Signed Baseball Cards - Oldest MLB Players Alive

[Rikki Gins]

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Here is another signed Vernon Law baseball card. I had purchased the two of them because I couldn't decide which one I liked the best. So, I have posted this one just for, as Groucho would say, the halibut.

[Rikki Gins]

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Our ninth oldest ex-Major League Baseball player is a fellow by the name of Robert Perry Lillis. Robert, or Bob for short, was born on June 2, 1930, in Altadena, California, making him 95 years old. Bob is exactly 2 months and 22 days younger than Vernon Law, the player who is in eighth place.

Bob was a shortstop. (At last, a player who wasn't a pitcher.) His nickname is Bob, by the way. Big surprise, huh? He played for the LA Dodgers, the Houston Colt 45s and then the Astros, after the name change.

Notice the palm trees in Bob's picture. Definitely Southern California there. Bob is currently spending his retirement years in another warm clime, Orlando, Florida.

Bob Lillis at Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lillis 

[Bart Ell]

Look at those eyes.
Bob means business.

[Walks_At_Night]

Bob is in his Dodger whites - so home game.  Looking at the small bleachers behind him in the photo it is possible that the picture was taken at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida.  The Dodgers had spring training there for many decades.  Might be SoCal but might be Florida too.

[JUAN]

Bob is in his Dodger whites - so home game.  Looking at the small bleachers behind him in the photo it is possible that the picture was taken at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida.  The Dodgers had spring training there for many decades.  Might be SoCal but might be Florida too.

It looks like Vero Beach.  I think the games I saw there were the best baseball viewing I ever had.

[Rikki Gins]

Bob is in his Dodger whites - so home game.  Looking at the small bleachers behind him in the photo it is possible that the picture was taken at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida.  The Dodgers had spring training there for many decades.  Might be SoCal but might be Florida too.

Yes, you and JUAN are both right, WAN. For some reason I assumed that any spring training camp would have been in Southern California due to a warm climate, but yes, they were training in Vero Beach back in 1958. Besides, those palm trees look like a different type than the ones in LA.

[Rikki Gins]

Look at those eyes.
Bob means business.

Indeed he does, Bart. He's got Quint the shark hunter eyes.

[Rikki Gins]

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Joe Morgan is the tenth oldest ex-player in Major League Baseball. Joe, or Joe for short, was born on November 19, 1930, making him 94 years, 11 months and 27 days old. Joe will be turning 95 years old in five more days. 

Joe played center field and shortstop during his MLB days. Judging by the card, he seems to be remembered more for being a manager than a player. Perhaps because he was never part of an official lineup for the Braves, Athletics, Phillies, Indians or Cardinals. He was signed up with those teams though, and played in official MLB games, so his presence is most welcome here.

Aside from being a respected MLB manager, Joe spent 13 years as a player in the minor leagues and six in the above mentioned major league teams.

Joe's nickname was both "Walpole Joe" and "Turnpike Joe" because he used to operate a snow plow on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Walpole, Massachusetts during the offseason. He is spending his retirement days in a cute little house with a big front lawn, in Walpole. Joe had a wife named Dottie but she passed away back in 2016.

Joe Morgan article at the Society For American Baseball Research site: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/joe-morgan-walpole-joe/





 

[Rikki Gins]

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    Happy 95th birthday, Joe!

https://x.com/LFTimes_sports/status/1991136879719149983

[Rikki Gins]

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Zack Monroe is our eleventh oldest ex-Major League Baseball player. Zack, Zach, or Zachery if you prefer, clocks in at the age of 94. He's 7 months and 20 days younger than tenth place Joe Morgan who just celebrated his 95th birthday.

Zack was a pitcher who spent the majority of his baseball career in the minor leagues. The Yankees called him up for service during the 1958 and 59 seasons and boy, he couldn't have wished for a better opportunity to play in the majors because the Yankees were in the World Series in 1958. Zach got to relief pitch in game 2. How did he do? Read this, it's a great description of game two of the 1958 World Series. (But don't blink or you will miss Zach's involvement in the game.) https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-2-1958-braves-hammer-yankees-in-game-2-of-world-series/

The seven game, 1958 World Series would have been fun to watch if it had been played in modern times. But then again, any World Series to go seven games would be fun to watch, as we found out earlier this year. Here is a nice link for those who might be interested in reading about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_World_Series

Zachery would be with the Yankees in 1959, but only briefly before returning to the minors, where he remained for another four seasons. After his retirement from baseball, Zack became a sales manager for a hydraulic manufacturing company in Peoria, Illinois. He currently lives in a big, white, two story house (with a number of established trees in both the front and back yards) in Bartonville, Illinois.

 

[Bart Ell]

Read this, it's a great description of game two of the 1958 World Series. (But don't blink or you will miss Zach's involvement in the game.) https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-2-1958-braves-hammer-yankees-in-game-2-of-world-series/

Johnny Kucks!

[Rikki Gins]

Johnny Kucks!

Ha, I know. Johnny would have been a fun player to have in this thread but sadly, he died twelve years ago.

[Rikki Gins]

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Ray Crone is the dozenth oldest former Major League Baseball player in the whole wide world. He was born on August 7, 1931 and if he wants to make it to 100, he must remain alive for another 5 years, 8 months, and 10 days. Piece of cake!

This particular card is a little worse for wear but it matters not because there is some history behind it. It was once part of the famous Talley Autograph Collection. Ed Talley (January 7, 1946-March 26, 2024) was a major league baseball fan and he compiled a big, signed, baseball card collection. He gathered over 5,000 first person baseball card signatures throughout his life, and pitcher Crone was one of them. 

Ray first pitched in the majors at the age of 22, and lasted from 1954 to 1958. He bounced back and forth from the majors to the minors in that time, but he was a bonified pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves and the New York / San Francisco Giants, and you can't take that away from him.

Interestingly, Ray became a MLB scout a good ten years after his last pitched game. He scouted for the Montreal Expos, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres and, as recent as 2017, for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Good grief, that's really not all that long ago!

Ray is now retired and lives in sun filled Waxahachie, Texas in one half of a big double house. He's at the curved end of a circle drive, and his mailbox is embedded inside a brick column, with a little angel perched atop it.

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[Rikki Gins]

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Here is another Ray Crone signed baseball card. I had purchased this one before the earlier Crone card. That happens. When I shop for certain signed cards, I might wind up purchasing two or three by the same ballplayer.

[Walks_At_Night]

Pretty cool name - Crone.  Probably shops at the FoodMaxx.