Random Photo Colorizations and Cards

[FatJack]

Dewey Soriano was the team president and one of the owners of the Seattle Pilots. But, before that, he was a pitcher who played most of his career in the PCL including several years with the Seattle Rainiers. The PCL, in the days before the Giants and Dodgers moved west, featured a lot of former and future major leaguers and was about as close to major league caliber play as you were going to get without actually being major league. Call it Quadruple-A. This image, which I've colorized, is allegedly from 1951--the final year of Dewey's pitching career--and was found at the Find A Grave website. An image of Dewey with the Oakland Oaks was previously posted in the minor league thread by CONN CHRIS.

[banosd]

Pitcher 1908-1911

[FatJack]

The image for this was taken from a then current eBay auction. The pointy thing that seems to be growing out of Sam's head is most likely the American flag and, in retrospect, I probably should have airbrushed it out. But I didn't.

[FatJack]

Not content with the few available images of the late Mr. Roy Hawes with the Senators, I converted an image of him with Chattanooga. Easy peazy, for the most part, but I couldn't get a backdrop I liked for it. I tried assorted stadiums (stadia?), clouds, grass, everything. I eventually determined/decided that, given the shadows, I would have to use a nighttime backdrop. I have a nice nighttime image from Connie Mack I really like, but it was kinda smallish. In the end, I just kept the black backdrop. But, if you prefer the smallish Connie Mack backdrop, it's here for you to be had.

[keonleafs]

Originally Posted by FatJack

...... But, if you prefer the smallish Connie Mack backdrop, it's here for you to be had.

Super nice!! Thanks!

[FatJack]

Haven't done any colorizations in a while but, in a slow as molasses off-season, was "inspired" by the Mets (reported) signing of A-Gone to a league minimum contract. More than likely just passing through (like one time Spring Mets Ruben Sierra and Glenn Davis), but you never know. Anyway, here's your photo-manipulated look at A-Gone as a Met. Not to be too twisted, but that's Dom Smith's body, if anyone was wondering.

[zappa1]

Couldn't find a color pic of Vic. haha So, I just made one.



This is a real picture of Vic Power in Phillies uniform. Not a Phillies hat added to make it look that way. Upper right corner you can see the "rings" of the Ballentine beer logo on the scoreboard of Connie Mack Stadium.

[FatJack]

I've been wanting to colorize this B&W publicity shot of Sibby for a long time, now...even though we have a serviceable color image and even though I feel this image to be a poor-ish version of the original B&W (you know there have to be nice, crispy, glossies out there). I'm gonna say I like how it came out. Background and my tendency to over-saturate aside, I could see this on a '53 Topps or similar.

[banosd]

Cardinals cololrized

[banosd]

1949 Braves colorized

[Home Free]

Found this a couple of years ago in one of the files BB Birthdays deleted. Schillng went through training and opened '66 season on the Twins' expanded roster of 28, but was released around May 1 without so much as an at-bat. He never saw the major again, despite being Boston's regular second baseman for several years.
If color exists, never seen it. Is someone able and willing?

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Request #2 Bob Johnson. Ron Tompkins Colorize as a Royal. Thanks to any response. THANKS.

[zappa1]

I took a shot at the Chuck Schilling B&W. I'm by no means an expert on this colorizing. There are guys here that do a way better job than I do. I know enough to get by with my cheapo program I use. Anyway, here is what I've done.

[cheech411]

done by Krantzbucks

[cheech411]

from then topps had b---s

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

.

[FatJack]

I bought my first pack of baseball cards in 1964. First card up...Fat Jack Fisher. Already a Mets fan, though a very young one, I couldn't have been happier. Then I was happier when Casey Stengel showed up in the same pack. I didn't know all of the players, yet. But I knew Casey and Jack and Jim Hickman (my father's favorite) and "Hot Rod" Kahehl (my favorite). And everybody knew Duke Snider. And, hey, who's this guy? Around June or July, some guy named Mike Joyce comes out of a pack. Never heard of him. Doesn't look like a Met. My brother never heard of him. My father had never heard of him, either. Nor my grandfather, who was playing semi-pro ball 50 years before I was born. And I never heard of Mike Joyce again. He was just always a guy with a Mets card who never played for the Mets.

Mike Joyce was one of the star hurlers on the early 60s University of Michigan teams--teams that also featured Bill Freehan. Now, him, I knew. Signed by the White Sox, Mike spent less than a year in the minors before the Sox called him to the big leagues in 1962. And he turned out to be a big reason they stayed in the pennant race for much of the year. Nonetheless, the kid spent most of 1963 in the minors. He got a handful of relief appearances for the Pale Hose in April and May, and one in September, but wasn't particularly effective.

On March 31, 1964, the Mets purchased Joyce from Chicago. Hey, fast work there, Topps. Joyce was dispatched to the minors on April 13, the day before the season opened. According to Joyce, he injured his shoulder that spring (though he doesn't say whether it happened before or after the Mets acquired him). Splitting time between Buffalo (AAA), Williamsport (AA), and the Instructional League, he was 0 - 13 with an ERA of 7.09 in 1964. Unfortunately, there was no such thing as Tommy John surgery at the time. At the time, there were just two prescriptions for a sore shoulder--rest or pitch through it. The former wouldn't really help and, in doing the latter, Joyce probably made the problem worse.

Mike returned for two minor league games in 1965, but there was no improvement and so he retired from the game at 24.

The image is one of those James Elder postcards (taken from the Trading Card Database), so, you know...not the best source material for colorization. Just sayin'.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

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[FatJack]

I've long been a fan of Bernie Smith. Not so much because of his time with the Brewers, but because he was a monster in the Mets farm system for years. And Bernie had a cool backstory, too. When Bernie learned of the expansion team, and that they were training just a few states away in 1962, he hitchiked from Louisiana to Georgia to get a tryout. The Mets people didn't have the heart to turn him away. It turned out he was pretty good and he won a starting outfield position with Auburn (NY-P league). While the parent club was setting a major league record for losses, Auburn was actually winning their league title with Bernie leading the way with his .301 batting average. 1963 found Bernie in Raleigh, which was still a difficult city to play in for African-Americans at the time. But he was back in Auburn in 1964...the team winning its second league title in three years and Bernie hit .391 this time around. The Auburn fans loved the team and they really loved Bernie. They showered him with gifts. He had to buy a station wagon to haul all the loot they gave him. 1967 may have been his best year. Now with AA Williamsport, Bernie won Eastern League MVP and Williamsport won the league title. After that, the Mets (who, in fairness, had a pretty bitchin' minor league system at the time, overflowing with pitchers and outfielders), started loaning Bernie around to get him AAA playing time). It's a shame he didn't get to see some time with the Amazins in '69. Then they traded him to Seattle for catcher Gary Upton. Bernie was hitting .330 for Portland when the Brewers called him up in 1970.

Some of you may remember my custom Pilots from the old Baseball Birthdays site. When we reached the end of the road, there, I'd posted 110 custom Pilots in the style of 1971 Topps. I've added a couple dozen since and, no, I'm not going to post them here. But, in honor of the fine (imo) checklist of Pilots autographed cards slated for release in 2018 Heritage, I will share my Bernie Smith. 1971, you'll recall, was when Topps first included action photography. So, every now and then, I figured I had to include an action shot for the set. When this B&W Brewers Bernie turned up on eBay, back when, I knew that was what I was looking for for him. Love me some Bernie. Here he is, transformed, colorized, and custom carded.