Gambo and T_Wil1 Photopack

[DeweyintheHall]

The following are needed in Red Sox unis, or otherwise as described (as always, the larger the image the better):
Chris MAHONEY, Paul MALOY (something bigger/better than BR), Phil MARCHILDON, William MATTHEWS, Dick MCCABE (something larger than already posted to OOTP), Tom MCCARTHY, Bob MCGRAW, Jud MCLAUGHLIN, Doc MCMAHON, Gordon MCNAUGHTON (bigger than BR), Mike MEOLA (larger than BR), Russ MEYER, Dick MIDKIFF (larger than BR), Fred MITCHELL, Herb MOFORD (other than 1959 Topps paint job), Wilcy MOORE, Cy MORGAN, Ed MORRISSEY (larger than BR), Walter MOSER, George MURRAY, Matt MURRAY, Paul MUSSER, Alex MUSTAIKIS (larger than BR), Elmer MYERS

Thanks as always for any assistance!

[Rainmaker]

(this was a one-on-one interview we had with Kelch on Thursday afternoon. This all original content for these pages.)


Jeffrey Kelch, CEO of Digital Archive Group, the group that purchased the remants of the massive George Brace collection in a January court-ordered auction, is finally going public with the details of that purchase. And what he had to say was remarkable.

Kelch, contacted this week, isn’t ready to spill all the details, but the headline is that the Brace collection was actually purchased intact. The auction, conducted in the aftermath of the collapse of the Rogers digital images empire, drew only $46,500 as the winning bid -- a modest amount dwarfed by the $1.8 million that the Conlon Collection (also a Rogers acquisition) had drawn the previous August.

“We have been trying to acquire the collection from Mary Brace for the last three or four years,” Kelch said. “But her asking price was a steady $2 million. She finally got someone to meet her price – even though she would only wind up getting about half that. What she didn’t get were the rights.”

Meanwhile, as authorities were closing in on Rogers, he was busily selling the elite players out of the Brace file – Robinson, Mantle, Ruth (with four different teams as a player and coach), Gehrig – seemingly stripping the massive collection of much of its value. But Rogers was no fool. He did not sell the rights, and the numerous court claims on his estate prevented them from reverting to Mary Brace, despite an agreement with Rogers.

“Rogers was all about selling as much as he could as quickly as he could to make a quick buck, and as a result a lot of the best players were gone. But they missed a lot of stuff,” Kelch said. “And the one thing Rogers did – everything he sold, he copied digitally.”

The January auction, conducted by the executor of the Rogers estate, was held to pay off claims with whatever the remaining negatives would bring. But the digital copies were also part of the lot that Kelch’s group won – a gold mine that was still there.

“We had digital copies of everything,” he explained. “Some 250,000 images, with all rights.”

But the wrinkle is that, for all the years that Kelch pursued the collection, he has had a specific destination in mind.

“I have no interest in holding onto these images,” he said. “I bought them with the idea of returning them to the original organizations – images and rights. We intend to return the entire collection back to the teams.”

One thing Kelch did almost immediately was to assure Mary Brace that the collection would not be sold piecemeal, and has kept his word in the months since.

Kelch’s Illinois-based group went about the painstaking process of organizing the collection, even as Digital Archive entered into negotiations with every major league organization separately for their own unique treasure trove. But he wisely did not merely put the Brace photos out in a vacuum.

“We want to work with the clubs to allow them to have a better understanding of the players in the photos, who they were,” Kelch said. “Like Wimpy Quinn; he pitched in five games for the Cubs, went off to World War II, never to play again. He's there.”

An admitted diehard Cubs fan, Kelch said that his beloved Cubbies were one of “seven or eight” clubs which which Digital Archive had come to terms with over the Brace images. The process is ongoing.

“We’re not in a hurry,” he said. “We’re not giving them away. There were a lot of costs involved in production and organization. But we are not selling them to individual collectors.”

For the time being, Kelch is happy to gradually return the Brace Collection to the teams. After all, their cooperation and access allowed Brace and his camera to have a unique place in the history of the sport in the 20th century. A longer term goal for Kelch is to find other such collections from Brace’s contemporaries in order to return them to the teams in order to protect their own history.

“We haven’t even talked about what we’d do if a team does not want its images,” Kelch said. “There’s always the Hall of Fame.”

[SDL]

Originally Posted by Rainmaker

Thursday Vault haul:

FOLDER KG
941-942 Mike McQueen; 943-944 Hal McRae; 945-946 Bill McNulty; 947-950 Jerry McNertney; 951-952 John McNamara; 953-954 Dave McNally; 955-956 Craig McMurtry; 957-960 Ken McMullen; 961-962 Dan Meyer; 963-964 Bob Meyer; 965-968 Roger Metzger; 969-970 Andy Merchant; 971-972 Orlando Mercado; 973-974 Charlie Metro; 975-976 Robert Mestek; 977-980 Jose Mesa; 981-984 Joe Price; 985-986 Jim Presley; 987-988 Jim Price; 989-990 Vic Power; 991-992 Pirates prospect?; 993-994 Scott Meyer; 995-996 Phil Meyer; 997-998 Jim Merritt; 999-999A Larry McWilliams???

You can remove the question marks. It is McWilliams

[FatJack]

If you never noticed, Topps likes to stock the koi pond before a long holiday weekend. So, today, we got 80 new images in a new folder--KH.

I'll leave the ID list to others, but included are Butch Metzger with the Gints, Mike Proly in White Sox pajamas and Charlie Puleo with a white Reds hat.

[keonleafs]

Also Mike Mendoza, who had a Career 1 IP with the Astros in 1979

[SDL]

The KH folder first 80 pics

001-004 Butch Metzger
005-008 Rudy Meoli
009-012 Denis Menke
013-014 Minnie Mendoza
015-016 Mike Mendoza
017-020 Bob Melvin
021-022 Jack Lazorko
023-026 Bill Melton
027-030 Luis Melendez
031-032 Sam Mele
033-034 Sam Mejias
035-036 Dave Meier
037-038 Doc Medich
039-040 Bobby Meacham
041-042 Bill Merrifield
043-044 Jim Qualls
045-046 Terry Puhl
047-048 Ron Pruitt
049-050 Mike Proly
051-054 Ed Putman
055-058 Charlie Puleo
059-060 Luis Pujols
061-062 Ron Pruitt
062-065 Luis Quinones
066-070 Mel Queen
071-072 Greg Pryor
073-074 Rey Quinones
075-076 Willie Prall
077-080 Bob Priddy

[FatJack]

The Yankee at 039-040 is Bobby Meacham...one of the few guys I recognized right away. Currently managing the Buffalo Bisons, IIRC.

[Rainmaker]

Really struggled with this list, but 043-044 is Jim Qualls, 041-042 is Kevin Price (see HT087) and I feel strongly that 051-054 is Ed Putman; Cubs is a match for HT 074-075, but he also played with Detroit. Qualls is also in HT in older set.



Good work overall!

[Rainmaker]

None of his minor league cards are a strong match, but the images in Folder GW would suggest KH 021-022 is Bill Merrifield, a notorious minor league bust for the Angels.

First image is GW 668, the second is from KH 021.

[SDL]

Originally Posted by FatJack

The Yankee at 039-040 is Bobby Meacham...one of the few guys I recognized right away. Currently managing the Buffalo Bisons, IIRC.

I am going to kick myself. I see Meacham all the time at the Jays minor league camp. We talk about San Diego State (he played there; I went to Grad school for a semester)...and I didn't recognize him. Doubt I will tell him about this.

[SDL]

Originally Posted by Rainmaker

None of his minor league cards are a strong match, but the images in Folder GW would suggest KH 021-022 is Bill Merrifield, a notorious minor league bust for the Angels.

First image is GW 668, the second is from KH 021

Attachment 506544 Attachment 506545

I went by the uniform number he had on in KH022 which corrsponded to Lazorko's number. Looking at the bat he's holding, "MERRIFIELD" is printed on it.

He's the father of Royals OFer Whit Merrifield.

[Cusick]

Pitcher Brad Meyring was a non-roster invitee with the 1972 Pirates.

The unidentified photos at KG991 and 992 show a right-handed Pirate pitcher in a uniform of the 1970-75 period. Meyring's name fits the alphabetical sequence of the other KG players identified following him.

The B&W photo of Meyring is from the Seattle (WA) Daily Times of May 19, 1966. It shows him in his high school football uniform. The color photos are KG991 and 992 from the Topps Vault. Though they don't make a perfect match, the head shape seems to be the same and the eyebrows compare. I'm just not sure whether other differences are due to time differences in when the photos were taken, or whether I have the wrong guy.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/re...d=meyrin001bra

[Terry D]

Mike Griffin was one of the many young players who had the bad luck to come up to the majors with the Yankees during the worst of the Steinbrenner era. Like so many, Griffin was damaged by that experience and never really recovered. A tall, lanky righthander who had originally signed with Texas, he was thrown into the fire of the Yankee rotation in 1980. When he did not turn into a star overnight (2-4, 4.83 in 13 games) Steinbrenner publicly humiliated Griffin by calling him a "morning glory." Griffin battled back, though, and he opened the 1981 season pitching pretty well out of the AAA Columbus bullpen and in a couple of games for the big team. The Yankees rewarded Griffin by sending him to the Cubs along with Doug Bird and I think Pat Tabler for Rick Reuschel. No doubt somewhat shaken by going from one of the best teams in the majors to one of the worst, Griffin pitched just so-so for the Cubs (2-5, 4.50) . He was a nomad after that.The Padres gave him a couple of innings in '82 and he surfaced with the pitching poor 1987 Orioles. Griffin also spent time in the Montreal, Kansas City, and Texas organizations before a final major league bow with the Reds in 1989 (12.46 ERA in 4.1 innings). To tell the truth, I am not sure how good a pitcher Griffin was or could have been. He had quite good numbers in AAA and AA in '79, which was what got him to New York, but he did not achieve any kind of consistency with ERA or K/W until relatively late in his minor league career. Griffin was actually very good for AAA Indianapolis in '89 (2.30, 6 saves in 74.1 IP) but by then he was no longer young and Bill James assessed his chances of staying in the majors as "slim and none." I have to think that Griffin could have reached his potential earlier if the Yankees of those years had any idea how to develop a young pitcher. Anyway, I finally found him on the Ebay page of signatures4u, so here is another one we can finally cross off. You're welcome.

[Rainmaker]

There's more than one way to measure a successful baseball career. Griffin's came after his playing days. The Reds made him a minor league pitching coach in 1990, he spent 91-92 in Chattanooga with the Lookouts, and ever since has been a Class AAA coach.
He has been with Norfolk since 2009 and has spent the last decade in the Orioles' system. Here's hoping he does get a big league gig one day.

[doors11]

We Lost Jim Bunning Today Could Some of you Please Post some of your Best Pictures of Him. He was one of my favorite pitchers as a kid along with Juan Marichal,Dave McNally and Sam McDowell

[Rainmaker]

Originally Posted by doors11

We Lost Jim Bunning Today Could Some of you Please Post some of your Best Pictures of Him. He was one of my favorite pitchers as a kid along with Juan Marichal,Dave McNally and Sam McDowell

We've been posting obits on the new thread of late. Coming up in a few moments.

[rrb77]

Tigers,Phillies,Pirates

[rrb77]

Dodgers

[keonleafs]

[dennis_keith]

Originally Posted by doors11

We Lost Jim Bunning Today Could Some of you Please Post some of your Best Pictures of Him. He was one of my favorite pitchers as a kid along with Juan Marichal,Dave McNally and Sam McDowell

Jim Bunning Photo Tribute - 'General Baseball Image Discussion' thread.


See the newly-created "General Baseball Image Discussion" thread. As of this moment since the news reached us of his death, on this thread 16 photos have been posted in tribute to the Hall Of Fame Pitcher/Conservative Congressman & Senator from Kentucky and author or co-author of many bills that have since become laws.
2 photos of Bunning are on page 15, 4 photos are on page 16, and 10 photos are on page 17. Very nice photos for a very fitting tribute!