Did this ever happen to you?

[the 'stache]

Happened to my father, too. Grandma Ann, God rest her soul....why....why????

Occasionally, when I get in a catalog from BST, Lelands or REA, I'll look through it with my Dad. He was born in 1947, and started collecting when he was about 10, if I recall correctly. Though he was born and raised in Chicago, and liked the Cubs, he was a diehard Milwaukee Braves fan. That's partly why he so enjoyed going to Milwaukee County Stadium when the Brewers played there. Memories! Anyway, he had all the mid to late 50s cards, and some from the early 60s-- Aaron, Mathews, Spahn, Burdette, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Red Schoendienst when he was a Brave. He also liked the Pirates. He tells me about the time he saw the Pirates at Wrigley, and met Smoky Burgess and Vinegar Bend Mizell, who the Pirates got from the Cardinals early in the season, and went 13-5 with a 3.12 ERA for his new team. This was 1960, the year the Bucs won the Series. He got their autographs, and chatted with them a bit. He said both were real gents. And my Grandma threw out all those cards.

More than anything, I hate hearing about some of the games he went to. Like the game he saw in '60 when Warren Spahn threw a complete game beating the Cubs....with seven future Hall of Famers on the field that day (Aaron, Mathews, Schoendienst, Spahn, Ashburn, Banks and Santo). Man, I missed out not being alive back then.