Gambo and T_Wil1 Photopack

[Merkle923]

Some while back I posted one of him during his cameo in Kansas City late in the 1974 season. Whaddya know - Topps got him, too.

[cheech411]

Phillies red sox

[Merkle923]

Somebody at Topps Vault evidently got into the "HOF and popular players" file cabinets that used to be at the far end of the archives room at Topps HQ in New York. The results may mean fewer obscure images for awhile. On the other hand, there are a few hilarious images already posted of some recent stars - apparently all aged 12.

The Jeter image could date to as early as 1993 or - given that the Yankees abandoned their long time camp at Fort Lauderdale two years later - as recently as 1995.

[Merkle923]

Of what happened to him a decade after this was taken, the less said the better. But this dates to McGwire's turn with the U.S. Olympic team and was taken at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland in 1984.

[Merkle923]

And the last, Johnny Bench, in the image used on his 1968 baseball card. This would've been shot at Reds' spring training in Tampa in 1966. Bench was 18 and about three months.

[FatJack]

Tony LaRussa--from flattop in KC to full-on mullet in Chicago...

[keonleafs]

I had a tough time identifying this Tiger. Finally saw same picture used for his 1957 Topps card, but brushed up to the Orioles...

[Pinetarpress]

Originally Posted by Merkle923

And the last, Johnny Bench, in the image used on his 1968 baseball card. This would've been shot at Reds' spring training in Tampa in 1966. Bench was 18 and about three months.

The Johnny Bench pic (in the GS11 set) where he is signing autographs...Tom Hall doing the same behind him...is framing worthy...what a great shot that I would love to have framed in my office

[Merkle923]

This is the Pirates' yearbook image that appears to be the only visual commemoration of the 11 games at the end of Hiller's career in 1968.

[Merkle923]

Another S.F. Hess 1888 California League card, cleaned up (slightly), depicting an obscure 19th Century player.

Meegan was another of the many minor leaguers propelled into the majors by the establishment of the third-league Union Association that year. He pitched for its Richmond club, then switched to the American Association Allegheny of Pittsburgh team in 1885.

All the seasons between 1881 and 1888 find him playing ball on the West Coast; when the card came out he was pitching for the Haverlys of San Francisco.

[Merkle923]

This is the most prominent figure in the S.F. Hess set - he squeezed a lot of history into a short career and a short life. Sweeney:

-- Struck out 19 Boston hitters for Providence on June 7, 1884; a performance not exceeded in a nine-inning game until Roger Clemens in 1986;

-- Got into a drunken mid-game confrontation with manager Frank Bancroft six weeks later, was thrown out of the game, wound up watching the rest of it from the stands seated between two 'women with poor reputations';

-- Was banned from the Providence Grays and the National League in midseason 1884 and jumped to St. Louis of the Union Association, leaving Providence with just one regular pitcher and leading to the place in the history for that man - "Old Hoss" Radbourn - who started 40 of the last 43 games of the season and ended up with 59 victories;

-- Burned out his arm and two years and five days after his 19K day, gave up seven homers in one NL game;

-- Killed a man in a California saloon fight in 1894 and was convicted of manslaughter, only then to be pardoned four years later, only then to die of tuberculosis days shy of his 39th birthday.

We think this is Sweeney's only card:

[KenRaffensberger16]

Originally Posted by cheech411

Phillies red sox

Phillies Aaron Nola - photo this page/section 25725.


Aaron Nola made it to the wrong side of the history books in his major leagues debut 7/21/2015 when he lost 1-0 to the opposing pitcher's (Tampa Bay's Nathan Karns) home run.It was Karns' first major leagues hit. Otherwise, Nola looked pretty strong over six innings.
The last time an American League pitcher homered to win a game 1-0 was 53 years ago. On April 18, 1962 Baltimore pitcher Milt Pappas (eventually a 200+ games winner) homered to win a 1-0 game over the NY Yankees (victim: Bill Stafford).
It was also the first time in Philadelphia Phillies franchise history (133 years) that one of their pitchers lost a game 1-0 on an opposing pitcher's home run.
It was also the first-ever Interleague play game decided in such a fashion and it was just the second home run by a Rays pitcher in their 18-year-history.
The only other one was by Esteban Yan 6/4/00 off righty Bobby J. Jones in a 15-5 shellacking of the NY Mets..

[FatJack]

I would have thought, given the number of years that he spent with Seattle, that an image of Stein with the Cardinals would be harder to come by than one with the Mariners. But a couple of quickie searches indicate that the opposite is true. So here's Bill with the M's--trident and true--courtesy of the latest Vault release.

[FatJack]

John Stearns played one game with the Phillies and the rest of his career with the Mets. Just sayin'.

[Merkle923]

Brief (19 plate appearances) first base prospect called up by the Tigers as part of September roster expansion in 1972 and 1973. This one (based on similar images actually used in the '73 Topps set) was photographed at County Stadium, Milwaukee, in 1972.

[Merkle923]

And so we have a set - here is a spring training shot from Lakeland, in home togs, presumably from 1973. Here, the hair is approaching Oscar Gamble levels of impressive.

[tnfoto]

Courtesy of Topps Vault...

[KenRaffensberger16]

Originally Posted by FatJack

I would have thought, given the number of years that he spent with Seattle, that an image of Stein with the Cardinals would be harder to come by than one with the Mariners. But a couple of quickie searches indicate that the opposite is true. So here's Bill with the M's--trident and true--courtesy of the latest Vault release.

Bill Stein: photos previous page section 25736.
Stein should have been voted MLB's least photographic player of the 1970s and he could have won that award for the 1980s as well..

[Merkle923]

This is a cleaned-up image from a Kalamazoo Bats Cigarettes premium card from 1887.

Clements, who as you see was a left-handed catcher, lasted from the one season of the Union Association (he broke in with the Philadelphia UA team in 1884) to the first season of the American League (he was traded to a minor league team during Spring Training in 1901).

Though Clements only played as many as 100 games in two of his 17 seasons, he produced seasons of 13 and 17 home runs (and four others of five or more), a career OPS of .769, an OPS+ of 117, and a 32.1 WAR.

[Merkle923]

One of Clements' catching partners with the 1887 Phillies (the other was Deacon McGuire) was Tom Gunning, who had broken in with the 1884 Boston Red Stockings and would finish with the 1889 Philadelphia Athletics.

This, too, is an 1887 Kalamazoo Bats Premium card. I'll post some scans of the beautiful regular issue "K Bats" as time permits.

Note Gunning's two gloves and the diamond-shaped plate.