1980 TCMA Baseball All-Time Tigers #5, Al Kaline

Congratulations to 2010's Gold Glove winners, among them 10-timer Ichiro Suzuki. He joins an exclusive double-digit club that includes former teammate Ken Griffey, Jr. and active White Sock Omar Vizquel. (Full list at Baseball-Reference.com, naturally.)

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Ichiro and "A.L." Kaline serve as the junior circuit's only 10-time outfield Gold Glove winners. They both split time between CF and RF, where the "real" glove men play. (Barry Bonds remains the top winner in left, with 8.) Suzuki seems likely to break this record, but can't hope to match Al's career slugging numbers.

Note than Kaline played prior to the award's creation and won its only combined ML award (1957), so could've had more. Hard to say who would've taken it back in the 30s and 40s. Any opinions?

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As with other TCMA All-Time sets, the Tigers get a manager, 3 pitchers, and 8 position players for 12 total. Here's the full checklist.

1. George Kell
2. Billy Rogell
3. Ty Cobb
4. Hank Greenberg
5. Al Kaline
6. Charlie Gehringer
7. Harry Heilmann
8. Hal Newhouser
9. Steve O'Neill (MGR)
10. Denny McLain
11. Mickey Cochrane
12. John Hiller

Value: Didn't find many of the cards at CheckOutMyCards.com, but what they had is under $1. Kaline and the other HOFers might cost a few dollars.

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

1979 TCMA Japanese Pro Baseball #5, Makoto Matsubara

Esteemed baseball writer (and card collector) Rob Fitts recently sent me a promo card for his new book, Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball. (Scan snagged from the blog Japanese Baseball Cards.)

This portrait's custom work by Gary Cieradkowski of The Infinite Baseball Card Set and a worthy addition to any collection. It's doubly good for me, as a long-time student of Japan itself!

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This isn't the first time Rob sent cards my way, as we belong to the same trading group. Some years back, this gentleman in green arrived as a hit to my #5 type wantlist, with Mr. Fitts as the source.

TCMA printed this, America's first set featuring Japanese pro players, in a style similar to their 1979 minor league cards. Find the 90-card checklist at OldBaseball.com, which includes fellows with MLB experience like Tony Muser, Vern Law, and Felix Millan.

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Anyone who hits for .329/16/91 can hold a #3 lineup spot, but check the totals--that's for career season #17! Matsubara's 45 doubles also led the league, proving he brought both power and speed to the plate.

Yomamine as coach of Yomiuri Giants

To bring this post full-circle, TCMA card #89 features none other than Wally Yomamine, as one of a handful of coaches and managers. (The picture above's not an actual card, but shows him from the same era.) Good luck with the new book, Rob!

Value: Singles of lesser-known players cost a dollar or two. American players and Sadaharu Oh will run more, given their notoriety.

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

1979 TCMA Baseball 1927 Yankees #5, Julie Wera

If you played in the majors for a single year, would you rather star for Kansas City or back up third base for the 1927 Yankees? Today's #5 features a man who saw that dream New York season first-hand, even if mostly from the bench.

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Julie Wera batted 44 times for Murderer's Row and hit his single career homer into the Yankee Stadium bleachers as a mid-game sub on the 4th of July (box score thus). The Bronx Bombers killed Washington's Senators 21-1 that afternoon, one national holiday our capitol city would sooner forget.

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TCMA honored this (arguably) best-ever team with 32 cards organized in no particular order, beyond placing Ruth first and Gehrig second. The checklist includes batboy Eddie Bennett, owner Jacob Ruppert, and GM Ed Barrow, so does add something unusual for Yankee team collectors (checklist at Baseball-Almanac.com).

1975 TCMA 1927 Yankees

This relatively polished set came out just four years after TCMA published a cheaper, 30-card version with different photos, Yankee Stadium itself, and 2 multi-player shots (checklist at OldBaseball.com).

Value: Bought Mr. Wera for $2 on Beckett Marketplace, about right for 1970s oddball singles. (Ruth and Gehrig will definitely cost more.)

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

1980 TCMA Baseball All-Time White Sox #5, Billy Pierce

It's a testament to Billy Pierce's success and popularity in Chicago that his Wikipedia entry includes (as of writing) 104 footnotes (a.k.a., external references), an impressive amount of research. By comparison, long-time rival (and HOFer) Whitey Ford's entry cites just 9. White Sox fans clearly want Billy's story to be told and remembered.

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As with other TCMA All-Time sets, Chicago fields a manager, 3 pitchers, and 8 position players.

• MGR Al Lopez
• P Billy Pierce
• P Ted Lyons
• P Gerry Staley
• C Ray Schalk
• 1B Eddie Robinson
• 2B Eddie Collins
• 3B Willie Kamm
• SS Luke Appling
• OF Al Simmons
• OF Johnny Mostil
• OF Harry Hooper

It's odd to call a HOFer underrated, but manager Al Lopez deserves recognition for guiding Cleveland and Chicago to winning records all 17 years he worked the dugout. Even his "worst" full-season record was a more-than-respectable 85-77!

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Five-foot-ten and 160 doesn't sound like a strikeout pitcher, but Tim Lincecum's only ten pounds heavier and does OK for himself.

Value: CheckOutMyCards.com lists most of the set for less than $2 each.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the market and the risk's low someone would fake them.

1980 TCMA Baseball All-Time Dodgers #5, Sandy Koufax

It doesn't get much more bonus baby than this shot of Sanford Koufax. His jaw line's yet to refine, facial hair seems non-existent, and that banner might as well say "YOU'RE SIXTEEN!" (He was actually 19 at signature date.)

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Brooklyn's 1st contract paid Sandy both a $6000 salary and $14000 signing bonus. By 1955 labor rules, the big bonus also meant keeping him on a major league roster for at least 2 years. Any attempt to send Koufax or another "baby" to a minor-league team would mean a trip through waivers first. (This encouraged teams to spend their bonus money judiciously, since waiver claims only cost another team the player's remaining salary.)

Koufax rode the dugout pine for a few months, in part to work on his wildness, but finally debuted in mop-up duty on June 24th against the Milwaukee Braves. He made none other than All-Time Giant #5 Bobby Thomson his first strike out.

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Like TCMA's other All-Time teams, this 12-card set includes 8 position players, 3 pitchers, and a manager.

• MGR Walt Alston
• P Sandy Koufax
• P Hugh Casey
• P Dazzy Vance
• C Roy Campanella
• 1B Gil Hodges
• 2B Jackie Robinson
• 3B Jim Gilliam
• SS Pee Wee Reese
• OF Duke Snider
• OF Dixie Walker
• OF Zach Wheat

Dazzy Vance led the NL in Ks for 7 straight seasons, pitched 600 more innings than Sandy, and still had 300 fewer strike outs! Few have--or ever will--reach the heights Koufax hit from 1961 to 1965.

Value: CheckOutMyCards.com lists singles from this set for $2 or less.

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

1980 TCMA Baseball All-Time Giants #5, Bobby Thomson

Congratulations to the former New York Giants, 2010 World Series victors over the former Washington Senators in 5 quick games! There's extra joy in a convincing win by the underdogs, since most folks with a microphone or video camera picked Texas.

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Today's red-on-white front design mimics other team-specific TCMA sets, such as the 1980 Philadelphia Whiz Kids (#5 profile of Curt Simmons). They selected 12 former Giants as the team's best, with 3 pitchers and a manager.

• MGR John McGraw
• SP Christy Mathewson
• SP Carl Hubbell
• RP Hoyt Wilhelm
• C Wes Westrum
• 1B Bill Terry
• 2B Frankie Frisch
• 3B Fred Lindstrom
• SS Alvin Dark
• OF Mel Ott
• OF Willie Mays
• OF Bobby Thomson

This "lineup" style carries over to several other TCMA All-Time team sets, including the Dodgers, White Sox, Cubs, Yankees, and Tigers. (Look for more of them in the near future!)

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The hero of 1951's NL pennant winners, Bobby passed away at 86 in August of 2010. The back text should say "Staten Island Scot," for his own Glaswegian (born of Glasgow) heritage. He remained by all accounts a gentleman into his retired life and made a minor business of appearing with Ralph Branca, pitcher for Thomson's famous homer.

Value: Most of this set's available on CheckOutMyCards for $1 or less.

Fakes / reprints: Can't imagine anyone making money off reprints for this kind of set and haven't seen any in the market.

1973 Fleer Baseball's Famous Feats #5, Lou Gehrig

Artist Bob Laughlin self-published a Great Feats of Baseball set in 1972, after an agreement with Fleer fell through due to Topps own 1971 highlight set. (Catch those details in my Great Feats #5 profile.) They thought better of things a year later and reused many of Laughlin's pictures--now colorized--as the 40-card Baseball's Famous Feats.

Fleer owned an official MLB license--prominently featured above--but they left out any living players to avoid paying royalties. That also meant a shorter checklist than Great Feats, with no Koufax, Mantle, or DiMaggio.

Some 70 years after his untimely death, Gehrig remains the all-time leader in grand slams, with Manny Ramirez (21) and Alex Rodriguez (18) his closest active competition. One lucky year could include 3 such homers, so both have decent chances to pass Larrupin' Lou.

Either Laughlin or Fleer added these back biographies, since Great Feats sported blank backs. Many folks assume the 1972 date meant a release that same year, but I trust blog The Fleer Sticker Project's assertion they reached stores in 1973. (Roll call of their releases, 1969-1976.)

Value: Gehrig's a superstar, so runs up to $10. (Find many of its cards at CheckOutMyCards.com, where most cost under 2 dollars.)

Fakes / reprints: This set's sort of a reprint, but I haven't seen any fakes in the market.

1975 Laughlin Batty Baseball #5, Milwaukee Boozers

Not every self-produced set by artist Bob Laughlin showed reverence to our National pastime and its players. Sometimes he broke out the pen and had a little fun.

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Baseball stadiums and TV broadcasts feature plenty of beer advertising, but folks don't joke much about "boozing it up" anymore, at least for modern-era players. We do see things like "BABE RUTH HIT HOMERS ON HOT DOGS AND BEER" and acknowledgement of past excesses, but calling the Brewers "Boozers" falls pretty flat today.

In fairness to Laughlin, Batty Baseball throws change-ups, not bean balls. Most team get inoffensive names like "New York Mitts," "Baltimore Oreos," or "Minnesota Wins." Find a nice collection of scans (11 of the full 25-card set) at this Legendary Auctions lot.

Speaking of Milwaukee, Brewers fans should check out Ride of the Ancient Mariner, a research series from blogger Mariner1. Its first two detailed posts shed light on Seattle's lengthy baseball past and amazingly inept team management surrounding the Pilots' one-year stopover on their way to Wisconsin.

• Seattle baseball history, Part 1 - 1894 to 1968
• Seattle baseball history, Part 2 - The Pilots (1969)

Value: The complete Batty Baseball set failed to get a $100 minimum bid at Legendary Auctions, hinting that individual cards go for $5 and under. I bought the Boozers for $2 at a show.

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

1974 Laughlin Old Time Black Stars Baseball #5, Willie Foster

In July 1933, Major League baseball pitted the AL and NL against each other in an inaugural All-Star Game. Connie Mack and John McGraw faced off as managers, fans helped select the lineups,  and Comiskey Park roared when an aging-but-powerful Babe Ruth hit its 1st homer. Then as now, the game entertained fans and made money, without much regard for the final outcome.

Today, folks look back nostalgically at the Negro Leagues, but it was a business and owners took competition very seriously. Only two months after MLB's success, "East" and "West" teams trotted onto the very same Comiskey field for a game of all-black All-Stars. The Western team starter (and Chicago American Giants star) was Willie Foster.

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Foster threw a complete-game victory in 1933, beating a trio of East pitchers. The West team played their starters all 9 innings, a rare move for star-driven games of any sort. Both All-Star games became annual traditions, with MLB running theirs in July and the Negro Leagues playing in August or September.

The Negro Leagues struggled financially following WWII and surviving teams returned to barnstorming by the 1950s. Their annual All-Star game lasted until 1962 and teams occasionally played a second game outside Chicago. A semi-integrated MLB also ran two All-Star games from 1959 to 1962, perhaps in an effort to "drown out" interest in the all-black teams. (My conjecture, but plausible given baseball's cutthroat management style.)

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Artist Bob Laughlin self-published this 36-card salute to Negro Leaguers and sold them by mail order, like his 1968 World Series (#5 set profile) and 1972 Great Feats sets (#5 set profile). It apparently proved successful enough to warrant a follow-up, 1978's Long Ago Black Stars (#5 set profile).

This set contains a bunch of HOFers, scans available at this Collectors Universe forum post.

Value: Foster cost me $8 in 2006. I estimate singles run at least $5 and definitely more for HOFers.

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

1972 Laughlin Great Feats of Baseball #5, George Sisler

For a team with rare on-field success (a handful of winning seasons and 1 pennant in half a century), the old St. Louis Browns fielded plenty of HOF-caliber players. "Gorgeous George" Sisler proved one of their best, batting over .400 twice, winning the AL's first MVP award in 1922, and setting a single-season hits record that stood for 80 years. (Full stats at Baseball-Reference.)

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Artist Bob Laughlin turned this clean, nostalgic art style into two lines of business during the 1970s. At the candy counter, Fleer published his World Series cards (1971 #5 profile here) for several years, possibly until 1980. They also planned to collaborate on these "Great Feats" cards until Topps printed their own 1971 "Greatest Moments" set. Fleer ultimately backed out of the plan, so Laughlin sold it by mail order and continued to self-publish oddball sets throughout the decade. ("Long Ago Black Stars" is my favorite.)

Mail order ad for 1972 Great Feats 

For more info on Laughlin's sets and overall excellent card research, read "How Topps Foiled Fleer's Plans" at the superlative Fleer Sticker Project. (It also provided the ad scan above.)

Value: Most of the set features well-known players, so singles can run up to $10.

Fakes / reprints: While not technically a reprint, Laughlin produced versions with both red and blue borders. A year further removed from the Topps set, Fleer decided in 1973 to go ahead with a "Famous Feats" set that reuses some pictures from this set.