Author Topic: Favorite Baseball Cards  (Read 25295 times)

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Adam Baum

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Re: Favorite Baseball Cards
« Reply #90 on: August 01, 2018, 04:04:15 PM »
My favorite, and only, baseball card is an autographed card of Hall Of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine. I used to work with his aunt, and she had him sign one for me. He was with the Braves at the time, and his aunt and I used to keep close track of his progress.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

Walks_At_Night

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Champ Summers: 1980 Topps
« Reply #91 on: August 03, 2018, 06:57:30 PM »
Champ Summers never doubted that he was the greatest hitter in the world and for half of one year, 1979, he was. 

I like his '82 Donruss card a great deal.  I usually prefer action cards and if a Detroit player is involved, it is better if the
player is in the beautiful Tigers home white uniform.  Neither is the case with this particular card but it still has a lot going for it.
It shows Champ totally embracing his Thomas Magnum/Tom Selleck look and the scar on his left cheek (more on that later).

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Summers' real first name was John but when his Father (who had done some boxing) took his first look at his newborn son he called him
Champ because he thought the baby looked like he had just gone 10 rounds with Joe Louis.  Champ would grow up to be a gifted athlete
who seemed to be able to do anything he put his mind to in sports.  He lettered in basketball, football, tennis, track and cross-country while
also swimming and diving.  Notice that baseball was not on the list as he wasn't interested in it.   At one point, Jimmy Connors mother asked
Summers to play her son Jimmy to give him some older, tougher competition.  Champ Summers won the match and could always say that
he had beat Jimmy Connors in tennis.

After high school, Summers would attend Nichols State on a basketball scholarship.  After a year and half he would leave school after
being kicked off the team for fighting with a team mate. He would end up in the Army, going through jump school and serving in Vietnam. 
The experience made him grow up and once he finished his hitch he went back to school much more serious about getting an education. 
He attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and played on the basketball team and did well enough to where he would be
offered a tryout by an ABA team and also by the Dallas Cowboys, although he didn't take them up on it.  While playing intramural softball
he was noticed by the members of the baseball team and they encouraged him to tryout.   Summers rolled up to the baseball field riding his
Harley and not wearing a shirt.  The coach wasn't impressed and was even less so after learning that Summers hadn't played ball since the age
of 13. He finally let Summers hit in the cage and after watching him hit for a bit said "Where the hell have you been?"   Champ Summers
would hit a pinch hit home run in his first collegiate at bat as a walk on senior.   He would finish his only year of college ball in the top 10 in
all the hitting stats.   

Most big league clubs were not interested in signing a 25 year old but eventually the Oakland A's did. He put up very nice numbers in the minor
leagues but the A's of the early to mid-70's were just stacked with talent.  There was really no place for Champ Summers to play on the A's.
He finally made his major league debut in 1974 at the age of 28. He would be moved to the Cubs in a trade for Jim Todd but without the DH
Summer's would spend his two seasons as a Cub as a pinch hitter. They would move him to the Reds for a guy named Dave Schneck.  Summers
would find it impossible to get into the lineup of the Big Red Machine.   After a few years there, he would be traded to Detroit for Shelly Burnside
just after halfway through the 1979 season.

With Rusty Staub traded away by Detroit, the Tigers needed a big left handed bat in the lineup and at the age of 33, Champ Summers
would finally be given to play regularly.    He made the most of it by having an incredible half season.   He would hit 20 homers, knock
in 51 runs, hit .313 with a .614 slugging percentage in only 246 at bats.   He would also walk more than he would strike out.  He loved
his time in Detroit and the Detroit fans would love him back.  He was always B.Sing with the fans.  I remember a game that my family
attended where we had seats along the right field line. This area was known as Champ's Camp. Summers came over just before the
game started and chatted us all up. My Mom asked him about that scar and he said "I picked that up roaming the streets one night".
Pretty awesome response..................

Summers would have a good year in 1980 but then began to decline in his mid to late thirties.  He would be diagnosed with degenerative
arthritis in his left shoulder.   His last at bat in the big leagues would be as a pinch hitter for  San Diego when they were playing the
Tigers in the 1984 World Series.  With his career over Summers would sell cars at a Mercedes dealership for awhile but eventually
got back into baseball.  He was the Yankees hitting coach for a time and finished up coaching and managing in the minors. 

He would take a long, rather unique path to the Major Leagues. The man could hit, so it would have been interesting to see what kind of numbers
he would have put up if he had come up the standard way.


In 2012, Champ Summers would pass away at the age of 66 from kidney cancer.   

Attached below is a picture of Champ Summers in Vietnam during the war (from what I read he split his time in country between
airborne and being a life guard - this must have been his life guard phase).

Whereislucky

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Re: Favorite Baseball Cards
« Reply #92 on: August 04, 2018, 02:13:04 AM »
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Walks_At_Night

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Woodie Fryman: 1983 Topps
« Reply #93 on: August 05, 2018, 06:58:41 PM »
Woodrow Thompson Fryman or Woodie Fryman was another favorite of mine.  His 1983 Topps is a perfect depiction of him.  Big thick legs, gut hanging out and he is biting his lip as he rears back to somehow fire yet another pitch with his debilitated arthritic elbow.   The inset photo, shows the affable Fryman wearing his blue Expos warmup jacket.  With a friendly grin on his weathered face.  Fryman doesn't look like a Professional athlete here.   He looks like a farmer and that is exactly what Woodie Fryman was.  A tobacco farmer from tiny Ewing, Kentucky - he just happened to be a farmer who could throw a ball thru a brick wall.

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Woodie Fryman is another guy who didn't take the typical route to the Majors.  He was scouted by the Pirates who saw him in a Semi-Pro league. 
Fryman wanted a bonus to sign but the Pirates refused.   Figuring they were trying to take advantage of him due to his 8th grade education Fryman told them to stick it and when back to the Farm.  A few years later, the Pirates tried again and this time got him to sign.  Figuring they would not be interested in a 25 year old prospect, Woodie shaved three years of his age.   The 26 year old Fryman would make his big league debut in 1966
for the Pirates.     A few years later, Fryman was traded to the Phillies.  He did well and even made an All-Star team but by 1972 Fryman would
be diagnosed with degenerative arthritis in his pitching elbow.   The '72 Phillies were terrible and at the beginning of August the Phillies put Fryman and his 4 and 10 record on waivers in hopes of sneaking him through so a trade could be made. 

Billy Martin and the 1972 Tigers would claim the 32 year old left hander off of waivers.  The Tigers had a very veteran team and with the farm system dried up they plucked up veterans here and there to fill the holes in their aging club.  With the Woodie Fryman acquisition, the Tigers caught lightning in a bottle.   Fryman would go 10-3 with a 2.06 ERA down the stretch and the Tigers would make the playoffs.  They would fall to the powerhouse Oakland A's  3 games to 2 with Fryman pitching brilliantly in the decisive Game 5.  Beating the stacked A's was just not to be.   

After a couple of years the Tigers shipped Fryman to Montreal who would later move him to the Reds.  Originally, Fryman welcomed this move as Cincinnati was less than a two hour drive to his farm.   However, he would start slowly and lose his spot in the rotation.  In July of 1977 the 37 year old Fryman called it quits and went home.   This stunned the Reds as they had traded Hall of Famer Tony Perez to get him.  In the off season, Fryman was convinced to come back if the Reds traded him.  They managed to send him to the Cubs for Bill Bonham.  After a miserable half season, the Cubs shipped Fryman back to the Expos for the last half of 1978.  At age 38, Woodie Fryman had a career renaissance with his 2nd stint in Montreal.  He would do okay as a starter in the last half of '78 and in 1979 manager Dick Williams moved the elderly lefthander to the bullpen.   It was a smashing success.  Fryman would be a quality pitcher all the way through the 1982 season and when his elbow would allow it, he was at times nearly unhittable.

As many pitchers age, they fall back on experience and guile to get by.  Perhaps developing a sinker or some other junk pitch.  Not so with Fryman.  He brought the heat right up until the end of his career.  On July 28th, 1983 Woodie Fryman's elbow finally gave out with a resounding popping sound. 
The next day he couldn't even raise his left arm.  He told the newspaper men, "The old boy is finally going to have to give it up".   

Woodie Fryman would return to his farm and would continue to work it until his health failed.   Woodie Fryman died of Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 70.  A tragic ending for one of baseball's great characters.


 

Bart Ell

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Re: Favorite Baseball Cards
« Reply #94 on: August 06, 2018, 09:58:18 AM »
Woodie would load the bases then move around a couple of bone chips in his elbow and then proceed to strike out the next 3.


sean92008

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Re: Champ Summers: 1980 Topps
« Reply #95 on: August 06, 2018, 02:31:06 PM »
Champ Summers
A relative, Al Barnes, was a big sports guy at Southern Illinois University.  While visiting him as I was passing through the St. Louis area , I walked into one of his spare bedrooms as I prepared to stay the night... The room was full of jerseys and full uniforms from throughout sports. While I was a Padres fan and appreciated Champ's time with the Padres (especially after the worst brawl in baseball versus the Braves), There was something about his Yankees (road gray) uniform that gave off an incredible vibe.

After 1998, I hate everything Yankees... But then, it was a magical franchise to me.

Eh, nevermind...

Walks_At_Night

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Mike Lum: 1979 Topps
« Reply #96 on: August 17, 2018, 06:11:02 PM »
Mike Lum had a great picture for his 1979 Topps card.

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It's an action photo and a great one at that.  We see Lum finishing off what looks to be a good cut at the ball.   His head has finished in the proper
position, left shoulder tucked under his chin, left arm has extended fully and is parallel to the ground.  It would seem that Lum has one of those beautiful swings that only lefty line drive hitters seem to have. Meanwhile, a blurry, blue windbreakered, Stanton Friedmanish figure observes Lum's handiwork here.

Mike Lum is from Hawaii was the first player of Japanese ancestry to play in the Majors.   He spent most of his career on the Braves and Reds where he was pinch hitter and backup outfielder and first baseman.  He had some really great players ahead of him that cut into his playing time - Hank Aaron,  Orlando Cepeda, Rico Carty, George Foster, Ken Griffey and Tony Perez.  He ended up playing 14 seasons in the Majors and is the only player ever to pinch hit
for Hank Aaron.

Lum played for one year in Japan after his MLB career and then he became a hitting instructor and kicked around the minors for many years.  The photo below was taken when he was in his early 60's and it looks like he can still hit.................

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Walks_At_Night

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Jim Walewander: 1988 Topps
« Reply #97 on: August 31, 2018, 08:29:04 PM »
I've always loved the Topps 1988 Jim Walewander card. 

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It's not an action card but shows a clean cut, very serious young man.   Which is ironic because Walewander was definitely a free spirit - of the Frosted Flake
variety.  A middle infielder in the Detroit Tigers organization, he very easily have become depressed, as he had the great Lou Whitaker and Alan
Trammell ahead of him.  Fortunately, for the City of Detroit and the world in general, not too much bothered Walewander,  He became a bit of a
sensation late in the 1987 season.   Sparky Anderson used him mostly as a pinch runner as he ran the bases well and had very good speed. 
He scored some key runs against the Jays in the magical late season drive where the Tigers caught and passed Toronto to make the playoffs.

It really wasn't for his play that he became a minor sensation.  His first big league at bat was against awesome curveballer, Bert Blyleven.  When asked
after the game by reporters on how he found Blyleven. Walewander said "From the dugout, I went into the On Deck circle and then when it was time
I went into the batters box.  When I looked up, there Blyleven was on the mound".   The Detroit press went banana's........  Finally a guy that wasn't
going to say "I'm just here to help the team"  Word got out  about Walewander's apartment.   He used Aluminium Foil as shades because it was
 "Great at keeping the Sun out".   He had a giant stuffed fish on his wall and when asked why he had such a grotesque thing, he said simply:
 "I keep my spare change in it's mouth so it won't get lost in the couch cushions".   

Then there was The Dead Milkmen.  Jim Walewander was probably the biggest Dead Milkmen fan in the world.  When they were playing in Detroit,
Walewander looked them up and invited them out to Tiger Stadium the next day.   In a surreal moment, Sparky Anderson met the Milkmen and
yes indeed,  There is a photo taken before the game.

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Sparky dutifully wrote Walewander's name on the Lineup Card and Walewander came through.  He hit his only Major League home run ever that day.
After the game, the press asked him if the Dead Milkmen gave him inspiration.  Walewander said "No.  They gave me a T-Shirt".   Asked what else he
remembered about the homer he said:  "It was a righthander," he says. "A white guy. I hit it off a white righthander."   When asked about his
childhood heroes he said "Ayn Rand and Thoreau. They had a kid and it was me."

Before long he had both a book and a song called "Jim Walewander Blues" by a local band - pretty amazing for an obscure utility infielder with less than
250 career at bats.............
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Walewander got an MBA from UCLA after his MLB career was over.   Not sure what he is doing but I am sure what ever office he is working
in is not a boring place with the 'Wales' around.    :)








ShayP

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Re: Favorite Baseball Cards
« Reply #98 on: September 01, 2018, 05:20:00 AM »
Great information From Walks_At_Night!   8)   I especially liked the Jim Walewander story.

GravitySucks

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Re: Favorite Baseball Cards
« Reply #99 on: September 01, 2018, 05:22:03 AM »
Great information From Walks_At_Night!   8)   I especially liked the Jim Walewander story.

He did not fear crossing the Mississippi
Are we having fun yet?

ShayP

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Re: Favorite Baseball Cards
« Reply #100 on: September 01, 2018, 05:32:29 AM »
He did not fear crossing the Mississippi

LOL!  I am wavering, and willing to cross starting at, and near,  the southern most point in Louisiana and go west on the Red River.  Anything south of the Red River is fair game.  I may explore further.   :D

Walks_At_Night

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Re: Favorite Baseball Cards
« Reply #101 on: September 01, 2018, 05:48:45 AM »
Great information From Walks_At_Night!   8)   I especially liked the Jim Walewander story.

Except of course the card isn't showing up in the post anymore.   :'(

We'll try again with a different link:

Jim Walewander: Topps 1988
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ShayP

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Re: Favorite Baseball Cards
« Reply #102 on: September 01, 2018, 06:06:32 AM »
Except of course the card isn't showing up in the post anymore.   :'(

I can still see it.   ???

Walks_At_Night

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Re: Favorite Baseball Cards
« Reply #103 on: September 01, 2018, 06:12:40 AM »
I can still see it.   ???

Huh.  Weird.   Well there is a double dose of Walewander for some then    8)

sean92008

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Re: Favorite Baseball Cards
« Reply #104 on: September 01, 2018, 06:17:24 AM »
Great information From Walks_At_Night!   8)   I especially liked the Jim Walewander story.

I loved it too.  Thanks for sharing. 

Check out Jim Walewander (@JimWalewander): https://twitter.com/JimWalewander

Looks like he's laying low.
Eh, nevermind...