The column has been quiet because I have been spending my free time with a sketchbook.
This does not mean I have given up on baseball or card collecting, most of the sketches are of baseball cards.
One of the projects that I have been working on is a series of "Cup of Coffee" players drawn on, yes, Coffee Cups.
The first subject of the Series was John Paciorek who at the age of 18 had a perfect batting day during a Houston Colts 13-4 victory over the New York Mets. Paciorek started in Right Field went 3-3 with a pair of walks and scoring four times.
Phungo Original: 1963T John Paciorek
That game was played on September 29 1963, John Paciorek would not play another Major League Game.
He already had a bad back that would only get worse the following spring. He eventually had spinal fusion surgery which helped his back but hurt is game. In 1968 he retired from professional baseball.
John Paciorek was never issued a baseball card during his career however he was immortalized in a comic:
1980 Topps #481 Tom Paciorek (b-side)
John's brother Tom also made it to the majors, he was fortunate enough to have an 18 year career. The comic on the back of Tom's 1980 Topps card features a nod to John's game with the 1963 Colts.
Canvas
Since John did not have a baseball card, i needed to create one for the cup. Going with 1963 Topps was an obvious design choice, for the cards image I used a photo that was on the cover of John's biography.
That's right, there is a biography of John Paciorek, a Cup of Coffee player who appeared in a single major league game.
Perfect - Steven K Wagner
Beyond that I wanted to add the phrase "Cup of Coffee" to each Cup and the date of the players game. For John Paciorek I put the date on the lid.
To date we have put together 16 Cups featuring 18 subjects which I have been releasing periodically on
Twitter. I hope to also post the cups here to create a more permanent record of the players and their accomplishments.
If you have an idea for a Cup of Coffee player, please let us know and we will put them on the roster. Thanks Team Phungo.
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