Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Larry Doby

I spent this past weekend visiting the inlaws in Charlotte for Easter, so while I was in town on Saturday, I made the short drive to one of my favorite card shops, AAA Collectibles, in Matthews, NC to visit for the first time in about 5 years or so.  The proprietors, Bob and Linda, are some awesome folks and I was happy to reconnect.  I'm sure they were happy, too, because I spent a good bit of money on some 1959 and 1969 set needs, a Chris Davis card, a nice vintage RC that will be shown later on and a Tim Lincecum card for Chris.

Something else that caught my eye was that they had a great price for signed Larry Doby, JSA authenticated baseballs.  So, I exceeded my budget and grabbed one, since this was substantially less than what I had been seeing online.  I was happy to add it to my collection at Hall of Fame baseball #102.

Larry Doby (b. 1923 - d. 2003) played in the majors from 1947 to 1959 for the Indians, White Sox and Tigers).  He was the first black player to play in the American League.  He and Satchel Paige were the first black players to win a World Series when their Indians team won in 1948.

Doby, in his Major League career, had 1,515 hits, 253 home runs and an average of .283 over 13 seasons.  He led the league in home runs twice with 32 in 1952 and 1954.  He finished as high as second in the AL MVP voting (1954) and was an All Star in 7 seasons.

He was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1998.

COMC Pickup - A Couple 1959 Topps

I have had so much mail come in lately, I'm starting to lose track of what all needs to be posted.  No worries, though, I will get to all of it.  First of all being the stuff I got from COMC earlier this week, followed by some trades.

I picked up some set needs from COMC recently; I have already shown the 1971 Topps Tom Seaver that I got.  I also knocked off two 1959 Topps cards.  Above is card number 283, Russ Heman.  Awesome last name.  I wonder if he would yell "I have the power" when he would burn a fastball in there.  Anyway, Heman played one season in the majors (1961) for the Indians and Angels.  He played in 12 games, pitching 20 innings for a 2.70 ERA.  He didn't register a win or a loss and also didn't get a hit in his 2 career at bats.  That's a lot of zeroes on his stat sheet.  Also, not a bad ERA for a reliever.

I did find out something interesting when I was looking Heman up on baseball-reference.  He was traded by the White Sox to the Orioles in December 1957 along with Jim Marshall, Jack Harshman and Hall of Famer Larry Doby for Tito Francona, Ray Moore and Billy Goodman.  Until now, I had no idea that Larry Doby had been in the Orioles organization.  Doby was traded on April 1, 1958 with Don Ferrarese for Bud Daley, Gene Woodling and Hall of Famer Dick Williams.  Neither Heman nor Doby appeared in a game for the Orioles.  He man was traded in December 1958, along with $30,000 cash for infielder Bobby Avila.  Heman is still alive (born in 1933), I wonder if he signs TTM...  Hmmm.

The other 1959 Topps card I got was Paul Giel.  Giel (b. 1932 - d. 2002) played in the majors from 1954-1955 and 1958-1961 for the Giants, Pirates, Twins and A's (Kansas City).  He was on the Giants in 1954 when they won the World Series but did not appear in a World Series game.  He had a career record of 11-9 with a 5.39 ERA and 145 strikeouts.

More interesting tidbits from baseball-reference; Giel was traded by the Twins in 1961 with a player to be named later and Reno Bertoia to the Kansas City A's for Bill Tuttle and a player to be named later.  For their part of the deal, the Twins sent cash to the A's in place of their player to be named later.  The A's, then, sent Giel back to the Twins as their player to be named later, so essentially, he was traded for himself.

April 7, 2012 Card Show - 1959 Topps Pickups

I meant to get these posted the other day, but a TTM and meeting a legend kind of pushed my blog posts back.  I sure didn't mind.  I'm pretty certain that none of you minded much either.  Anyway, as I come down from the high from yesterday, I wanted to show off some of the 16 1959 Topps cards I picked up at the Show this past weekend.

First up, is this awesome Ernie Banks.  This card is a really awesome card and is one that I have been looking forward to picking up ever since I started the 1959 set.  I love the green.  It really pops.

Here, we have Larry Doby's last Topps card from his career.  He is a Hall of Famer and was the first player to break the color barrier in the American League.

I had to get another 1959 Virgil Trucks since the one Drew got me for Christmas in 2010 is in my Virgil Trucks PC.  I didn't mind picking up another, as this one is pretty sharp, aside from being a bit off center.  My good buddy P.A. picked this one up for me while I was helping someone at my tables.  I gave him the $5 for it and I trusted his instincts as far as the type of condition I was looking for and P.A. didn't disappoint.  The 1959 Topps is also Virgil Trucks' last Topps regular issue card.

Here is a really nice Gil Hodges I got for a really good price.  The borders have grayed a bit, but in all, it is a really nice card.

I wanted to show this Harvey Kuenn, because, honestly, I can never get enough of the red '59s.  I just love them.  I'm really glad the Virgil Trucks was a red one.  Tood bad the Brooks Robinson isn't.  Oh well.

I got a bunch of the Sporting News Rookie Stars cards as well.  These are pretty cool.  I didn't get any huge names, just several to knock off the list.

Looks like I'm making some headway into the 1959 set.  Unless Frank Robinson comes to town tomorrow or a TTM arrives, stay tuned for the 1969s that I got.