CLOSED...1960 Topps $25 "expanding lot" auction...Day 7

[HercDriver]

Today is just a single card, featuring Bill Bruton. It's one of my favorite cards in the set, so it gets single billing. Plus it gets us to a nice round 20 cards. Bruton was a Braves speedster, specializing in triples. As a matter of fact, he's one of only three guys to hit two bases-loaded triples in a single game, the others being Elmer Valo and Duane Kuiper. He hit a nice .412 in the 1958 World Series against the Yankees, after having had to sit out the 1957 WS with an injury. After baseball, he ended up at Chrysler, where he climbed the ladder to be a special assistant to Lee Iacocca. He also was inducted into the Delware Sports Hall of Fame, along with the likes of his father-in-law, Negro Leaguer Judy Johnson, and the much heralded John Wockenfuss. That's two mentions in a 1960 thread now, for Johnny Wockenfuss, which is pretty good, since he didn't appear in the bigs for another dozen or so years. As I said, it's one of my favorite cards, because I love the Braves uniforms of that era. The screaming Indian, the tomahawk, and the script Braves on the front. The 1960 set doesn't have a lot of action shots, if any, so this is as close as you get. At least the head shots usually have the right cap, though. And to make the card even better, it features my beloved Wrigley Field in the background, as does the Pinson card above. Maybe I should do a subset of Wrigley Field cards, which would include almost the entire 1981 Donruss set. Enjoy the beauty of the Bruton card, and have an awesome day!

[HercDriver]

Day 7 brings us the kid of a HOFer, but after getting my Google on and finding Jerry Casale, I thought I'd tell you about him instead. I found an article from about 15 years ago, when Casale was running his Italian restaurant in NYC. It intrigued me at first, because it was right by a place I like to go, called The Ginger Man, on 36th and 5th Ave...great beer joint. Anyway, his place, Pino's was just three blocks down, on 33rd. Evidently, his brother had made a recording of him hitting a home run off of Bob Turley at a game in Fenway, during the 1959 season. So his patrons would be treated to this call by Phil Rizzuto a couple times a night, "Ohh! That’s gone! A home run! Holy cow! Did he hit that one!″ He also hit one off of Early Wynn that year, which Wynn didn't appreciate, and cursed the rookie the whole around the bases. In the picture on this card, he has just signed a $12,500 contract to pitch for the Sox, with a promise of $25K if he wins 15 games. He thought that was pretty good, since he'd been getting $90/month, driving a tank in Germany. He started out 1960, beating the Yankees twice, then blew out the arm. We all know that story, as it happens to seemingly 90% of pitchers. He stuck around, and even gave up Yaz's first homer as an expansion draft Angel the next season. But, he loved his restaurant, which is mentioned in The Teammates, and was frequented by ball players. And he loved playing that tape of his homer, according to his wife, presumably with an eye roll. Reminds me of coming home last night from my hockey game and telling the wife that I scored a sweet goal, with one minute left, to win the game 5-4! "That's nice, honey, did you feed the dog?" I get it, Jerry...I totally get it.

[TheDDG]

This is the first one of these I've seen. Sorry if I'm spoiling the fun, but I'm jumping in at $25 now.

[HercDriver]

Sweet...thanks, Darryl! The auction will close at ten minutes after midnight, Mountain Time, tonight. Please bid in $1 increments if you wish to bid. Thanks everyone! These are fun to do, so look for another one in a couple weeks.

Cheers,
Geno

[jwilly]

Because I love the Sparky quotes I'll make it $26.