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Merkle923 · 05-19-2015, 12:15 PM

The Dodger RH pitcher above is career minor leaguer Mike Mathwig.

The Cub LH is certainly not Dan McGinn nor from 1973. It's another career minor leaguer, Ron Matney. The photo is from 1970; the Cubs had switched to double-knit uniforms in 1972.

Two other keys in making a list of old Topps Vault image identifications are: a) they are uploaded without consideration to whether or not a player ever reached the majors so don't get trapped into assuming this "has to be" somebody from a big league club, and b) virtually all of them have been sold (and thus identified) on eBay - the Matney and Mathwig negatives included.

You can easily pick up the last few months of these on eBay. Search "Topps Negative (team name)" and then click "completed listings" on the left hand menu. They aren't there forever -- only the last three months' worth -- but right now that would still mean the last 54 Dodger images Topps sold are still sitting there with ID's.

A much better starting point for re-identifying players you didn't note the first time or can't re-locate is Baseball Reference's alphabetical list of minor leaguers - since that list includes both guys who made the majors and those who didn't. Player lists are accessed through "Bingo Boards" -- everybody with last names beginning with "MA," then next to that "MC," "ME," etc. -- so if you are looking for two obscure pitchers who seem to begin with "MA" you click on that and they are all there. The main lists under each set of letters gives you the years of the player's career, so if the players seem to belong somewhere around MAT or MAV, there really aren't many to search through and click on.

05-19-2015, 12:15 PM	#25286
Merkle923 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 2,206	Mike Mathwig and Ron Matney The Dodger RH pitcher above is career minor leaguer Mike Mathwig. The Cub LH is certainly not Dan McGinn nor from 1973. It's another career minor leaguer, Ron Matney. The photo is from 1970; the Cubs had switched to double-knit uniforms in 1972. Two other keys in making a list of old Topps Vault image identifications are: a) they are uploaded without consideration to whether or not a player ever reached the majors so don't get trapped into assuming this "has to be" somebody from a big league club, and b) virtually all of them have been sold (and thus identified) on eBay - the Matney and Mathwig negatives included. You can easily pick up the last few months of these on eBay. Search "Topps Negative (team name)" and then click "completed listings" on the left hand menu. They aren't there forever -- only the last three months' worth -- but right now that would still mean the last 54 Dodger images Topps sold are still sitting there with ID's. A much better starting point for re-identifying players you didn't note the first time or can't re-locate is Baseball Reference's alphabetical list of minor leaguers - since that list includes both guys who made the majors and those who didn't. Player lists are accessed through "Bingo Boards" -- everybody with last names beginning with "MA," then next to that "MC," "ME," etc. -- so if you are looking for two obscure pitchers who seem to begin with "MA" you click on that and they are all there. The main lists under each set of letters gives you the years of the player's career, so if the players seem to belong somewhere around MAT or MAV, there really aren't many to search through and click on.