Start of New Collection- Minor League Stars

[Jason19th]

After going about as far as I can on my Long Branch Cubans and Trujillo collections I believe that I have found a new focus. I am starting to put together a collection of minor league stars. Guys like Buzz Arlett and Smeed Jolly who were probably some of the best players in baseball in the 1930’s but never got a real shot in the Majors for one reason or another. I am think that I would use the SABR top 15 minor leaguers list as a jumping off point but would also like some suggestions of who to collect and see what’s put there.

Below an auto picture of Arlett and a cut out from the high school year book of 1919 Black Sox Frank Shellenback. Shellenback was both the beneficiary and the victim of timing. An injury kept him off the playoff roster and might have saved him from the plot, but it also kept him off the legal spitball list. He ended up winning almost 300 games in the PCL where he was allowed to through the wet one