Monday, December 26, 2011

1979 TCMA Appleton Foxes Baseball #5, Dave White

Ignore Dave White's oversized hat and big lapels--check out that cool, steady gaze instead. Ladykiller.


TCMA's orange-on-white "creamsicle wave" is the obvious part of their 1979 set design, enough that you can forget about the pictures themselves. So many backgrounds wash out to solid black or white, I have to wonder: did minor league photographers only work at night?

Given how poorly this black-and-white look compares to eye-popping 1978 sets from Cramer Sports, I can see why TCMA added a full-color option at some point in 1979 (e.g., Charleston Charlies #5, Gary Woods).


The White Sox drafted Mr. White in the 2nd round of 1978's amateur draft and he played most of 3 seasons with the single-A Foxes. Dave showed pop for a young infielder (20 homers in 272 games), but quit baseball abruptly at the age of 19, perhaps to attend college before a scholarship window closed.

1979 TCMA Appleton Foxes checklist (via TeamSets4U.com):
  1. Paul Soth
  2. Dennis Keating
  3. Vito Lucarelli
  4. Ed Bahns
  5. Dave White
  6. Kevin Hickey
  7. Clancy Woods
  8. Jeff Vuksan
  9. Lorenzo Gray
  10. Mike Johnson
  11. Dave Daniels
  12. Ivan Mesa
  13. Mike Sivik
  14. Phil Bauer
  15. Mark Teutsch
  16. Luis Estrada
  17. Jim Breazeale
  18. Vince Bienek
  19. Bob Umdenstock
  20. Mike Mattland
  21. Duane Shaffer
  22. Mark Platel
  23. Don Kraeger
  24. Vic Walters
  25. Paul Gbur

Value: This #5 cost $2 at MinorLeagueSingles.com. His teammates didn't include any future big-league stars, so the Foxes remain an affordable team set.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace.

No comments: