WHAT IF..........PART III

                                                            

                     This is a series I have along with some of my baseball experts that talk in a round table discussions about topics that we question as we take historical aspects of the game & if we can change an outcome in history. In my first part of this series in August we took a look at "What If the San Diego Padres Moved After the 1973 Season." I was surprised that 3 comments were made even though Bo corrected himself making 4 comments I still was surprised in how well it was portrayed.  In the second part of this series in October we took a look at "What If Dennis Eckersley Didn't Serve up a HR to Kirk Gibson in 1988." So I hope you're ready to change history again.

                      Today marks the 52nd Anniversary of the passing of a great humanitarian of the game of baseball. He was voted to Copperstown in 1973 posthumously after his tragic death trying to send earthquake aid to Nicaragua victims.  He was the 1966 National League's MVP, 1971 World Series MVP,  15 time All-Star player, 12 times he won a Gold Glove with his cannon of a right arm Vladimir Guerrero Sr. Modeled his game after this great player. He was a 4 Time National League Batting Champion, He was a 2 time World Champion for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1960 & 1971) even though he was first signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers & the Pirates were able to steal him as he was going to remain hidden in the Dodgers system. As you can see from the card that shows his complete career batting record but on September 30, 1972 the Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh against the New York Mets pitcher Jon Matlack in the bottom of the 4th inning lined a double down the line giving him a total of 3000 hits lifetime I am talking about Roberto Clemente Walker. His famous #21 was retired in 1973 prior to the Pirates home Opening Day game against the St. Louis Cardinals (Pirates won the game 7-5).

                    Now this topic came to our group in discussion back in 1998 when we were told Topps was going to do a special reprinted insert much like it did in the last 2 years of Mickey Mantle back in 1996 & 1997 & Willie Mays in 1997. We discussed what would happened had Roberto's plane hadn't crashed what events do we see unfold in Clemente's career did he stay in Pittsburgh or did he move on. I will share with you our insights & I like to have my readers again take a moment cause there again no right or wrong answer to the question I am asking. Just do you agree with the round table or maybe you have a different look at what might occurred again this is your chance to change the outcome.

                   The group said the Pirates in the winter meetings were getting calls for Roberto's services if he like to extend his career in the American League unforunately the Pirates waited for the right offer to convince them to trade Roberto. Then Pirates brass had 2 offers from 2 different American League suitors the first was from no surprise newly new owner of the New York Yankees George Steinbrenner who was willing to trade Bobby Murcer,Roy White & Rick Dempsey for Roberto & Manny Sanguillen Dave Parker. The other suitor was from the Singing cowboy Mr Gene Autry & the California Angels they offered Leroy Stanton,Bobby Valentine & Mickey Rivers along with a cash sum of $500,000.00  for Roberto & Jackie Hernandez  then in a different deal Autry was going to trade Frank Robinson to Cleveland so they could make him 2 years earlier the teams new manager. So the Pirates approached Roberto with the choices. Roberto selected that he preferred warmer weather over New York cause he felt with warmer weather similar to his homeland of Puerto Rico. He played in about 154 of the Angels games that year as DH putting up an average of .278 hitting 19 HRs 90 RBIs giving him a total of 3,103 hits then he played the 1974 season playing only in 45 games struggling hitting a .220 with 3 HRs ending with 3,120 career hits with the last one coming off in Detroit off of Lerrin LaGrow in a 5-3 lost to the Tigers on June 9th then he quietly went back to Puerto Rico to enjoy retirement.   

          Then in a few days after Game 7 of the 1975 World Series  Danny Murtaugh the Pirates Manager talked about his successor so he talked to the Pirate Brass & said how about bringing back Roberto as a bench coach then for the 1976 season make him Manager. Unforunately Danny suffered a stroke & died before the Brass made their choice they later made a trade with Oakland in trading Sanguillen for Chuck Tanner. Chuck thought having Roberto as a bench coach wasn't a bad idea so they asked him he stayed as bench coach until the 1981 Season when he was elected to the Hall of Fame on the 1st ballot his jersey was retired the same day Willie Stargell retired from the game in 1982. Roberto lived for another 25 years before passing away in his sleep. 

             Now my readers I leave you with my famous quote from Rogers Hornsby who was asked what he thought about signing Autographs for kids "Any ballplayer who doesn't signs autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."

THAT'S A GREAT WAY TO PRESTART THE UP COMING YEAR

                     Just recently I made a deal on Sportscardforum.com  where a person named Celts Fan who message me about having more than 70% of the `02/`03 Fleer Tradition set. He went on to mentioned he could knock out a bunch off my basketball wantlists. I am in the process of updating my site with all that he sent me so with that I am so thankful for you Celts Fan. He knocked off a bunch of my `03/`04 Upper Deck,`97/`98 Skybox Premium,`96/`97 Skybox Premium,`96/`97 Metal,`94/`95 Skybox E-Motion Inserts as well the 2 remaining base cards of Horace Grant & Mark Price,`96/`97 Stadium,`96/`97 Topps Stars including all 3 Michael Jordans from that set. It truly was amazing to receive this box prior to the new year. 

              This is what I called a very successful trade I got a bunch of things I normally would have years & years of struggling in trying to complete some of these but now I am inching closer on some in completing while one set the `98/`99 Topps Basketball set is done & even though I need 1 card #173 of the `02/`03 Fleer Tradition is almost done. 

              I always like when I finish off a set cause then I can look at them & remember the struggles in finding that last card or pulling that superstar. Speaking of superstars I am reminded by Rogers Hornsby who when talking about autographs for little kids said. "Any ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, he's a Communist." 

FINALLY WORKED ON IT

             I got a message from a friend of mine at Sportscardforum.com  asking me when I was going to showcase pictures of the People Whom I Have Met as well show pictures of when I was at the Chantilly show when I first started my blog. Well I finally got most of the pictures up on there but here's the story of this man. 

          This is Pedro Sierra he played in the Negro Leagues. He had just returned from Alabama attending Willie Mays's funeral as well taking in the Negro Game that was played there in June.

                   He was very nice to talk to. He was amazed in my knowledge of what all I knew about the Negro Leagues, again who isn't amazed of what I know about baseball these days. I asked him how much he was charging to sign he said free with each purchase of any photo or ball he had on his table as long as I didn't plan to resell it on ebay. I reassured him I wasn't going to resell it instead give the extra autographs to a friend of mine who collects signatures of ex-ballplayers as well mainly that played in Negro Leagues & collecting cut signatures of players who played in the old Federal League (1913-1915). Pedro was honored that I wanted to get his signature & I then proceeded to tell him that he might be featured in my blog when I am not sure so I am hoping come April of next year when the Chantily shows rolls into to the Washington D.C. area again & Pedro is set up someone will show him this blog entry so he knows that I kept my word. 

              One thing I told Pedro while he was signing for me I mentioned a famous quote by Rogers Hornsby "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, he's a Communist" & his remark was "He's right" Thank again Mr. Sierra. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

                    

                 This might be a short blog post but I want to say on behalf of myself & my Furry daughter Sage we want to wish you & your families a Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad  

SSSSSHHHH!!!  She's waiting for Santa to deliver her more of her card needs.

Until then remember Rogers Hornsby once said about autographs "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, he's a Communist."

6 MONTHS AGO THE JOURNEY BEGAN

               It's hard to believe that I started this blog 6 months ago when I was visiting my friend Greg from Maryland & blogger of The Collective Mind. I am amazed in how well my voice in the hobby is heard in this format. Usually Greg hears a lot of it cause we talk a bunch about cards that we get in the mail or at a show or at shop etc...... We also talk about other things don't get me wrong, but we talk about our beloved sports teams. We also talk about how sometimes my girlfriend drives me insane or I drove her to it.  As well Greg's other passion his beloved old time cars his Buick shown here back in June 

                    That's us in the car. I didn't dare to step behind the wheel cause I didn't want to break his brake or put a hole on his gas pedal with my gigantic big feet. 

                I have a co-worker at Dollar General that is on TikTok & he keeps wanting me to go on it & do a show on my collection & view points. The thing is no one wants to see this old geezer YES!!!! Greg I know you're older than me & so are some of the others like Night Owl, Angels Tom, Fuji to name a few. But the truth is I feel older when I talk about cards to others who were around when the hobby was simpler.  So I just want to say thank you for allowing me to be part of your reading I will try my best to create this blog a fun place to come to whether its having more contests to win some strange prizes from my collection or helping you find some of the things you might be needing. In closing I am leaving my readers to tell me should I change my ending of my post or should I just continue with my usual quote from Rogers Hornsby about signing for kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American He's a Communist." 

I'M SURPRISED NO ONE SAW THE THEN & NOW

                   In my last post I talked about the pick ups on Sunday at the show in Livonia funny thing is I was talking with my friend Greg about the posting of the these 2 things & I'm still searching for the blogger responder that's looking for the promotional sheet. If somehow that person doesn't show up I already have someone asking for the sheet & I know it will be going to a great home but I still want this person to step forward before I do anything else. What surprised me was when Greg mentioned that I picked up a Baker/Paciorek/Baylor RC as well a sheet that had both Baker & Paciorek kinda like a then & now type thing.

Rookie Card back in the 1971 is the Then.

12 years later both were still Active but with a different team as the Now.

              With 2025 just around the corner I celebrate my 35th Anniversary of making sets. The other day I found my old spiral notebook that was my first effort in making a wantlists. I would have made boxes of cards I needed then mark them off the list with a red marker once I located them. I would had resorted to having the latest Beckett with me to tell me how many cards were in a set or the yearly annual if it was a set that wasn't featured in the monthly magazine. Now with modern technology & access to the TCDB I can save time in looking up stuff putting in names when needed as well knowing how many are in the sets. I still have a huge massive collection of every Beckett made in baseball. 

Beckett 1st Issue I own Then.

Beckett Latest Issue I own Now.

Back in 1990 I remembered that I was making the 1967 Topps set & I am still now as the time of this posting I didn't know anything about variants then but now I have almost all of them I still like to find that Ed Spiezio as well the Brooks Robinson & Tom Seaver. Other sets I was making then was the 1976 Topps set I finished that set in 1998 another set back then was the 1983 Fleer I recall getting the Ryne Sandberg RC as the very last card to complete my set that winter. 

 I then started to collect hockey as my 2nd sport starting off with the `90/`91 Topps set. Now I am trying to complete my `21/`22 Upper Deck set as my latest set in hockey sets. 

When I can find young guns for a reasonable price I'm excited.

 With only 1 football box given to me by a friend whom I was helping out at a local show as payment for helping him was the 1990 Fleer only to complete it in 1992 when I was able to afford the Update set. Now I am trying to complete my Topps set runs lacking the 2001,2009,2013,2014 set respectively.

             When I made the 1990 Pro-Set set I had a friend who helped me with getting this Dickerson for $20 back in 1992 then just last year I was able to locate a 2nd copy at a show for $5.

           I didn't start making basketball sets until 1993 when I started the `90/`91 Hoops set & the `90/`91 Fleer set the Hoops set still remains not finished cause of variants. But the Fleer set I was able to complete with just 1 box plus I was able to find the update set for a cheap price of $1. As for now I am struggling to find King James `03/`04 Topps & `03/`04 Upper Deck RCs respectively. 

Still 1 my favorite completed sets 

For $1 I though this was a steal.

Well that's my take on a Then & Now type of a post I look forward to what lies ahead of me next year who knows maybe in 2025 I might be able to complete more of my needs until then I am reminded what Rogers Hornsby once said about signing autographs for little kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign for little kids isn't an American, he's a Communist."

A GIANT LEAP ON SUNDAY

                      Last Sunday I went to my monthly show outside the Detroit area in a town called Livonia. Usually when I go to this show I am rushed to shop around & try to make it back to work on time. Well....thanks to some fancy talking to a co-worker who didn't work much the weekend before wanted to get a few more hours this week not a problemo in my eyes so he was scheduled to come in at 3 & me at 1 so & even though I have a paper in my bosses office that says Days I like To Start Later If Possible even with the date she still scheduled me at 1pm. I convinced him to switch he was happy about the switch so was I cause I hate rush shopping cause it can lead up to some major goofs in getting gremlins on my lists meaning I get doubles of cards I have or I go blind if I find a vein of stuff I am interested in or don't have enough time to get to certain dealers that have things I might want to look through. 

Not a bad pick up for $5 eh!!!

               The giant leap on Sunday pertains to the find I got one table this dealer had a nice lot of the 1964 Topps Giants set that I am currently working on. He had Hall of Famers at $5 a piece & others at $2.  I was lucky to find 9 of them that I needed including the Whitey Ford as well Nellie Fox in the Hall of Fame pile & in the others I was excited in completing my Tigers team set since there were only 3 Tigers featured in this set Al Kaline,Bill Freehan were the other 2 Tigers I already had, Dave Wickersham was a goal of mine to get cause of being hard to locate Tiger in Michigan. Weird story I acquired Dave a few days after the death of a player he was traded to Detroit for the late Rocky Colavito how strange is that eh!!

Dave to complete the Tigers Team was a good $2 spent.

                          After getting those 9 cards I made my way to another dealer who had some nice vintage complete or starter lots I was debating on getting a nice early basketball set from the `70's (Prices were $120 to $175 range) I wanted the `81/`82 Topps set but he didn't have 1 for sale. I even thought picking up a 2nd set of the 1983 Topps baseball set for $120 but then I would have to try to locate another 1983 Traded Set to go with it so instead I saw the Baker/Paciorek/Baylor RC for $35. I remember that when looking at the last Beckett Vintage issue that this card was at $100 to $150 range I still needed it for my set so I flipped my imaginary coin in the air Heads I get the card Tales pass on it for maybe a better price.  The result came up Heads so I picked it up. Plus its a High Number lucky for me I am not picky on the condition of this set too bad it wasn't my 1967 Tom Seaver I am still trying for to find 1 at that price or better.

At $35 I think I did alright plus 2 out of the 3 became Mangers at 1 time in their careers.

Who Said they wanted this sheet I am here to collect my reward for finding it Sheriff.

               Next I moved on to another table that had this a promotional sheet for the 1983 Fleer set I for the love of the Game can't recall what Blogger was trying to find this exact sheet if you are that Blogger please contact me cause I picked it up for you & like you to have it cause I have it already in my 1983 Fleet notebook & its something special I was surprised to find it for this blogger so please reach out to me if you have any of the 2024 Topps Heritage Box Toppers that I might need that will be great trade for both of us I''ll even accept the box toppers from the `04/`05 In The Game Franchises that I need as well just so you can have this & I get closer to completing my Box Toppers set of sorts.

Time to make the Donuts Tim.

               The final purchase before heading home to make the donuts I had to get Canada's Mr. Donut himself Tim Horton. I was lucky to snatch this Timbit $3 for my oldest Hockey Set that I am currently working on. I just wish I could afford to make either `54/`55 Topps set mainly for the Red Wings cards who won the Stanley cup the year prior plus Gordie Howe's RC or the `66/`67 Topps set where Tim was playing for his famous Maple Leaf Team as well the Bobby Orr RC but I'll stick with my 4 decades of Topps Run of sets the `70s through `03/`04 season for the time being cause those 2 sets I mentioned are out my price range unless someone is nice to unload me them for a reasonable price. 

                Then after I got done with work the coworker who switched with me took me to get some groceries since he had a $100 gift card he said I could spend half it so I picked up $50 dollars in Hanger Update boxes & pulled the Freddie Freeman All-Star Game Relic card to give me my National League representative since I already had the Riley Greene relic to represent the American League so I was happy about getting that pulled nothing else to boast about out of the 4 Hangers he bought for me. 

Sorry Night Owl I am not giving up Freddie for you 

                   So let me know what you thought of my pick ups at the show as well afterwards did I pay too much or should I have focused more on finding the last of my 3 cards still in completing my 1967 set. Until then I am reminded by Rogers Hornsby who once said about signing autographs for little kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't An American, He's a Communist."

IS IT ME THAT NOTICED THIS ABOUT THIS YEAR

 

                                         2024 sure was a weird year. Was it just me that noticed this about this year or were my fellow bloggers trying to avoid the similarities that happened this year between two individuals. Both were stars in their respective sports, one in football & the other in baseball. Both played in the `60's & `70's. Both were MVPs in their sport back in 1973. Both played for their hometown teams during their careers. Both had brushes with the law in some way serving time in jail after their playing careers were over. 

       Who are these 2 players you ask. Well judging from the preview picture on my blog you saw 1 being O.J. Simpson the other is Pete Rose. O.J. as you know was a star running back for the Buffalo Bills & San Francisco 49ers (Hometown was San Francisco) 

Pete was with the Cincinnati Reds (Cincinnati was his hometown) player at the start & end of his career as well manage them with stops with the Philadelphia Phillies & Montreal Expos in between. Both of these men died this year O.J. back on April 10th. Pete on September 30th.

I wonder if Judge Ito is going to let me off again. 

                                         

                This is the closest I ever got to meet Pete at a National - that's him in the white hat, his crony (Black Hat backwards trying to do his best Kevin Smith Impersonation if you asked me he failed lol) was very rude to me when I was wondering if Pete could answer a question for me. He said Pete isn't here to answer questions so keep moving. As for my question all I wanted to ask him was Give me the top 5 Managers other than Sparky that you played for from best to worse & you could count yourself cause ya managed yourself. It's a question Ill never get an answer now. 

                The strangest thing about these 2 Gentlemen they actually played a role in completing 2 different sets of books for both my friend & blogger Greg of The Collective Mind as well yours truly. How you may ask simple. Greg was working on his Punt,Pass & Kick books series of 24 books & I from The Little League/Major League Library also a series of 24 books (For more information about these books read my Back to School Reading post from August 9th of this year) Both book series had 1 player that had a biography of the respective sport in the series for the Football was O.J. & Baseball was Pete. When we were close in finishing up our books they were the last 2 books each of us needed. 

                     Well I tell you 2024 has been a weird one this year for sure back in January you ask me if I were to have a blog I would have said sure if I had access to a computer other than my phone. Ask me in June if I had any readers sure I had some doubts but knowing that I have readers it makes me feel that come 2025 I might have more insights to to talk about. Until then I leave you with my quote from Rogers Hornsby "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American he's a Communist".              

YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT KID!!!!

 

                           With Christmas in about 16 days away I wanted to share with you a story of the person shown in the picture with yours truly. This is actor Scott Schwartz he was in Chicago (Rosemont) at The National Sports Card Convention in 2021. This is where next year's National show will be located. Now I had met Scott 2 years prior to this photo again at the same show. He is better known as Flick in the 1983 Holiday classic film known as The Christmas Story.

                          This is Scott in his famous role where he is the kid that gets his tongue stuck supposedly to the metal pole. Whenever I show people his picture they think he's Ralphie & I have to remind them no he's the one that gets his tongue stuck & then they are like oh that's him. Yes that's him alright compared to me hes a short little guy, I am at 6'4" he's at 5'2".  During my first encounter with him I was shocked to learn other than being in The Christmas Story  he was also in the movie called The Toy with 2 comedic legends Jackie Gleason & Richard Prior, as well the movie Kidco where he was a started a kid starting his own entrepreneur business but that wasn't the shocking part the shocker he told me that he was in adult films. 

                      Yes the guy did adult films so we fast forward to 2021 when I was with my friend Dave from Wisconsin who was attending his first National that day & when we bumped into Scott at his booth I told him to ask Scott if he was in adult films & Dave was shocked as well. Now Scott wasn't the only non-sports person whom I have met at a National I was lucky to meet Lorenzo Lamas (Renegade) 1 year along with Penny Marshall (Laverne & Shirley). Lorenzo was nice to talk to even though I had to keep my mother from drooling over him as for Penny Marshall she was very rude even though I said thanks for making the movie A League of Their Own. Later that same day my mother after meeting Lorenzo saw someone being escorted from the show that being O.J. Simpson. 

Anyways I like to hear what is your favorite part of The Christmas Story is. Also if I run into Scott next summer should I mentioned that I talked about him around the holidays on my blog. Until then I am reminded of Roger Hornsby talking about signing autographs "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."

WE'RE "ALL"MOST THERE

 

          On Monday I was back at my school job after a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday & my Coworker Tim got me 1 card closer to completing my master 1982 Fleer set leaving me to get the John Littlefield lefthanded pose & Darrell Jackson all Red Hat.  This card I was happy to get after all I figured I could find this 1 before the other 2 considering that everytime someone clearly claims that they have the all Red Hat version of Darrell Jackson, I can still see the slightest sliver of white on the "T" on the card making the all Red Hat practically hard to find. As for the Littlefield everytime I been to a huge show like Chantilly in the Washington D.C. area or the National Sports Card Convention I try to find someone who might have an inexpensive graded copy for me to purchase so I can crack that card out or even if it's in a toploader with a price that I can't turn down I'll get it or if someone in the blogging world has 1 for trade I'll be glad to give it a new home. The same can be said about the Darrell Jackson card I mentioned as well.

         Believe me this another one that I like to locate the Famous Davey Lopes back finger card. I have all the other cards just not this 1 again I hope to find 1 soon. 

        Back in August of last year I was at antique shop saw that they had a 1985 Donruss set for a price of $30 I couldn't believe it was a Factory version that someone opened up took the Don Mattingly Diamond King card out & Razor Shines out a replaced it with error Seaver in its place.

Why take Kirby Puckett or Roger Clemens cards when you can get Razor Shines.

        The corrected Seaver was in the right spot the Puckett & Clemens RCs weren't touched but Razor surprised me being missing lucky I knew how to get that card for a Dime. I was also able to get the other variations for a dime as well with the exception of Jack Perconte shown here.

                                           I had the 4 liner but needed the 3 liner shown here.

                Well during the November show this year I usually go to outside of the Detroit area once a month a dealer had some 1981 to 1987 Donruss singles for a nickel a card so I went through the `85's 5th card in was Old Jack it was the 3 liner that I needed excited that I couldn't believe it I plopped my nickel down only to find out that dealer said since I didn't have any others that I needed that old Jack would be free. I couldn't complain about the price so I accepted it.  

                  In closing I like to announce in my last post no one came close to the correct number of what I had. So I'll try another contest before the new year in case your wondering the answer was zero I mentioned at the beginning of the post to pay close attention & I concluded by saying this  ".....are in All This Post." Last time I counted A-L-L T-H-I-S P-O-S-T didn't have any "Ms".  I also will miss some my fellow blogging reading materials Cards With Coffee & Dime Box Nick to name a few you were influenced me to create my blog & I hope you will continue to check back on this blogger to see how long will I bring collecting cards in the community so I raise my 1 liter of Pepsi to my coffee friend & to Nick as long as I keep digging through 3200ct & 5000ct boxes at shows or shops I will think of you. As I picture my coffee friend as Woody Boyd to my Tavern & Nick I see you as my good friend Paul quiet guy that felt left out from the regulars at Cheers as for Coach just say that honor goes to Greg my friend from The Collective Mind blog sorry but as for the Norm Peterson & Cliff Clavin friends they are quite simple they're Fuji & Bo 2 guys that usually post on most of my posts I'll leave it to them to figure out who's who lol. As for Fraiser Craine well.....that honor will go to the legend himself Mr. Night Owl. I leave now with my usual sign off from Rogers Hornsby about signing autographs for kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."