Zeenuts....

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Some of my more favorite Zee-Nuts, and why...



Pop Dillon, what a true ballplayer. I didn't dig out my Obak card of him, but here is his Home Run Kisses, and about a 1912 Zee-Nut. Here's the Wikipedia link for him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Dillon

Doc Prothro. Some folks recall Tommy Prothro, the football coach. Tommy married a girl from Franklin, Ky, where I live. Tommy's dad was a dentist and a ballplayer. And a manager in the majors and minors. My understanding is that he was a very nice fellow. His grandaughter told me about a trip to Philadelphia she took with her grandparents, many years after he'd managed the Phillies. She recalled how a taxi cab driver recognized and fondly remembered him, after all of those years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Prothro

Walter Mails. The Great Mails. I was after one of his American Caramel cards for my first eBay bid. I had no account. Just a few minutes to go... I started typing in names, and everything I tried was taken. The Great Mails was about to elude me! In a moment of desperation I typed Greatwake and it took. I wasn't all that happy with my new name, but I won that caramel card. And that is how I got that silly moniker. Mails proclaimed himself The Great Mails after going 7-0 to help Cleveland to a pennant in 1920. Another of his nicknames was Duster. He was a good left handed pitcher.

Bill Burns. Sleepy Burns. He pitched as though he wasn't putting much into it, hence the name Sleepy. He wasn't asleep in 1919 when it came time for The Fix.

Lefty Gomez, Yankee HOFer.




Gotta love any red border 1918 card.

Lefty O'Doul, 1927, next to the 1918 Williams.

Carl Zamloch, I swapped an older card of his off, and had to find a replacement. This 1920 one was as good as I could do. Carl played ball, and managed, and did a ton of stuff. He coached at UC Berkley. Here's a link to a great Wikipedia page for him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Zamloch Somewhere I have that Signal Gas magic tricks book.

Several years ago I interviewed George Archie for the oral history program. Mr. Archie was a gracious man, with a good memory. He told me that of all the baseball people he'd met, that Jack Lelivelt knew more about baseball than any of the rest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Lelivelt Jack played in the majors, was on the 1913 Cleveland team with Nap Lajoie and Joe Jackson. He was a very successful manager.

Mr. Archie told me that Hal Turpin was about the toughest pitcher he ever saw pitch. That if he was playing and had to win one game, Turpin was the man. Turpin over all of the guys Mr. Archie played with and faced in the majors.

Mark Koenig of 1927 Yankees fame.

And Gus Suhr... who can be found in 1933 Goudey, too. I wrote Mr. Suhr while he was in the nursing home, and he signed a 3x5 for me. Folks say he was a gentleman. At one point Gus had the consecutive games played record for the National League, 822 games. A Mr. Musial broke that record in 1957.