Topps #1 Club: 2004 Heritage Jim Thome (and a short print)

The Phillies recently posted their 2016 Wall of Fame ballot, Right at the top of the list is Slugger Jim Thome.

We are going to use this opportunity to extend our tour of #1 cards to include Topps Heritage.

 
2004 Topps Heritage #1b Jim Thome (sp)

In 2004 Topps put Jim Thome on card #1 in both flagship AND their heritage set. At the time Thome was coming off of his first season with the Phillies, a year in which he had led the NL in Home Runs with 47.  Not sure if it was a factor getting Thome on the #1 card but there was also a lot of buzz around Phillies as the team opened Citizen's Bank Ballpark in 2004 as well.

Near as I can tell the #1 Heritage Thome Card has no connection with the subject of the original 1955T card which was Dusty Rhodes.

1955 Topps #1 Dusty Rhodes (image swiped from Baseball Card Database)

Rhodes earned the top spot by hitting a pair of Home Runs and collecting 7 RBI while helping the New York Giants to win the World Series over the Cleveland Indians. Amazingly Dusty Rhodes didn't start a game in the 1954 Series and only played in 3 games, with 7 total plate appearances. But he made them count - one of the Homers was a Walk off in Game one. In game 2 he had a game tying hit in the 5th inning followed by a lead extending Homer later in the game. Those three hits all came off of future Hall of Famers (Bob Lemon G1, Early Wynn G2)

2004 Heritage #1

2004 Topps Heritage #1 Jim Thome (sp, b-side)

Returning to Jim Thome we post the back of his card and you can clearly see the #1 in the top left. We also have a minor connection to the Dusty Rhodes card - the cartoon/trivia Q on the Thome card does happen to reference Dusty's team, the Giants.

Short Print

2004 Topps Heritage #1b Jim Thome (sp)
2004 Topps Heritage #1 Jim Thome (base)

If you have been paying attention you will have noticed that the card we are discussing is a short print. The SP is the top card above with Thome shown holding the bat. The common #1 card is the latter of the pair with and action shot of Thome holding the bag at first. The Facsimile auto is moved a tad to better match the inset shot, other than that the Base and SP are identical.

2nd Flip

2004 Topps Heritage #1b Jim Thome (sp, b-side)
2004 Topps Heritage #1 Jim Thome (base, b-side)

And one final flip just to demonstrate the two cards have matching backs.  This is 2004 and Topps is in the pre-serial code era, that small print above the stats doesn't clue us in to which card is a base and which is a shorty. I pulled the two cards within a string of 3 packs or I may noticed myself.

Sources and Links
#1 Club
Jim Thome Player Collection
Baseball Card Database
Phillies
Baseball-ref

Monte Irvin (1919-2016)

Last week we found out about the passing of Giants Hall of Fame outfielder Monte Irvin.

2003 UD Vintage #89 Monte Irvin

One of the interesting things I found out about Monte Irvin is that he donated proceeds from his autograph signings to benefit his alma mater Lincoln University, a Historic Black College just beyond the edge of the Philadelphia suburbs.

2003 UD Vintage #89 Monte Irvin (b-side)

For their 2003 set UD swiped the design from 1965 Topps - which makes for a great looking card no matter who is in charge.

Card related Tributes and other Memorials
HELP!!! - I got pretty sick last week and was unable to collect as many of these links as I would have liked, if you have a posting please let me know

Arpsmith (1992 Front Row)
Baseball Happenings (GREAT personal recollection story, numerous autograph)
Bob Lemke (1952 Topps)
Cards that Never Were (1957 Topps - custom, 1949 Bowman - custom)
Paul's Random Stuff (HoF Postcard auto)

Cardboard Connection - Top 10 Monte Irvin Cards
Phungo Monte Irvin HoF Index


Sources and Links
Lincoln University
Lincoln Lions baseball-ref 

Phungo Monte Irvin HoF Index

60th Anniversary of the Catch: 1959 Topps #464 Willie Mays

Today marks the 60th Anniversary of one of the most iconic moments in Baseball History. Willie Mays' play which is now simply known as "The Catch"

1959 Topps #464 Baseball Highlights Willie Mays

The Catch helped the Giants maintain an 8th inning tie in Game one of the 1954 World Series. The Giants won the game in the 10th on a Walk off Home Run by Dusty Rhodes. 

Five years later Topps honored the moment as part of their 1959 Baseball Thrills Subset. The story of the catch is recounted on the cards b-side. 
 

1959 Topps #464 Baseball Highlights Willie Mays (b-side)

Original Artwork

The Original Artwork for this card was posted on Twitter by Baseball by BSmile.


For more information on this card as well as the other four Willie Mays cards in 1959 Topps check out our 2011 Willie Mays Quartet posting here.   

 

Sources and Links

1959 Topps Baseball Thrills Index

1959 Topps Willie Mays Quartet 
Baseball by BSmile (Twitter)
Baseball-ref




Willie Mays Index

Thanks to many outlets on Twitter that reminded me of today's Anniversary.   

Update
2018 01 08 - Added Original Artwork section 

STS Profile Andre Ethier

GRAND SLAM for Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle as he identified Andre Ethier as this weeks auto.  Congrats to team Plashke, a newcomer to Spot the Sig! this season who picked the right time to pick up their first Auto.  This is also the first time that a Grand Slam has been hit in STS! history.    

2008 UD SP Young Star Signatures YSS-AE Andre Ethier

Sorry to AdamE this is not from 2008 Bowman's Best, which he had guessed in the comments.  There wouldn't have been a consolation prize for that but it was a worthy try regardless. 


For the Collector
The low recent eBay auction for an Ethier Auto is $7.11 for a sticker auto out of the 2011 Topps Set.  Another 2008 UD SP YSS auto like the one above went for $7.24.  I picked this one up at a card show for $4 a few years ago.  One of the better looking available Ethier Autos is the 2008 UD Masterpieces card which has gone as low as $8.55.  The Andre Ethier Auto's topped out at $328.00 for a BGS slabbed (9 out of 10) 2005 Topps Xfractor Auto.

Bonus

I picked up a bunch of vintage Bowmans from two different Dollar Bins.  The oldest of these was a tattered 1948 card of Jack Lohrke which is located in the center of the above photo.  Congrats to Rhubarb Runner who went back the furthest of any STS! players and correctly came up with 1948. 
  
Does anyone think this tidbit would show up on the back of a card today? 

According to the Jack Lohrke wiki page the other brush with death that he survived was while serving in the Army during World War II.  Lohrke was bumped from a ill-fated military transport plane that would later crash.

Lohrke (nicknamed 'Lucky') played in parts of 7 major league seasons including a handful of games with the Phillies.  He appeared in the 1951 World Series in which the New York Giants lost to the Yankees.  


STS! Standings Going after 6 innings.   



Plaschzke thy Sweater is Argyle - Brooklyn Dodgers: 4 Runs, bases empty 

Too Many Grandersons - Tigers: 1 Run in and Bases Loaded     

Night Owl Cards - Los Angeles Dodgers:  1 Run in Bases Loaded

The Daily Dimwit - Astros; 1 Run in Bases Loaded    

 

Rhubarb Runner - Twins: Bases Loaded   

Waxaholic - Braves: Men on First and Third.  

Card Buzz- California Angels: Man on Third 
 

Autograph Cards - Kansas City Royals:  Men on 1st and 2nd

DawgBones - Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs: 1st and 2nd 

Phillies Room: 1st and 2nd

Nachos Grande - Reds: 1st  and 2nd

Steven:  1st and 2nd
  

CSD's Custom Cards - White Sox:  1st and 2nd

Orioles Magic: 1st    

The Angels ln Order - LA Angels:  On Deck 

UncleMoe of 2008 Topps Set : On Deck
Play At the Plate - Rangers : On Deck
Nathan - A's: On Deck

Thoughts n Sox - Bosox: On Deck

 

You are welcome to join the game at anytime. If you need more Spot the Sig! details click here.

Philly Card Show Report - 2009 12 05 - Tobacco Cards

Getting back to some of the things I found at the Philly Show.

1909-11 T206 Gabby Street

I could not let a couple of low end T206 cards go. This T206 is of Gabby Street who was a light hitting catcher for several teams in the early 1900s. However, He is also considered a significant mentor in the development of Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson.

After his playing days were over Street had a fairly successful career as a manager including a World Series Championship in 1931.


1909-11 T206 Doc Crandall

I picked up one other t206 of Doc Crandall who according to his wiki page is basically considered the first relief pitcher. His Baseball-Reference page concurs as he led the league in games finished 5 times and his career 2.93 era is still ranked 64th all-time.


1910 T58 Flying Fish

I know very little about the above T58 card. There are a series of non-sports tobacco cards from the early twentieth century with different themes (T37 Autos, T25 Actors, T42 Birds etc) According to the back of the card there are 50 cards in the fish series. Semi-related Flying Fish is a favorite beer among the Phungo Phaithful.

For the Collector
I really don't know much about these 100 year old cards, I am not really even sure that they are authentic. At any rate the cards went as follows $4.00 for Street, $9.00 for Crandall and $1.00 for the Flying Fish. Of course all are in fair/poor condition as you can see and all three cards are Piedmont Backs. The t206 museum site is where I go for my info on the classic set.

$10.00 is likely my breaking point to consider a T206. They are not a priority for me and here I was lucky enough to find two cards of players with interesting backgrounds. A graded (Good) Gabby Street, which is significantly nicer then my corner deprived version recently went for $21.85 on ebay. Doc Crandall went for $21.77. I was unable to find any recent sales on t58 cards, there is a BIN of a nice flying fish card for $13.45 - and there are a couple others in this set that have a BIN of $12.00

For a look back at some of the other cards available at the 09 Philly Show check here and here and here.