Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Al Lopez

I added my 112th Hall of Fame signed baseball on Thursday when I got a nice deal for this Al Lopez ball.  The ball is toned and faded, but still looks really cool.  Getting Lopez for the price in which I got it was definitely a steal, since he usually goes for north of $150.

Lopez (b. 1908 - d. 2005) played in the majors from 1928 and 1930 to 1947 for the Dodgers, Braves, Pirates and Indians.  He had 1,547 career hits, 51 home runs and a .261 batting average.  He was a two-time All Star (1934 and 1941) and finished as high as 10th in MVP voting (1933).

Lopez isn't in the Hall of Fame based on his playing career.  He is in there mostly because of his managing.  He managed from 1951 to 1956 with the Indians and 1957 to 1965 for the White Sox.  He also managed several games in the 1968 and 1969 seasons.  Excluding those few games in 1968 and 1969, Lopez never had a losing season as a manager.

He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977 by the Veterans Committee.

Cards From Tom

I got an email recently from Tom over at "Angels in Order" saying that he had a few cards for me that would fit into my set needs.  He emailed me the card numbers, but when I got them, I didn't realize that the two 1969 Topps cards he had were the above Hall of Famer, Al Lopez and the below Jim "Mudcat" Grant.  I actually have a post I am planning on doing concerning Grant.  I always forget that Lopez is a Hall of Famer, so I will likely be getting one of his signed baseballs sometime soon.

These are definitely some nice 1969 Topps cards, that's for sure.  Check out the airbrushing on Grant's hat.

I need to get over to Tom's blog and try to knock out some of his needs, especially since he sent me this stuff uncolicited, which I really enjoy.  Not only did Tom send me these two 1969s that I needed, but he also sent me 3 2013 Topps Emeralds for that set as well.  Thanks so much, Tom!