The Infield Dirt with T.S. O'Connell - Wednesday, August 05, 2009

   The surprises were everywhere at this year’s National, though I concede that some of them at least are a result of my own lack of familiarity with some segments of the hobby. Thus, I was startled to see a huge line of fans on Saturday at the BlowoutCards.com booth in the corporate section, all eagerly awaiting a chance for an autograph from Rich Franklin.

   It was one of the longest and most enthusiastic lines I encountered over the five days, and so I was intrigued to learn that the affable Franklin is a former math teacher turned popular protagonist of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). I learned something of his prowess within this genre from Larry Lacluyse, owner of the Mishawaka Sports Museum in Mishawaka, Ind., and a familiar face at Midwestern card shows for many years.

Larry’s interest in Franklin impressed me, as did one of the guys who stood in line for a signature and photo opportunity. This gentleman had traveled for five hours for the opportunity to meet Franklin, promptly bought a lifesize cardboard cutout of the fighter and then headed home ... without bothering to so much as even take a glance at any of the other 699 or so booths.

   Veteran collector/dealer Pat Quinn reminisced about getting Teddy Ballgame to sign stuff back in the 1980s before things had gotten quite as pricey and structured as they would become. Quinn presented Ted with a box of items for him to sign and asked about the cost. “Fifty dollars,” said the Hall of Famer. Quinn told him he didn’t have that much for each of the dozen or so items in the box. “No, $50 for the whole pile,” said Williams.

   A couple of years later, Quinn pushed a box of books in front of Ted for signing purposes, and Ted impetuously got a little carried away, as he was known to do from time to time. “He told me that if he found even one book in the box that he hadn’t seen before, he would sign the whole bunch for free,” Quinn recounted with a laugh. The very first one that Williams grabbed was a rare book, and before he could stop himself he blurted, “Where did you get this?”

   “And then he realized what he had said,” Quinn continued, and just like that the pioneering hobbyist had made an even better deal that the $50 discount of before.

   Steve Pemper of Ball Four Cards in Milwaukee had NFL Hall of Famer Jim Taylor at his booth and I got to talk to the legendary former Packer for a few minutes between some of his autograph signings.

   The 74-year-old Taylor talked about playing for Vince Lombardi during the glory years – noting his first contract was for $9,500 – and opining that the Hall of Fame coach was tougher as a contract negotiator than he was as a coach, a lament not uncommon from former Packers.

   I asked Taylor about his 1959 Topps rookie card that actually pictures the Cardinals linebacker of the same name. This was an uncorrected Topps “error” that effectively meant Taylor didn’t actually get a football card with his mug on it until 1961, since the same error was repeated in 1960 Topps Football as well.

   I asked Taylor if collectors were constantly trying to get an autograph on the 1959 rookie card. “I have never signed that card and I never will,” he said firmly. “It wouldn’t be right,” he added, since the card didn’t actually picture him.

   That’s why I like talking to the old-timers. Rock-hard convictions that remain as immovable as they were on the football field.
   Tomorrow I’ll talk about similar chats that I had with Ernie Banks and Whitey Ford.

   I don’t want to sound like an old geezer (though I am sure I often do), but those kinds of stories contrast sharply with the high-finance, micro-accounting that is the hallmark of the modern autograph session. Doesn’t mean the players in that venue are bad guys, it just means it’s a different time. Most everybody likes big bucks, but there’s always a price that comes with it, one that is often counted in loss of innocence, quaintness and spontaneity.

   I’m just sayin.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009 5:43:53 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Tuesday, August 04, 2009

The cool stuff competes with grim headlines ...
Posted by T.S.

   Here’s the blog I wrote up on Friday at the National Convention. I didn’t exactly write it up on the back of a cocktail napkin, but it’s close. My reasons for not sending it have been discussed, but I pass it along here under the heading of “better late than never.”

   You want to know how cool it is at the National Convention? In the space of a half hour after I walked in the door last Wednesday in Cleveland, I saw old friend Dave Czuba, Alan Rosen’s right-hand man who is coming back from a battle with cancer, spotted an eye-popping trio of unopened Topps baseball boxes from the mid-1950s and heard a couple of great stories about Ted Williams signing autographs back in the earliest days of the organized hobby. It’s nice to get the immediate reinforcement and reminders of those things that make the National Convention so special.

   Those three things sum it up pretty nicely: good friends, good stuff and good stories. All of that contrasted sharply with the gloomy rumblings on a day later as the hobby reeled from yet another mainstream media story casting a negative light on the hobby at the moment of its showcase event, followed by unsubstantiated reports that the FBI was visiting once again and passing out subpoenas to various dealers, auction houses and grading services.

   This time it was the revelation of inquiries into stolen historical documents from public libraries in Boston and New York City, and it was the second consecutive year that somebody rained on the National’s parade. In Chicago last year, the New York Daily News reported that federal agents had waded through the dealer tables interviewing a number of dealers about alleged shill bidding and card doctoring. As might be anticipated, finding individuals who want to go on the record saying they have been thusly visited by Justice Department minions is more than a little problematic,

   By Thursday night in Cleveland, Michael O’Keefe, the Daily News reporter who wrote the bylined piece about stolen library archival material, was appearing as a guest speaker at a reception for the online chat forum Network 54. He shared speaking duties with one of the most visible names in the auction world, Josh Evans of Lelands.com, who as always spoke candidly about some of the challenges facing the hobby/industry.

   The controversial always competes with the day-to-day proceedings at the National, but it wouldn’t be fair or accurate to say that it sucked the air out of the room. A show as long running and dynamic as the National has always been able to juggle the competing forces of damaging news events and the traditional hoopla surrounding the hobby’s biggest event of the year.

   But even as the 700-plus dealers trudged back to Cleveland for the third time in the span of seven years, it might not have been too much of a stretch to suggest that many of the assembled hobby elite might have been looking past Cleveland in anticipation of a much ballyhooed inaugural trip to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor next year. To muddy up a sports cliche just a bit, we typically do them one National at a time, but this year might have been a bit of an exception.

   Still, I managed to fight off any inclination to mope in that august (August?) setting. While I didn’t see quite as much spectacular memorabilia as I have in recent years, the array of vintage cards never disappoints. A quicky visit to Steve Hart’s Baseball Card Exchange booth revealed full, unopened boxes of 1954 Topps and Bowman baseball, and another of 1955 Topps Baseball. That trio almost certainly came from the famous Alan Rosen find in Paris, Tenn., in October of 1987. The freight was a cool $50,000 each, which naturally left me without any particular strains from temptation.

   On the morrow, I’ll recount those stories about Teddy Ballgame, courtesy of hobby pioneer Pat Quinn of Sports Collectors Ltd.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009 4:59:32 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Monday, August 03, 2009

I left fully loaded for Cleveland ...
Posted by T.S.

   I know what you’re thinking. First the guy says he’s not gonna blog at the National Convention, then he says he will, but lo and behold, not a peep over the four days. Guilty as charged.

   First of all, I apologize. My initial suspicion that there wouldn’t be good opportunities for blogging (material, yes, but reasonable times to get it done, no) was probably correct. We weren’t able to get to the Internet from our hotel room, and there was no media center at the IX Center this year. With Herculean efforts I probably could have blogged from the business center at the hotel, but I ended up saving my Herculean efforts for the show floor.

   The title of the blog is nothing but a silly cultural reference to one of my favorite 1970s songs, “Thre Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” by Gordon Lightfoot. Technically, we came back fully loaded from Cleveland, since the show was busy for us virtually every day, with many subscriptions purchased, along with hundreds of magazines and books.

   Overall, I know the promoters were pretty content with attendance, though no figures were available by the time I started writing this. Dealers I talked to over the five days were divided, as they almost always are, and in an event anecdotal evidence like that can be a problem. Ultimately, you have to sort of go by feel, and I thought it seemed pretty busy all five days; steady but not spectacular. At 450,000 square feet, making that particular expo center look busy is virtually impossible.

   TriStar brought in a remarkable group of signers, the National tried out a number of new promotions, including a Kids Day on Sunday that attracted some big crowds, and the live Legendary Auction – though not officially part of the National Convention – was another hit at the House of Blues in downtown Cleveland. The card company guys we thrilled with the traffic at their various corporate spaces, and pointed to great successes from their popular wrapper redemption programs and VIP bag giveaways. That’s a sampling of some of the stuff that kept me from blogging.

   I’ll provide a few more hightlights as the week wears on, including photos from the five days. I need a nap, but I’m not sure I see one on the immediate horizon.

Monday, August 03, 2009 4:55:41 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Gonna try blogging from the National in Cleveland ...
Posted by T.S.

   When I first blogged this earlier today, one of the purposes was to inform online readers that I wouldn't be blogging from the National Convention in Cleveland, citing my almost legendary ineptness at computer stuff.

   Here's what I blogged initially: "I know, I know, lots of younger folks would have no difficulty blogging from the road, and I suppose in theory I could, too. But not in practice. I am just not tech savvy enough to pull that off, and besides, we always have more than enough on our plates to keep us occupied when we are at shows."

   As they used to say in the Nixon administration, the previous statement is no longer operative. I will now be blogging from Cleveland – intervals to be determined. If that sounds like some Krause big shot read my blog and overruled me, I have to offer a plaintive "au contraire."

   (I found this cool picture of Bob Meusel online, and took the occasion of this blog as an excuse to use it.)

   First, that would presume that Krause big shots sit around reading my blog, which probably ain't so. Second, the big shot who politely called me this a.m. and asked if I would be blogging from Cleveland hadn't read my blog. I may be a bit dense, but I am still capable of taking a hint, whoever subtle. So once we get things set up at the booth and I actually stroll around and get a look at the proceedings, I will, in point of fact, be blogging.

   We’ll have a pretty good-sized crew in Cleveland: myself, auction director Steve Bloedow and sports division sales representatives Amanda Mueller and Scott Chandler. We will be manning the Krause Publications booth at the show, so we urge any readers who will be there to stop by and say hello.

   With all the difficulties that major regional shows have faced over the last several years – difficulties profoundly exacerbated by the broad economic slump – the National provides a special setting because it remains one of the last “must-attend” events in the hobby. I look forward to seeing all of the guys who don’t traditionally venture out much every year, with the exception of the National.

   It’s also my only opportunity – at least in the case of Cleveland – to ride a Ferris wheel, which I typically do in the line of duty to try to get a photograph of the doings from as high a vantage point as possible.

   The odd thing is, I am one of those folks who doesn’t much care for heights, a kind of pedestrian phobia that’s hackneyed to the point of cliche. Still, I like Peter Falk’s explanation during an episode of the “Columbo” television series. Chided for his queasiness when it came to heights, Columbo exclaimed, “I don’t even like being this tall.”

   And I’m a lot taller than he is.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 3:05:47 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Monday, July 27, 2009

Rickey and Rice make everything nice at HOF ...
Posted by T.S.

   Keeping the Hall of Fame theme going, it was interesting to note the circumstances surrounding the election of Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice, two vastly different players linked roughly by the era in which they played and their position in left field.

   I loved watching both of them play. Rice because of the way he hit with so much power and consistency, and Rickey and because of the way he disrupted the opposition with his unique presence on the basepaths.

I have always been intrigued that a player with his immense talent and skill could have moved about as much as he did throughout his career. As should have been the case, there wasn’t all that much kibitzing the last couple of days about Rickey the difficult superstar, but there certainly was when he was playing.

   In terms of our hobby, I think all that moving around had an impact on his stature with diehard fans. In the days before free agency, it would have been unthinkable for a player with his abilities to play for so many different franchises, but nowadays it barely raises an eyebrow.

   In contrast to Rickey, Rice played sixteen seasons in relative anonymity in Boston through the 1970s and 1980s. He was also the last man to top the 400 total bases mark (406 in his MVP season in 1978) until 1998, when offensive numbers suddenly took a major leap forward. I was always partial to the total bases statistic because of the combination of power, durability and consistency that it personified. My guy, Henry Aaron, did it in 1959 with a mere 39 home runs and in the 154-game season.

   Obviously, total bases numbers require a lot of plate appearances, and though I can’t immediately check it out, I’ll bet that no player with at least 45 home runs ever had as many at bats (677) as Rice did in that amazing 1978 season.

   I don’t quibble with Flash Gordon getting the Veterans nod, but I would still insist that the 1942 MVP Award that probably had an enormous impact on his overall stature with fans was wrongly awarded. He had a wonderful season, but Ted Williams won the Triple Crown and thus should have been the MVP. I know it begs the debate about whether an MVP has to be on a winning team, but I reject that with the observation that an individual award can’t fairly be dependent upon the efforts and abilities of 24 other guys. Geez, it was the Triple Crown!

   The other reason I wanted to blog about these dudes was to show off Dick Perez’s incredible artwork. We can all be thrilled that he continues to create artwork of the newest HOFers every year, producing it in the same style that he employed for the coveted Perez-Steele Hall of Fame Art Postcards Series that ran from 1980-2001.

Monday, July 27, 2009 3:51:42 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Let us not quibble. Albert is a Hall of Famer ...
Posted by T.S.

albert pujols.jpg

   I read something online the other day that gave me a bit of pause because it emphasized once again the dependency that people often have in refusing to use their common sense and instead insist on having heavily structured environments that are so laden with rules that no actual thought is needed.

   I apologize for the long-winded intro. While quite properly noting the incredible season that Albert Pujols is having, the writer felt compelled to point out that the St. Louis star ought not be referred to as a Hall of Famer because he hasn’t put in 10 seasons yet. Really?

   Obviously, there are a number of tragic events that could conceivably take place that might prevent him from hitting the mandatory 10-seasons threshold, but they are pretty uniformly unlikely or nearly impossible, and for the vast majority of them it wouldn’t mean that Prince Albert wouldn’t get a plaque.

   Without pondering the specifics of any ghastly scenarios, if something happened that prevented him from reaching 10 seasons that wasn’t connected to any malfeasance on his part, our friends at the Hall of Fame would promptly issue a waiver of that requirement and the matter is solved. So the short answer is that Pujols is already a Hall of Famer, awaiting only the formalities of the passage of time and the induction procedures.

   In nine seasons (OK, 83/4), he’s had nine HOF-caliber years. That’s a Hall of Famer. There are lots of guys with plaques who didn’t have nine HOF-caliber seasons. And just as in Albert’s case, Ichiro Suzuki is a Hall of Famer, too. He has also had nine HOF-caliber seasons, and pretty much all the things I said about Pujols apply to him as well. Plus, I understand he had a handsome career in his native Japan prior to his MLB sojourn.

   At a time when HallofFameOphiles like myself are worried about how the great institution is going to reconcile its voting procedures with the stigma of the steroid era, it’s reassuring to have two first-ballot locks already in place, with very little on the horizon that could upset that happy ending.

   Almost nothing, really.

Thursday, July 23, 2009 3:36:14 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Can you picture Manny at Speaker's grave? ...
Posted by T.S.

   Ichiro Suzuki visited the grave of Hall of Famer George Sisler during an All-Star Weekend, paying his respects to a man whose name is so often linked with the Seattle superstar. With all the folderol and fluff that accompanies the game, this was a nice aside and a reminder that for all of our American magnificence, there are things in other cultures that we would do well to emulate.

   Ichiro surpassed Sisler’s MLB single-season record of 257 hits five years ago, and the Hall of Famer’s descendants – including his 81-year-old daughter, traveled to Seattle to be on hand for the historic moment. With that context, Ichiro decided to take time in the middle of his ninth All-Star weekend to respond to that gesture, according to a report on ESPN.com.

   “I wanted to do that for a grand upperclassman of the baseball world,” Ichiro told MLB.com. “I think it’s only natural for someone to want to do that, to express my feelings in that way.”

   Ichiro, along with his wife and several friends, laid flowers at Sisler’s grave at Des Peres Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

   The report also noted that though Ichiro had been an All-Star each year of his nine-year major league career, this visit to St. Louis was probably a bit more noteworthy because he got to meet President Barack Obama, who threw out the first pitch. Prior to the game, the President visited the clubhouses and signed a ball for Ichiro, who reportedly gave a slight bow upon meeting the President and appeared as giddy and excited as a kid.

   One presumes that meeting the President was similarly thrilling for most of the players, but I gotta admit that this is the first time I ever heard of a modern player placing flowers at the grave of one of the legendary figures who came before him.

   And I like it a whole bunch, if you’ll forgive the lame pun.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009 4:05:52 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Willie and Sy have excellent Cooperstown adventure ...
Posted by T.S.

   Some time tomorrow afternoon, a limousine is going to swing by Sy Berger’s home in suburban New York City. Sy, one of the great names in the card-collecting history of the last six decades, is going to jump into the car and head off to the wilds of Upstate New York and the tiny village of Cooperstown to take part in the various festivites that surround the annual induction ceremonies. And he’s going to do all this with his pal, Willie Mays, just as the duo has done for many years.

   One of the many joys of my job is that Sy calls me from time to time to reminisce a bit, and he almost always mentions his enduring friendship with Willie. Berger’s characterization of Mays as a sweetheart of a guy may conflict a bit with a lot of conventional hobby wisdom about the Hall of Famer, but I don’t doubt for a minute the sincerity of his affection. They go back a very long way.

(Willie is pictured in an incredible painting by yet another well-known hobby figure, Mike Schacht.)

   “Back in 1951, Willie was just a kid and I met him in the Giants locker room,” Berger told me in a 2000 interview for SCD. Sy is now 86 and Willie is all of 78, and they share a lifetime of memories that trace their lineage all the way back to the Polo Grounds that year.

   “Willie was just a nervous kid, and since it was my first trip to a big-league locker room, I was nervous, too. As Willie says, he was scared and looking for a friendly face, and I walked in. I am probably one of his best and oldest friends.”

   Sy befriended literally hundreds of ballplayers over the years as he waved those exclusive Topps contracts around major league dugouts and helped conceive and design some of the most beloved – and valuable – postwar baseball card sets ever created. His stories of wrasslin’ with Willie over just about every aspect of Mays’ cards are priceless, and it must have paid off because the great center fielder ended up nearly two dozen classics. They obviously would have been valuable just because they were his cards, but it’s pretty neat that they also were pretty uniformly wonderful pasteboards.

   Just the thought of those two icons palling around for four days in that bucolic shrine to the greatest game on Earth is enough to bring a smile to my face. Also a nice reminder that there are baseball immortals who don’t end up on a bronze plaque but nonetheless have an unshakable claim to a role in the game’s lore and legend.

   Have a nice weekend, guys.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 4:08:00 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Monday, July 20, 2009

Here is where the T206 Wagner mythology started ...
Posted by T.S.

   SCD reader Tom Sims sent me a photocopied newspaper article from 65 years ago that would seem to be a strong suspect in determining where the overheated lore and legend surrounding the Honus Wagner T206 card might have got its foothold.

   According to the article in the Sunday, March 23, 1944, Philadelphia Record, “Cigarette sports cards are collector’s items now,” the old cards that would be unknown to the current generation “are a much-sought collector’s item today.”

   In the bylined story that also pictured 16 early tobacco cards – the Wagner and mostly T206s and T205s – the writer states without any attribution that there are only two known cigarette cards of the bowlegged Hans now in existence, adding that each is worth about $20 to $25.

   The article goes on to state that Charles Bray of East Bangor, Pa., owns one, with the other belonging to John Wagner (no relation), of Harrisburg, Pa. That Wagner was actually quoted in the article, telling the writer that Hans had come to Harrisburg for an exhibition game many years ago.

   “I asked him why his picture did not appear on the cigarette cards,” the non-immortal Wagner was quoted as saying. “He told me that he did not believe an athlete should use tobacco and for that reason turned down all offers made to him by the cigarette companies for the use of his picture.”

   The article also quoted Jeff Burdick of Syracuse, N.Y., but not specifically about the T206 Wagner but about collecting cigarette cards in general.

   Of such humble beginnings does grand mythology get its start. Never mind that Wagner is shown a few years later on his 1949 Leaf in the process of stuffing a big wad of chewing tobacco into his mouth (shown above), or that the timing of his famous withdrawal of the card from the 1909-11 White Border Series just happened to conincide with a period in American jurisprudence when litigation and legal thought was evolving about compensation for public figures for commerical use of their likenesses.

   I just wish that the Philadelphia Record reporter had made one more phone call. Honus Wagner was a mere 70 years old at the time and would live another 11 years before dying in December of 1955 in Carnegie, Pa.

   What the hell, it’s more fun with all of the confusion and mythology.

Monday, July 20, 2009 5:16:25 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Thursday, July 16, 2009

It is fun having a mission at the National Convention ...
Posted by T.S.

   Let’s face it, the National Convention would be a cool idea no matter where the show was held. Just like the great early shows in the hobby’s history, it’s the dealers who make the show something special, and that group remains largely intact every year except for the sad attrition that comes with a hobby so thoroughly populated by old geezers.

   I know in recent years, say the last 15 or so, the autograph lineup has assumed a much greater role in bringing folks through the front door, but that’s a solution without a terribly happy ending, in part because it becomes more expensive every year to keep the same big names on the signing roster. Meanwhile, the dealers quite correctly remain the focus of the famed show, now celebrating its 30th anniversary.

   When I go to the National I try to have at least a general idea of what I’m looking for, if for no other reason than to give myself a sense of direction in chasing down various dealers. It’s too bad that I have to be selective, but given all my duties at the National as editor of SCD, there’s only a limited amount of time I can spend off the books, so to speak.

   So this year, along with just generally looking for interesting stuff for the magazine, I am in search of an unopened pack, wax or cello, of 1959 Topps Baseball. I realize how challenging that can be, having passed – perhaps unfortunately – on a neat 1959 cello last year from Baseball Card Exchange.

   That cello had Wes Covington showing, but that’s not particularly vital to me, since I would be buying it to open it up. As some readers may recall, I opened a 1960 Topps cello on my 50th birthday in 2000 (and chronicled the results in SCD), so now I would like to open a 1959 pack for my 60th, which should come along in about a year.

   My other fun search is for boxes of that goofy 1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes issue of black-and-white cards of old-timers. The set isn’t particularly valuable (maybe $20 or less), but the boxes do have the two 1954 Topps Ted Williams cards that weren’t in the Topps reprint issue that year, along with an ersatz Mickey Mantle card. All three might set you back $200 if you bought them from a dealer. I think it’s one of the toughest unopened boxes from the last 20 years, largely because I figure most of the boxes were quite savagely opened up in search of those three inserts.

   I’ll let you know if I spot any boxes in Cleveland, and you’ll also be the first to know if I pull the trigger – or even find – a 1959 Topps pack for next year’s loosely planned festivities.

Thursday, July 16, 2009 3:07:23 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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