Friday, November 30, 2012

1980 TCMA Appleton Foxes Baseball #5, Rick Naumann

Yeah, I could swear this photo is my brother at age 20. In fact, Rick might be everyone's brother at age 20.


While Rick stands 6'1" and has many fine qualities, TCMA's card isn't calling him a foxy fox. Appleton, Wisconsin benefits economically (and bucolically) from the adjacent Fox River, which in turn inspired this team name. Their best-known alum might not even be a player, as future HOFer Earl Weaver spent his 1960-61 seasons in their dugout, winning a Triple-I league title and promotion to bigger successes with the Orioles. Like geographic neighbor Green Bay and its Packers, a community-run organization owns their franchise, which today plays as the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.


Naumann came to Appleton from western A-league teams, so maybe those stats proved too hard to locate. Rick played two seasons for the Foxes before hanging up his pro spikes at age 21 (career stats).

TCMA printed a hefty 30 cards for this set. Perhaps Appleton splurged on players with their money saved by using black-and-white.
  1. Luis Estrada
  2. Bob Fallon
  3. Diego Melendez
  4. William Mills
  5. Rick Naumann
  6. J.B. Brown
  7. Jeff Vuksan
  8. Vito Lucarelli
  9. Ron Kittle
  10. Larry Wright
  11. Dennis Vasquez
  12. Nelson Rodriguez
  13. Steve Pastrovich
  14. Dan Ortega
  15. Keith Brown
  16. Jim English
  17. A.J. Hill
  18. Mitch Olson
  19. Greg Stewart
  20. Greg Walker
  21. David White
  22. Tim Carroll
  23. Dave Daniels
  24. Dennis Keafting
  25. Bill Luzinski
  26. Larry Doby
  27. Larry Hall
  28. Mike Maitland
  29. Gordy Lund
  30. Ron Wollenhaupt

Value: This TCMA set runs more than usual, thanks to the presence of slugger Ron Kittle. My #5 cost $2 and team sets go for $30 and up.

Fakes / reprints: TCMA reprinted several of their 1980 teams for "collectors kits" in the late 1980s. Those cards have black ink backs. Originals are blue ink.

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