Cup of Coffee: Bill Greason

This is part of our Original Artwork series dedicated to players who had a #CupOfCoffee in the Major Leagues.  

Sketch of Bill Greason on a Disposable Coffee Cup a la 1954 Topps

• In addition to Major Negro League experience Bill Greason played 3 games for the St Louis Cardinals in the 1954 National League.
• Prior to his baseball career Bill Greason served as a Marine during WWII, he was among the soldiers that landed at Iwo Jima.
• He became a Baptist Minister and was a parishioner at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that was bombed on 1963 September 15 killing four young girls. Greason was not present the day of the bombing because he was in Tuscaloosa as part of an effort to get young people involved in Organized Baseball.
• Born in 1924 Greason is MLBs oldest living alumnus. 
• 1954 Topps is used here as this is the year Bill Greason played in the American League. The 1954 set typically contains a black & white action shot, here we see Greason wearing his Clerical Robe. 
• The USMC logo is present top Left where we would typically see a team Logo. 

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

SABR Bio - Frederick C Bush

Baseball-Reference

Baseball Almanac

Fathers Day - 1976 Topps #67 Father & Son Ray and Bob Boone

 For Father's Day the Philies have a number of things going on including a book signing with Bret Boone promoting his new book "Home Game". Bret is of course the son of former Phillies catcher Bob Boone.

Bob is also the son of a Major Leaguer, their relationship is recognized on a 1976 Topps card - which is a perfect one for us to feature as part of our 1976 All-Star Game coverage. 

1976 Topps #67 Father & Son Ray and Bob Boone

Bob Boone is the middle member of three generations of Boone's. His Father Ray played for 13 seasons mostly with the Tigers and Indians while Sons Aaron and Brett spent 12 and 14 years in the league respectively.

Pretty impressive careers for each but Bob is by far the MLB tenure leader, he spent 19 seasons in the league including a decade with the Phillies

All-Star
Bob Boone made the first of four All-Star teams in 1976. He entered the game in the fourth inning as a defensive replacement for Hall of Famer Johnny Bench. Boone remained in for the balance of the game. He went 0-2 facing Luis Tiant and Frank Tanana. Among the four NL pitchers he caught that day was another future HoF, Tom Seaver.

In 1979 Boone got to start the All-Star game and got to catch teammate Steve Carlton. However that Battery is a bit of an oddity, For the bulk of Lefty's games in that era his receiver was Tim McCarver.

Boone appeared in two other All-Star Games 1978 and 1983 (as an Angel).

1976 Topps Father & Son

1976 Topps #67 Father & Son Ray and Bob Boone

Interesting part of the text here is Bob mentioning that he started his career at third base. In 1972 Boone moved from Third Base to Catcher to make room for Mike Schmidt.

The Father-Son subset is five cards running from #66-#70 the other four pairs are Gus & Buddy Bell, Jim & Mike Hegan, Joe Coleman Sr & Jr, and Roy Smalley Sr & Jr. 

1980 Topps 
Despite appearing in four All-Star Games Boone was never issued a Topps card with an All-Star flair. As noted above he started the 1979 game, however Topps tagged the All-Star ballot winner Ted Simmons with the designation - Simmons had to skip the game due to injury.

Don Sutton Win #300
A just a quick toss back to our posting earlier in the week if you want to read about Don Sutton's 300th victory, a game that was caught by Bob Boone.

Sources and Links
1976 ASG Index
Baseball-ref
Amazon

RTC 1954 Topps #3 Monte Irvin

With the Phillies scheduled to host the San Francisco Giants this weekend, we take a look a a Giants Hall of Famer from their New York tenure, Monte Irvin. 

The Hall of Fame formed the Negro League Committee in 1971. In 1973 Monte Irvin became the fourth player inducted by the Committee, preceded by only Satchell Paige, Buck Leonard, and Josh Gibson

1954 Topps #3 Monte Irvin

Monte Irvin entered the Majors at age 30 in 1949. He won a World Series title as a member of the 1954 New York Giants, his best season was 1951 when he finished 3rd in the MVP award voting (Roy Campanella). Irvin led the league with 121 RBIs in 1951 and finished 5th in Batting average (.351).

In 1952 Irvin made the all-star team but did not get to play. For that years mid-summer classic the Left Fielder found himslf behind the NLs eventual MVP, Hank Sauer, on the depth chart. 

During his eight year career Irvin was a .293 hitter with 99 Homers.
 
Monte Irvin turned 96 a few months ago and is among the oldest living members of the Hall. Later this summer Irvin is expected to join current San Francisco Giants in Washington DC when the reigning World Champions meet President Obama.

To read more about Irvin check out his interesting Baseball Hall of Fame bio here. He could have been Jackie Robinson, but Branch Rickey chose Robinson prior to Irvin getting his opportunity with the Giants. 

For The Collector
Found this beauty at a card show in 2012 for $4.50 which is a solid price for this card. Eight recent auctions came in under $6. The High End was $577 (PSA 8.5), four auctions ended in the $240-$250 range (PSA 8).



Monte Irvin HoF Index 
Memorial Posting (2016 January)


Sources and Links
Baseball Hall of Fame
SF Gate
baseball-ref
ebay

1954 Topps #201 Al Kaline RC

The Tigers are on Sunday Night Baseball this week which is an excellent opportunity for Team Phungo to show off a nice recent purchase.

We have a card show circuit that runs on weekends at local malls. Often the selection is pretty poor and the trip can be a wasted couple of hours.

However occasionally you find something...

1954 Topps #201 Al Kaline (rc)

I first saw the Kaline RC a few weeks ago and wasn't sure if I was ready to take the big plunge into building 1954T, a set I have been slowly hoarding cards for over the last few years.

The nice thing about the card shows returning every week is that if I see a card week one, and I am undecided about picking it up I can think about it buy it the following week.

That is what happened here. I decided at some point during the week to pick up the card if it was still available. I also consulted one of the leading authorities on cards - Twitter.  I simply posted.

Off condition 1954T Al Kaline RC $75,  Buy or Pass?  Soft corners edges,  minor creasing scuffs.

— phungo (@phungo2008) May 1, 2015

and I got one response

@phungo2008 holy crap buy all day buy buy buy buy buy buy and ask 'em if they have a crappy Aaron too

— Ugly Hyena Junkie (@CardJunk) May 1, 2015

I would categorize that as an enthusiastic yes, and I appreciated the feedback. If I was on the fence, It felt good to know there was somebody out there as nuts as me - Even if it was just a ploy to get me to pick up a Aaron RC beater.


1954 Topps
This is a great set, I love the bright colors and the small B/W photo. Team Logos are prominent but not oversized.

Kaline is one of three prominent RCs in 1954 Topps, the other two are Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks. That is one of the primary reason I am considering building the set.

No one has to explain the specialness of the 1954 Rookie Card Class. All three are first ballot guys, Kaline and Banks both spent their entire careers with one club and they are identified as such, Mr Tiger and Mr Cub Respectively.  

1954 Topps #201 Al Kaline (rc b-side)

When this card was issued Kaline was just 20 years old. He was a bonus baby and went directly to the majors. His December 19 1934 birthday is likely the most recent in the 1954 set.

HoF profile
Al Kaline's 3007 career hits made him a first ballot Hall of Famer in 2007. His Credentials go far beyond that single number. The 18 time all-star Spent his entire career with the Tigers including the teams Pennant Winning 1968 season. He won a batting title in 1955, Led the league in slugging in 1959 and collected 10 gold gloves (Ranks #3 behind Mays and Clemente).  His 399 career Home Runs rank 52nd all-time.

Kaline never won an MVP award but he was runner up twice, both times to Yankees Catchers (Yogi in 1955, Elston Howard in 1963).  In each year Kaline at a higher WAR number then the winner but in neither year did he lead the AL in WAR.

Baltimore
I also wanted to note that Al Kaline has roots in nearby Baltimore where he was born and attended school. He was inducted into the Maryland State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1972, He was still an active im the majors at the time.

Sources and Links
Phungo Al Kaline HoF Index 
baseball-ref
SABR bio by  Nick Waddell
Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame

Sloppy Topps: 2012 Topps Cole Hamels Retros - seeing double?

One of the problems with producing both Archives and Heritage is that Topps is cannibalizing their designs at such a rate that a new release of any retro product gets a yawn.

To make matters worse, Topps will occasionally mail in their effort. 

2012 Topps Archives #7 Cole Hamels
2012 Topps Heritage #132 Cole Hamels

I didn't build either of the 2012 Topps Selfies sets - yes I said Selfies, lets face it Archives and Heritage are at some small level a by-product of Topps narcissism - regardless, I didn't notice this bit of Topps sloppiness until recently.

Ok the Archives card looks a bit airbrushed, but I am pretty sure we are talking the same picture here.


Yes Neither Archives nor Heritage are high end products, but both sets run at over 30 cents/card retail. With those kinds of numbers, I would like to see at least a little bit of work. 2012 Topps Archives including the 41 card All-Time Fan Favorites short prints runs only 241 cards - how much work is it for Topps to get pix on those 241 cards that are unique?


Sources
Urban Dictionary
Baseball Cardpedia

 

Noteworthy:1954 Topps #183 Earle Combs

The remarkable debut of Yasiel Puig has brought up comparisons to similar past performances. One of the names that emerged was that of one time Phillies coach Earle Combs 

1954 Topps #183 Earle Combs

When Combs came up in 1925, he had 44 hits in his first 100 ABs.  A feat unmatched until Puig collected four hits versus the Phillies on Sunday.

Comparatives to Earle Combs put Yaseil Puig in pretty good company. Combs who spent his entire career with the New York Yankees went on to win 9 World Championships and a place in the Hall of Fame. Combs specialty was leading off and he did it well batting .325 lifetime with a .397 OBP.

One of my favorite tidbits regarding Combs is that as a member of the 1929 Yankees was one of the first players to wear a permanent uniform number.  The Yankees are considered the first team to make numbers permanent and for regular players they used a pretty simple system to disperse the numbers - your batting order position. Babe Ruth got 3, Lou Gehrig 4.  As the leadoff man Earle Combs got 1 and thus is noted as the first player to wear a number, 

For more in depth info on Earle Combs, check in on the Earle Combs / Baseball Legend website.  It is well done informative and very entertaining.   





$$$
If your interested in sponsoring a Baseball-Ref page you may want to look into Combs.  For $30 you get to tie your sites name to a Hall of Fame Yankee. That is pretty tough to beat.  

References
earlecombs.com
Baseball-Ref.com
Wikipedia.org
espn.com