December pickups

[Scott Garner]

A few sweet finds to kick off December (technically some in late November):

1) Type I Johnny Vander Meer unique candid dugout shot from June, 1938.
This was at the Polo Grounds in NY. Check out the vintage water cooler! Thanks to net54's Chris Gamble for selling this to me!

2) Type I 11" x 12" photo of Randy Johnson's no-hitter celebration on June 2, 1990 at Seattle. RJ has always been a personal favorite of mine and this is a terrific image of the very 1st no-hitter ever in the Seattle Mariners organization.

3) Paul Derringer's personal copy of a George Brace postcard of Vander Meer, Babe Ruth and Derringer talking in the dugout prior to Vandy's 2nd consecutive no-hitter on 6/15/38 at Ebbets Field. From the Paul Derringer estate

[71buc]

Nice photos Scott. That Randy Johnson photo is an iconic Mariner image only surpassed by the shot of Griffey Jr. at the bottom of the pile in 1995.

Below are my most recent pickups. The 1965 Willie Mays Aurora Model has long been on my want list. It was nice to find one with the original pieces unaltered and still in the box. The panoramic photo is of a crowd watching the 1930 World Series I’m uncertain what city they are in. The DiMaggio shot was taken by WM C. Greene.

I love the 1951 spring training photo of Dressen and the Dodgers coaching staff. The slug on the reverse states, “"WHAT'S THE PITCH? VERO BEACH, FLA: No manager of coaching staff worth its salt can afford to overlook any possible method of doping out the season's chances. Going in for some occult research are master swami Chuck Dressen, who reads the ball, and coaches Clyde Sukeforth (LEFT), Jake Pitler and Cookie Lavagetto (RIGHT). Dressen's headgear is not a Paris creation, but a fugitive form the shower room. It's better than a hat to keep things under -- especially next season's headaches."

I found this ironic considering the headaches that Bobby Thompson and the Giants had in store for them later that year. When Chuck Dressen needed a relief pitcher to face the Bobby Thomson in the ninth inning of the third game of the National League pennant playoff, Sukeforth the Dodger bullpen coach passed over Carl Erskine and sent in Ralph Branca. He was fired by the Dodgers after that. He then went to Pittsburgh and got a measure of revenge a few years later by playing a role a role in the drafting of Roberto Clemente from the Brooklyn organization in the 1954 Rule V draft. Sukeforth was a baseball lifer who is most famous for scouting and assisting in the signing of Jackie Robinson. He was also the Dodger manager for opening day 1947 for Robinson’s debut.

[Runscott]

Mike, I believe I have seen the panoramic photo on the 'Shorpys' site - might want to go there and dig around, as it probably will tell you the city.

[Chris Counts]

Here's a few recent pickups, a 1920 Spalding catalog, a 1946 snapshot of Yogi Berra and Bobby Brown with the Newark Bears, and a 1918 photo of a factory team from Philadelphia. The snapshot was an eBay BIN, and the others came from last weekend's Mark McRae show in the San Francisco Bay Area ...

[bcbgcbrcb]

Chris:

Very cool Yogi photo!

[Exhibitman]

1968 is my favorite year of Topps FB cards so I could not resist this box:

[bcbgcbrcb]

Adam:

That's not a box of cards in a grading company holder is it? If so, I didn't know they graded full boxes.

[Exhibitman]

Nope, just a display box.

[CarltonHendricks]

Above, a pair of c1900 silverplate womans hair pins....I've got a football hair pin in my collection already but these blow mine out of the water...I've never seen them before...should be arriving anyday coming out of Texas...the football appears to have a relief of a player running with the ball.....the other side featuring a classic melon ball....The footbll player looks to have on a head harness...I'll have to wait till it arrives to see what's up with it....Obviously tarnished but should polish up nice

[perezfan]

Fantastic, Carlton! I've never seen those either... possible lone survivors?

I was fortunate to get this...

[iwantitiwinit]

Nice Nationals Pennant, especially like the frame job. I was looking at this item also but decided agianst bidding, hope you got it for a decent price.

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Fantastic, Carlton! I've never seen those either... possible lone survivors?

I was fortunate to get this...

Thanks Mark, I don't know if they are lone survivors but they would certainly have to be rare....I wonder if there are baseball ones...imagine a players head with a pillbox cap!

Your Nationals pennant is really nice....amy chance of getting a close up of the player...I can't read the name. So the Nationals and Senators were one in the same?...how about a little background/history lesson on them...Have you ever seen this one before?

[perezfan]

It's Clark Griffith depicted, with the caption of "Foxey Griff".

Here's the brief version of his bio...

Clark Calvin Griffith (November 20, 1869 – October 27, 1955, nicknamed "The Old Fox", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, manager and team owner. He began his MLB playing career with the St. Louis Browns (1891), Boston Reds (1891), and Chicago Colts/Orphans (1893–1900). He then served as player-manager for the Chicago White Stockings (1901–1902) and New York Highlanders (1903–1907).

He retired after the 1907 season, remaining manager of the Highlanders in 1908. He managed the Cincinnati Reds (1909–1911) and Washington Senators (1912–1920), making some appearances as a player with both teams. He owned the Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955.

Griffith was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.

Sorry that's all I have time to post... work is hell.

[CarltonHendricks]

[ramram]

1933 Springfield Cardinals (Western League) Minor League team scorebook. Covers the first part of the Card's season. Several of these players made it in some capacity in the Majors. Teams include Des Moines, Joplin, Muskogee, Wichita, Omaha, St. Joseph, Topeka and Bartlesville. Scorekeeper shows what appears to be the gate receipts at the top of each page. It appears they charged 5 cents per person.

Rob M.

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[jester]

My two latest.

[perezfan]

So YOU got the Cubbies.... fantastic acquisition, Jeff! Same for the '33 Nats...

First that I have ever seen of either variation. I think it's safe to say that we'll never see another Cubs Pennant like that. I spoke to Troy about it (at length, on closing day), and he did all the due diligence to ensure its age and authenticity.

I was an under-bidder (as you can probably tell) and am quite envious. This one even pre-dates the oversized "Jumbos" of the 'teens. Magnificent graphics with the early Cubbie and the Pillbox.

Just fantastic stuff... congrats!

[jester]

Thanks, I was pretty excited to get them. Can't wait for them to arrive.

[Scott Garner]

Definitely not prewar, but this another holy grail type item for my collection. I also posted this in the game used forum.

This is a 1988 rookie era game used hat of The Big Unit as he was just launching his terrific HOF career.

As many of you know, Johnson ended up his 21 year HOF career with 4875 K's (second only to Nolan Ryan's standard of 5,714 K's), 2 no hitters (including a perfect game), 303 wins, 5 Cy Young's, 6 seasons of over 300 K's (tied with Ryan for the ML record), a 20 K game, 2 19 K games.

Johnson only appeared in a grand total of 11 games during 1988 and 1989 with Montreal before he was traded to the Seattle Mariners making this Expos hat extremely rare. Randy's name and uni number are penned in his own hand and the hat shows nice use for one of the best left handers to ever take the mound.

[baseball tourist]

Love the Expos cap Scott! Went to games in the Big O a few times - terrible atmosphere.

[Bumpus Jones]

Nice pick up Scott. Congratulations!

[perezfan]

Great Cap, Scott!

That's an epic piece... His Expos stuff is sooooo tough to acquire. I hated that Expos Cap style back when they were an active team, but have grown to love it.

[Forever Young]

It has been awhile since I have added anything to my collection. I thought I would share my latest. Hope you are all doing well and had a Happy Turkey Day.

1) Extremely rare 1927 Barnstorming Type 1 photo of Babe and Lou. Shots of just the two of them in uniform, with bats are very very tough from the tour. I am very happy to add it.

2) Type 1 photo of mantle used for a couple important cards as well as memorabilia. Tough team issued early Mantle.

[Bumpus Jones]

Nice pick-ups Ben. Congrats!

[Scott Garner]

Thanks Chris, Chris and Mark!

The hat is an terrific compliment to a Randy Johnson debut/1st strikeout/1st win full ticket from 9/15/88 at Montreal that I own in my personal collection. Ironically, this Expos hat was personally gifted by the Expos team trainer in 1988 to a patron and his son sitting on the Field Level at Shea very shortly after Johnson made his debut on 9/15.

It's the only ticket to this game that I've ever heard of in the hobby. Certainly one of the very few full tickets that survived to the game that launched a great HOF career.

I was fortunate to see Johnson pitch many times through the years. He's one guy that I would unquestionably pay to watch pitch.
6' 10" of pure nastiness once he finally put it all together and found his control...

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Forever Young

It has been awhile since I have added anything to my collection. I thought I would share my latest. Hope you are all doing well and had a Happy Turkey Day.

1) Extremely rare 1927 Barnstorming Type 1 photo of Babe and Lou. Shots of just the two of them in uniform, with bats are very very tough from the tour. I am very happy to add it.

2) Type 1 photo of mantle used for a couple important cards as well as memorabilia. Tough team issued early Mantle.

Nice job, Ben! Great photo pickups!!

[Scott Garner]

When I received my Randy Johnson 1988 Rookie Expos cap today I had the first opportunity to examine the hat up close.

First off, I love it now that I have it in hand!

While I was inspecting the handwriting and uniform number ink on the underside of the cap I noticed that there was something slipped under the sweatband at the front right behind the bill. I carefully removed what appeared to be two Bazooka Joe comics that were folded in half, which made me smile. At the bottom of each it tells your fortune.

It appears that like many baseball players, The Big Unit is superstitious.
The Bazooka Joe comics that he saved had two really neat fortunes that read:

"A good luck streak is approaching" and the second fortune read:
"There is no end to your good luck".
Both fortunes were definitely keepers apparently...

It appears that I might be the lucky one as the hat was gifted to the seller and his son by a team trainer in the NY Mets series vs. the Expos during 9/16/88- 9/18/88 at Shea Stadium.
As I stated in my earlier post about the hat, Randy Johnson won his ML debut on 9/15/88 at Montreal.

WOW!

[sayhey24]

Scott -- that is very very cool!

Greg

[Forever Young]

This doubles the coolness of the piece.

Ben

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

When I received my Randy Johnson 1988 Rookie Expos cap today I had the first opportunity to examine the hat up close.

First off, I love it now that I have it in hand!

While I was inspecting the handwriting and uniform number ink on the underside of the cap I noticed that there was something slipped under the sweatband at the front right behind the bill. I carefully removed what appeared to be two Bazooka Joe comics that were folded in half, which made me smile. At the bottom of each it tells your fortune.

It appears that like many baseball players, The Big Unit is superstitious.
The Bazooka Joe comics that he saved had two really neat fortunes that read:

"A good luck streak is approaching" and the second fortune read:
"There is no end to your good luck".
Both fortunes were definitely keepers apparently...

It appears that I might be the lucky one as the hat was gifted to the seller and his son by the Expos trainer in the NY Mets series vs. the Expos during 9/16/88- 9/18/88.
As I stated in my earlier post about the hat, Randy Johnson won his ML debut on 9/15/88 at Montreal.

WOW!

[thecatspajamas]

Scott, neat story! I wonder how many others read that and immediately went rooting around in the bands of their game-used caps

[iwantitiwinit]

Very cool, I'd try and get in touch with Randy and see if he remembered putting them in there and the story behind it. I bet it actually wouldn't be that difficult to reach him.

[71buc]

Originally Posted by sayhey24

Scott -- that is very very cool!

Greg

+1

[Scott Garner]

Thanks guys!

I thought the discovery of the Bazooka Joe fortunes in the hat sweatband and the date that the hat was given to the patron were details too cool not to share...

[cincicards]

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[Rob D.]

7 x 9 wire photo from the day of the first baseball game in Cleveland Stadium. Lajoie sixth from the right.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

7 x 9 wire photo from the day of the first baseball game in Cleveland Stadium. Lajoie sixth from the right.

Very nice, Rob. Congrats!

[vintagesportflips]

Picked up a couple of items for my Eagles collection this week.
First up is a Chuck Bednarik board game. Its the first one I've seen, and talking to some dealer/collector friends of mine, they tell me its a very rare game.
Then at the Valley Forge show, I decided to make my first foray into Hedy glass, picking up an Eagles 4 inch tall glass. I never considering buying/collecting the Hedy items in the past, but there aren't many figural pieces I need so figured it was time to pick something up. I bought it from the guys at Inside the Park - if their are any figural collectors here on net54 who haven't checked out their auctions, you definitely should; there aren't a couple of nicer guys in the hobby.

[mjkm90]

This is a very tough Cubs lamp from the series produced in the 50s. I believe this is an original shade as well.

[D. Broughman]

Nice pickup Mike glad you got the shade with it

[scooter729]

I was pretty happy to add this to my Boston collection - a 1914 Boston Braves "Champs" stick pin. I only found one example ever being sold before, and was especially happy to get mine at a small fraction of the price of that prior example!

[mjkm90]

This pin has been an absolute BUGGER to find, so when it appeared on ebay I did not miss my chance

[Scott Garner]

Nice one, Mike. It looks like it's in terrific shape too!

[Rob D.]

Nice Cubs lamp, Mike. Interesting thought about the shade. I went with modern shades that are smaller when I needed to replace the hideous shades that came on my two Indians lamps. These seem to fit pretty well proportionally.

Do you have any thoughts regarding the manufacturer? A few people I've talked to in Ohio seem to think that the maker was Stanford Pottery, but I've always had my doubts. Another collector swears it was Gibbs Conner. My guess is that, barring the discovery of an ad from the time period, we might not know.

[mjkm90]

I havn't a clue regarding the manufacturer Rob and agree that any speculation is wishful thinking at this point. One interesting difference between mine and yours is that the part where the bulb screws in on mine is the same black as the legs. The Cubs lamp is pretty much in unused condition and the seller found them as is with no bulb in a small box. I do like the shades you placed on yours. I've not seen another Cubs have you?

[Rob D.]

I've not seen another Cubs, and I'm actually glad to see yours, because I think it takes Stanford Pottery and Gibbs Conner out of the equation. I don't think either of those companies produced other Cubs figurals, but I might be overlooking one.

Not sure whether you noticed, but one of mine as quotes around "Indians," and the other doesn't. So you still need that variation.

[Shoeless Moe]

Hi, stumbled upon this ticket stub that came with a typed letter from the person who attended the game.

[Shoeless Moe]

more images - sorry crappy camera - The Shot Heard 'Round The World Game -

[Scott Garner]

AWESOME pickup, Paul!! Where did you find it? What's the story?

[Runscott]

These three Conlon photos arrived today. The Goslins have Conlon signatures and notations, one with his stamp. The Johnson is from the family scrapbook. Not sure why the scan is so fuzzy, but I'll get a better one - actually a very clean image.

[Rob D.]

L1 Lajoie, a longtime want.