Instagram Trade WIth Tud - TCMA Hall of Famers

I completed a trade with a guy on Instagram named Tud (yep, that's his name.  As far as I know it's not short for anything) who uses the Instagram handle muffin_sports_cards.  He is a Texan, and one of the nicest people I've met on there.  Just a genuinely nice guy.  It was really easy to trade with him.  I sent him a few vintage cards, and in return, I got a stack of 18 TCMA Hall of Famers ranging from 1977 to 1980.

Quite a few of them will go into my PCs, like the Bob Feller you saw above, or this Jimmie Foxx.  I grabbed a few more of them to send as freebies in some care packages to a couple friends as well.

This set is pretty nice, as it is an opportunity to own a card of a Hall of Famer who might not have too many regular issue cards, like Joe Sewell.  I have his 1922 American Caramel, but there isn't a whole lot else out there of him.  I was glad I was able to complete this deal with Tud and by talking to him, I know we will do a bunch of deals in the future.  He's a real good guy.

Hall of Fame SIgned Baseball - Joe Sewell

It sure has been a while.  I have finally knocked another Hall of Famer off of my want list.  My 64th Hall of Fame signed baseball is that of Joe Sewell, the hardest player in history to strike out.  He once played an entire season and struck out only 3 times.  WOW.

Sewell, born in 1898 and died in 1990 played in the majors from 1920 to 1933 for the Indians and Yankees.  He won the World Series with the Indians in 1920 and with the Yankees in 1933.  I did a Hall of Fame Spotlight post on him on January 2, 2011, which you can read here.  I also discussed a signed Hall of Fame postcard of his in this post.  Finally, I discussed Sewell again in a post on a 1922 E-120 American Caramel card that can be seen here.

Sewell was an amazing player who, at first glimpse, doesn't blow anyone away with his numbers.  His strikeout numbers are epic, though, and deserve recognition.

Some other random thoughts on Sewell:

• He is the first player I have a signature of that was born in the 1800s.
• He is the only player I have so far who played on a regular season team with Babe Ruth (as far as I know).
• He now holds the distinction of representing the oldest World Series champion of which I have a signature from (1920).
• He also represents the oldest season debut for any player whom I have a signature of (1920).
• 1920 was the year that my grandfather was born (he would have been 92 this year).

I just thought some of those random facts were interesting.  I hope you all enjoyed seeing this signature, as I was excited to finally add another to the china cabinet.

Joe Sewell Signed Postcard

So, I was cleaning up this weekend and looking for things to sell at a yard sale that I had yesterday when I stumbled upon this signed post card that I picked up when I visited the Hall of Fame in August.

I got this Joe Sewell signed postcard from the shop where I picked up my Billy Herman and Rick Ferrell signed baseballs.  I had gone into the shop looking for a Sewell ball, but found that I could get those two (Herman and Ferrell) for the price of the one Sewell, so I went for them. 

After I helped the shop owner discover that he had two awesome baseballs buried in a box of random stuff, he rewarded me by giving me this signed Sewell postcard.  I sure hope it is real, but everything else the guy had was legit and with everything he had laying around, I'm certain he had piles of signed postcards that he could part with and not even feel it.  I discussed the awesome baseballs in this post.

I have a new found respect for Joe Sewell, after researching him for this post and after picking up this awesome card.

I feel kind of bad that I promised to show off this postcard way back in August, but forgot.  It helps now, though, because I don't have much to post, so this can be something to tide you over until I get some more mail in.

Card Show Pickup - 1922 E-120 American Caramel Joe Sewell

I am a huge fan of odd vintage cards and when I saw that a dealer at the show had a bunch of tobacco and other early 20th century cards, I had to stop and check out his wares. I happened upon several binder sheets of cards that look like the one pictured below:This is a 1922 E-120 American Caramel Series of 120 Cards Joe Sewell. (This is the description that the vendor read off to me).
I wrote a Hall of Fame Spotlight on Sewell that you can find here, if you haven't read it already. I am still amazed that he only had 114 career strikeouts and completed the 1932 season with only 3 strikeouts (the fewest ever for a full season by any major leaguer in history).

I really enjoy the design of these cards. I like the almost sepia look to them. Apparently the American Leaguers were featured on cards of this color and National Leaguers were featured on cards with a bluish hue to them. I suppose I will try to find a blue one at some point so I can write about it here as well. I hope you all enjoyed this because I really like this card.

Hall of Fame Spotlight - Joe Sewell

I have decided to try out an idea that I had while I was looking for Hall of Fame Autographs on Ebay the other day. There are a LOT of hall of famers who I have never heard of. I thought it might be a good idea to feature a random Hall of Famer every now and then. Hope you guys enjoy.

Plaque photo obtained from http://www.baseballhall.org

Joe Sewell, (b.1898 - d.1990) played in the majors from 1920 to 1933 for the Indians and Yankees. He had 2,226 hits, 49 home runs and a .312 batting average. He was elected to the Hall by the Veteran's Committee in 1977.

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An autographed baseball of his averages $112.00 on ebay and a signed postcard averages $19.95.
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What makes him a Hall of Famer?

• Won 2 World Series (1920 - Indians, 1933 - Yankees)
• Fewest career strikeouts in the history of MLB (114 over 7,132 at bats)
• 5 seasons with 4 or fewer strikeouts (not including his 22 games played in 1920)
• 10 seasons with .300 or better average (not including his 22 games in 1920)
• Played the second most consecutive games (1,103) at that time.
• His 3 strikeouts in the 1932 season are the fewest ever for any full season in history
• Has the record for longest streak of at bats without a strikeout - 115 games

Should he be a Hall of Famer?

• Never won any major awards (batting title, home run champ, MVP, etc)
• Appeared on the HOF ballot 7 times, averaging 5.33% of the vote when 75% is the required amount in order to gain election
• Did not reach any 'golden ticket' numbers (500 home runs, 3,000 hits)

The Verdict?

It is amazing to look at Sewell's stats and see just how few times he struck out during any given season. Since he was primarily a shortstop, his 'light hitting' numbers are fairly justified given that the position was not the power position it became later in the century. Had Sewell played longer than 14 seasons, it is reasonable to believe that he would have at least challenged the 3,000-hit plateau. In my opinion, YES, Joe Sewell definitely deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Did you know that Sewell was called up to replace Ray Chapman on Cleveland's roster in August of 1920 after Chapman was struck in the head by a pitch and died?