Phillies rent kept A's solvent

One of the iconic aspects of the 1955 Bowman "Color TV" baseball card set is that the vast majority of player photos were taken at Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium (until 1953 known as Shibe Park). This holds true for National Leaguers as well as American Leaguers. 

Besides being home to teams in both leagues, Philadelphia was also the headquarters city for the Bowman gum company.

While Mack had built the majors' first concrete and steel stadium at 21st and Lehigh in Philadelphia in 1909, from mid-1938 through 1970 it was also the home field for the Philadelphia Phillies.

In many years, the Phillies' rental payments were greater than what the A's made on their own baseball operations.

The terms of the lease probably changed from year to year, but in 1950, the A's earned 10 cents from each admission to Phillies games and half of the concession income. 

That season both teams raked in a windfall on the Phillies attendance. Paid admissions to Phillies games that season were the greatest ever, 1,217,035, an increase of more than 48% over the previous season. That same year A's attendance drop by 62%, to just 309,035, part of a decline that hastened the team's removal to Kansas City for 1955.

Red Sox changed pix pack lineup mid-1950

One of my challenges as a cataloger with the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards for 20+ years was sorting out the contents of souvenir picture packs issued by many teams from the 1920s through the 1970s.

Many teams issued these picture packs early in the season and then updated them from time to time as players came and went. 

One prolific issuer of these picture packs in the 1940s and 1950s was the Boston Red Sox.

Massachusetts collector Bill Atkinson, who was a valued contributor to the Standard Catalog, recently forwarded information and photocopies on an updated version of the 1950 Red Sox picture pack.

Bill has two complete versions of that year's issue. Both are in the 6-1/2" x 9-1/4" format. Twenty of the 25 players and staff were the same in both sets, but five different pictures were exclusive to one or the other.

The five updated pictures are not included in that set's listing in the SCBC and are recorded here for the first time. 

Bill speculates that the first version of the picture pack was issued to coincide with the start of the 1950 season.

The five pictures in that set that were later replaced are:

• Manager Joe McCarthy, replaced as skipper after the June 18 game.
• Earl Johnson, pitcher, was sent down to minors after June 30 game
• Ken Keltner, infielder, signed as free agent April 18, released June 6
• Al Papai, pitcher, waived to St. Louis Cardinals, July 5
• Charley Schanz, pitcher, waived to St. Louis Browns, July 5.

The five pictures that were added to the updated picture pack were:

• Manager Steve O'Neill, took over June 20
• Dick Littlefield, pitcher, debuted July 7
• Willard Nixon, pitcher, also debuted July 7
• Clyde Vollmer, outfielder, traded by Senators, May 8
• George Susce, coach

Looking at the timing of the roster changes, it would seem the changeover came about the time of the All-Star break. It's also possible, though less likely, that the new pictures replaced the old in dribs and drabs over the course of the season.

The hobby owes Bill a tip of the cap for making this addition to the information base.

Phony call kept Spence off field

Uncommon commons: In more than 30 years in sportscards publishing I have thrown hundreds of notes into files about the players – usually non-star players – who made up the majority of the baseball and football cards I collected as a kid. Today, I keep adding to those files as I peruse microfilms of The Sporting News from the 1880s through the 1960s. I found these tidbits brought some life to the player pictures on those cards. I figure that if I enjoyed them, you might too.

In the last entry, I presented the story of a prank phone call that failed to put its intended victim off his game.

Here’s a similar episode that DID work, preventing a player from participating in a game.

I really can’t embellish the story, so I’ll present it as is appeared in the May 10, 1950, Sporting News.

Spence Misses a Game

On Phony Phone Call

By John B. Old

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Police launched a widespread of a mysterious phone call to Wrigley Field, April 30, which resulted in Los Angeles Outfielder Stan Spence “sitting out” the second game of the Hollywood double-header.

Both President Don Stewart of the Angels and Clarence Rowland, president of the Coast League, branded the incident as a hoax. Police, however, continued the probe on the possibility some gambler may have called Spence by way of “getting back” at the Los Angeles club for having ejected a nationally known bookmaker the day before.

An emergency call, supposedly from Spence’s home town in North Carolina, came to the second floor office at Wrigley Field a few minutes before the second game was to start. “It was Doctor So-and-So calling,” the “operator” said.

The message was rushed to Spence. The Angel outfielder had fears something had happened to wife and children as he raced from the clubhouse to answer the call.

“Now close your eyes and concentrate,” began the caller when Spence reached the phone. Believing the call was from a medico in Kinston, Stan all but passed out. He clutched the telephone with trembling fingers. He feared the next words the “doctor” would utter.

“Concentrate,” said the “doctor” in a low drone. “You are going to get two hits in the second game . . . concentrate . . . you are going to get two hits—and if you do, I will give you FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!”

“Who the hell are you and where are you talking from?” thundered Spence. The man said he was a doctor in Gardena.

Spence rushed back to the dugout and found the game had already started. Having once been in the official lineup and taken out, he could not get back into the game. The man who was out there in his place was Cece Garriott . . . of Gardena!

To prevent recurrence of similar incidents, Stewart announced that henceforth no calls—regardless of their nature—would be relayed to players while the teams were on the field.

Police later learned the Spence call had been placed from a pay station at Gardena, Los Angeles suburb and haven of gamblers who are attracted to the city’s legalized poker palaces.

According to police investigating, known bookmakers frequent the city and baseball action is reported as “lively.” The nationally known bookmaker, object of numerous police investigations, has allegedly extended his operations over a widespread area in Southern California.

With his bodyguard, he came to Wrigley Field, April 29, occupying box seats near Stewart.

“H was just minding his own business,” commented Stewart. But when a questionable character dropped by to pay his respects, Stewart inquired his identity from a house officer seated at his side.

“Oh, that guy,” replied the officer. “Used to be a pickpocket but he’s reformed now—he’s a bookmaker!”

During the seventh inning several men sidled into the box of the nationally known bookmaker. They were city plainclothesmen. Exit the big bookmaker and his “gorilla”—quietly and unescorted.

“We only told them some fans might be apprehensive of their presence. They readily agreed they didn't want to cause any trouble and left peacefully,” the officers later explained.

Even with Spence out of the lineup, the Angels beat the Stars 3-1.

Spence had dropped back into the minor leagues in 1950 after nine seasons in the American League with Boston (1940-41, 1948-49), Washington (1942-44, 1946-47) and the St. Louis Browns (1950). He had been a four-time All-Star with the Senators and led the league with 15 triples in 1942.

His only mainstream baseball card is in the 1949 Bowman set.


Also tried unsuccessfully on Sievers

A similar scam was attempted on St. Louis Browns outfielder Roy Sievers in mid-1950.

A woman claiming to be calling from a St. Louis hospital tried to get through to manager Zack Taylor during a game, wanting him to relay to Sievers that his wife had suffered a heart attack and that the player needed to rush to her bedside.

The Browns' traveling secretary took the call and sniffed out the scam, since the hospital the caller named did not exist and the phone number he requested for confirmation proved phony, as well.

The team kept the attempt under wraps for several weeks while trying to find the culprit.

How big of a dick . . .

Uncommon commons: In more than 30 years in sportscards publishing I have thrown hundreds of notes into files about the players – usually non-star players – who made up the majority of the baseball and football cards I collected as a kid. Today, I keep adding to those files as I peruse microfilms of The Sporting News from the 1880s through the 1960s. I found these tidbits brought some life to the player pictures on those cards. I figure that if I enjoyed them, you might too.

. . . would you have to be to try to steal a game this way?

On April 21, 1957, Cubs pitcher Don Kaiser was scheduled to start against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. It was his first game of the season and the opener of a Sunday doubleheader.

Just before game time, a telegram addressed to Kaiser was received in the press box.

The wire read, “Phone home immediately. Mother desperately ill. Dad.”

Because the telegram was datelined Brooklyn and Kaiser was from Oklahoma, Ed Prell, a Chicago Tribune writer who delivered the message to the dugout, suggested to Kaiser that it was a phony.

After reading the wire, Kaiser agreed, saying, “My mom died on my last birthday.”

Kaiser started as scheduled, but left the game after pitching eight innings with no decision. The Cubs won the game 5-3.

Williams did double duty in Robinson movie

Uncommon commons: In more than 30 years in sportscards publishing I have thrown hundreds of notes into files about the players – usually non-star players – who made up the majority of the baseball and football cards I collected as a kid. Today, I keep adding to those files as I peruse microfilms of The Sporting News from the 1880s through the 1960s. I found these tidbits brought some life to the player pictures on those cards. I figure that if I enjoyed them, you might too.

Between the 1949 and 1950 seasons, The Jackie Robinson Story was filmed in Hollywood. The movie starred Robinson himself and was rife with professional ballplayers as supporting cast and extras.

Brooklyn Dodgers' farmhand Dick Williams was one of those extras, picking up $25 a day for his efforts to add realism to the biopic. That was more per day than he'd made with the Dodgers' club at Fort Worth club that season. 

I've never seen the movie. As much of a fan as I am of baseball in the 1950s, I've never been on the Jackie Robinson bandwagon.

Next time it's on late night TV, though, I may have to record it to watch a scene involving Dick Williams.

According to a short item in The Sporting News just prior to the 1950 season, Williams did double duty in one scene. 

He began the sequence as a Jersey City pitcher, with Montreal player Robinson at bat and being booed by the crowd. Jackie hits a home run to silence the crowd and as he trots around the bases, he passes Williams . . . playing the second baseman.

Movie was box office flop

Early reports from theaters around the country indicated that The Jackie Robinson Story was pretty much a bomb at the box office.

Brooklyn entertainment writer Ben Gould reported in a July article in TSN that the movie's run at Brooklyn's Fox Theater was cut short after just one week.

The movie had opened in Manhattan for a four-week engagement at the Astor Theater. Gross ticket sales there were around $35,000, less than $9,000 a week. 

While conceding that the New York run may have slaked some of the demand in Brooklyn, Gould termed the movie's one-week receipts of $18,000 in Brooklyn as "weak," saying that it had been expected would do "at least" $50,000 a week for its two-week engagement.

Gould reported that the movie also flopped in Boston, Buffalo, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and did "just fair" in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Conversely, the Robinson movie "broke all attendance records" in Canada (where Robinson had gotten his start in Organized Baseball with Montreal in 1946) and California (where he had been a football star at UCLA). Standing room only lines were reported in Detroit and Chicago.

Gould also said that the movie was setting all-time local records in small towns across the nation, mentioning specifically DeKalb, Ill., and Wilson, N.C.

Football cards for Corso and Herbstreit

Like many of you I enjoy watching the ESPN College GameDay show on Saturday mornings. The easy byplay of hosts Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso sometimes make you forget that these guys are dispensing a good deal of solid information and analysis.

 Years ago when I made my 1955 Topps All-American style card of Burt Reynolds he suggested to me that I should make a similar card for Lee Corso. At that time I wasn't aware that Corso had also played football at Florida State and had been a roommate of Reynolds.

A Corso card kind of got pushed to the back burner as I didn't think a decent photo would be available. Recently, though, I decided to see what I could find and I came away with a perfectly suitable FSU publicity picture.

As well-known as Corso is, finding enough information to write up the card back was easy. Here's one website I found particularly useful: http://nolefan.org/football/corso_lee.html .

Similarly, there was plenty of information on the net about Kirk Herbstreit, and good color photos were plentiful. 

Besides Herbsreit's GameDay work, I especially enjoy the NBC Saturday night games when he is doing play by play. Brent Musberger . . . not so much.

I've been on quite a roll this winter building up my "Third Series" of All-American cards. I've got several more in the works that I'll be sharing here as they are completed.

Updating my '55-style Stanford cards

While watching the Wisconsin-Stanford Rose Bowl game, I became finally inspired to rehabilitate the two Stanford cards I had created in my nearly decade-long project of updating the 1955 Topps All-American football card set.

Among the earlier cards in that project were those of John Elway and Jim Plunkett.

These customs were created when my computer graphics skills were even less sophisticated than they are today. I don't remember where I got the Plunkett photo, but even after lightening the facial features, I always thought it was too dark. The Elway photo came from the cover of a 1982 Sports Illustrated and thus was somewhat grainy and not particularly well composed for a football card.

I was able to find much better photos in just a short time spent google-searching images for the Hall of Fame quarterbacks. I think I've upgraded these two cards considerably with the picture changes.

You've probably noticed that I used two different school logos on my Stanford cards. When Plunkett was attending, the team was still known as the Indians. By the time Elway got there, the nickname had been changed to the Cardinal and the goofy tree figure had become on their unofficial mascots.

Apropos of nothing, I once "met" Jim Plunkett. I didn't get in a word, but he said, "Excuse me," as he touched me on the shoulder on his way to the beach. The encounter came in February, 1981, while I was attending a coin show in Hawaii. The old Saturday afternoon TV competition series, Superstars, I think it was called, was filming on the beach at my hotel, and Plunkett had to make his way through a crowd of spectators to get to his event.

When I felt the tap on my shoulder, I turned around and saw this huge, chiseled bronze man in a swimming suit. I'm six feet tall (or I was back then) and Plunkett is listed at 6'3", but he looked a lot larger up close.

Boxer's limo is hefty bit of sports memorabilia

The other day while I was sorting through a long-untouched box of sports cards and memorabilia from my 30+ years of accumulating, I found this postcard.

It's from a series of 1970s postcards of high-end vintage autos published by Henry Austin Clark, who owned and operated the Long Island Auto Museum in Southampton. The Museum, and some of Austie's other cars, was pictured in one of my childhood favorite bubblegum card sets, the 1954-55 Topps World on Wheels.

The reason I have this postcard is that it depicts an auto that was owned by my former boss (and current owner of the building where I have my retirement office) Chet Krause.

At one time, the pictured auto was the crown jewel of his vintage motor vehicle collection. In 1971 Chet had founded Old Cars newspaper as an expansion of the numismatic periodicals and books line that he had begun in 1952. By the mid-1970s, his publishing business was doing real well, and he had the resources to indulge himself with buying and/or restoring all manner of vintage cars, trucks, tractors and gas engines.

For a tumultuous year in 1978-79, I served as editor of the Old Cars division at Krause Publications before moving on to create the company's baseball card division. 

The car on the postcard is a 1926 Minerva town car. It was built for former professional boxer Patrick "Packey" McFarland. 

McFarland was born in 1888 in Chicago and turned pro as a boxer in 1904. Fighting in the lightweight and welterweight divisions he compiled a record of 105 wins (51 by knockout) against just one loss, six draws and a no-contest.

Considering that record, it is surprising that McFarland never won a world title. Ring Record Book and Boxing Encyclopedia suggests McFarland was the best fighter to never become a world champion. During his career he met and defeated most of the title holders in his weight classes, but none of the bouts were for the championship.

He retired in 1915. Unlike so many boxers, he retired to a life of luxury. He had sizable investments and was a director of two banks. He could well afford this custom-built chauffeur-driven town car. In 1933 the governor appointed him to the Illinois Athletic Commission. 

Like most luxury autos in that era, McFarland's limo was one of a kind. The car was designed by Paul Ostruk. Its chassis was built by Minerva in Belgium. The body was crafted by LeBaron in New York and the car was powered by a 30 H.P. six-cylinder Knight engine.

McFarland died in 1936 when a staph infection attacked his heart. His widow sold the Minerva around 1946. In 1953 it was purchased by collector Embert Grooters of Grand Rapids, Mich. In the auction of his estate in 1972, Chet Krause bought the Minerva.

Speaking with Chet today, as he nears his 90th birthday, he recalled that the Minerva was a "little rough" by the time it reached his hands. He expended considerable money in refurbishing the body and engine.

The Minerva was used periodically to convey visiting dignitaries around Iola. I recall that in 1984, when Allen Kaye, publisher of Baseball Card News, brought his family to Iola to finalize the sale of his hobby paper to Krause Publications, his wife and daughters were much impressed by being chauffeured around town in the long blue beauty by a multi-millionaire. 

Not long thereafter, the Minerva was auctioned in one of James Leake's famed collector vehicle sales in Tulsa.

Electing to offer the car at no reserve, Krause was unpleasantly surprised when it was hammered down at a price that he recalls was under $25,000. Two of the auto hobby's deep pockets went after the Minerva initially, but when they discovered they were bidding against each other, one dropped out.

The car was sold to the Imperial Palace casino hotel in Las Vegas, where it was displayed for many years.  It was again sent to auction in 2000, and was bought by an English collector. Subsequently, it was sold to a collector in New Zealand. At last report, the car has been repainted in burgundy tones. 

During Chet's ownership of the Minerva, I bought an example of a T9 Turkey Red cabinet card of Packey McFarland. McFarland was one of 25 boxers in the 1910-11 series that was contemporary to the tobacco company's more famous T3 Turkey Red baseball players.

The card was kept in a pouch in the passenger compartment to show to guests. It may still be there today.

Faint praise for Courtney as TSN AL ROY

Uncommon commons: In more than 30 years in sportscards publishing I have thrown hundreds of notes into files about the players – usually non-star players – who made up the majority of the baseball and football cards I collected as a kid. Today, I keep adding to those files as I peruse microfilms of The Sporting News from the 1880s through the 1960s. I found these tidbits brought some life to the player pictures on those cards. I figure that if I enjoyed them, you might too.

            A by-lined column on the editorial page of the Oct. 8, 1952, issue of The Sporting News appeared under the headline, “Rookie Crop Far Below Par,” with the subhead, ”Courtney Pick Rip-Off of General Lack of Talent.”

            In the column, Ed McAuley of the Cleveland News decried the selection of St. Louis Browns catcher Clint Courtney as The Sporting News’ American League Rookie of the Year. Courtney was the first catcher in either league to win the rookie award since it was established by TSN in 1946.

            McAuley called the selection, “dramatic evidence that the freshman class of 1952 was the least talented since World War II.”

            He strengthened his case by noting that Courtney’s only real competition for the A.L. honor was Red Sox catcher Sammy White.

            “With all due respect to these energetic marksmen,” McAuley wrote, “I submit that there is nothing in their records which would have gained them this distinction if the rest of the new talent in the league had been up to par.”

            In 1952 Courtney became the primary catcher for the St. Louis Browns. After just one game with the N.Y. Yankees in 1951, he had been traded to St. Louis in the off-season.

            With the Brownies in 1952, Courtney batted .286 with five home runs and 50 RBIs. He had led major league catchers with a .996 fielding average.

            The Sporting News Rookie of the Year in the National League was Brooklyn Dodgers relief pitcher Joe Black.

            The Baseball Writers Association of American chose as its Rookie of the Year Philadelphia A’s pitcher Harry Byrd, who had a 15-15 season. Courtney was second-place in the writers’ voting.

New Year brings blog changes

Two years after retiring from my "day job" I've found that retirement is much different than I had envisioned.

Surprisingly I find myself with little more down time than I had when I was working for wages.

I'd planned to do much more reading and working on my custom cards than I'm able to do.

After looking at how I spend my days, I've decided that it is time to scale back on my blog.

For the past couple of years I have maintained a schedule of posting a new blog entry about every other day.

Effective immediately, I'm going to halve that workload. In cutting my output in half, I hope to not only create time to work on my custom cards, but also to improve the quality of each blog post. I've discovered that little of what I have to say is unique or especially insightful. Much of it is readily available on other sites on the internet.

As I find time for more custom cards, naturally the percentage of my blog posts that introduce each new card will rise.

Another change I'm instituting is the elimination of reader comments. The flood of spam that results from allowing comments has overwhelmed me. I get 50+ spam comments for each legitimate reader comment. Time spent sorting through the spam can be better used elsewhere.

If you want to comment on anything you read here, look into my profile for my email address and feel free to contact me that way.

Ballplayers' babes: Ralph Kiner

Continuing with my periodical presentation of vintage photos amassed over 30+ years in the sportscard publishing world is this selection of photos of baseball players with their wives, fiancees, girlfriends or others. 

This presentation contains some of a large grouping of similarly themed press photos that were collected over the years by former colleague Tom Mortenson, who was a long-time editor of Sports Collectors Digest.

All of the photos this time are of Ralph Kiner and the women in his life. 

Ralph Kiner had the reputation as a ladies man during his early major league days. Bing Crosby, who was part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, took Kiner under his wing and introduced him to the celebrity circuit around Hollywood.

This photo shows Kiner at dinner with a 17-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, in 1949.

In 1951, Kiner married tennis pro Nancy Chaffee. At the time she was the 6th ranked women's tennis player in the U.S. The couple divorced in 1968.

This photo, which must have been taken in 1953 or 1954 when Kiner was with the Chicago Cubs, shows him with Miss Junior Rose Bowl.

New/old bridge makes Christmas merrier

I found a pleasant surprise awaiting me when we arrived at our west-central Pennsylvania home for the winter.

For most of the past two years, the old bridge over the Juniata River that allows backroad access from our rural home to the village of Alexandria has been in the process of being replaced.

I was sad to see the old bridge go. Besides allowing me to get the post office without having the venture out on the state highway with its couple of tricky intersections, the bridge on the turnpike was one of those vintage steel-girder structures that I refer to as an Erector Set Bridge. 

For reasons I can't pinpoint, I was saddened to lose the old bridge. Imagine my pleasure then, when I found that instead of just replacing the bridge with a concrete slab, the township (or the county or the state, or whomever) had refurbished the steel superstructure and put it back in place, with a fresh paint job.

I'm not sure whether the steel serves any structural purpose, but for me it surely enhances the aesthetic. 

We won't be having a white Christmas this year, but because somebody in our municipality made the decision not to lose a piece of the township's history, it's a merrier Christmas for me.

Bridges survived gun-totin' ex-husband

Uncommon commons: In more than 30 years in sportscards publishing I have thrown hundreds of notes into files about the players – usually non-star players – who made up the majority of the baseball and football cards I collected as a kid. Today, I keep adding to those files as I peruse microfilms of The Sporting News from the 1880s through the 1960s. I found these tidbits brought some life to the player pictures on those cards. I figure that if I enjoyed them, you might too.

Tommy Bridges, star pitcher for the Detroit Tigers throughout the 1930s, didn't live to a ripe old age, dying at 61, but his demise almost came much sooner at the hands of a jealous ex-husband.

An early 1950 account in The Sporting News told the story . . . 

BRIDGES VICTIM OF ATTACK

Verle Penney, a 41-year-old Portland (Ore.) trucking contractor, was booked in Hollywood, Calif., January 14 [1950], on suspicion of assault with intent to murder Tommy Bridges, former Detroit pitcher, now the property of the San Francisco (Pacific Coast) Seals. The contractor, who last year filed a $20,000 alienation of affections suit against the pitcher, was arrested after an affray which involved the two and Penney’s former wife. The Penneys were married in 1929 and were divorced last August. Bridges told police he and the divorced wife had been going together since last September and that when they came out of a drug store where Mrs. Penney was employed, Penney shoved a pistol in his ribs, saying: “This is it,” then hit him three times on the head with the gun. Passersby seized Penney and held him for the police.

Charges were dropped against Penney less than two weeks later by Municipal Court Judge Joseph F. Chambers, who ruled there was insufficient evidence to warrant prosecution for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder.

Penney had testified that after he "persuaded" Bridges and his ex-wife, Ione, into the alley behind the drugstore, Bridges attacked him with his fists.

Penney's suit against Bridges charged that Bridges had alienated his wife's affections "by flattery, gifts, exchange of love letters and secret and open meetings at dances, taverns or clubs." 

Ione left Verle on May 21, 1949, and sued for divorce three days later, charging that he "treated her cruelly and inhumanly by assaulting and threatening her.

Bridges married Ione on May 17, 1951.  

First card for most feared tackler of 1950s

I guess the reason I never heard of Hardy Brown until a couple of years ago is that he never appeared on a football card--until now.

My latest custom card honors Brown, one of the most haters players of the 1950s. 

I first heard of Brown while having lunch at a local bar where the NFL Network was on TV, airing a show about Top 10 Most Feared Tacklers of the NFL. There at #5 was Hardy Brown. I was familiar with the other guys on the list--Butkus, Lawrence Taylor, Jack Tatum, etc.--but Brown was new to me. 

The piece on Brown only consumed about four minutes of the show, and is widely available on the internet.

You'll also find many other internet offerings on Brown, so I won't go too in-depth here about his life and career.

The digest version is that when he was four year old he was in the room when two men gunned down his fathers. Six months later he was also present when family members killed one of his father's murderers. Shortly thereafter he was sent to an orphanage in Ft. Worth with his brother and sister.

He joined the Marines as a paratrooper in World War II. After the war he played football at Tulsa.

He was drafted #104 by the N.Y. Giants in the 1947 NFL draft but never played for them.

In 1948 he started his pro football career with the Brooklyn Dodgers of the All-America Football Conference. He spent the next season with the Chicago Hornets of the AAFC, then in 1950 played for the "old" Baltimore Colts and the Washington Redskins in the NFL.

From 1951-55 he was with the San Francisco 49ers. He opened the 1956 season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League, then was traded back to the NFL, to the Chicago Cardinals. 

Brown was out of pro football from 1957-59, working construction in Texas and tending bar in Las Vegas.

At the age of 36 he signed with the Denver Broncos of the new American Football League, playing in 13 games before ending his football career.

Brown was one of only two men to play in the AAFC, the NFL and the AFL (the other was Ben Agajanian). I suspect he was the only man to play in those three leagues plus the CFL.

Brown is credited with popularizing the use of face masks because of the damage he did with a signature shoulder smash into the chest or chin of opposing players. He once said he knocked out some 75-80 players during his career; teammate Y.A. Tittle credits him with at least 20 KO's during the 1951 season.

Brown was so hard on opposing runners that the 49ers eventually banned him from intersquad contact drills and scrimmages. 

Long before the New Orleans Saints' bounty scandal, Brown was the target of a bounty scheme by the L.A. Rams--nobody ever collected.

His later years were not good. Heavy boozing, the damage done playing football and his early childhood trauma combined to produce dementia that forced him to be institutionalized prior to his death in 1991 at the age of 67.

As I said, you can read all about Hardy Brown--which I strongly recommend--on the internet by doing a google-search, but I want to specially note a piece written in 1993 by former SCD writer Dwight Chapin of the San Francisco Examiner, for The Coffin Corner, the publication of the Pro Football Researchers' Association.

It's a pdf, so I can't link it here, but you can find it at: 
www.profootballresearchers.org/coffin_corner/15-06-546.pdf

A piece you can't find on the internet is a feature in the Nov. 4, 1953, issue of The Sporting News, headlined, “Hardy Brown ‘Hatchet Man’ of the 49ers.”

San Francisco sports writer Walt Gamage led with, “’The most feared man in football!’ That’s the awesome title tagged on Hardy (Hatchet Man), San Francisco 49er linebacker, by rival National Football League players.”

           

            Gamage’s feature carried the subtitle, “Demon blocker Tips Scale at Only 185 Pounds, But Every Ounce in Dynamite”.

            “Brown has struck terror in the hearts of opposing ball carriers,” Gamage explained, “by means of his unique shoulder tackle or block. He accomplishes his deadly wallop by uncoiling his shoulder with a quick trip-hammer blow as he makes contact with an enemy player.

            “Those on the receiving end of one of Brown’s sleep-producing socks declare it produces the same sensation as being hit over the head with a baseball bat,” the writer continued.

            “Brown, who is small by pro league standards, weighing only 185 pounds, is becoming something of a legend around the pro circuit.

            “Before a game last season, the Detroit Lions requested the referee to examine Brown’s shoulder pads to see if he was carrying hunks of metal in the padding,” Gamage related.

            “Y.A. Tittle, 49er quarterback, in recalling the incident said he ‘almost died laughing at the sight of the ref shaking down my roommate as if he were some gangster.’”

            Gamage then relayed the tale that after Brown had sidelined Rams halfback Glenn Davis and fullback Dick Hoerner “with his lethal shoulder block,” that at the start of the 1952 season each Rams player put $5 into a pool to be awarded to the Los Angeles player who “got” Brown.

            “After three games between the two teams,” Gamage reported, “all the Rams players got was their money back. Hardy took the best shots of the Los Angeles gang and in return got in a couple of cracks with his much feared shoulder.”

            In the TSN article, former 49er quarterback Frank Albert was quoted, “If you had a team of 11 Hardy Browns the league would never complete its schedule. There wouldn’t be any backs around the carry the ball by the end of the season.”

            Gamage continued, “Teammate Gordy Soltau, high-scoring end, explained why Brown is never elected to the league all-star teams. He says all the opposing coaches hate Brown so much they wouldn’t think of voting for him.

                       

            “’I’m glad I’m not a halfback who has to play against the 49ers,’ Soltau added. ‘When the quarterback called upon me to hit the line, it would be on my mind that Brown would be out there some place ready to strike like a cobra.’

            “The strange part about Brown’s devastating should block is that it is perfectly legal” Gamage said, “he has yet to draw a penalty for unnecessary roughness.”

            Gamage recapped Brown’s background to that point. “Brown, who played out his collegiate career at Tulsa, is in his seventh season of pro ball. Before coming to the 49ers he played with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Rockets and Baltimore Colts of the (All-American Football Conference) and later with the Washington Redskins.

            “The tough 49er linebacker is a man of few words,” Gamage reported. “When asked to comment about his reputation as the ‘most feared man in football,’ he replied: ‘shucks, that’s a lot of talk. I never hurt anyone. I just give him a little nudge with my shoulder.’

            “According to the backs around the league, Gamage concluded, “they fear the ‘nudge’ of Brown more than one of Rocky Marciano’s roundhouse rights.”

            Accompanying the TSN feature was a photo of Brown labeled “Butcher Boy”.

Making a custom card of Hardy Brown wasn't an easy task . . . there are just not a lot of suitable pictures available. The picture I used is from a 1955 team-issued 49ers photo.

I initially envisioned doing a 1956 Topps-style 49ers card, but that was before I knew Brown's last season with S.F. was 1955.

My plan defaulted to a 1955 Bowman-style card, and I really like the way it turned out.

I would greatly enjoy making a 1960 Fleer AFL Broncos card of Hardy Brown, but I haven't yet found any pictures of him with Denver.

Or was it Rae/Ray Scarborough?

Uncommon commons: In more than 30 years in sportscards publishing I have thrown hundreds of notes into files about the players – usually non-star players – who made up the majority of the baseball and football cards I collected as a kid. Today, I keep adding to those files as I peruse microfilms of The Sporting News from the 1880s through the 1960s. I found these tidbits brought some life to the player pictures on those cards. I figure that if I enjoyed them, you might too.

 In my December 15 posting I stated that Herb Score may have been the first “Million Dollar” ballplayer.  

I guess I was off by a few years.

In 1950, when the perennially last-place Senators were being besieged with offers for pitcher Ray Scarborough, Washington owner Clark Griffith said he’d let the pitcher go . . . for $1,000,000.          

Scarborough had won 15 games in 1948 while losing eight. It was his first winning season since his rookie year in 1942.

I don't see what stimulated all the demand.  He was 13-11 in 1949 and started the 1950 season with Washington at 3-5 before he was traded to the White Sox on May 31 in a six-player deal and a reported $150,000 cash. He never again showed any million-dollar promise. 

With the White Sox for the remainder of 1951 he was 10-13; after the season he was traded to the Red Sox. He had a 12-9 record with Boston in 1951; it was his last winning season. He was 1-5 for Boston through Aug. 22, 1952, then was sold to the Yankees for the pennant drive.

He performed brilliantly with New York for the final month of the season. He had a 5-1 record and 2.91 ERA. After starting the 1953 season with the Yankees, he was released on Aug. 4, when his record was 2-2. He caught on with the Tigers as a free agent, and was 0-2 the rest of the season; it was his last in pro ball.

           

On a baseball-card related note, did you ever wonder why Scarborough’s name was spelled “Rae” on his 1949-50 Bowman cards, and “Ray” on his 1951-53 cards?

According to a sidebar in a May 10, 1950, Sporting News feature speculating on Scarborough’s future, it happened like this:

Scarborough Scraps Rae;

Record Proves It's Ray

            For years Ray Scarborough of the Senators signed his first name as Rae, and it so appeared in the Baseball Register until the pitcher changed the spelling to Ray for the 1949 edition.

            Deciding that Rae sounded feminine, Scarborough had sent an inquiry to Mount Gilead, N. C., where the vital statistics revealed he had been christened Ray Wilson Scarborough.

That account is at odds with what I generally consider to be my final authority: baseball-reference.com, which says Scarborough’s birth name was spelled Rae. However, I’m a firm believer that a person can choose what name he wishes to be known by, so for me, it’s Ray.

Do Ty Cobb-signed bank notes exist?

Artist's conception of a Ty Cobb-signed National Bank Note
of Lavonia, Ga. (Note photo courtesy Heritage Auctions.)

Most collectors have an item atop their want list that is often known in hobby parlance as their "holy grail" or "white whale."

It is an item that may not even exist, and often -- even if found -- would be beyond the collector's means. However, if collecting did not present challenges of varying degrees of difficulty it would not be a hobby, but merely shopping.

Presented herewith for consideration of addition to the wish lists of collectors in both the paper money and baseball memorabilia fields is an item for which I searched in vain for several decades. Now I'll pass the quest on to future generations.

What I sought unsuccessfully was a National Bank Note signed by Ty Cobb.

Among the investments that made Cobb a rich man during and after his career as a Hall of Fame outfielder for the Detroit Tigers in the early decades of the 20th Century was his ownership of a considerable portion of the stock of The First National Bank of Lavonia, Ga. 

That bank had been chartered in 1906 under the title The Vickery National Bank of Lavonia. The title was changed to The First National Bank of Lavonia in January, 1913. Under the new title, the bank issued only large-size $10 and $20 notes of the Series 1902 Blue Seal Date Backs and Plain Backs.



I first got wind of the story of National Bank Notes signed by Ty Cobb more than 20 years ago, while reading microfilm of The Sporting Life, a weekly sports newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia. 

In a roundup column titled "Latest News By Telegraph Briefly Told," The Sporting Life picked up an Associated Press article virtually verbatim in its Sept. 27, 1913, edition.

As written by AP, the article read:

"TY COBB'S NAME ON

NEW BANK NOTES

(By the Associated Press)

Washington, Sept. 22.--Collectors doubtless will be on the lookout soon for some national bank notes which were signed a few days ago by "Ty" Cobb, centerfielder of the Detroit baseball club.
When the star player was here recently he visited the Treasury Department. While being shown through he asked to see some of the bank notes of the First National Bank of Lavonia, Ga. On informing the office in charge that he was a director in that bank, and as such was entitled to sign money printed for that institution, the ball player placed his signature on several sheets of the notes.

More recent googling around the internet revealed that Cobb's actions that day at the Treasury had repercussions.

The Pittsburgh Press, Sept. 24, 1913, carried a short article headlined, 

"CLERKS GET 'CALLED' FOR

LETTING COBB IN VAULTS."

Datelined Washington, D.C., the article read:

Fans at the Treasury Department got a severe calling down today from Acting Comptroller of the Currency Kane for granting Ty Cobb unusual freedom of the building when the famous ballplayer was sightseeing. Cobb was permitted to enter money vaults, and to autograph several national bank notes issued on the Lavonia (Ga.) bank, of which he is a director.

Despite the fact I served two terms as editor of Bank Note Reporter in the 1970s-1980s, I either never knew or have forgotten which bank officers were authorized to sign National Bank Notes during the large-size issuing era. I do know that some notes exist with vice president as signatories, and perhaps assistant cashiers.

I have my doubts that bank directors had that privilege,m but I do not doubt that if they were so empowered, the fiscally astute Cobb would have known about it.

I like to think that when he signed those sheets of Lavonia notes, Cobb used the green-ink fountain pen that he so regularly used  in his later years.

Given that Treasury officials were not amused by Cobb's autographing, it's possible that the Cobb-signed notes were never actually issued. 

Again, my recollection of NBN history indicates that in the large-size period, four-note sheets of national currency were conveyed to the issuing bank unsigned. At the bank, the cashier and president (usually) would affix their signatures and cut the sheets into individual notes. 

It shouldn't be ruled out that the Comptroller of the Currency withheld the notes bearing Cobb's signature from subsequent shipments to Lavonia. 

It is also uncertain whether Cobb would have preempted the space for the cashier's or the president's signature. All Series 1902 notes of The First National Bank of Lavonia that I have seen show purple rubber-stamped signatures of Walter N. Harrison as cashier and C.A. Addington, president. 

A green-ink autograph of Ty Cobb on such a note would have made a colorful collectible. 

Surviving large-size notes of the bank are not rare, and in typical mid-range grades have a retail value of $600-900 or so. That's about the same as recent sales of checks authentically signed by Ty Cobb, It cannot be assumed, however, that if a Cobb-signed Lavonia National was to come to market, its value would be about the sum of its two parts. I'd guess such a note would sell in the mid- to high-four figures.