk Duds card of Tony Oliva. The first card I picked up from this set was a Boog Powell, but I didn't even know what it was at the time. Once I figured out what the set was, I was able to track down Tony O!

Day Twenty Four - 1961 Peter's Meats Elmer Valo #12

Day 24: A Favorite Oddball From the 1960s

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the twenty-fourth of 30 posts, using the prompts provided. I won't necessarily post one every day, but I will do one for each card, toss in a few "insights" (as insightful as I can be, anyway), and usually include an honorable mention or two, just because I'm like that.

Here's my pick - this is a recent addition, which I found more or less accidentally. You know the 1961 Topps Harmon Killebrew card? Capless with a sweaty forehead. The card makes him look older than his age, and it's one of my least favorite cards of all time. I was toying with the idea of making a custom replacement, so I did a Google Image search for "1961 Twins Killebrew" and as I was scrolling through the pictures, I found a Peter's Meat card of a different Twin. Now I was even more curious. So I went on eBay and did a search for Peter's Meats 1961 and there were several different players for sale. The biggest surprise of all was this Elmer Valo card, which I didn't even know existed. His '61 Topps card is also capless, like Killebrew, so this might be the only card that features Valo in a Twins uniform (even if it is airbrushed).  

Since these are basically one card posts, why not share the ba---- aah! Gross. Hot Dog sweat from 1961.

A couple honorable mentions:

1960 Bazooka! I would like to try to build this set some day - maybe after I finish a few others.

1962 Post! Don't have any designs on building this set, but I am a fan of this card.

Day Twenty Three - 1952 Berk Ross Minnie Minoso

Day 23: A Favorite Oddball From the 1950s

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the twenty-third of 30 posts, using the prompts provided. I won't necessarily post one every day, but I will do one for each card, toss in a few "insights" (as insightful as I can be, anyway), and usually include an honorable mention or two, just because I'm like that.

Here's my pick- I don't have very many oddball cards from the 1950s, but even if I did, I would probably still pick this one. Minnie Minoso is one of the most fascinating players from the 50s, and 60's, and 70s, and 80s, and 90s! I first heard about him when he pinch hit in a game for the Saint Paul Saints in 1993 at the age of 67(?). When I started collecting again in 2014, Minoso was one of the first players I actively sought out. The Berk Ross "Hit Parade of Champions" had some big names like Mantle, Jackie, Musial, Yogi, DiMaggio, Ted Williams - but Minoso is the one I have and the one I was excited to find! 

Since these are essentially one card posts, why not share the backs as well? Baseball Reference shows Minoso's birth year as 1925, the cards passed out at his memorial service stated "1924-2015" - and the Berk Ross card says 1923. Berk Ross cards are about the same size as 51 and 52 Bowman, not a lot of room for stats. But they were able to include one line for each player. His 1951 average was good for second in the AL, while he did lead the league in Triples and Stolen Bases, while finishing second in the Rookie of the Year voting to Gil MacDougald of the New York Yankees.

Day Twenty Two - 1969 Topps Stan Bahnsen #380

Day 22: A Card of a Common Player That Always Seemed To Elude You

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the twenty-second of 30 posts, using the prompts provided. I won't necessarily post one every day, but I will do one for each card, toss in a few "insights" (as insightful as I can be, anyway), and usually include an honorable mention or two, just because I'm like that.

Here's my pick. It's hard to call any card from the 60s "common" by today's standards, but this was the last card I needed to bring my Topps All-Star Rookie set up to date. I might have been able to find this card sooner if I had been looking for it specifically, but I had a random shotgun approach to building this mini collection. By the time I was down to the last 5 cards, I decided to take care of it in one afternoon at a card show. I was able to find two from the first table, then 1 each at the next two vintage tables. Stan Bahnsen was still missing! Sure, I could have just bought it on eBay or Sportlots or COMC, but instead I just kept going to shows. It took three more shows before someone had it in stock!
 

Since these are basically one card posts, why not share the backs, too? Bahnsen, like many young pitchers in the 60s and 70s, started out with impressive numbers, but ran into arm trouble after a heavy workload. You can see the promise that Bahnsen had back in the late 60s.

Honorable mentions:

uh oh. I vaguely remember putting these two cards in as place holders, but I thought for sure that I had replaced them with the real deal. Well... I didn't!

Turns out I still need these two Red Sox from the flagship set, because I only have the team set version! Any Boston fans need these? I think I have the whole team set from 2008 (obviously out of the blister pack now), so I would trade the set for these two as regular Topps base cards. I guess there are two commons that continue to elude me!