1975 Tucson Toros Baseball #5, David "Buzz" Nitschke

Not long ago, the 1980 Tucson Toros finished a close 2nd in UniWatch's Worst Uniform Ever contest. Their color scheme started with everything from the hot color spectrum, tossed in some aquamarine, and topped it with avocado. We can imagine that fans were taken aback; only the Colorado Caribou and their jersey fringe bested the Toros in equal "combat." (Full results at the UW blog.)

1980 Tucson Toros

Prior to donning that visual extravaganza, Tucson sported a more sensible, classic baseball look with stripes, piping, and single-tone jersey, as catcher Buzz Nitschke wore on today's card. I like to think Buzz saw the crazy colors coming and got out while he could.

Card front (blank back)

LA drafted Buzz in 1966 and he first shows up in game footage of the 1967 Alaska Goldpanners, where he shared a roster with future big leaguers Bill "Spaceman" Lee, Bob Boone, and Jim Barr.

• Bob Boone pitches for the Goldpanners (YouTube)
• More 1967 Goldpanners footage (YouTube)

Buzz played in the Mets, Cardinals, and A's farm systems for 8 seasons; AAA Tucson marked his last stop at age 28. After pro baseball, he taught and coached in Fresno, where (according to the Internet) he still resides. (Full minor league stats.)

If Buzz (or someone who knows him) comes across this post, drop a line. I'd love to do an interview or similar follow-up with more info.

Value: This team-issued card cost $3 on Beckett Marketplace. Very few minor league teams produced sets prior to 1975, so prices climb quickly as you get older.

Fakes / Reprints: I've only seen minor league fakes when the player became a HOFer later, so doubt there are any in the market.

1962 JELL-O Baseball #5, Mickey Mantle

Would it be hyperbole to credit Maris and Mantle's chase for 61 homers with making baseball cards "mainstream?" Just one year removed from their much-hyped race to break Ruth's record, General Mills certainly acted that way.

What started as single-note cereal promotions in 1960 and 1961 became 4 permutations in 1962 alone, including a LIFE magazine "centerfold" starring #5 Mantle and #6 Maris, all with an eye to selling more sugary grains and boxes of instant pudding. General Mills' 1962 baseball frenzy poured millions of cards into the supermarket on 2 brands, Post cereal (such as Corn Flakes and Grape-Nuts) and JELL-O pudding. (Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire acted out a similar script in 1998, with a home run chase that invigorated fans league-wide and sold plenty of...everything.)

Card front (blank back)

Only a decade after Topps entered the "kids-only" arena of bubblegum cards, this national brand saw collectibles as their link between on-field excitement and buyable products. Today's post covers JELL-O; see links at the end for their other sets from the same year.

Uncut JELL-O box

While Post cereal featured a red-white-blue Americana theme and prominent logo, JELL-O cards use a simple black-and-yellow look and don't mention the company anywhere. The pudding  design also went with a re-cropped photo; today's card shows Mantle's full upper body and some playing field beneath his elbow, but Post stops above the belt line.

JELL-O featured one card per box, far fewer than Post's 7-player panels. I can imagine an excited kid switching from pudding to Corn Flakes for dessert that summer, just to get more cards.

Uncut Corn Flakes box

Here's the full list of 1962 General Foods baseball sets with links to #5 set profiles.

• 1962 Post Cereal (multiple players per box panel)
• 1962 Post Cereal Canadian (multiple players, mixed English / French text)
• 1962 LIFE magazine insert (Post Cereal ad on card backs)
• 1962 JELL-O Pudding (one player per box)

Value: My low-grade JELL-O Mantle cost $18. Based on completed eBay auctions, they go for $12 - $25, depending on condition. (Untrimmed boxes are very rare and cost several times more.)

Fakes / Reprints: Cereal and pudding cards came on thin box cardboard and use relatively low-quality photos, so look easy to fake. While I'm not certain Mantle reprints are out there, it's seems very likely. If you're looking for a high-grade version, pick up some cheap commons first so you know what "real" cards feel and look like.

1949 Yakyu Shonen Baseball #5, Frank "Strick" Shofner

Imagine you've already played nearly 200 regular season games. As the year wraps up, your manager--former Giants great Lefty O'Doul--delivers some unexpected news.

"Remember that bloody war we fought just 4 years ago? Get on the plane, fellas, it's time for a diplomatic 'road trip.' Bring your glove."

On the heels of its otherwise disappointing 83-104 season, the Pacific Coast League San Francisco Seals made American baseball's first post-war tour, playing (and winning) 7 games against All-Stars from Japan's reborn professional league.

Yakyu Shonen, a kids baseball magazine, printed this 128-card set to promote the Seals' tour and Japan's own pro teams. Cards are small, at less than 2" x 3", and come on fairly thick stock. (Based on the size, I think 12 fit on a page.) Collectors hand-cut them to individual cards, which explains my scan's curved right border. All text is in Japanese, apart from the numbering. (The front translates as "Seals #5, Shofner.")

The Seals' touring team included a few major leaguers and even Lefty O'Doul took the field a few times. None other than General McArthur, effectively the country's "ruler" through 1951, considered the trip an enormous goodwill success. (He also requested a baseball tour personally, so held a stake in its outcome.)

It's hard now to appreciate the excitement this tour generated in Japan, but if you live near SF, see the the Society of California Pioneers own 1949 baseball tour exhibit, which runs through spring 2010. Several former players also discuss the trip in San Francisco Seals 1946-1957: Interviews with 25 Former Baseballers.

Some quick, USA Today-style factoids about the Seals team and Frank specifically.

• Shofner hailed from Crawford, Texas, better-known now as President Bush's ranch retreat
• CA natives Joe and Dom DiMaggio both played a few years as Seals in the 1930s
• Frank played 13 games for the Red Sox in 1947 (his Wikipedia entry links to "cup of coffee")
• Unfortunately, the Seals folded when New York's Giants moved to SF in 1958

Read more about Lefty O'Doul's significance to baseball in Japan at Wikipedia and the Japanese Baseball Cards blog. MLB.com also dedicates a section of their site to Japanese baseball tours.

UPDATE: Found this scan of an original magazine, showing both cover and card insert layout.

Value: This creased and marked-up #5 cost me $20. Based on listings at Century Old Cards, $20 - $50 is typical.

Fakes / Reprints: Haven't seen any reprints, but it could definitely happen. This is a rare set with a select collecting audience, so watch for too-good-to-be-true deals and buy from a dealer who knows their stuff.

1979 TCMA Jackson Mets baseball #5, Paul Wiener (trainer)

Pulling double-duty as trainer and traveling secretary for a pro team says a lot about the demands of minor league basell. Paul Weiner wears it well.

Is there anything one can add to this 70s sartorial splendor? I (and many Mets fans) would love to have that shirt and work so often with their baseball heroes.

Add "Equipment Manager" to the job list!

Dr. Wiener opened a physical therapy practice after his time in baseball. This cameo shows another great piece of New York swag: Wiener's own team jacket.

Paul (as Mets trainer) interviewed by Marv Albert

As Jackson's equipment manager, I bet Paul helped make this on-field story possible.

"In one of the more interesting moments in franchise history, on the evening of 22 June 1978, Mets outfielder Mookie Wilson married Rosa Gilbert at home plate in Smith-Wills Stadium. The ceremony concluded with the couple walking back to the dugout beneath an archway of bats held aloft by Mets teammates. Wilson would become one of at least a dozen Jackson Mets players to wed girls they met during their tenure in Jackson."

Still searching for photos of that ceremony, so sticking to text until they appear.

The Gettysburg Times, Nov 25, 1978

Jackson (Mississippi) served as the Mets' AA affiliate from 1975 to 1990, before moving to Binghamton, NY, a good deal closer to the home team.

Value: This card cost $1 on Beckett Marketplace, typical for most TCMA cards of this era.

Fakes / Reprints: Haven't seen minor league reprints in the market, apart from TCMA's own second printing for their Collecting Kits, which contain visible design differences.

1978 Burger King Rangers Baseball #5, Jon Matlack

This card's seriously packed with color. Its over-the-top combo of Astroturf green, Pepsi's American-flag logo, and an extremely airbrushed Texas home uniform nearly blow my visual receptors.

Jon's normal 1978 Topps #25 pictures him as a Met (see it at CheckOutMyCards.com), so the Burger King version's his first card as a Ranger. Matlack moved west from New York in a 4-team trade executed on December 8, 1977--a swap so huge it requires 7 bullet points.

• New York Mets sent Jon Matlack to Texas Rangers
• Atlanta Braves sent Willie Montanez to New York Mets
• Texas Rangers sent Tommy Boggs, Adrian Devine and Eddie Miller to Atlanta Braves
• Texas Rangers sent player to be named (eventually Ken Henderson) and Tom Grieve to New York Mets
• Texas Rangers sent Bert Blyleven to Pittsburgh Pirates
• Pittsburgh Pirates sent Nelson Norman and Al Oliver to Texas Rangers
• New York Mets sent John Milner to Pittsburgh Pirates

For those counting along at home, 3 NL teams, 1 AL team, and 11 players!

This 1978 Burger King team set includes 22 numbered players and 1 unnumbered checklist. Backs match Topps' normal set exactly, down to the "PLAY BALL" game. (See other BK team sets in my blog archives.)

Folks often mistake Burger King and Topps issues for each other, since they usually share front photos and identical backs. See the master Burger King checklist to match your card to its correct set.

Value: This Matlack cost $1 from Philly Sports Cards. Most consider the 1978 Rangers a team of "commons," though they did have two guys named Doc (Medich) and Dock (Ellis).

Fake / Reprints: Haven't seen any Burger King reprints in the market. (As mentioned, I've seen people who don't know about the BK sets call them Topps "errors" until more fully informed.)

1967 Tab Cap Dodgers #D5, Don Sutton

Coke produced a number of soft drink cap sets in the late 1960s, featuring both individual teams and league All-Stars. Adding baseball promos to Tab (their original diet cola) was just one way of spreading marketing dollars around the many Coca-Cola brands.

Bottle cap (inside)

Today's Dodger-specific set includes future HOFer Don Sutton, looking extremely young and entering just the second of his 23 pitching seasons, 16 of them for LA. (Full career stats.)

Surprisingly, he's the best-known player from 1967's set. Koufax retired after 1966, Drysdale curiously doesn't get a cap, and few other members from their 8th-place squad made a lasting impression.

Bottle cap (top)

I love this bottle cap. (There, I said it.) The classic 1960s design, stitched baseball, and blurry/sharp mix look very pop-artistic.

Check out the 1967 Dodgers gallery at Philly Sports Cards. They carry a variety of Coke bottle sets and that's where I bought my Sutton cap (and a few others for future posts).

Value: $12 got me a pristine HOFer, about the high water line for Coke or Tab caps. Common players in lower grades run $1 or less.

Fake / Reprints: Fortunately, I doubt it's possible to fake a bottle cap.

1980 TCMA 1961 Cincinnati Reds #5, Pete Whisenant

Just 49 years ago, the Reds captured their 4th pennant, besting the recently relocated (LA) Dodgers and (SF) Giants down the stretch. Five of the eight NL teams finished over .500 that year and the Pirates fell just short, thanks to doormat seasons from Chicago (64-90) and Philadelphia (47-107, oucheroo). 

Card front

Cincinnati manager Fred Hutchinson won his only pennant in 1961, just a few years before his untimely death at age 45. Much-loved for both playing and managerial success, he's memorialized by a cancer research center (started by his brother, a physician) in Seattle. The Reds retired his number 1 and inducted Fred into their Hall of Fame.

Card back

The Reds outfield didn't need much beyond Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, and Wally Post in 1961, so Pete played sparingly. He retired as a player following the series and served as a full-time coach for the 1962 season.

Value: Pete cost $2 on Beckett Marketplace, about average for 1980 TCMA sets. Frank Robinson's the star for this team set and costs $5 to $10.

Fakes / Reprints: Haven't seen any reprints in the market and it's probably not worth faking.

1979 TCMA Holyoke Millers #5, Kevin Bass

On Feb 15, Topps launched their 2010 set tie-in, the Million Card Giveaway. Collectors redeem card codes for one of many, many past cards. Ideally, you get a classic HOFer like 1962 Topps #5 Sandy Koufax. More likely, it'll be 1989 Topps #323 Gary Thurman.

Night Owl Cards posted his day 1 redemptions, which included an action-filled 1987 Topps Kevin Bass. (Details and scans at "There are a million other things I should be doing...") I say, why stop at just one?

Card front

The Millers played ball for fans in Holyoke, MA as part of Milwaukee's farm system 1977-1980 and California's 1981-1982.

Card back

For a team that folded in the 80s, they've got a pretty active Facebook group!

Value: Kevin Bass cost me $1 from Beckett Marketplace, in the usual range for minor league "commons."

Fakes / Reprints: Haven't seen any reprints of 1970s minor leaguers, other than guys who eventually made the HOF.

2001 Sunoco Dream Team #5, Jim Palmer & Frank Robinson

Lots of folks blogged up 2010 Upper Deck's weird handling of MLB logos, which they (supposedly) aren't licensed to display. They do leave off team names, but any avoidance of logos is "casual" at best.

As a well-heeled company focused on the card market, UD might set precedent where past oddball makers didn't see a battle worth fighting. A quick sift through the type collection turned up this ready example.

Card front

With the same players-only license, Sunoco wiped out hat logos and used cities instead of team names. The Orioles become "Baltimore" on the front and "Outstanding O's" on the back.

Card back

Sunoco's set honored 12 combos and doubled up on 2 classic teams, Boston and New York. Links go to any card scans I located.

1. PIT: Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski
2. PHI: Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton
3. CIN: Tony Perez and Joe Morgan
4. NYY: Yogi Berra and Don Mattingly
5. BAL: Jim Palmer and Frank Robinson
6. BOS: Carlton Fisk and Luis Tiant
7. BOS: Fred Lynn and Jim Rice
8. DET: Sparky Anderson and Al Kaline (a manager? wow)
9. PHI: Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts (with painted logos)
10. NYM: Tug McGraw and Gary Carter
11. CLE: Lou Boudreau and Bob Feller
12. NYY: Catfish Hunter and Roger Maris

Palmer and Robinson rank among the best O's ever, but are they #1 and 2? Check out Frost King Baseball's "All-Time Best Orioles (Since 1955)" for a stat-friendly answer.

More Jim Palmer posts:

• 1978 O-Pee-Chee #5 - Victory Leaders
• 1967 Coca-Cola Orioles #5

Valentine's Day Giveaway: SMOOCHES! And cards.

Be like Shawon Dunston and spread a little love around today. Also, cards!

1996 Score Dugout Collection #5

If you're like me, asking for baseball cards on Valentine's Day gets you...no baseball cards. TODAY'S GIVEAWAY changes that up! Add a note to this post with a kind of card you want to receive and I'll find something to send out. The available stack's pretty large, so I encourage creativity.

Examples:

• Chicago Cubs (or another team)
• Multi-player cards (Leaders, team cards, etc.)
• Individual players (Bagwell, Piazza, Thome)
• Vintage players
• Specials (Diamond Kings, inserts)
• Guys with gloves
• Dads (will probably include the Dunston card)

Note that asking for "Cards made of metal that scan awkwardly" will get you this:

1996 Donruss Steel Stats #5, Jeff Conine