Vintage Cards in the Movies

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Posted By: Todd C

Tell us your favorite vintage card reference in the movies..


Here are a few to get started.


1. Lou Gehrig giving cards in Pride of the Yankees to play some street baseball. Of course, he kept Babe Ruth !!


2. Roy Hobbs in The Natural


3. Blast from the Past - Brendan Fraser having to sell dad's baseball card collection to buy food/goods for the bomb shelter. Wanted to sell some Goudeys, Mantles, etc.

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

A Lou Gehrig card in the wallet of the dead explorer in "The Goonies". Actually, it looked like a 1970's Topps issue.



1960 Topps Ted Klu (among many others) featured in "Rain Man".



1955 Topps Rube Walker, 1955 Bowman Duke Snider and 3 1974 Topps Steve Garveys featured in "Mask".



Not the movies, but Marg Helgenberger found a stack of 1974 Topps cards in childhood the dresser drawer of Grissom's nemesis Paul Mullander in an episode of CSI.



A 1968 Topps Yaz was shown in an episode of "The Wonder Years".



A supposed Joe DiMaggio rookie card and a 1973 "mutton chop" Yaz have been featured on "The Simpsons".


A Tony Micelli baseball card was found among Tony's father in law's personal effects in an episode of "Who's the Boss?". Also, one episode revolved around Tony being forced to sell a 1962 Mets autographed ball that his father obtained in-person as a kid because Samantha needed a dress for the prom (or something equally ridiculous).

Might remember more later.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Dustin Hoffman had BB cards in his room.....I think they were all 1950's and '60s cards.

Also, in Pride of the Yankees, a young Lou Gehrig was exchanging T206's to play baseball.
I recall that he mentioned a Matty card.


TED Z

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Posted By: Rob

I could be wrong, but can someone confirm that a Joe Nuxhall baseball card was referenced in an episode of Married with Children?



Thanks - Rob

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Posted By: Scott Sarian

There's a Leave it to Beaver episode where the Beav and a friend are at a corner store and open a pack of cards. I want to say they were '59 Topps but am not positive about that one...

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Posted By: Merrill Pearlman

1962 Topps Marris #1 in Star Trek

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Posted By: Todd C

Married With Children...

I remember something about Joe Nuxhall

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

You guys are good!

A Christmas Story, T206s and a Playball on the headboard.


I've not seen Blast From the Past, but friends tell me I should see it.

I need to watch Pride of the Yankees again.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

In Brighton Beach Memoirs the younger boy has some kind of baseball premiums tacked on the wall above his bed and near the bedroom door is a cardboard advertising sign with I think Paul Waner on it. There is also a baseball calendar which has the players lining the sides in small pictures...I believe at one time or another people thought those were strip cards until the calendar was discovered....The older boy has boxing memorabilia tacked on the walls around his bed including some old cards (Hassan or Mecca?).

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Posted By: barrysloate

Scott- you are correct. Whitey and Richard were hanging out at the malt shop and pulled out some 59 Topps. The cards were visible for barely a second.

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Posted By: Sean

Its actually m101-4 Sporting news cards or at least looks like them in Pride of the Yankees.
Also, in Take me out to the ball game Gene kelly opens a cigarette pack and pulls out a t206-like card of himself

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Posted By: barrysloate

When George Costanza worked for the Yankees, he had numerous reprint sets framed and matted on his walls, among them T205, N162, and 1952 Topps. He may have had a thirties issue also, but the frames were always in the background and difficult to make out.

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Posted By: Phil

Not a movie, but I remember the TV series Hart to Hart where a kid was kidnapped by his aunt when he inherited a $250,000 baseball collection.

Watch the beginning to this clip. Show was from 1982. Not too sure because the quality is bad, but some of those cards look real.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7N33cWbvgU

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Posted By: Joann

There is a 1941 Disney short cartoon starring Mickey and Minnie called "The Nifty Nineties" (about the 1890's). In the opening scene, Mickey is walking along a path in a park to the soundtrack of whatever that "Merry Merry Month of May" song is.

Right along the path is a billboard that advertises an upcoming Bloomer Girls Baseball game at this same park. Very very cool.

It is drawn with cartoonish exaggeration, but otherwise it's composition is very consistent with the many Bloomer Girl postcards from ~1910 when BG postcards were most prominent. Shows a standing row of players in uniform with equipment.

The billboard is not hidden at all - it takes up much of the center screen for several seconds as Mickey goes past in front of it whistling.

I just saw this within the past month and about fell out of my chair. I even thought that I would just love love love to have a cell (or whatever they are called) of that scene, but I suspect that's impossible.

Not exactly movies, and not exactly cards, but still a neat embedded reference to the hobby.

J

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

There was an episode of Macguyver that revolved around baseball cards and autographs. It was actually fairly ahead of its time, as the episode aired twenty or more years ago. Mcguyver uses a fake Walter Johnson-signed ball to help catch some bad guys, as he planted a tracking device on the underside of the base of the ball holder! All these memories flooding back!

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Posted By: Anonymous

"Dead" hubby (vigo mortgenson) leaves clues written on baseball cards (THE HORROR!) from the 60s that leads wife (andy mcdowell) on a trail around the planet. There's one scene where, after figuring out the clue on the card, she rips it up and throws it in a trashcan (CRINGE).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107999/


Past thread dealing with baseball cards in movies:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/153652/message/1186671274/Pre-War+Baseball+Cards+in+the+Movies

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Posted By: Todd C

leave it to Macguyver to catch the bad guys with a fake Walter Johson signed ball !


I am surprised he didn't remove the stitching and then plant some bomb device.

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Posted By: Anthony S.

"Diminished Capacity", the movie in which the key plot point centers around selling a T206 Schulte...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTw__xcWMz8

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Posted By: Bob Freedman

I believe there were some Play Balls and tobacco cards in Good Will Hunting in Robin Williams office behind his desk.

Don't ask me how I remember

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Posted By: Glen V

In Sam's office in Cheers, it looked like T202's and other cards were framed on the wall.

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Posted By: Joseph

Being more of a memorabilia guy...



In Otto Preminger's wonderful "Laura" (1944), a small baseball dexterity puzzle ("Bases Loaded", maybe)

has a fairly prominent role as a prop in the hands of Dana Andrews, who plays a detective investigating

the murder of the beautiful "Laura." In several scenes, as I recall, the cop is fiddling with the toy as

he gathers clues and talks to suspects. Great movie.


(edited to add still from movie, thanks Anthony S.--I guess "Bases Loaded" was not it...)

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Posted By: Scott Sarian

There is a baseball card reference at the 0:50 mark of this ESPN clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTmReXYNJs0>

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Posted By: nbrazil

one of the last scenes in good will hunting when matt damon is in robin williams office. robin is moving out and will is saying goodbye. on the wall of robin's office hangs a portrait of baseball cards. It looks like a 52 mantle, a ruth goudey and other marquee pre and post war cards.

Edit: Ahh, didnt see Bob's post above! Beat me to it

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Posted By: Anthony S.

Joseph,


"Laura." Great movie, indeed. And how beautiful was Gene Tierney.

The hand-held baseball game you referred to appears at the 5:10 point in the clip below...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmlBD2UEC6c

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Posted By: davidcycleback

In an episode of Married...With Children Al Bundy and neighbor Steve collect Chicago Cubs cards. Also Al's Dentist has a baseball card collection. It's also noteworthy to mention that Al is beaned in the head by Steve Carlton in an episode.

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Posted By: Brian T.

As memory serves, Al Bundy was delineating all his worldly posessions in his will. His only two items were a Joe Nuxhall baseball card and a Beta video tape. I don't remember the year of Nuxie's card.

...rounding 3rd and heading for home. May he rest in peace.

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Posted By: J Levine

One of my all-time favorite baseball movies is Sandlot. In the movie there are several interesting things featured...One of my favorites is at breakfast they pour cereal from a complete box of Sugar Crisp with a complete back panel of Post cards.

They have '62 Topps cards tacked to a treehouse as well.

The Ruth signature ball is featured as well as a wealth of older memorabilia in James Earl Jones' characters house including balls, pennants, trophies, and photos.

One of my favorite scenes of all time occurs in Big where the two boys go to the corner store buy packs of Topps, open them, eat the gum, and say "need it, need it, got it, got it...etc.)....I did that almost every day for nearly 4 years with my two friends Mark and Zach.

Joshua

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

Joshua,

Don't forget the 1927 Yankees team-signed ball that Jones' character gives to the kid to replace his stepfather's Ruth ball that the dog ate!

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Posted By: davidcycleback

In the Simpsons, Mr. Burns gave Homer a 1940 Play Ball-style card of Joe DiMaggio. Commenting on DiMaggio, Burns said he lost interest in the game when they started letting in "ethnics."

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Posted By: Bob Pomilla

In the 1970's tv series, "Barney Miller", one of the detectives has on his station desk, a vintage Yankees (I believe) autographed ball. It's part of a recurring theme, as the Inspector, whenever he visits the police station, expresses his admiration for the ball and strongly hints that he would like it for his own.

I'm somewhat foggy in my memory of it, but I believe eventually, the detective does give the Inspector the ball, but it turns out to be a phony, that the detective had made up to give the inspector, while retaining the real one for himself.

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

David,

I mentioned that one earlier. It was given by Mr. Burns in addition to Homer's Christmas bonii.

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Posted By: barrysloate

And I believe that was the episode of The Simpsons that was replayed last night.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Scott- I just watched the clip you provided and that's you on the ESPN show. Would you please share the background of how you got on (if you are well known and I am a jerk for not recognizing you I apologize).

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Posted By: Scott Sarian

Hey Barry,

Thanks for the comments. You're not a jerk - the only circles where I'm probably known is among bill collectors.

As far as the ESPN clip, I initially had auditioned for their show "Two Minute Drill" back around 2002-ish. I was selected to be on the show, but between the time of being selected and the taping date, the show was canceled. When they introduced the "Stump the Schwab" show a few years later, I went back to NYC and auditioned again, and was selected to be on the show.

The audition process was two-part; the first part was pretty much just a sports trivia test. They try to make sure you have a broad knowledge of all sports. If you pass that, then they interview you to make sure you have a personality and you're not just a dead fish in front of a camera. Somehow I passed those!

"Two Minute Drill" was a great show in my opinion, since it had a lot of older sports trivia. Schwab is meant to appeal to younger viewers (think SportsCenter) so it was much heavier on modern trivia.

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Posted By: Eric Pugh

this thread just made me watch an entire hour episode of hart to hart from 1982 while i was supposed to be working.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Thanks Scott. You did very well, you topped your other two opponents (but not the Schwab). I have never seen that show before but it's pretty good. The question gets tougher as the easier answers are eliminated. But you made an impressive showing, well done.

How did you do in the final round?

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Posted By: davidcycleback

The monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey are shaped like T206s.

Of interesting note, the word monolith is never said or used in the movie. The word is a creation external to the film.

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Posted By: J Levine

I am such a science fiction nerd...If I recall correctly, the monoliths were originally called Sentinels of Eternity...Clarke (a true genius) wrote the Sentinels of Eternity as a short story about aliens giving early humans a helping hand in the use of certain tools.

Oh, almost forgot...they were not metal, I think they were originally crystals.

Joshua

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Posted By: Matt Goebel

Didn't they have fake Cracker Jacks in the opening?

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

TV, not a movie - A 1997 episode of Deep Space 9 entitled "In the Cards," written by my friend Michael Piller, featured a Willie Mays card. Mike had a tremendous collection.

Sadly, Mike Piller died in 2005 at age 57. We went to a lot of Dodger games together and traded (what a concept!) cards together. Mike's mom co-wrote the song "Meet the Mets."


http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/In_the_Cards_(episode>)

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Posted By: Bill Williams

You know Mr. Pillar? I am a huge Trek Fan. think you could get me his autograph?

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Posted By: Bill Williams

Speaking of Star Trek. There are a few other references to Baseball Cards/Mem in Star Trek.

In the Episode of "The Most Toys" (ST:TNG) Kivas fajo a collector had a 1962 Topps Roger Maris baseball card.

Featured prominately in many episodes of Deep Space 9 was an antique baseball on the desk of Station Commander Benjamin Sisko

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Posted By: David M

You mentioned Star Trek, and I suddenly remembered an episode. Wasn't there an episode where some collector of rare items "collected" the character Data since he was a one of a kind. And he was showing off his collection which included what he said was the only example of a Roger Maris rookie card still in existance (1962 Topps).

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Posted By: boxingcardman

In an episode where Jeff and Susie's house is burglarized she is reading him the riot act over it and accusing him of not caring until he realizes his baseball cards might have been stolen. Not safe for work due to language. Reference atn the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYNrWKEEzn4

Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc

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Posted By: Scott Sarian

Thanks Barry - in the final round of the show, I lost when I couldn't list the teams that Nick Van Exel played for in his NBA career, in the proper order.

Fun experience nonetheless....

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Posted By: barrysloate

I can't either...but I think he played for the Lakers and Sacramento. Just a guess.

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Posted By: Jerry

In the Movie "Memphis Belle" one of the crew members has some playballs

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Posted By: Clint

In the movie Needful Things a boy gets gets a 1956 Mickey Mantle from a malevolent guy who may or may not be the devil. Good Stephen King movie if you haven't seen it.

Clint

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

I always liked the Hobbs card. I had three at one point, just kept the one:

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Posted By: writehooks

Great thread!

In The Odd Couple II (1998), Oscar Madison (Walter Mathau) presents his childhood baseball card collection to his son Brucie (Jonathan Silverman) as a wedding present. Some of the cards are shown on screen.

My all-time favorite is an episode of The Fugitive called "Nemesis", which aired on Oct. 13, 1964. Portraying the son of intrepid detective Phil Girrard, a very young Kurt Russell hides in a getaway car driven by Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen). As Kimble drives down a remote logging road, the kid tries to leave a trail by dropping his Topps football cards out the window. Kimble figures out what's going on, and puts and end to it ... but not before he chastises the kid for tossing out a Johnny Unitas card. In the last scene of the episode, Kimble, safely out of reach of the law, is show putting a Unitas card in an envelope and addressing it to the kid ...