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identify7There are lots of reasons that I like my cards. Some of my favorites have survived my youthful collecting fifty years ago. Others represent trades or purchases of cards which were right for a variety of reasons. Although I do not have a Marichal that my brother spray painted the face on, I do have the following card which is among my favorites.
I have an Old Judge card of Billy Sunday. This is a popular player in a classic set. His popularity is attributable, in part, to his career after baseball. In the teens, he reportedly earned over $70,000 one year preaching the virtues of temperance. His preachings covered a span of over two decades and typically included theatrics such as incorporating a baseball slide on to the stage. He was quite successful in both fostering the 18th Amendment and bringing people to religion.
The reason that I have his card is that he was a member of the 1884 White Stockings. He contributed 4 HRs that year to their record setting season. No team hit more HRs in a season than the ’84 White Stockings; until the legendary ’27 Yankees. Sunday was a .248 lifetime hitter over his 8 year career.
This card has a medium clarity image, a bit of orange hue, six pinholes and good (probably vg+) corners. It is the pinholes which attracted me to this specific card. They are positioned in all four corners and center top and bottom. It looks to me like this card was pinned to the wall several times before it was rescued from its original home to become a captive of our hobby. It is my imagination of this card’s early history, perhaps being on a hardware store wall with other cards (we know it wasn’t a gas station); and being taken down, discussed and returned to the wall several times. Anyway, I perceive it as among my most quaint acquisitions.