From the Favorites Box: Nolan Ryan, 1975 Topps #5

A series where I post some thoughts about favorite cards. Previous cards in the series are available here.

 

 

I like this highlight card for two reasons: 

(1) 300 strikeouts for three consecutive seasons? Holy cow. 

(2) The camera angle makes Nolan Ryan look 100 feet tall. 

Look behind him. There’s nothing but blue sky, because trees and houses simply don’t go that high. The only thing you can make out is the top of a light pole down there in the left corner. Ryan is wayyy taller. 

From here, you have to wonder if he's going to complete his pitching motion and fire a fastball under your chin, or if he'll just keep his fist in that glove, bring both hands down together, and give you a good old-fashioned pounding.

 

But let's get back to Nolan Ryan, the pitcher. Aside from his league-leading 367 strikeouts in 1974, how about some other stats from that season? Ryan led the majors in innings pitched (332.2), walks (202), batters faced (1,392), and strikeouts per 9 innings (9.9). Do the math, and that means he struck out every 3.79 batters he faced that year. He went 22-16 with 26 complete games, 3 shutouts, and a 2.89 ERA.

And get this: if it weren't for a string of injuries in 1975 that left him with only 186 Ks in 28 starts, Ryan could have put together six straight seasons of 300 strikeouts. Look here:

 

1972: 329 Ks

1973: 383 Ks

1974: 367 Ks

1975: 186 Ks

1976: 327 Ks

1977: 341 Ks

 

It's also worth noting that he led the entire majors in strikeouts all five of those years surrounding 1975.

No wonder he's 100 feet tall on that card.

 

And for defining pure dominance and intimidation with a single photo, 1975 Topps #5 has a spot in my box of favorite cards.

Board Advertisements on Cards, Episode 6: Amtrak

Way back in 1978, the NHL allowed teams to start selling advertising space along the boards of their rinks. By the time I was a hockey card–collecting kid in the late 1980s, the trend had caught on. From snack foods to car manufacturers to banks to fast food restaurants, board advertisements really ran the gamut—and they still do.

This series will explore some of the advertisements that also managed to make their way onto hockey cards.

 

Previous entries are available here.

1991-92 O-Pee-Chee #201,
Wayne Gretzky Highlights

Here's Wayne Gretzky in that classic Los Angeles Kings uniform, sporting that silver Easton aluminum hockey stick. He's positioned along the boards, no doubt ready to receive a pass and set up yet another scoring opportunity.

 

The card commemorates Gretzky scoring his 2,000th NHL point. No one has done it since. (Jaromir Jagr is the closest, with 1,921.) The feat was accomplished against the Winnipeg Jets on October 28, 1990. However, the photo on the front of the card is not from that game. How can we tell?

Have a look just over Mr. Gretzky's right shoulder. I see a little piece of a New York Rangers jersey there, to the side of the mustachioed guy's face.

Additionally, have a look at the advertisement on the boards behind Mr. Gretzky.

 

It's for Amtrak. And I know for certain that an Amtrak advertisement was plastered on the boards at Madison Square Garden back then. You see, the Garden is right on top of Penn Station, which offers Amtrak train service to various parts of North America. (Winnipeg does not.)

 

I wonder if the folks at MSG were kind enough to cut them a deal on the advertising fee.

 

Even if they didn't, let's talk about Amtrak. 

 

In theory, it's great. Ride by rail. See the country, from the mountains to the prairies, etcetera. Enjoy our café car. And our bar car. And for the really long trips: our sleeper cars!

 

In practice, however, the experience can be less than ideal. Delays. More delays. Inadequate luggage space. Crowded cars. Inconsiderate passengers. (One time, the guy in the seat across the aisle from me immediately took off his shoes upon boarding, and stretched his bare, stinky feet out into the aisle.)

 

It's not all bad, of course. Sometimes Amtrak really does live up to its potential. The scenery as you look out the windows can be truly beautiful. And I've got some great memories of taking Amtrak from Penn Station to the Adirondacks in the summers as a young teenager, by myself, toting along a duffel bag and a guitar, to spend time with my family up there. Nothing else quite like it.

 

Speaking of nothing else quite like it, I'm not sure we need to mention much about Wayne Gretzky's hockey history in this post: the 61 NHL records that he still holds to this day, or the 4 Stanley Cup rings he owns, or the 18 All-Star games he appeared in, or the many times he suited up for Team Canada, or anything else. Instead, how about we link the guy to the board advertisement?

 

Here is a list of the four NHL cities Mr. Gretzky played for, along with just some of the Amtrak lines that run to and from each city. (I've included links that provide more information, for those of you who might fancy traveling by rail):

Edmonton: None

Los Angeles: Pacific Surfliner, California Zephyr

St. Louis: Missouri River Runner, Texas Eagle

New York: Adirondack, Northeast Regional, Vermonter, Carolinian/Piedmont

Everything else aside, you've got to admit that the folks at Amtrak have come up with some great names for their train lines. Who wouldn't want to take a ride on the California Zephyr, or the Missouri River Runner?

 

So how about you readers? Have you ever traveled by Amtrak or any other scenic railway? If so, what was your experience like?

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

A Cowboy Signed My Custom Card

 

When I'm writing down addresses on envelopes for custom cards that are going out, I usually don't pay much attention to the specific information. Once in a while I'll notice a town's name if it's wacky or interesting, or if a card is going to a state that I don't often send to, like Hawaii or Nebraska or something, but that's about it.

 

However, a few months ago, I paused as I wrote a person's name on an envelope:

 

Burton Gilliam

 

This particular Mr. Gilliam had a mailing address in Texas. As for the card that was ordered? It was a few copies of this one. (Note the name of the actor on the bottom left.)

 

 

 

 

Could the cards be going to the very same Burton Gilliam who played the character of Lyle in Blazing Saddles? Excitedly, I looked at the transaction record and found the buyer's name.

 

Nope. It didn't match. 

 

However, I figured I'd contact the buyer anyhow, because hey, if these cards were actually going to Burton Gilliam the actor, I wanted to send my thanks—and maybe a few extra copies of the card.

 

Soon enough, an email reply came in...

 

The cards were, in fact, going to Mr. Gilliam the actor!

 

I turns out that the buyer was a good friend of Mr. Gilliam's, and wanted to send him a few copies. How cool.

 

But wait, that's not all. 

 

The buyer was more than kind, and he and I struck up an email conversation. And when I say "more than kind", I mean it. Soon enough, I learned that Mr. Gilliam liked the card so much that he wanted to autograph a copy for me!

It didn't take me long to respond. I sent a few more copies of the card along with a self-addressed stamped envelope, and within a couple of weeks, this beauty was in my possession.

Mr. Gilliam even sent back more than one signed copy.

 

But wait, that's still not all!

Mr. Gilliam is such a nice and personable guy that he sent me a video thank-you message as well! 

 

I won't show it here for the sake of privacy, but I'll tell you that he was even wearing a cowboy getup quite similar to the clothing and stetson he wore in Blazing Saddles. The video also made it clear to me that Mr. Gilliam is still going strong into his 80s. He seems young and spry and joyful—the embodiment of the philosophy that age is just a number.

 

What a cool guy.

A big thank-you to Burton Gilliam, and his good friend who made all this possible. The autographed cards will have a very good home in my box of favorite cards.

A Smorgasbord! Kahn's Wieners

From the 1970s through the 1990s, it seemed like you could find your favorite baseball stars on food product packaging everywhere you looked: supermarkets, corner stores, restaurants, and beyond. This past year, in an effort to capture a little more nostalgia, I set a goal to expand my own collection of these "food-issue" cards. In this series I'll show the specific examples I've acquired, and share a little bit of history about the food or beverage sponsor as well. 

 

 

It's springtime. Leaves are green. The air is warm. Baseball season is rolling along. By 2:10PM EST today there will be nine games underway. So what's for lunch? 

 

I think a hot dog is the natural answer.

 

 

1989 Kahn's Cincinnati Reds NNO Paul O'Neill

So here's Paul O'Neill, taking a big swing on his 1989 Kahn's baseball card. (Nice matching red borders.) Since there's no indication of the brand on the front, here's the card back.

 

 

 

 

At the top right you'll see Kahn's signature red rose logo and wordmark. And as I discovered, the company's history with baseball goes back a long way—much longer than I'd guessed.

 

Kahn's began issuing trading cards in specially marked packages of their hot dogs way back in 1955. Only six players appeared in that inaugural set, and they were all Cincinnati Redlegs. (Kahn's was based in Cincinnati, Ohio.) 

 

By 1957, the company had expanded the set to include some nearby Pittsburgh Pirates, including Roberto Clemente and "William" Mazeroski. With popularity booming, Kahn's would continue their trading card sets into the 1960s. By the second half of the decade, Kahn's was issuing larger sets (as many as 45 cards!), with select players from the Braves, Cubs, White Sox, Reds, Indians, Mets, Pirates, and Cardinals.  

 

Here's Atlanta Braves pitcher Denny LeMaster, showing us how the cards were included on hot dog packages in 1966:

 

 

 

Good design, overall. Those yellow and white stripes have a circus/carnival vibe, and you can't miss that Kahn's logo. I can imagine baseball-loving kids running to the refrigerated section of the supermarket and finding those packages pretty quickly.

 

But here's the interesting thing: After 1969, Kahn's stopped issuing trading cards in packages of hot dogs altogether. And it would remain that way until the junk wax boom of the 1980s. (1987, to be exact.) That's when the company resumed issuing trading cards, albeit only for the Reds, and not directly on the packaging. Cards would instead be available as promotional items at select Cincinnati Reds home games. Team sets could also be acquired through a mail-in offer. And guess what? Kahn's is still issuing a team set of Cincinnati Reds cards to this day!

 

Pretty cool story.

 

But hang on a second. I'm not sure if one hot dog at the ballpark is enough. So lets have another!

 

 

 

Yep, that's Howard Johnson on his 1990 Kahn's baseball card, fresh off his second 30-30 season in a three-year span. Based on that follow-through and his eye line, it looks like he might have connected on another homer. 

 

Here's the card back:

Not much else to say here. Simple design. It's interesting how they made the effort to separate HoJo's AL and NL stats at the bottom of the card. Nice touch!

 

If you're wondering why Mets players were being featured on Kahn's baseball cards back then, here's the explanation: From the late-1980s through the 1990s, Kahn's was not only the official hot dog of the Cincinnati Reds. It was also the official dog of the New York Mets, served proudly at Shea Stadium! (Currently, the Mets serve Nathan's Famous franks, which makes more sense from a regional point of view.)

 

And now that we've polished off two dogs, I think it's time to wrap up this first serving from our food-issue card smorgasbord.

 

I usually go with mustard and a little relish on my dog. Maybe a little sauerkraut if I'm feeling frisky.

 

What about you?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

 

A Smorgasbord!

 

 

 

One of the collecting goals I set for myself last year was to get some zeal back for the hobby; to find what types of cards bring back the nostalgia for me. The first way I've decided to do that here in 2024 is by exploring the kooky, quirky little corner of the hobby known as "food-issue".

 

Not just the typical Hostess and Kellogg's stuff. No, food-issue goes a lot deeper than that. And wider. (That was my attempt at a snack food/weight-gain pun.)

 

Anyway, the first thing I had to do was find all the food-issue cards I already had in my collection. Even though they were spread out across a few different boxes and binders, I was able to find and organize them fairly quickly—thanks in large part to the records I entered a few years ago on Trading Card Database. And you know what? I didn't realize the variety of food-issue cards I already had! So with a little bit of mojo going, I excitedly did some research to see what else might be out there. 

 

And wow. They sure crammed trading cards into a lot of food products over the years. 

 

This seems especially true for the 1980s and early 1990s, which happens to line up perfectly with my childhood collecting time. The card designs, as well as the star players of the era, really resonate with me. So what have I been doing since?

 

Adding more examples to my collection, that's what!

As you can see from the photo above, things are going pretty well on that front so far. It's been fun to gradually reclaim some of those little morsels of nostalgia—especially because many food-issue cards don't come anywhere close to breaking the bank. Win-win.

 

So now I want to start sharing these cards with you.

 

Keep in mind, however, that the food options won't exactly be healthy, what with various snack cakes, chips, sodas, hot dogs, chocolates, and boxed mac 'n cheese on the menu. But hey, if you're getting your exercise and eating right most of the time, it's okay to treat yourself every once in a while, right?

Right.

Besides, we'll have a few nutritious items on the menu as well, like bread and milk.

 

So here's how this "Smorgasbord" series will work: Each post will focus on one type of food-issue card (e.g., 1984 Ralston Purina, 1986 Jiffy Pop, 1988 Chef Boyardee). Along with the specific card(s) that I feature, I'll also try to include a brief history of the food brand, and other little touches like that.

 

So get your TV tray and favorite drinking glass ready. It's going to be a fun ride!

  

Another Two Transformers Cards Meet My Eye

A few years ago I came across a stack of menko for sale on eBay, all featuring characters from the Transformers animated series of the 1980s. It was a sizeable stack, and there were some duplicates as well. I was pretty new to menko at that point, and wasn't sure I needed such a big lot of them, so I went back and forth for a while on whether I should make the purchase. Thankfully, nostalgia won out, and I gave myself the green light. Here are just some of the cards:

 

 

 

The fantastic artwork and vivid colors were too good to pass up. 

 

After I received the cards and finished sorting through them, I contacted SumoMenkoMan, who had a bunch of cards from this very same set. Together we came up with a checklist and submitted it to TCDB. It was the first time I'd contributed to the database in this way, and it felt pretty good.

 

And you know what? That one lot of cards I purchased had gotten me fairly close to having the full set—about 75%, in fact. As time went on, I became more and more thankful that I made the purchase. The cards would rarely show up on auction sites, and when they did, it was even more rare that the cards being offered were ones I needed for my collection. A couple of years ago, I was able to pick up three more cards. And then there was a whole lot of nothing for a while.

Recently, however, that changed.

A seller on eBay listed a dozen cards from the set. I eagerly scanned the images in the listing, hoping there'd be at least one that I needed.

There were two.

 

Quickly I emailed the seller, asking if he'd be willing to sell me those two menko separately. To my great pleasure, he told me that he had a few extra copies of those two cards, and he'd be happy to list them separately, as long as we could agree on a price.

Well, these menko have been going for super-high prices lately, and I wasn't too excited about his first offer. I suggested a trade for some of my duplicates, but he wasn't interested. Eventually, we agreed on a fair price, and I was happy to seal the deal. (I also ended up listing and selling a few of my duplicates on eBay, which definitely lessened the blow.)

Within a week or so, the package arrived. Here are the two new guys, on full display.

 

Smokescreen and Thundercracker card fronts

 

   

Smokescreen and Thundercracker card backs

Smokescreen is an Autobot. Thundercracker is a Decepticon. I'm surprised they made it all the way to my mailbox without blasting each other apart. But it's a good thing they did.

Their safe arrival means I've now got 41 of the 48 menko in the set. And here's what makes it really interesting:

I'm not completely sure the other 7 menko even exist!

 

When SumoMenkoMan and I were compiling the checklist, we took an educated guess on some of the well-known Generation 1 characters that would almost have to be included in the set, but whose cards we'd never seen ourselves—not even in pictures on the internet.

 

So, although it's likely I haven't completed this set, I do currently have all the known cards in the set.

 

It's a pretty fun accomplishment for an '80s kid like me, who grew up with that original cartoon, and who still gets hit with a big dose of nostalgia whenever he hears that theme song.

How about you readers? What TV shows or films bring back the nostalgia enough to make you want to collect some of the related cards or stickers? (The A-Team, Magnum P.I., Three's Company, Indiana Jones, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc.)

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

Baseball in French, Lesson 13: La Balle Tire-Bouchon

Welcome to Baseball in French, Lesson 13. Previous lessons can be found here.

 

Today's term is La balle tire-bouchon.

 

In English, that translates to "the corkscrew ball". Or, as we better know it, "the screwball".

There's a certain Montreal Expo who wasn't exactly known as a screwball pitcher, but had a change-up that acted like one, falling away from left-handed batters. Here he is on his 1994 O-Pee-Chee card. 

 

Martinez only spent 4 seasons with Montreal, from age 22 through 25, but that's when he started to show glimpses of the brilliant pitcher he'd become. In 1997, his final season in Montreal, he'd go 17–8 with a minuscule 1.90 ERA (led majors), 13 complete games (led majors), 4 shutouts, and 305 strikeouts to 67 walks. He won his first of 3 Cy Young awards that year.

His grand totals with les Expos:

55 W, 33 L, 3.06 ERA, 20 CG, 8 SHO, 248 BB, 843 SO, 797.1 IP

Then he was off to Boston, and you already know the dominance he displayed there. More Cy Young Awards, All-Star teams, a Triple Crown, a World Series championship. Total stud. I'm glad I found a way to get him into these French lessons.

And speaking of these lessons, I think I'm going to make this the final one in the series, which is fitting with "corkscrew". In other words, if you've stuck with the entire series—all 13 posts—consider congratulating yourself in the only way a French baseball player would: by taking out that corkscrew, opening a bottle of wine, and enjoying a glass. (Beer is fine, too.)

Thanks for reading!