THE QUEEN OF DIAMONDS: EFFA MANLEY AND THE NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWARK EAGLES By Russell Streur

 

THE QUEEN OF DIAMONDS:  EFFA MANLEY AND THE NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWARK EAGLES

 

 

Effa Manley was not the first woman to own a major league baseball club.  Helene Hathaway Robison Britton was, inheriting the St. Louis Cardinals on the death of her uncle, Stanley Robison, in 1911.   

 

And Effa Manley was not the first woman to own a Negro League baseball club, either.  Olivia Taylor ran the Indianapolis ABCs following the sudden death of her husband Charles Isham Taylor in 1922. 

  

But Effa Manley was more than a temporary caretaker.  Co-owner for a dozen years with her husband Abe of the Newark Eagles, Effa was a tireless and outspoken advocate for black baseball in the 1930s and 1940s.  Decades later, when the time for voting finally came, it was she, not Abe, who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first and thus far only woman to earn the honor.

 

Earn it, she did.  Universally acknowledged as he brains behind the Eagles, Effa handled the business end of club operations including public relations, player contracts and scheduling games.   Abe avoided the paperwork, concentrating on his greater skills as a scout and player developer.   It was a match made in diamonds—literally.  The two met at Yankee Stadium during the World Series of 1932 and married the following June. 

 

Like many owners of Negro League clubs, Abe was a numbers kingpin.  He briefly owned the Camden NJ Leafs baseball club before the bombing of his luxurious Rest-A-While nightclub convinced him of the wisdom of a move to Harlem.  Effa lived within walking distance of Yankee Stadium and adored Babe Ruth.  "I used to go see all the Yankees games and hope he'd hit the ball out of the park," she said.

In the fall of 1934, the Manleys were granted the Brooklyn Eagles franchise of the Negro National League.  Two years later, owner Charles Tyler of the Newark Dodgers turned the team over to the Manleys to cancel a $500 debt.  Abe and Effa combined the teams, keeping the Eagles name and moving across the Hudson River to Newark.

 

Negro Leagues Legends, Card No. 148 (2020)

 

Emma was committed to social justice and civil rights.  She organized the “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” Harlem jobs campaign, served as the treasurer of the New Jersey NAACP, and hosted an anti-lynching campaign at Ruppert Stadium, home field of the Eagles.

 

Abe might have preferred drinking and playing cards during his off hours, but he had a sure eye for talent. He guided Larry Doby, Monte Irvin and Don Newcombe to the major leagues. 

 

Effa's tongue was as sharp as Abe's eye, and she never hesitated to speak her mind to her all-male fellow owners.  

 

Black baseball teams commonly rented out the stadiums of white teams for big games.  Sometimes, the owners of the teams worked direct deals.  Cum Posey of the Homestead Grays, for instance, contracted directly with Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith for the use of the self-named stadium.  Other times, a middleman brokered the deal. 

 

Eddie Gottleib, a white man better known for his role in establishing the NBA, acted as the go-between Yankee Stadium and the black teams.  Gottlieb charged a 10% fee for his services, and this led to angry words during the 1940 National Negro League winter meeting.  Owners Alex Pompey of the New York Cubans and Jim Semler of the New York Black Yankees objected to the fee.  So did Abe and Effa Manley.  In his biography of Cum Posey, James Overmyer quotes a description of the scene from the Chicago Defender:

 

“The race issue, something which has been kept out of the league meetings before, was brought up by Mrs. Manley who declared, ‘the league ought to be run for colored by colored…We are fighting for something bigger than a little money!’”

 

The New York owners and the Manleys led an unsuccessful revolt to replace the league officers and the hot words continued. According to Overmyer, Effa insulted the current leaders as handkerchief heads, slang for Uncle Toms.  An incensed Posey accosted Abe Manley in the hallway after the meeting, threatening to never come back if Abe couldn’t keep his wife at home “where she belonged—in the kitchen.”

 

The catcalling continued over the winter, when Posey accused Effa of “senseless chatter and baying at the moon,” and Effa insisting on racial independence.  “If we had the money in the league that Has (sic) been put into the o-fays pockets, we would be able to do a lot of things.”

 

The battle over the league leadership was never fully resolved.  Effa remained a vigorous defender of the league, and even Jackie Robinson felt her bite.  In 1948, Robinson criticized the league as a disorganized operation with bad umpiring and owners involved in gambling rackets.  “Negro baseball,” Robinson said, “needs a housecleaning from top to bottom.”

 

“I do not think it’s fair for a half-baked statement to come from irresponsible members of our race and have it stand unchallenged,” Effa retorted.  “I think an apology is due the race that nurtured him — yes, the team and league which developed him.”

The 1946 Newark Eagles, Postcard, Black Ball

Left to right, back row:  Monte Irvin, LF; Johnny Davis, LF\; Lennie Pearson, 1B; Len Hooker, P; Max Manning, P; Cecil Cole, P; Rufus Lewis, P; Larry Doby, 2B. 

Left to right, middle row: Leon Ruffin, C; Warren Peace, P; Jim Wilkes, CF;  Bobby “Cotton” Williams, P; Bat Boy.

Left to right, front Row:  Benjamin “Billy” Felder, SS; Charles Parks, C; Clarence Israel, 3B; Raleigh “Biz” Mackey, C; Bob Harvey, RF; Leon Day, P.

 

Despite Emma’s business sense and Abe’s roster building, the Newark Eagles were largely a middle of the division ball club.  Better campaigns often ended in second place behind the perennially powerful Homestead Grays.  But in 1946, the Eagles finally took league honors, in the last season before integration began the destruction of the Negro Leagues. 

 

The Mad Dash home of Enos Slaughter in Game Seven carried the St. Louis Cardinals past the Boston Red Sox on the white side of the game.  The black championship series also went the distance, with the Newark Eagles taking on the last of the fearsome Kansas City Monarch teams. 

 

Each club was a powerhouse. 

 

The Monarchs featured four future Hall of Famers—Willard Brown and Buck O’Neill provided the punch for the Monarchs, and Satchel Paige and Hilton Smith the pitching.  The Eagles also counted four future inductees—Manager Biz Mackey, pitcher Leon Day, and soon-to-be major league stars Larry Doby and Monte Irvin. 

 

Game One went to the Monarchs when Satchel Paige outdueled Rufus Lewis in a relief battle at the Polo Grounds.  Negro World Series games were often played on neutral sites as well as the home fields of the competing teams.

 

The Eagles evened the series at Ruppert Stadium before the series moved to Blues Stadium in Kansas City.  The Monarchs hammered the Eagles 15 to 5 in Game Three.  Lewis redeemed his earlier loss in Game Four, tossing an 8 to 1 gem. 

 

Game Five was played at Comiskey Park, taken by the Monarchs, 5 to 1. 

 

The teams returned to Newark to close out the series.  Monte Irvin homered twice for the Eagles in Game Six to tie the set at three games apiece.  Rufus Lewis took the mound for the Eagles in Game Seven against Ford Smith, taking the place of an AWOL Satchel Paige, off barnstorming with Bob Feller.  Newark batters only managed three hits on the day, but they were enough, and the Eagles took the game, 3 to 2, to win their first and only championship.

 

“We could have beaten the Cardinals too,” Effa said.

 

But the writing was on the wall.  The Eagles drew 120,000 fans in 1946.  Competing for attendance with the Dodgers and Jackie Robinson the following year, attendance plummeted by half.  In 1948, the club drew only 35,000 fans, and it was time to let go.  The Manleys sold the Eagles to a pair of Memphis businessmen, who moved the team to Houston.  After another move to New Orleans, the team folded in 1951.

 

Hall of Fame Postcard, 2006

 

Effa Manley grew up as a black girl in Philadelphia and Harlem and lived a black life.  In her later years, Effa, almost astoundingly, claimed to be white.  She is quoted by one biographer:

 

“I’ve often wondered what it would be like associating with white people ... now, many occasions in my life I’ve always gone and traveled as white. I didn’t think about going visiting or going to any strange city or hotel anything or, you know, I’ve always — which I am white. ... So I’m only telling you that because I know that even you must have been thinking that all this conversation, I’m always talking about the Negroes, and I guess you figured, ‘What’s this white woman doing so concerned about the Negro?’ So that’s what’s happened. I’ve just come up entirely in this Negro atmosphere.”

 

Some of the story is clear.  Effa was born in 1897.   Her mother, Bertha Ford, married an African-American man, Benjamin Brooks.  Bertha later had extramarital relations with her white employer, stockbroker John Marcus Bishop.  This union produced Effa.  Brooks sued Bishop for alienation of affection, won $10,000, and divorced Bertha.

 

The question of Effa’s racial identity is blurred and depends on her mother’s heritage.  Some historians flatly state that Effa’s mother was white.  Other investigators claim Bertha herself was of mixed background.  Bertha is described as black on census records in 1900 and 1910, but that does not seem reliable.

 

Bertha considered Effa white.

 

A niece said Effa “was white when she wanted to be and Black when she wanted to be.”

 

Monte Irvin said, “When she got older it became more apparent she was black; she got darker.  Any African American person can see the difference.”

 

The deep, rich earth of the game keeps its secrets.  Her tombstone simply says, “She loved baseball.”

--Russell Streur

Thanks for reading! Happy Collecting! 

 

 

 

Topps Heritage...Breaking Up is REALLY Hard To Do

 

Topps Heritage and I are breaking up again.

            We do this a lot.

            We’re the Sam and Diane of card collecting.

            The Ross and Rachel if you’re a little younger.

            …I don’t honestly know what the modern TV couple equivalent is.

            But we’re done…again.

            At least for now.

            Heritage didn’t do anything wrong this year. Topps does the same thing it does every year with the product. It puts today’s players on a past design, poses them in a way that is reminiscent of the era (in this year’s case, a lot of pitching in-action shots from behind home plate), throws in a few bells and whistles, short-prints, and calls it a day. And it’s not the 1973 design. I happen to really like the 1973 Topps baseball card design. It’s not my favorite design of the decade (1976 wins that prize), but it’s not the worst.

            1970 is if I’m being real.

            1975 is if I’m being “controversial.”

            It’s just…It’s just I’m fucking tired of Topps Heritage. I’m tired of the players faking poses that were standard on older baseball cards. I’m tired of the inserts: Then and Now. Flashback. New Age Performers. All dull to me.

            I’m so tired of the goddamned short print cards.

            I came across a SABR blog post by Jeff Katz, the author of the wonderful book, Split Season, about the 1981 strike shortened baseball season. Jeff’s blog post was all about the lack of nostalgia inherent in Topps Heritage cards. The blog post, entitled “Uninspired and Uninspiring” is in reference to the 2019 Topps Heritage (the 1970 design), but the argument holds pretty well for all of Topps Heritage. I quote Mr. Katz as such: “It’s not because of the look – muted gray, standard era photos. The magic is in what they were and who I was when I was buying those packs. That cannot be claimed for Heritage, not this year or any year.”

            Pretty on point there, Mr. Katz.

            Here's a link to Jeff Katz's SABR blog post...LINK

            For me, my issue with Topps Heritage (at least until the product reaches the 1980 design in…2029…provided Topps/Fanatics is still making them) is different. Jeff Katz was 7 when 1970 Topps came out. I didn’t show up on this planet until four years later. There’s no nostalgia attached to the cards from the 1970s for me. At least not from a purchasing and ripping open packs stand point. What there is however, is reverence, for those 1970s, and 1960s and 1950s etc, cards. When I was a kid in the 1980s, all I wanted to was to be able to buy and trade for card from the 1970s and before.

            I went looking for that feeling of reverence, not nostalgia, when I started buying Topps Heritage in 2019.

            It’s a different feeling that what Jeff Katz was feeling.

            But the outcome is ultimately the same.

            I bought packs of Topps Heritage. I bought blasters. I bought hangers. I bought or received a hobby box of Heritage every year from 2019-2021. I collect the cards. I put sets together…none of which I’ve completed. And I’m talking about the base cards here. Never mind those goddamned short prints that kind of suck the air out of the whole project in general.

            And I felt…kind of stupid.

            I feel like I’m stuck with three incomplete sets that I’m never going to finish.

            I certainly didn’t feel that sense of reverence. I still get that from real cards from the 1970s. Right now, I’m convincing myself to buy a relatively cheap Henry Aaron 1970 Topps card and a relatively cheap Roberto Clemente 1970 Topps card. Plus, some Al Oliver cards, including his 1973 Topps card. I’m calling it my birthday present, or look-what-I-bought-instead-of-a-hobby-box-of-2022-Heritage. I have actual reverence and a sense of wow when I look at those cards.

            I dig this and I'm excited for this kid to make his mark. And I can't wait for his Topps base.

            But I don’t feel the same way about Oneil's Heritage cards as I do about this.

            Most likely Topps Heritage will stick around to get into the 1980s sets. I was once excited about it. Excited about the idea of my reverence turning into nostalgia. Now I know that it won’t. I also know that this blog post is a little bit hypocritical. Why is it okay to come at Topps Heritage, but continue to profess my love for Topps Archives and inserts the put old/new players on other Topps designs?

            Well…I guess the answer is in the total package. With inserts/Archives, I don’t believe Topps tries to recreate the entire feel of the cards/era the way that they do with Heritage. Archives simply seems…more fun? I know it has its detractors. But, to me, there is an inherent difference between the products.

            Here’s the kicker though. The stuff that blows my whole blog post apart. Next year, should there be a Topps Heritage design, it’s going to be in the design on 1974 Topps Baseball Cards. My birth year. I keep telling and telling myself that I’m not going to buy them. But I know me. Chances are good I’m going to buy more 2023 Topps Heritage cards than the previous year combined.

            Because I’m an idiot.

            And I could probably just collect/buy the actual 1974 Topps baseball card set.

            But stupid is as stupid does.

            Also…if you love Topps Heritage, I’m not slagging you off.

            I’m a big advocate of collecting the way that you want to.

            That said, I did buy some 2022 Topps Heritage cards when they showed up on SportLots. I bought some of the players I collect, as well as the Pirates team set.

            Just not the Pirates short-prints.

            I love the Buccos but there’s no world in which I’m paying $3 for a Wilmer Difo card.

            Here is a look at what I did buy.

            First the Pirates Team sans short prints...and apparently the above Oneil Cruz cards.

            So here he is again.

            I did think it was a nice touch for Topps to give The Great One a card in the set.

            Can’t forget my White Sox guys.

            You all know how I feel about Vlady Jr and Yordan.

            Some other youngsters I follow and sort-of collect.

            My NYC guys…although I’m on the outs with Aaron Judge because he’s a fool who won’t get vaccinated.

            Have some D.C. love as well…especially for a former Pirate who SHOULD STILL BE A PIRATE.

            Some Shohei action.

            And…Michael Taylor for some reason.

            Actually, I’d ordered two Hoy Park cards but this guy came as the second Park instead. So, if anyone is working on 2022 Topps Heritage and needs Michael Taylor to complete the set, I’m your man.

            Oh, and I’m not paying $20 or whatever people are charging for Wander Franco’s card.

            As for the 1970 Aaron and Clemente…I’m a procrastinator with online purchases.

            I’m afraid to go on ComC and see if they’re already gone.

 Thanks for Reading! Happy Collecting!

Joe Posnanski, author of the amazing Baseball 100 (among other things), has an interesting post on nostalgia, which you can find right HERE

NEXT FRIDAY: Russell Streur is back with an excellent piece of writing on The Queen of the Diamond, none other than HOFer herself, Effa Manley....and her Newark Eagles! 

 

           

           

1986 Topps Baseball..I'm Sorry.

 

I don’t like to admit to mistakes.

            I’m of the opinion that the word mistake is just a nicer way of saying failure.

            I don’t recommend that line of thought.

            It can make life harder all the way around.

            But I made a mistake with cards. With one brand of cards in one particular year. Or I failed to really look at something. I passed judgement too quickly. Brushed over. Pushed aside. Overlooked. Became too familiar and discarded.

            All those excuses.

            I’m talking about 1986 Topps here.

            Like what I wrote HERE.

            And HERE.

            God…I’m such an asshole.

            My great Uncle recently passed away. His passing was kind of an end of an era for people my mom’s age. Uncle Nick was the last of the parents/aunts/uncles to have died in the generation above the Boomers in our family. A death like that shows reveals the significance in the human timeline. Experiences lived that are now experiences passed on. I know I’ll always remember Uncle Nick during the summer, forever clad in a white t-shirt and jeans, throwing horseshoes at the picnics he and my Aunt Millie always threw, a long-necked bottle of Stroh’s at his feet.

            R.I.P. Good Sir.

But when I was a kid, I have to admit I used to hate those picnics. My brother and I were always the youngest ones there. Or at least it seemed like it. We survived them by bringing our toys, our baseball cards. The picnics were usually on a Saturday, because Capitalism dictated that the adults put in 40-hours a week of their time from Monday to Friday. My brother and I had to spend our summer weekdays at a daycare because both of my parents had to work within this ridiculous system. So, even in the summer, at least for a few years until I could latchkey it, Saturdays and Sundays, even in the school-free summer, were still a precious commodity to me.

By the time I was an adult who could throw horseshoes and drink a long-neck Strohs …the picnics were no more.

Or I was a punk who just didn’t want go.

But someone’s passing makes you think about the past.

            I came upon a memory when I heard about my Uncle Nick’s death. And it wasn’t even a memory of him. But there’s a trajectory here. The memory was more of his kids. My second cousins were around a decade younger than my mother, and a good decade older than me…at the very least. When my parents were busy raising kids in their 30’s in Reagan’s America, my second cousins were in their 20’s, doing what people in their 20s do.

            They party.

            Often my parents were invited to these youthful soirees, sans my brother and I, who were either shipped off to my grandparents, or more likely, being watched by teenagers with musty marijuana odors emanating from their clothing, who really didn’t seem to give a shit what we did and at what hour we did it. But on one particular instance, we ended up going to one of those parties. I don’t know why. A lack of a babysitter? Something important enough that my parents couldn’t get out of it. Or just a general bad decision made by frustrated people who wanted a night out, to bring kids along to a party full of alcohol-swilling adults.

            I don’t know.

            Point is…my brother and I tagged along.

            And, as always, we brought our cards.

            Our brand new 1986 Topps cards.

            What I remember is the two of us making use of a small room at one of my cousin’s apartment. It was just off of the entryway. A small, not-even-enclosed room, where my brother and I could be kept an eye on, yet out of the way of the adult’s good time. To entertain ourselves we brought our cards. Two stacks of brand-new cards. The first 1986 cards I’d been able to get my hands on, other than being massively ripped off by Dimitri Danielopoulus because he happened up on the cards first.

            Remember when just looking at cards could take up whole hours?

            Or what I call last Sunday.

            I distinctly remember these two cards being of particular interest to me.

            These were Sid Bream and R.J. Reynolds first cards in a Pirates uniform. The 1986 brand of cards were also the first time the new gray road jerseys for the Pirates were featured. So new players and new uniforms. A real whoa moment for a soon-to-be-twelve-year-old kid. Bream and R.J. Reynolds were as new as new could be on the Buccos. They had been traded to the Pirates by the Dodgers for third baseman Bill Madlock, late in the 1985 season; so late that they didn’t even get cards in that year’s traded set.

            Sadly, this guy did.

            I didn’t know it in that moment in 1986, but Sid Bream and R.J. Reynolds would both become integral to the Pirates success (ugh…and failures) over the next five to six seasons. To that kid in that white room at that adult party, they were still relative unknowns, if they were known at all. The Pirates were horrible in 1985. I’d be surprised as shit if I were still watching Pirates baseball come September of 1985.

            I just knew that Bill Madlock was gone.

            You take notice when you lose a guy like Bill Madlock.

            It didn’t matter who we got.

            But it would.

            Thinking about my Uncle Nick leading me to think about that party, lead me to go and give those Bream and Reynolds cards a look. They flooded me with nostalgia in the way that Topps thinks its doing with its Heritage brand. (More on that next week). I mean obviously I’ve looked at my old cards before. And I’ve attached memories to them. I’ve even done it with the 1986 Topps brand on this blog before.

            But there was something different this time.

            I felt a real passage of time.

            My time.

            In a way that the cards of my era had never made me feel before.

            …I also felt kind of dumb.

            1986 Topps Baseball cards are…pretty awesome.

            They’re not 1986 Fleer awesome.

            But they deserve way more credit than I’ve been giving them.

            And that’s probably one of my favorite Pete Rose cards, along with his 1974 and 1976 Topps, and his 1985 Fleer.

            And, of course, we get these to go along with it.

            Maybe it was the nostalgia that got to me this time. Or maybe it was the black and white borders bracing up against each other. The way Topps chose to put the team names in those big, bold colors as a contrast.

            Those bold red backs.

            Now…I’m not saying 1986 Topps Baseball cards were dictated by an over-abundance of ink left over from 1985 Topps Football cards.

            But…

            Topps still had real Record Breaker cards in 1986 that still looked like real Record Breaker cards.

            Gratuitous American Bad-Ass Eddie Murray shot.

            Was never a fan of these.

            Yeah…the rookies are lacking a little bit.

            Had to wait for the Traded Set for the big boys to show up.

            Although I prefer them in 1987 in their proper rookie card setting.

            I was hyped-up on this rookie card though.

            I was a Pirates fan…we took what we could get.

            Overall, I think 1986 Topps is a solid set. At least you could read the backs on the cards…looking at you 1985.

            I still don’t know why I was quick to dismiss it. Memory and time have made 1987 my key year of card collecting, and no other year can touch it. Although I’ve admitted to buying a boatload of 1986 cards. And guys like Vince Coleman were huge for that set. I wanted all of the Vince Coleman cards that I could get. But maybe while looking back on memories brings us a sense of fondness, it can also show us the disappointments. That which did not pan out.

            Going forward, however, I’m no longer talking shit on 1986 Topps Baseball cards.

            Oh…and about that party?

One sometimes focuses on the where and when, without nailing down the right date in their own history. But I think I can pinpoint this party at my second cousin’s to almost an exact date. That being February 22, 1986. I know this because of Bill Cosby. Say what you will about this multiple rapist’s legacy, but in 1986 The Cosby Show really was Must-See TV. People gathered to watch. If you were lucky enough to have a VCR (my family didn’t at the time but we would get one during 1986), you could tape The Cosby Show to watch again and again at your leisure.

That’s what my cousin did.

Look, cards are great. At my ripe old age, I can still spend hours with them. But kid, in adult situations, can and will get bored, even if they bring their entire room of toys. That’s what happened to my and my brother. So when it was time to put down the cards, my cousin queued up that week’s episode of The Cosby Show on her VCR. It was the episode, if you are old enough to remember, where the Huxtable family get to visit the studio where Stevie Wonder is recording a song.

Famous for Theo’s echoed “jaaaaaammmmmin’ on the 1.”

That episode of The Cosby Show was entitled: A Touch of Wonder. It was episode 18 of the 2^nd season of The Cosby Show. It aired on Thursday, February 20, 1986. If I’m right about Capitalism, and I think I am, most likely my family attended that party two days later on the 22^nd of February.

Pretty neat, huh?

Er…for me I guess it is.

            Anyway….

Thanks for reading! Happy collecting!

NEXT FRIDAY: Me and Topps Heritage are breaking up…again. Or we’ll be back together by then. Who knows?

Recent Purchases : In Which I Use Valuable Blog Space to Brag

 

 

I don’t usually like blog posts like the one I’m about to do.

            The show and tell ones.

            I mean it’s cool seeing someone put cards on Twitter or the other socials.

            I worry stuff like this is bragging.

            But it’s kind of saving me some time this week, so I apologize.

            I’m working on a novel. It’s about Wiffle ball, baseball cards, and middle-age men behaving badly…and that’s all I’ll say about it. But I don’t get much time to write. I give myself about two hours each morning, from 5:00AM to 7:00AM to get work done. Been doing that for about fifteen or sixteen years now. It was waaaaaayyyy easier when I was younger. I move a little slower at almost 48…or at least the mind does. So, getting as far in the novel as I want to has been slow going. Add finding time for a blog on baseball cards….

            Anyway...

            At least I don’t beat myself up for falling asleep on the couch at 9PM anymore.

            I’ve been having that quantity vs. quality debate with myself this year. I’ve done a couple of posts on it. And, other than the requisite purchase of 2022 Topps Series 1, I think I’ve been holding myself to the standard low these first three months of 2022.

            Month three?

            Already?

            This came for me at the end of January.

            I have a fraught relationship with Ben Roethlisberger. I wrote about it HERE. In short, on the one hand Big Ben is a Steelers legend. Probably one of the best to play for the franchise. He’s on the Steelers Mount Rushmore, if you want to play that game.  But Big Ben has also been accused, not once, but twice, of sexual assault. It made being a fan of his tough, and I essentially wasn’t for the duration of his playing career.

            I was more a fan of this guy.

            That might’ve had something also to do with the fact that I lived in the state of New York for the entirety of Ben Roethlisberger’s playing career in Pittsburgh. I’ve seen a ton more Giants games over the last two decades.

            But feeling what I feel about Ben, I decided that when I was buying Steeler cards that I needed to add him the collection.  And doing so meant getting his rookie card. The closer we got to the end of the 2021 football season, and the clearer it became that Ben Roethlisberger was going to retire, I figure strike while I can before the card became too steep for my wallet.

            So, I grabbed the rookie on ComC.         

            I also recently added this guy to my collection.

            Yeah, it’s not mint.

            But I’m probably never going to own anything mint of Henry Aaron from his playing days. And the 1973 Henry Aaron was affordable. Personally, I really love this card. And getting it puts me two cards away from collecting all of Henry’s base cards from the 70s.  I had written a blog post a few weeks ago about wanting to collect Henry Aaron. I think it’s possible to some extent. So I’m pretty excited having that 1972 in my collection.

            I added some cards of some newer players I’m collecting.

            I know, I know, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Yordan Alvarez and Luis Robert.

            I might as well add Mike Trout to my PC.

            But hold on…

            I do collect Vlady Jr. and Yordan Alvarez. They’re great young players. But I do have other reasons. When I got back into collecting in 2019, Vlady Jr. and Yordan were the buzz names going around the sport. I instantly equated them, not only with my return to collecting, but my return to watch baseball in general after a five-year hiatus of not watching the sport. So they both mean a lot to me in that capacity.

            As for Luis Robert…well…I just think he’s going to be a great player and I love what I’ve seen so far. The cards that I purchased are from the online exclusive Topps All-Rookie set that came out in 2021. Not only do the cards feature three players I collect, but there was another attraction to me getting them.

            The 1964 design.

            Ever have one of those designs you were always meh about, and then one day it’s like, where have you been all of my life? That’s me with 1964 Topps. I don’t think I ever considered it as a collector when I was a kid. If I came across it, it didn’t leave much of an impression.

            But now??

            I can’t seem to get enough of it. You put a player on a 1964 design, and I’m giving it some attention. 1964 cards themselves, I’d like to get me some.

            I do have one card from the set.

            It’s way off center and a touch beat-up.

            But it’s a 1964 Willie Stargell.

            It’s his first solo card.

            It’s probably my favorite card that I have in my collection.

            And It’ll stay that way until I get me a 1966 Roberto Clemente card.

            Those Topps All-Rookie Cards were from another ComC purchase, along with the Henry Aaron card.

            And these.

            Anyone who reads this knows what a sucker I am for players on designs that they weren’t originally on.

            I think I’ve beat that point into the ground.

            And the 1975 Yordan design and 1990 Luis Robert slap….as the kids say.

            Do the kids still say that?

            If you’re anything like me, when you buy current packs or current hobby boxes, you probably have a snowballs-chance-in-hell of getting any inserts you actually want to own. I seem to consistently get Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves inserts. And they’re two teams who if I never saw play again, it would be too soon. So with that I usually have to go on the secondary market to get the inserts that I actually want.  And because Topps is doing it’s 35-anniversary schtick with the 1987 Topps design…I’m going to be wanting a lot of inserts.

            To start with I grabbed these.

            I don’t know what will happen with Mr. Rodolfo Castro, but he’s already an MLB record-breaker by hitting a home run in his first five at bats. And it’s always nice to see a Pirates rookie.

            And Mr. Tim Anderson is another guy I collect. Between him, Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, and Lucas Giolito…I guess I’m kind of a de facto White Sox fan.

 

Thanks for reading! Happy Collecting!

 

NEXT FRIDAY:  I’m going back to 1986…Topps again.  I’ve slagged 1986 Topps off on here…but I’m starting to get some mixed feelings that I need to work through.