August 2011 pickup thread

[perezfan]

Great images, Graig...

The Doerr Batting photo is spectacular, and Ott pensively inspecting the Bats would make a poignant (and truly epic) painting.

Great stuff... and very sorry I missed you in Chicago

[David Atkatz]

"Ott" is Irish Meusel.

[Mark]

Whoever it is, I bet he is wondering about that dark bat with the rings. What kind of bat is it?

[murphusa]

The Mantle and Joe D photo will have people asking if
mantle used that bat. It was the practice of photographers to just grab bats and gloves and hand them to players before they took pictures. A lot of times equipment sellers will use photos as a way to authenticate a players use of such. Do your homework before you buy and don't always believe the story

Look at the older players in each photo, they knew to turn the bats around while the rook needs to learn a few things

[yanks12025]

Who's bat is the Mick holding, can anyone tell.

[MGHPro]

I have a clearer picture of it.. if I remember correctly, its a Bauer type

[baseball tourist]

Picked up a 1960-'67, Max McGee, Green Bay Packers, home green, used, durene jersey. Tons of use, team repairs and wear. Spoke to a few advanced Packer jersey collectors and apparently only one other McGee gamer is in a private collector's hands in GB. this might bring $8K-$10K at auction. Not too bad for a $24 purchase!!

If you don't know Max..he was quite a player and quite a character:

'Some would say that football was in Max McGee's blood. His successful football career started early when he became the first player in High School football history ever to rush for over 3,000 yards in a single season. He rushed for 3,048 yards his senior year and 20 years later, his High School football record was finally broken.

Max continued to improve his football skills at Tulane University and was selected by the Packers in the fifth round of the 1954 NFL Draft. In his rookie season with the Packers, Max led the NFL in punting yards while also catching 36 passes for 614 yards and nine touchdowns. He missed the next two seasons to serve as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, but returned to become the Packers' leading receiver from 1958-62. In fact, while the Packers finished the 1958 season with a league worst 1-10-1 record, Max still was able to lead the NFL in yards per catch average (23.2), punting yards (2,716) and net yards average (36.0). "

After Vince Lombardi took over as the team's head coach in 1959, McGee continued to strive and helped the team to six NFL championship appearances, five NFL championship wins and two Super Bowl victories. He was also a Pro Bowl selection during the 1961 season.

In his final two seasons, injuries and age had considerably reduced Max's production and playing time. Ironically, these two seasons would be the ones for which his career is best remembered. In the 1966 season, McGee caught only four passes for 91 yards and a touchdown as the Packers recorded a 12-2 record and advanced to Super Bowl I against the Kansas City Chiefs. Because Max didn't expect to play in the game, he violated the team's curfew policy and spent the night before the Super Bowl out on the town. In "Lombardi and Me" by Paul Hornung, Max recounts,

"The night before the game, Paul [Hornung] and I were out at our favorite bar in L.A. Paul told me he was going to leave in time to make curfew because he was getting married right after the Super Bowl and didn't want to stay out all night. But we ran into a couple of girls, and I was using Paul to make them stay because he was the Heisman Trophy winner with all the pretty curly locks - better looking than me - so I told them Mr. Hornung would be right back after bed check.
"Well, Vince had told us it would be a $15,000 fine if we missed bed check. That was exactly what the winners would get. To the day he died, the biggest game in the world to Vince Lombardi was the first Super Bowl, because the NFL was his pride and joy and he did not want to be embarrassed by having this upstart league (the AFL) beat him.
"But I go back out to meet the girls and stay out all night.

The next morning, Max told starting receiver Boyd Dowler, "I hope you don't get hurt. I'm not in very good shape."

However, Dowler went down with a separated shoulder on the Packers' second drive of the game, and McGee, who had to borrow a teammate's helmet because he had not brought his own out of the locker room, was put into the game. A few plays later, McGee made a one-handed reception of a pass from Bart Starr, took off past Chiefs defender Fred Williamson and ran 37 yards to score the first touchdown in Super Bowl history. By the end of the game, McGee had recorded seven receptions for 138 yards and two touchdowns, assisting Green Bay to a 35-10 victory.

The following year, he recorded a 35-yard reception in the third quarter of Super Bowl II that set up a touchdown in the Packers 33-14 win over the Oakland Raiders. McGee retired shortly after the game. He finished his 12-season career with 345 receptions for 6,346 yards and 12 carries for 121 yards. He also scored 51 touchdowns (50 receiving and 1 fumble recovery). On special teams, he punted 256 times for 10,647 yards, an average of 41.6 yards per punt, and returned four kickoffs for 69 yards.