Recently, tribecards.blogspot.com celebrated the dog days of summer by putting on a 1993 Triple Play scratchcard tournament that was epic in both length and generosity. Each participant got some sort of relic/auto/serial numbered card per round, win or lose, and there were all sorts of trivia questions and bonus things. I wasn't nearly as scratch-lucky as my girlfriend, but I still came away with some cool stuff. And perhaps best of all, Mr. Indians himself sent each participant a box of random cards of their favorite team along with the winnings. You can see the prizes I won and how the whole tournament played out on his blog. Here I will, in part one of a two part series, Vintage-o-rama!
1951 Bowman Al Brazle - This was a jawdropper, right off the bat. I kept examining the card to check to make sure it wasn't some sort of reprint card that they like to do these days. Of course, the card is "authentically worn" so that should have been an easy indicator of its vintageness. I am fairly certain I didn't have any cards that were made prior to 1960 in my collection.
Al's Wikipedia entry is a fascinating read. He looks to have been a quality reliever and spot starter who held a career ERA under 4.00 with a World Series ring from 1946.
1957 Topps Joe Cunningham - This was one of two cards from the '57 set, and apparently is Cunningham's first major issue card.
Cunningham finished second to Hank Aaron for the 1959 NL batting crown, as documented on the back of the card. He went on to play for the White Sox and Senators.
1957 Topps Don Blasingame
Blasingame ended up playing for 5 major league teams and wound up his career as a player (and later a manager) in Japan.
2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Stan Musial - Not "real" vintage, but a nice looking card of an amazing player nonetheless.
1995 Comic Images Phil Rizzuto's Baseball Sportsman Park - I can't really explain this card any better than I could get a decent image of it. Apparently someone must have decided to make liberal use of what was probably brand new chrome-y technology by chroming up everything they could think of. So it looks rather out of place to have this photo of a very old baseball park all chromified and glossed over.
1993 Ted Williams Joe Torre - Another card I can't fully explain. This was from a set from the "Ted Williams Card Company (Established 1993)". All I know is that I like the action shot of Torre, complete with the requisite high socks.Part two of the bounty will be coming up soon. In the meantime, check out The Fleer Sticker Project, which I used to research the Cardinals sticker card that I got along with the rest of the goodies. I am fairly certain that it's from 1978, though it could be 1979 as well.
Some very nice cards, especially the '50s stuff. Isn't it interesting that someone finished second in the batting race in '59and very few people have heard of him? Makes you wonder which players today will be forgotten forever.
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