Sunday Night Baseball: 1965 Topps #137 Bouton Wins Again

It would not be a stretch to say that I learned math from the back of baseball cards, nor would it be any further from the truth say that Jim Bouton taught me how to read.

Tonight the Yankees are visiting the Cubs on Sunday Night baseball, while this week the Phillies will host a rare series with the Mariners.

The player I have chosen to tie together these two series is Bouton.

1965 Topps #137 Bouton Wins Again

Bouton is remembered for two careers. The first was as a baseball player in the New York Yankees organization. His other career was as an author while employed by Seattle's first MLB tenant the Pilots.

1964 Yankees

The card above is from an eight card subset (#132-#139) in 1965 topps. Each of the first seven cards in the set represents a game in the series. Card #137 above speaks to game 6 which the Yankees won 8-3 behind Jim Bouton's strong pitching and a trio of Home Runs by Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and Joe Pepitone.

Flip

1965 Topps #137 Bouton Wins Again (b-side)

The B-side gives a detailed box score which includes fielding stats but ignores RBIs (early SABRmaticians no doubt). In addition to the box the card text provides a concise synopsis of the games events.

After 1964 Game 6 the Yankees would not win another World Series game until 1977.


Ball Four
Jim Bouton is going to one of the guest speakers at this years SABR convention in New York City. In Preparation for the event I have just begun reading "Ball Four" for what I believe is the 3rd time. I first encountered the book when I was in my early teens. I re-read the book as an adult, probably in my 30s and now approaching my milestone 50th birthday I am giving the work a third pass.

I will always enjoy the anti-establishment humor of "Ball Four" and am looking forward to this reading.

I anticipate this will be my most enjoyable session with the book. Through my rediscovery of baseball cards I have become more familiar with the players and stories from the "Ball Four" era, hopefully this re-read will generate some fun posts.

May 7 1969
In his entry for May 7th Jim Bouton mentions a disagreement he had with manager Joe Schultz over his role on the team. Schultz (as well as pitching coach Sal Maglie) wants Bouton to mix in more fastballs and curves with his knuckler. Bouton counters that Phil Niekro throws mostly knuckleballs. The ensuing argument devolves into a petty negotiation over Niekro's pitch selection. 

That day Seattle lost 5-4 to Boston in a game that did not involve Bouton. Red Sox Shortstop Rico Petrocelli had a Home Run for the victors.  

not so Phun Phact
The pitcher who lost to Bouton in game 6 of the 1964 World Series was former Phillies southpaw Curt Simmons

Jim Bouton Index
1964 Topps (Fred C Harris)
1991 SI Greats of the Game Autograph
Seattle Pilots 40th Anniversary Reunion (2009)
50th anniversary of Ball Four (2019)

Sources and Links
Game Dated Cards
VittlesWords
Cardboard Connection
baseball-ref

VittlesWords

This is an index of our postings related to Books and Authors

1968 Topps #562 Jim Bouton

Eliot Asinof "Eight Men Out" (1962)
Jim Bouton "Ball Four"
Bill Conlin "Batting Cleanup" Signing 1997 07 xx
Stefan Fatsis Signing 2008 07 22
Stefan Fatsis (Word Freak Review by Nachos Grande) 
Rob Fitts (Masanori Murakami bio signing) 2015 06 27
Charlaine Harris signing 2010 05 25
Tim McCarver signing 2008 08 21

Wax Pack Road Trip & Book: Don Carmen 1986 Topps

Earlier this week Nick Diunte's Terrific Baseball Happenings blog featured a column on a book that may interest Card Collectors  "Wax Pack" by author Brian Balukjian

The project involves opening a wax pack of 1986 Topps and personally tracking down all the players in the pack. The pack included 14 players and a a checklist, the lone Phillies card  was Don Carmen - Bualukjian's favorite payer from childhood (yes, I shook my hood as well)

1986 Topps Don Carman (image swiped from WaxPackBook.com)

Balukjian met with Don Carman on the 9th of July. Carman is a now a sports psychologist and works for Sports Agent Scott Boras. Balukjian and Carman spent the day at the Zoo, topics they covered included Evolution, Family and Mike Schmidt.

I am not sure if it was Biran Balukjian's goal, but it appears that much of the material covered in the discussions is how the players handle retirement along with off the field interests and activities.  

The other players in the pack range from the forgotten (Jaime Cocanower) to the semi-stars (Gary Templeton, Steve Yeager, Rick Sutcliffe) all the way to the Hall of Fame (Carlton Fisk). Two players that spent time with the Phillies represented other clubs in 1986T, Randy Ready (Brewers) and Richie Hebner (Cubs).  

Check out the WaxPack site to find out more about Brian Balukjian's journey and the various players he encountered. What little I have read of the blog has been fun to check out. 

Sources and Links
Baseball Happenings
Wax Pack Book
Brian Balukjian

Team Phungo Meets Padrographs!!!!

We had the opportunity to visit Rod from Padrographs while my wife was at a conference in Portland, Oregon. 

Rod from Padrographs w/ Team Phungo Author, me

Rod is responsible for a bookstore that sells the used books from the county library.  Near as I can tell Portland must have one of the most successful library systems in the country.  In fact shortly after I left Rod, I was at Voodoo Donuts and the young man working the counter saw a book that I had bought at the start and congratulated me for having a library book while on vacation.  
 
We only met for maybe a half hour but Rod was able to give us some good background on Portland's history, geography, and culture.  He also showed us around the store pointing me in the direction of the baseball books.  The book I picked was a copy of  "The Corporal was a Pitcher" about 50s era Philadelphia Athletic Lou Brissie.

I think Rod is only the third card blogger I have met in person - once again it was a pleasure.  Rod is just as funny in person as his writing. One of my favorite parts of the afternoon was when one of the customers got upset with us for talking to loud while he was perusing books. 

Borders Books Demise may be your gain

As you likely know Borders Books is going out of business.  I don't know if this sale is going on Nationwide but My local Borders had stuff at 80% off, nothing over $3.  

Most of the stuff was pretty picked over on Sunday, and there were long lines at the checkout. 

One thing you may want to look into is a Trading card price guide.  regardless what you think about the prices in them, I believe they remain a useful tool for looking up cards and sets.  At $3 they are a much better deal then the typical $30ish.  The only one that the local Borders had was the SCD 2010 guide which had cards from 1981 forward.  

Beyond that they did have a fair amount of sports books - not a ton of baseball, but lots of football.  CDs and Movies are also on sale, but you would have to dig pretty deep to find something you like.  Magazines are almost a decent deal at 90% off - If you have never picked up a Baseball America and your a fan, this would be a cheap way to introduce yourself to the magazine.

They were also selling bookshelves and other similar items.  Those were priced according to size maybe $25 and up. 

Locally the Sale ends Tuesday,

Stefan Fatsis @ The Central Library, Philadelphia PA

On Tuesday Stefan Fatsis returned to Philadelphia to read from his new book "A Few Seconds of Panic", a piece of particapatory journalism (similar to George Plimpton's "Paper Lion") chronicling Fatsis' attempt to become a Field Goal kicker for the 2006 Denver Broncos.

Fatsis was great - having graduated from U Penn, he saluted Philadelphia as his second home. He then followed up with some background on the book and dove into reading a passage about his first day on the practice field. Afterward Fatsis illuminated the excerpt by mentioning the training he had gone through prior to camp. Ultimately he felt that his effort paid off as he believes the players accepted him as more of a player than as a reporter.

I was fortunate to get Fatsis to sign not only "A Few Seconds of Panic" but also copies of his previous books drawn from my collection. His first book was a terrific book on the non-affiliated Northern League "Wild and Outside" - a great read for any baseball fan - and Fatsis seemed genuinely delighted that someone had brought a copy to his reading/signing.

Fatsis was thoroughly entertaining and gracious throughout the reading and signing. I am looking forward to kicking off football season by reading his new book.