2001 UPPER DECK DECADE 1970s GAME USED PART XXV

 

                 "Now Batting #44 Hank Aaron......" As I mentioned in the previous post of this series I will share with you 44 Facts that you may or may not knew about Hank Aaron cause without a doubt Hank makes the set despite playing from 1970 to 1976 during the decade. Now on with the facts let me know in the comments below if does deserve to be in the line-up as well how many of the facts did you know as well how many your amazed that you learned something from this. 

               1. Henry Louis Aaron (Hank) was born February 5,1934 while George Herman Ruth (Babe) who was born February 6,1895 it was also in 1934 was Babe's last season with the New York Yankees. Somehow both of these players have a lot more in common then you think, keep reading to see what I mean.

2. Henry Louis Aaron (Hank) shares the same first & middle names as fellow Hall of Fame member Henry Louis Gehrig who was a teammate of Babe Ruth. Aaron wore mainly 44 (Even though he broke in the majors wearing 5) while Gehrig wore 4. 

3. Hank Aaron started his career with the Milwaukee Braves & ended it with the Milwaukee Brewers. Babe Ruth Started with the Boston Red Sox & ended with the Boston Braves. Basically they started in 1 city & ended in the same city but with a different league. 

4. Aaron's first opponent during the regular season in the American League was the Boston Red Sox in 1975. In the Post Season it was New York Yankees for which was in 1957 (75 reversed). Both were teams that the Babe played for. 

5. Hank broke into the majors wearing this number as I mentioned before.

6. Hank was elected to a record 25 All-Star games as a player from 1955 to 1975 which includes a stretch from 1959 to 1962 which featured 2 All-Star games those seasons.

7. In 1972 the All-Star Game was in Atlanta Hank was with Braves representing them. Then in 1975 the All-Star Game was in Milwaukee he was with the Brewers representing them to where when they introduced him gave him arousing standing ovation from the fans in his final All-Star game as a player.

8. Hank hit a total of 2 Home Runs in All-Star play. 1971 in Detroit at Tigers Stadium & in 1972 as the formention game in front of hometown fans of Atlanta. 

9. Hank played in 2 World Series 1957 & 1958 the opponent each time was the New York Yankees. Both series went to the limited 7 games with the Braves winning it 1957 & the Yankees doing it in 1958.

10. Hank hit a total of 6 Home Runs in the World Series 3 each in 1957 & 1958 respectively. 

11. Hank hit 3 Home Runs in the very first National League Championship series 1 for each of the 3 games in the best of 5 series unfortunately the Braves were swept by the Miracle Mets that year it was the last post season that Hank was part of. Another interesting fact both the Braves & Brewers were part of the 1982 ALCS & NLCS that year which was the same year Hank was elected to Cooperstown.

12. As I mentioned in #11 Hank was elected to Coopertstown in 1982. He was inducted with Frank Robinson,Travis Jackson & former Commissioner Happy Chandler. He received 97.8% of the ballots on his first ballot, while Frank Robinson received 89.2% on his first ballot. Jackson was elected by the Veterans Committee & Chandler the same way through the Veterans Committee.

13. Their class hit a total of 1,432 Career Home Runs which is near the top of career Home Runs for any class elected to the Hall. The top Class for most Home Runs the 2018 Class hit a total 1,716 that class consisted of Chipper Jones (468) , Jim Thome (612) , Vladimir Guerrero Sr. (449) , Alan Trammell (185), Trevor Hoffman (2 Not bad for a relief pitcher eh!!!!) , Jack Morris ( 0  what can ya say he pitched in the American League this is why we don't need a DH for stats like this people). 

14.  Hank has ex-teammates that are in Cooperstown with him. They're Joe Torre,Eddie Matthews, Phil Niekro,Robin Yount,Orlando Cepeda,Warren Spahn,Hoyt Wilhelm,Red Schoendiest,Enos Slaughter

15. Hank is 1 of 12 people who have 2 or more jerseys retired by different teams not counting the universal Jackie Robinson #42.

16. The other 11 are Wade Boggs #26 retired from Boston Red Sox & #12 from Tampa Bay Rays, Rollie Fingers #34 both from Athletics & Milwaukee Brewers, Rod Carew #29 both from the Minnesota Twins & Angels, Carlton Fisk (Did you read about him in the series) #27 from the Boston Red Sox & #72 for the Chicago White Sox, Frank Robinson #20 for the Cincinnati Reds,Baltimore Orioles, & Cleveland Guardians (Indians when he played for them), Gil Hodges #14 for Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers & New York Mets, Roy Halladay #32 for the Toronto Blue Jays & #34 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Willie Mays #24 for the New York/San Francisco Giants & New York Mets, Nolan Ryan(Stay Tuned he is featured in this line-up in the future) #30 for the Los Angeles Angels(California when he played) & #34 for Houston Astros & Texas Rangers, Greg Maddux #31 by both Chicago Cubs & Atlanta Braves, Reggie Jackson (A future post about him in the series) #9 by the Athletics & #44 for the New York Yankees, Randy Johnson #51 by the Arizona Diamondbacks & Seattle Mariners, Casey Stengel #37 by both the New York Yankees & New York Mets, & finally Sparky Anderson #10 by the Cincinnati Reds #11 by the Detroit Tigers.

16. Hank's iconic #44 was first retired after he played his last game in 1976 by the Milwaukee Brewers in October of 1976.

17. The Atlanta Braves retired his #44 in 1977 in my opinion it should have been done in 1974 after he passed The Babe in career home runs at the time. 

18. A right-handed pitcher for the Detroit Tigers named Bill Slayback & along with the Tigers radio broadcaster Ernie Harwell co-wrote with Bill singing on the record a song entitled "Move Over Babe,(Here Comes Henry)" the funny thing about the record it was released on Karen Records label #K-714 it was released in 1973 after the season when Hank was 2 home runs short of the record. Also when Bill broke into the majors his jersey was #44 before swapping it out to #14.

19. Vic Raschi of the St Louis Cardinals gave up the 1st of Henry's 755 home runs on April 23, 1954.

20. On April 4th 1974 in Cincinnati off Jack Billingham of Cincinnati Reds in the 1st inning Hank tied Babe Ruth's career record of Home Runs by hitting #714.

21. On April 8th 1974 in Atlanta off Al Downing of Los Angeles Dodgers in the 4th inning broke the record by hitting #715 & Downing wore #44 

22. On July 20th 1976 off Dick Drago of the California Angels by hitting #755 the last of his career in bottom of the 7th inning 50 years ago this week.

23. Hank once was quoted saying this: "Guessing what the pitcher is going to throw is 80% of being successful hitter. The other 20% is just execution."

24. From 1962 through 1971 the Braves had 2 Aarons on the roster his baby brother Tommie was a teammate of Hank.

25. Tommie had 13 Home Runs in his Major League career. 

26. Hank was married 2 times his first wife was named Barbara Lucas they were married in 1953 & they had 5 children they divorced in 1971 she passed away in 2022.  His second wife was named Billye Williams they were married in 1973 up until 2021 when Hank passed away they had 1 child that Hank adopted it was her second marriage as well.

27. Hank was also quoted saying this: "The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat. So the percentage in weapons is in my favor & I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting."

28. On April 27,1971 off fellow Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry in the 8th inning against the San Francisco Giants Hank joined Willie Mays being the only 2 players to have over 600+ career Home Runs & 3000+ career hits.  

29. Willie Mays on the for mentioned game in #28 went 4 for 6 that day with zero home runs while Hank went 2 for 5. His other hit was a double also off Perry. 

30. Since that for mentioned game in #28 2 players have done it they are Albert Pujols & Alex Rodriguez.

31. Hank got his 3000th career Hit off Wayne Simpson of Cincinnati Reds on May 17th 1970 at Crosley Field in 1st inning of the first game of a double header played that day. 

32. 1 month later Atlanta would play on June 21st at Crosley Field for the last time then 9 days later they helped open Riverfront Stadium. 

33. Hank of course hit the very first Home Run at Riverfront Stadium in the 1st inning off of Jim McGlothlin it was his #577 of his career. It helped the Braves win the game 8-2 victory.

34. Hank again was quoted saying this: "If I knew exactly what I know now & had it to do it over, I'd be a switch hitter. No telling what I could have done." 

35. Hank was 1 of over 10000 torch barriers to carry the torch relay for the Olympic Games that were in Atlanta in 1996. The actual lighting of the Olympic Flame went to Muhammad Ali.

36. Hank finished with 755 Career Home Runs his record in Major League was later surpassed by Barry Bonds on August 7, 2007. Barry ended up with 762 career Home runs. 

37. Sadaharu Oh holds the World League record of hitting 868 Career Home Runs mind you all Oh's Homers was playing in the NPB. He surpassed Hank's record on September 3rd, 1977. Oh would play from April 11, 1959 to October 12th, 1980. Oh believe it or not wouldn't have over 3,000 career hits in his career he ended up having only 2,786 (another weird fact Ichiro Suzuki had 3,089 in the Major Leagues & only 1,278 in the NPB).

38. Hank in an interview in 1973 after the season once said: "I don't want them to forget Ruth. I just want them to remember me!"

39. When Hank played in the Negro Leagues he was a shortstop for the Indianapolis Clowns. Where he hit a total of 5 Home Runs in only 26 games. 

40. Hank would bat cross-handed when swung the bat. Meaning he would have his left hand on top of his right hand cause he was a right-handed batter.

41. 5 times Hank would lead off as card #1 for Topps sets. 1963 National League Leaders Batting Average,1973 showing the All-Time Home Run Leaders,1974 Honoring him as the All-Time Home Run King, 1975 Honoring Hank as the National League All-Star as well surpassing the Babe & was his last card as an Atlanta Brave he also was the last card in the set showcasing his first card as a Milwaukee Brewer whom Hank was traded to for Dave May on November 2,1974, 1976  Record breaker for most RBIs in his career. 

42. Hank once said his idol of the game was the man himself that this #42 is his hero none other than Jackie Robinson.

43. The most Home Runs ever hit in a game was 3 ironically it came on June 21,1959 against the San Francisco Giants. During the game Hank went 3 for 6 1 strike out while Willie Mays went 1 for 5 that day the Braves won the game 13-3.

44. Finally Hank hit 44 Home Runs 4 different times in a season the most he hit was 47 back the 1971 but the times he hit 44 are as follows 1957,1963,1966,1969.  

This Ball was part of payment for being an appraisal consultant from a friend of mine its on an official American League Ball when Dr. Bobby Brown was in charge.

                  That concludes the 44 things of Hank Aaron, I hope ya did learn something next up in the lineup of this series is Hal McRae by the way were at the halfway mark in this set only 24 more names to mention & who I think should have been in the set of these bats from the 1970s.
               
                            I think its fitting that Hank leaves you with a quote especially after reading all those facts about him mind ya he said this after hitting #715 & I have to agree after typing these up "Thank God its all over......"

SHE'S NOT EVEN A DAY OVER 60

 

         This woman yesterday turned 104 years old. All I can say is happy birthday a day late. For you see this lady is a legend she is history,a former nurse,a mother of 3 children. She is Rachel Robinson.

                                                If you ask me she doesn't look any older than 60.


                 Back in 2010 I was visiting my friend Greg from The Collective Mind blog at the time he was living in Maryland. We went to a used bookstore called Wonder Books where I could locate some old books to add to my library of reading. Besides collecting cards I usually read a lot of books about baseball & so I came across this book written by this wonderful lady. At first I didn't think much of it but if ya look closely its a signed copy of the book by her. I went home without purchasing it I can hear ya say ya fool how could ya do that. Au Contraire Mon Frere I didn't have enough $$$$ to afford everything I wanted during my 2 weeks after all I was there to check out places like there & attend the National the second week cause it was being held in Baltimore that year & I didn't want to be broke completely.  Anyways when I got back home I reached out to Greg & I mentioned about the book if its still there could he mail it to me cause I wasn't sure if many people saw it or not but as someone who likes autographs especially from an elite class of a lady that she is I couldn't turn it down. So he went back to the store called me up & asked me what was the book again when I told him about whom the book was about he went directly to find it & mailed it after he told me it was only $10 that's not a typo folks thats what he told me it cost $10 so I was very excited to own this piece of history. So tell me my readers would ya have gotten this book knowing it had a rare signature of the widow of a great man that doesn't do many signings & now she's at 104 years young & still going strong. 

Best $10 book with an autograph I couldn't pass up.

                    As you know I normally end my posts with a quote from Rogers Hornsby however I find it fitting that Rachel's Husband should end this post to the birthday girl. "Above anything else, I hate to lose." Well Jackie ya never lost her she's been a winner Happy Birthday Mrs. Rachel Robinson!!!!!!

IN 2 WEEKS I SHOULD BE THERE BUT CAN'T 😭 THANKS DOLLAR GENERAL

 

              Normally around this time I would be doing a countdown to gearing up to the National Sports Card Convention in Rosemont, Illinois this year. But I am not attending it thanks for nothing Dollar General 🤬. I am hoping next summer to go to the show also no matter what I definitely will attending the 2028 National when it returns to Detroit for the 1st time since 1981 (No!!!!! I didn't attend that show cause I was 6 years old when it was going on) cause I won't have to deal with hotel costs when it comes to Detroit instead I'll be staying at Home Sweet Home.

      Instead I will be working at A&W or maybe I will be shadowing at 3 Kings Sports Cards (I'm still waiting for them otherwise you hear from me sooner than before).  I'll continue to blog discussing cards with you as well try to finish my Hank Aaron post on his 2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970s Bat Piece. Trying to figure out 44 interesting things about him that most people wouldn't know about is been fun to figure out. If any of my readers are attending this years National please drop me a line so I can have ya try to locate somethings for me if you could please pick them up for me if ya come across them.  Until then I remind you of Rogers Hornsby once saying "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."

WE 3 KINGS PART II & CALLING OUT READERS

 

Well I thought I give you readers on an update on my interview that I had with 3 Kings Sports Cards in Michigan last week Wednesday.  In my opinion I think I did alright answering the questions about my experience at Dollar General as well card related factors even though the interview was a bit nerve-wracking cause I was told that I have a great chance on going to the next stage of the process of getting hired that I will either get an email scheduling for when I can shadow someone at the shop or a sorry old guy even though you have experience in retail & a vast knowledge of sports cards were going to see if someone else can do it better email. Either way I feel like an award winner nominee honored to get an interview even though I was more nervous about getting to the place where it was taking place at on time cause I took a side route & after I got off the expressway I ran into accident turned on the street I was going on. 

So I got to 3 Kings on time with about 5 minutes to spare. Walked in went directly to the register to see how soon it was so if someone was there I could wait by going through their boxes to find stuff I was told just a 2 minute wait so I wasn't able to rumble through the boxes maybe next time I can rumble through them or locate the other shop & see what they have compared to the location I've only been at either location I want to see if I can find more good things for myself other bloggers or friends that are looking for me to help with their lists (You know its 90% others get found compared to my lists.) So again I am playing the waiting game no matter what happens I will let you my readers know what they decide to do. Again I want to thank you my readers & especially those 6 (at the time I am typing this post up while at my A&W job on Saturday) people that commented on my quest.  

Now I know that he's not a blogger but enjoying coffee reading blogs but, Mr. R.J. Stahl I was wondering if you that's right I'm calling you out 😆 if you had a chance to look over my lists & are able to locate anything from it if you are tell me in the comments below & lmk at my email address shown here SR75OSUFAN75 AT YAHOO.COM in the subject heading in all CAPS RJ STAHL EMAILS POISON75 & if possible no spreadsheets since my only access to the internet is through my phone send me your list of needs as well your home address so you can be rewarded by me should I find some things you want. I also want you my readers that if I don't get the job its not going to stop me from posting more content as well helping people with their needs cause again I know the agony of locating that 1 card(s) that has been driving yourself crazy in finding it plus even though there's times I am not looking I find something for someone & am not afraid to reach out to them about it that's right even if I am on the road & stop at a shop,show or find a flea market or antique store & they have cards & I spot something that somehow someone was talking about or sent me their lists & I find that 1 thing I either will text them if I know they will answer or call them tell them what I found & if they want me to pick it up for them in hopes that they are interested in it thats right I'm calling you out the legend bloggers Mr. Fuji 😆 as well Mr Bo anyways I leave to get this post out so ya can read it while ya reading this I'll be heading to my folks cottage for a day trip maybe if I see any yard sales or something & be warn a hunter of cards like me is on the trail until then I leave you the words of Rogers Hornsby " Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign Autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a communist."

WE 3 KINGS CARDS COLLECTING I GO....

 

         About 2 weeks ago there's was a surprise in my email from the shop you see advertised on top of my post. Usually its telling me as a member of an upcoming trade nights or what's being released or information about something hobby related.  Well....this email was asking for applications for to work at their 2 locations if possible if interested drop your resume off to a link that was set up. 

           Well....I just had to submit my resume to see if they could hire someone like me let alone set up an interview with me. So the next day I drove to the location of 1 of the 2 shops (1 is Located in Canton,Michigan which is 75.2 miles away from my home the other is located in the heart of downtown Detroit about 88.7 miles away). While I was there I brought out my lists to look for stuff was there until they closed at 7pm. I Mentioned I put in my resume to them hoping they will take a look at it especially since I'm 51 as most of you readers know thats 1 thing so far against me they probably wouldn't want an old guy like me knowing too much about cards. Then comes last week Friday was getting to send an email to my friend in Austria to give him grief on how the Yankees were swept by the Tigers since he's a huge Yankees fan. When I saw a notice that from 3 Kings again I thought up coming news well....not necessarily instead they said they want to have me schedule a time next week for an interview. I almost spit out my 6 cup of "coffee" (those who don't read Coffee with Cards blog Matt is a great read hopefully he doesn't mind me plugging his blog lol.) & when I say "Coffee" its actually Pepsi 1 liter bottles. Anyways so I tried to schedule an appointment that I was free on the calendar that they had me try to schedule wasn't working properly so I quickly called them mentioned it didn't work as I was talking to them I mentioned that I hope that I can let them know when I was available since I didn't know my schedule for my current job was going to be like & I didn't want to schedule a day that had me go to the interview directly to my current job cause I rather not be late so on Monday I got an updated email they fixed the calendar so my appointment for my interview is at 5:30pm today. I know some of my loyal readers & friends are already saying that I hope you get the job cause who knows alot about cards & things like you. Its good to know that I have support from other bloggers that understand what it would mean to me should they hire me. I also hope that realize that I'm willing to drive a long distance to work 5 out 7 days a week to work 40hrs if possible to show how much working at sports card shop would mean to me. So as your reading this I am hoping not get too nervous about the interview & even though my blog is 2 years old I can continue to do this blog as well have a dream job that I mentioned back in March of this year that I always wanted since becoming a Major League Ballplayer didn't work out when I was in high school. I will post how the interview went & if I am hired or not you my readers will know what happens next. So I leave you to head to the interview now & remind you of what Rogers Hornsby once said about signing Autographs " Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign an Autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."

HAPPY 250 YEARS OLD AMERICA

 

                   As Brent Musburger would say "Your Looking live at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia in 1976 where days earlier America celebrated its Bicentential celebration. Tonight's Major League Baseball All-Star Game will take center stage here in the city of Brotherly Love." Sure we celebrate 250 years today & the All-Star Game is in Philadelphia this year. Well its been 30 years since the last All-Star Game was in Philadelphia & sure most of you old school people know who was the MVP of that game 30 years ago it was Philadelphia's native son Mike Piazza. I am not here to talk about that, what I am going to talk about that most people overlooked again on this year's Topps Heritage. I can hear ya already saying what are you going on about now. 
Simple the 2026 Heritage set is based on the 1977 design & in that set there were 3 players on the American League squad from the year before that were a shocker to the starting line-up for the American League team that year considering that the team that was featured with the 3 starters were for a team that finished in 17th place out of 24 teams & well that same team had 4 Starters named to the All-Star game last year. What team is that you ask the Detroit Tigers look at the 1976 All-Stars starters Mark Fidrych,Rusty Staub,& Ron LeFlore now last year ya had Tarik Skubal,Riley Greene,Javier Baez,Gleyber Torres as of typing this post the Tigers are in 17th place out of 30 teams now. Its like history repeating itself again now the clincher would be if last years All-Star game MVP repeats as MVP again but it be a 30 year replay again however even though Kyle Schwarber is not a native son like Piazza was but hes playing for the local team & both are catchers.  Anyways I just wanted to say to everyone have a safe & enjoy the celebration as for me Ill be busy working tonight gotta make some more $$$$$ to get more stuff I leave you now with a quote that sums up the 250 celebration given by none other than former Soviet Union deportee who's an American citizen now Yakov Smirnoff "America what a great country"

2026 NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS UPDATED!!!!!

 

Its July 1st lets see how I am doing so far from what I wanted to accomplished in 2026.

1. Finish my 1967 Topps set by the end of the 2026 National Sports Card Convention in July.
Well if you don't count the Damn card #128 Ed Spiezo rubbed out name I have it done as of June 12th. 

2. Post more on the Blog or keep having readers enjoy my content.
49 posts counting this one hopefully I am not boring anyone with the content I have provided on the 2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970's single bat pieces so far.

3. Other than finishing the 1967 set finish off 5 or more sets before the National.
Hockey
`81/`82 TCMA Greats -June 12th
`08/`09 Ultra- June 5th
`10/`11 Donruss- June 5th

Baseball
1967 Topps(DESPITE SPIEZO!!!!!!!)- June 12th

Basketball
`25/`26 Topps 
`03/`04 Topps- January 3rd 

So far 6 sets complete lots of them on the verge of being completed soon hopefully more trades will come so I can cross more off my lists so please readers look at my lists I look through yours!!!!!

4. Do once a month post an update on my 1968 set make.
I think I have so far done an update usually once a month on the progress of what I have picked up.

5. Go to the Chantily Show in June & the National in Chicago in July.
They moved the Chantily Show to a different location waiting to hear back from The Collective Mind Blogger when he can tell me in during the winter where they moved too plus losing 2 jobs so far as this being written I couldn't attend the National this year. 

6. Post on my Man Cave Decor before the MLB All-Star Game. 
I think I showed off my Bar Mirrors in January still haven't hung them up yet. 

7. Hold at least 3 Card contests on the Blog.
Held one so far & yes I know Mike From Not Another Card Blog I still have yet to mailed it out you 

8. Give an update on a post that I made last year to hear the latest comments on the subject.
I just might GUM!!!!!! it up again for the All-Star Game *EVIL CHUCKLES!!!!!!*

9. Try to make a purchase of a `79/`80 Topps Hockey #18 or `03/`04 Upper Deck or Topps RC of LeBron James. Haven't yet purchased the Hockey card or the `03/`04 Upper Deck RC of LeBron James but I did get the Topps RC back in January see my January 4th post on completion.

10. Don't start anything other than the flagship 2026 Topps Baseball set until I can finish off 2 or more sets that I am currently working on.  Haven't started the Flagship set more than likely Ill get the factory set when its released been too busy finishing off sets as well adding new stuff & only 2026 set I am currently involved with is the 2026 Topps Heritage.