Brooks Robinson and the Baltimore Orioles

[BaltOrioles]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

Day 112 (April 21, 2020 – 112)

Anyone want to wager a guess in what this somewhat ugly piece is?


Well, I guess Alan is extremely close and I'll give it to him. It's one of the metal printing plates for the back of the 1962 Topps #45 Brooks Robinson card.

Mark,

I should have recognized that they were the metal plates. I have two myself.

Dick Hall and Billy Hitchcock

1962 Topps Aluminum Printers Proofs.jpg

[ksfarmboy]

Mark unfortunately I don’t own any other Grich or McNally items other than the cards and such.

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by ksfarmboy

Mark unfortunately I don’t own any other Grich or McNally items other than the cards and such.

Hey, they'd look great displayed by themselves as well...

[Mark70Z]

Day 113 (April 22, 2020 – 113)

This is a Crown gas pump display advertising the Special Edition Orioles Baseball Cards with Brooks card shown. States that “Set #1 is here now!” and it’s “featuring every Orioles player in the team’s modern history.” Sounds like a lot of cards but would be a fun set to collect.

Day 113 a Baseball pump display.jpg

Here’s a sheet of 1991 Crown/Coca Cola cards with Brooks included.

Day 113 b 1991 Crown Gas.jpg

[roarfrom34]

Mark:

I have to admit that I've never seen that Brooks Crown card set ad sign previously (looks like they would have been placed above the pumps)..Very nice..

When that set came out in 1991, there were 502 cards in the set and by my count at the time, 450 of the players were still living.

Being an Orioles autograph guy, I decided to get them signed with my "goal" at the time to get at least 400 of them auto'd (I pretty much started my project as the cards were released).

Well here I sit today with 445 of the cards signed:

[roarfrom34]

Sad to report that I learned this morning that Bob Oliver passed away on the 19th at the age of 77..



I mentioned in an earlier post that Bob had the distinction of being the last Oriole to wear #33 prior to Eddie (you can probably win a beer or two with that trivia question)

[BaltOrioles]

Originally Posted by roarfrom34

Sad to report that I learned this morning that Bob Oliver passed away on the 19th at the age of 77..

Bill,

Sad to hear that. Oddly enough, in post #1258 on the 19th, I shared a photo of Bob Oliver. I was never 100% sure the photo used by Crown was actually Bob Oliver, but it looks like he signed it for you without the "Not me" quotation.

Quite an accomplishment to get that many Crown cards signed. I wish all the cards used photos of players in Orioles uniforms.


Here's the Bob Oliver photo again

Oliver, Bob 1.jpg

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by roarfrom34

Mark:

I have to admit that I've never seen that Brooks Crown card set ad sign previously (looks like they would have been placed above the pumps)..Very nice..

When that set came out in 1991, there were 502 cards in the set and by my count at the time, 450 of the players were still living.

Being an Orioles autograph guy, I decided to get them signed with my "goal" at the time to get at least 400 of them auto'd (I pretty much started my project as the cards were released).

Well here I sit today with 445 of the cards signed:

Man, that is awesome Bill. I can't even imagine trying to do what you've accomplished.

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by BaltOrioles

Mark,

I should have recognized that they were the metal plates. I have two myself.

Dick Hall and Billy Hitchcock

Attachment 395705

The only printing plates I've ever seen for the vintage cards are from 1962. The others from the different years must have been destroyed after production or reused for different jobs.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

The only printing plates I've ever seen for the vintage cards are from 1962. The others from the different years must have been destroyed after production or reused for different jobs.

I think they were all found together in Connecticut, possibly in the house of a printing plant employee. I posted about some on my blog five years ago, it gives some detail on how these entered the hobby but not the original source. I believe I got that info later. They had to be melted down for reuse, so survivors are scarce.

http://www.thetoppsarchives.com/2015/03/metal-shop.html

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by toppcat

I think they were all found together in Connecticut, possibly in the house of a printing plant employee. I posted about some on my blog five years ago, it gives some detail on how these entered the hobby but not the original source. I believe I got that info later. They had to be melted down for reuse, so survivors are scarce.

Dave,

Thanks for the information on the plates; interesting read. I know the 1962 Topps plates are the only ones I've ever seen on the vintage cards.