Posted By:
Tom HuffordI've met several hundred players over the years, but a couple of experiences stand out.
I made my first trip to Cooperstown in 1971, for the induction ceremony and for the Founding Meeting of SABR. Someone told me the place to go was the Otesago Hotel, where the players stayed. So I went over there and found a chair in the lobby - there is absolutely no way you could do that now! An old fellow walked by, and someway I figured out it was Rube Marquard, there for his HOF induction. I asked him if he would sign my copy of "Glory of Their Times," and he said he would be glad to, if he could sit down first. So, he sat down, signed my book, and then we chatted for a while. Then he said "Do you mind sitting here for a few minutes? I'll go up to my room and get something to show you." Of course, I said yes.
After a few minutes, Marquard came back with a large scrapbook that he (or someone in the family?) had kept during his career. He sat down and went through every page of that scrapbook with me, it must have taken a couple of hours. I sure wish now that I had had a tape recorder! When I got home, I wrote Marquard and thanked him, and we exchanged Holiday cards for several years after that. I've always wondered what happened to that scrapbook.
I also met Harry Hooper, Zach Wheat, Larry Gardner, Ernie Shore, Bullet Joe Bush, and several other oldtimers on that trip.
On a more recent note, I grew up in Virginia, about 15 miles from the home of Jim Archer, pitcher with the 1961-62 KC A's, although I really didn't know who he was back then. I was just getting started in collecting.
Jim was on one of the Post Cereals cards in 1962. My mother actually took my checklist to the grocery store, and bought cereal based on what cards I needed. I remember going through the checkout line with her one Friday night in 1962, and the checkout clerk saw the box of cereal with Jim Archer's card on it. She exclaimed "There's Jim Archer's picture! I grew up with him, and have known him for all my life." So, Mother promptly opened the box, pulled out the bag of cereal, and gave the clerk the box (with the baseball cards) to take home! Not to worry, she said, she'd get another box with Jim's picture on it next week. Naturally, there wasn't another box next week, and remember, that was before Ebay. It took me over 20 years to finally get a 1962 Post Jim Archer card!
About a month ago, I was going to be in the Tampa area. I hunted up Jim Archer's phone number, gave him a call, and he agreed to meet me for breakfast. We had planned to meet for about an hour, but ended up going through lunch. I told him the story about my 1962 Post Cereals card. He didn't know who the grocery clerk was, but said "I probably did know her. There were 17 people in my high school class, everyone knew everyone else." Then he said "Guess how much we got for appearing on those cards?" I guessed "about $100." Jim laughed and said "No. They brought a big truck to the ballpark, filled with cartons full of cereal, and told us to take as much as we wanted. If you had a big car or a station wagon, you could take more cartons than the guys who had sports cars. I don't remember exactly how much cereal I got, but that was it."