New Member Introduction - Paul Zahniser collection

[PZdiaz110]

I thought that I would introduce myself and post my small 'Paul Zahniser' collection. I'd always heard that we had a baseball player in the family but didn't take much of an interest growing up. I wonder what stories I might have heard if only I'd have asked some of the old timers at the family reunion!! I REALLY wish I would have asked my grandfather about Paul before he passed. He was a huge baseball guy. (A pitcher for a local team, I still remember his eyes lighting up whenever he'd entertain us with the story of how he got a triple-play on the last pitch he ever threw!)

Only been at this for about a year and a half but it's been a lot of fun. A BIG 'Thank You' to the members of this board. Quite often in my research, I'd google something and wind up here... what an education.

Regards,

Dave Zahniser

1924 Diaz Paul Zahniser.jpg (77.7 KB)
1924 Diaz card back.jpg (75.7 KB)
1928 Saint Paul Saints- Zahniser,Poli,Kirsch,Chesterfield.jpg (73.9 KB)
1923 ticket Winning P-Paul Zahniser (rookie).jpg (77.6 KB)
1929 Reds Spring Training- Zahniser.jpg (72.0 KB)

NOTE: With the limited amount of 'Paul Zahniser' stuff out there, I've actually turned to collecting his teammates, (perhaps more on that in a future Post).

[Mountaineer1999]

Cool little collection ,thanks for sharing. I've never heard of Paul Zahniser but it looks like he got to pitch enough to lead the AL in a certain unnamed category in 1926 with the Red Sox. And you are right, a lot of guys know a lot of stuff on here... me not so much but thats ok I enjoy the reading

Welcome aboard

... and that graded ticket stub is really cool w/info. Giving up a homer to Speaker but winning the game. Good stuff!

[CW]

Welcome, Dave! I can really appreciate collections that are so focused like yours. What was your relationship to Paul? Great nephew?

[rhettyeakley]

Here is another one to look for... 1932 Zeenut (Pacific Coast League)

[dlfallen]

There are a couple of more you may or may not be aware of:

On the expensive side is the 1925 Holland World's Champions Washington Senators. Paul Zahnister is card #9 in that set. According to SCD these cards are 1 1/2 by 3 inches. The player portraits are printed in blue. They were issued in Winnipeg Manitoba (!) which no doubt contributes to their scarcity. A couple of months ago, a PSA2 went on eBay for $750.

On the other end of the affordability scale is the 1975 TCMA 1924-1925 Washington Senators. A little over a week ago a near set (missing one card) went on eBay for $18.99.

Obviously both sets would include Paul's teammates. Of course, the Holland Creameries cards would be extremely pricey if not nearly impossible to put together, but the TCMA set should be cheap and easy.

(NOT MY CARD)

[bwbc917]

What a great collection to work on. I envy you having a relative to collect. I write BIOS for the SABR BIO PROJ and have run across Paul playing for various teams. He had 2 tremendous seasons in Bloomington, Ill. on winning squads. Those Bloomington papers are a fun read if you find them online or have them shipped to your library.Best of luck, enjoy!!!

[Zach Wheat]

Nice collection! And thanks for sharing.

Z

[PZdiaz110]

I'm on the board for the Zahniser Foundation and I posed that question to our resident genealogist. I know that he's in my branch and his parent's came from PA, (where I live). Hoping to find out more at the reunion. In any case, since nobody else was doing it, I've appointed myself caretaker.

Oops! My first 'reply' and I forgot to include the quote. That was meant for CW.

[PZdiaz110]

Originally Posted by Mountaineer1999

Cool little collection ,thanks for sharing. I've never heard of Paul Zahniser but it looks like he got to pitch enough to lead the AL in a certain unnamed category in 1926 with the Red Sox. And you are right, a lot of guys know a lot of stuff on here... me not so much but thats ok I enjoy the reading

Welcome aboard

... and that graded ticket stub is really cool w/info. Giving up a homer to Speaker but winning the game. Good stuff!

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Yeah, I know Led the League in losses. In his SABR bio, they quote Babe Ruth. He called Paul his "cousin" and spoke of his obvious 'tell' as to which pitch he was about to throw. It makes you wonder, if he was so obviously tipping his pitches, wouldn't a coach correct that? Did they even have pitching coaches back then?!?!

[PZdiaz110]

Originally Posted by bwbc917

What a great collection to work on. I envy you having a relative to collect. I write BIOS for the SABR BIO PROJ and have run across Paul playing for various teams. He had 2 tremendous seasons in Bloomington, Ill. on winning squads. Those Bloomington papers are a fun read if you find them online or have them shipped to your library.Best of luck, enjoy!!!

I love reading The SABR bios! What a great project. Thanks for the tip on the newspapers. BTW - We could link what I have to his bio if you want, (photos).

[PZdiaz110]

Originally Posted by dlfallen

There are a couple of more you may or may not be aware of:

On the expensive side is the 1925 Holland World's Champions Washington Senators. Paul Zahnister is card #9 in that set. According to SCD these cards are 1 1/2 by 3 inches. The player portraits are printed in blue. They were issued in Winnipeg Manitoba (!) which no doubt contributes to their scarcity. A couple of months ago, a PSA2 went on eBay for $750.

On the other end of the affordability scale is the 1975 TCMA 1924-1925 Washington Senators. A little over a week ago a near set (missing one card) went on eBay for $18.99.

Obviously both sets would include Paul's teammates. Of course, the Holland Creameries cards would be extremely pricey if not nearly impossible to put together, but the TCMA set should be cheap and easy.

(NOT MY CARD)

Yeah, I know about the Holland card. I read an old blog regarding that set, (may have been the first time ever visiting Net54). Maybe someday... not in a position to go overboard with the $. The 1975 set is a great idea. My sister got me the 1975 PZ card but up until recently I hadn't expanded into his teammates.
Thank you very much for your help!

[PZdiaz110]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

Here is another one to look for... 1932 Zeenut (Pacific Coast League)

Thanks Rhett,

Would love to find a clean card w/o coupon. Haven't found any yet.

Regards,

Dave

[clydepepper]

Welcome aboard Dave!

It's always enjoyable to hear of a family connection to the hobby. That makes it so much more fun to collect.

My own connection is a distant cousin, Whitlow Wyatt. I have had a wonderful time collecting as many of his cards and other items as possible.

Good Luck to you on your quest!

-Raymond

[Leon]

Welcome to the fray, Dave. Good luck with your collection!!

[ValKehl]

Dave,
I am pleased to welcome you to Net54, if for no other reason that I now know where a card that I badly wanted - your 1924 Diaz card of PZ - now resides! FYI, I am the under bidder who bid what I thought was an insanely high $$ amount for this Diaz PZ card when it appeared on eBay last year. And, I was shocked when I was outbid, but later, the sweet Hispanic lady in Florida who was selling the group of off-condition Diaz cards on eBay informed me that the winner of this Diaz PZ card was a relative of PZ. Damn!!

Why did I want this card so badly, you ask? Because, one of my main collecting focuses is vintage cards of all the players who were on the Washington Senators 1924 World Series championship team, regardless of whether or not they made an appearance in this WS. And, the 1924 Diaz set includes cards of many obscure pitchers, including some for whom hardly any other cards where issued during their playing days. As you well know, PZ is one such pitcher. To the best of my knowledge, your Diaz PZ is the only example of this card that is known to exist - there are no examples in the combined PSA/SGC pop reports, and this card is not checklisted in my 2011 edition of the Standard Catalog of Vintage BB Cards. Hopefully, as the US-Cuban relations continue to normalize, more Diaz cards will surface.

As far as I am aware, only 3 cards of PZ were issued during his playing career, and each has already been presented in this thread.

I thought about trying to win the decent PSA 2 Holland Creameries PZ card that recently sold on eBay to upgrade my pathetic example of this card (seen below), but I decided that this nice card would look out of place in my collection, inasmuch as most of my other Diaz cards are just as pathetic-looking as my PZ card!

It was most kind of Rhett Yeakley to show you an example of PZ's 1932 Zeenut card. But, I am going to do you one better - I am hereby offering this exact card to you!! You see, Rhett traded this exact card to me a couple of years ago, and then, last year, I acquired an example of this PZ card with the coupon still attached (seen below) - hence, I no longer have need for the card I got from Rhett - if you are interested in it, kindly email me at ekehl333@aol.com.

Regards,
Val Kehl

[PZdiaz110]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

Welcome aboard Dave!

It's always enjoyable to hear of a family connection to the hobby. That makes it so much more fun to collect.

My own connection is a distant cousin, Whitlow Wyatt. I have had a wonderful time collecting as many of his cards and other items as possible.

Good Luck to you on your quest!

-Raymond

Hi Raymond,

I certainly been having fun. I plan on bringing my little collection to share at the family reunion this summer.

Good Luck on your quest as well!

- Dave

[PZdiaz110]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

Dave,
I am pleased to welcome you to Net54, if for no other reason that I now know where a card that I badly wanted - your 1924 Diaz card of PZ - now resides! FYI, I am the under bidder who bid what I thought was an insanely high $$ amount for this Diaz PZ card when it appeared on eBay last year. And, I was shocked when I was outbid, but later, the sweet Hispanic lady in Florida who was selling the group of off-condition Diaz cards on eBay informed me that the winner of this Diaz PZ card was a relative of PZ. Damn!!

Why did I want this card so badly, you ask? Because, one of my main collecting focuses is vintage cards of all the players who were on the Washington Senators 1924 World Series championship team, regardless of whether or not they made an appearance in this WS. And, the 1924 Diaz set includes cards of many obscure pitchers, including some for whom hardly any other cards where issued during their playing days. As you well know, PZ is one such pitcher. To the best of my knowledge, your Diaz PZ is the only example of this card that is known to exist - there are no examples in the combined PSA/SGC pop reports, and this card is not checklisted in my 2011 edition of the Standard Catalog of Vintage BB Cards. Hopefully, as the US-Cuban relations continue to normalize, more Diaz cards will surface.

As far as I am aware, only 3 cards of PZ were issued during his playing career, and each has already been presented in this thread.

I thought about trying to win the decent PSA 2 Holland Creameries PZ card that recently sold on eBay to upgrade my pathetic example of this card (seen below), but I decided that this nice card would look out of place in my collection, inasmuch as most of my other Diaz cards are just as pathetic-looking as my PZ card!

It was most kind of Rhett Yeakley to show you an example of PZ's 1932 Zeenut card. But, I am going to do you one better - I am hereby offering this exact card to you!! You see, Rhett traded this exact card to me a couple of years ago, and then, last year, I acquired an example of this PZ card with the coupon still attached (seen below) - hence, I no longer have need for the card I got from Rhett - if you are interested in it, kindly email me at ekehl333@aol.com.

Regards,
Val Kehl

Val, Wow! Thank You. I just sent you an email. BTW- I'd love to see what you have collected of the 1924 Senators so far. Nice to make your acquaintance.

- Dave

[ValKehl]

I meant, but forgot, to post this link to Paul Zahniser's SABR biography, which is an interesting read: http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/f8db7b42 Although PZ's overall MLB record is 25 wins vs. 47 losses, 4 of his wins were shutouts, including one over the mighty Yankees in 1923.
Val

[Enfuego]

Very cool story!

[mrvster]

Welcome aboard! great story and collection

[darwinbulldog]

Looks like there are at least a handful of these out there. Here's mine.

[1880nonsports]

and I love experiencing the full circle thing. That the post might bear fruit in the form of a coveted zeenut for the OP is very special - only possible on a forum like this.

[Jacker_ Cracks]

Originally Posted by 1880nonsports

and I love experiencing the full circle thing. That the post might bear fruit in the form of a coveted zeenut for the OP is very special - only possible on a forum like this.

That's what make this forum so great!