Gambo and T_Wil1 Photopack

[baseball-birthdays.com]

Originally Posted by FatJack

In fairness, those 20 bids are all from 5 people, one of whom only entered one bid and three of whom seem to have dropped out. So now its just a back and forth between two bidders (though others may be keeping their powder dry until the last minute). And its also worth mentioning that eBay was down all day today. Frankly, I'm surprised it isn't already much, much higher.

I'm one of the five. It's unusual (if not unprecedented) to see a bid that high with so much time remaining... the crazy bidding tends to happen in the last 10 seconds or so. If I'm interested in a particular item I'll usually enter a low-ball bid early just to "bookmark" the auction; depending on how things look, I may or may not enter a last minute bid.

I just found it interesting that Merkle noted the significance of this item and the market seems to have noticed as well.

[Merkle923]

The Topps card-used image of Fuentes is, obviously, from the same shoot of September 1 or 2, 1969, as the portrait the company took of him which wound up - like about 20 other Topps images - on to a 1983 Renata Galasso Pilots commemorative set (below).

I point this out because the likelihood is good that there was/is at least one more image from that shoot left to auction off, and as described in the Ken Johnson entry, it's unlikely they reached in and grabbed only the card-used image from his folder. In other words, I would say the odds are decent that even though the sequence usually sees Topps auction off a player's unused images first and then the used one, this is a rare occasion when I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see one or more Fuentes negatives pop up in the next few weeks or months.

[FatJack]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

Hey FatJack...I am wondering why you chose "FatJack" as your name?? If you are a Mets fan, I think I know why. Jack "FatJack" Fisher is a friend of mine whom I play golf with in Pennsylvania. he used to pitch for the Mets in the 60's.

I became a Mets fan in 1962. My grandfather had what passed for cable at the time (which meant the NY stations--5,9,11--in addition to the local channels). He'd watch the Yankees (which I think was his team) and he was very quiet. Then he'd watch the Mets and he was up and down and laughing and yelling at the TV (ostensibly because they were always making errors and other weirdness). So the Mets just seemed more fun to me. After the games, the Mets had two films they'd run. When the Mets won, you'd see Casey and the team celebrating (my memory may be off, but I remember it as Casey being triumphantly carried off the field). When the Mets lost, you'd see a film of Casey walking away from the camera, his head down, through an empty ballpark. Needless to say, you didn't see the celebratory Casey footage often. Anyway, that cinched it for me.

I bought my first pack of baseball cards in 1964. First card in the pack was Jack Fisher with that big smile on his face. From that point on, he was my guy. When my brother and I played ball in the back yard, I was almost always Jack Fisher. He was almost always Tom Haller (I think the '63 Haller was one of his first cards). Don't tell Jack, but my brother was two years older than me and his "Tom Haller" usually hit the crap out of my "Jack Fisher".

[Rainmaker]

From the Braves' 1988 media guide, Pegasus MIA Juan Eichelberger.

[Rainmaker]

Not sure what a gray line through it means, but on the off chance you still need a Pegasus image of Tommy Gregg from 1993, here he is from the Reds media guide that season.

[FatJack]

According to Baseball Almanac, Joe DeMaestri passed away Friday (August 26, 2016). He was 87. Joe was the prototypical "good glove, no hit" shortstop. But, man, was that glove good. Contemporaries generally listed him among the American League's elite shortstops of the day--Luis Aparicio and Tony Kubek.

Joe was born in San Francisco and played in high school and Legion ball. Courted by several teams, Joe signed with the Red Sox because their scout was a family friend. The White Sox grabbed him in the Rule 5 draft and he spent 1951 as a backup infielder for the Pale Hose. He got into 56 games, mostly as a late game defensive replacement, and hit .203. He hit his first major league home run on the last day of the season against Ned Garver of the Browns. Come the off season, Joe was traded to those Browns in an eight-player swap.

The Browns had also brought in Marty Marion, so Joe expected to be the backup again. Rogers Hornsby was the Brownies skipper and his managerial style was appreciated by precisely none of the players. With the team record at 22-29, Hornsby was let go and Marion became the manager. Marion saw Joe as the heir apparent at short, so he got a little more playing time, but never found his groove--neither at the plate nor in the field. At season's end, the Browns traded Joe back to the White Sox. At the request of Paul Richards, Joe attended a pre-spring training workout. A few days later, he was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics.

Joe was still regarded as a backup infielder, but opportunity came a-knockin' in June when starting shortstop Eddie Joost was injured in a sliding play. Joe took the job and never looked back. He held the job for the next 6 and a half years.

On July 5, 1955, Joe became the 34th major leaguer to get 6 hits in one game. In Joe's case, they were all singles. In 1957, Joe was selected for the All-Star game. He didn't get to play in the contest but the A's and Kansas City (where the A's had moved in 1955) held a Joe DeMaestri Day to honor his selection. Joe lead American League shortstops in fielding in both 1957 and 1958.

Joe's hitting had fallen off to .219 in 1958. And Joe entered 1959 thinking it would be his last year. He wanted to spend time with his family and his $15,000 salary was about league average which, having been a major leaguer for nine years, a starter for 7 and an All-Star in '57, seemed a little low to him. So he dropped a few hints that he'd be quitting at year's end. I'm guessing the A's got the hint because they traded him to the Yankees in the Roger Maris deal.

It was only after the trade that the Yankees discovered Joe wanted to quit. The Yankee GM Roy Hamey called Joe and Joe explained that he wasn't making much money. Hamey offered Joe a $5,000 raise. The pot was sweetened by the fact that the Yankees always seemed to make the World Series, so it was like tacking on a $15,000 a year bonus. And, what the heck, Joe had spent his entire major league career with teams that annually fought for occupation of the cellar. Winning might be nice for a change.

What Joe discovered was that playing for a loser was better than sitting on the bench with a winner. In 1960, Joe started just two games. Even as a late inning defensive replacement, Joe only got into 49 games and had only 35 at bats. The Yankees did make the Series, losing to Pittsburgh in one of the best Game 7s ever. Joe got into 4 Series games, going 1 for 2 at the dish.

In 1961, Joe was back where he'd been in '59, figuring this would be his last year. He saw action in just 30 games and was 6 for 41 (.146). He did have a front row seat as Maris and Mantle chased the Babe. And the Yankees were in the Series again--winning this one. Joe was not used at all in the '61 Series and would later say that, had he played at all, he'd have come back in 1962. But Joe didn't want to stay if he wasn't going to play and he wanted to spend more time with his family. So he hung up his spikes and went home.

For years, Joe carried the regret that he hadn't stayed for one more year, as the 1962 World Series featured the home town Giants. His father, who hadn't traveled to them in '60 or '61, could have come to the games.

Joe was also bothered by the fact that he was, now, forever considered a Yankee. "I played seven years with the Athletics and nobody knows that," he said in 2007. "I get letters today, it's all Yankee letters. People want my autograph because I was a Yankee, not because I was an Athletic. I've always been an Athletic. I root for that team like crazy."

There is no shortage of Joe DeMaestri images. Heck, John of Baseball-Birthdays posted an entire folder of them. And Merkle posted a nice one around the same time (looks like a Henry Yee offering). The two below, such as they are, are not in the folder, nor do they turn up in site searches. The Yankee image was posted to eBay by seller davemantle. I cropped and removed the autograph on that one. The White Sox image was posted to eBay by seller calibinder. Both auctions were already completed.

[tnfoto]

Originally Posted by Rainmaker

Not sure what a gray line through it means...

The gray shading is my shorthand to myself that I have an image in my collection that I have not yet shared here.

The Gregg/Reds image in my collection came from a long-forgotten source but it appears to be an old dr.jteeee image.

[Chickazoola]

Woodcut image of missing player George Goetz of the 1889 Baltimore Orioles. He was pictured in the April 10, 1889 Baltimore American.

[Oriole1952]

GREAT Story! I grew up in Baltimore and started following the O's and collecting cards in 1960. One of my favorites was the 1962 Jack Fisher. My 1st ML game was at Memorial stadium in 1962 and the starting pitcher was...Jack Fisher! Years later I lived in Allentown, PA for some time and I made 2 trips over to Easton to "Fat Jacks" bar & Grill. Unfortunately the owner wasn't in either time. He was one of the "Baby Birds" and later was traded to SF for Stu Miller and Johnny Orsino.

[hobbs11]

Very hard to find a quality image of Rick Jones in color suiting up for Red Sox in 1976, followed by Mike Jones (no relation) of KC circa early 80s...

Good day out on the T.V folders....Now, if a color pic of Ruppert Jones as a Royal is released, I might be calling it a day here in the Midwest.

[custard48]

Originally Posted by baseball-birthdays.com

I'm one of the five. It's unusual (if not unprecedented) to see a bid that high with so much time remaining... the crazy bidding tends to happen in the last 10 seconds or so. If I'm interested in a particular item I'll usually enter a low-ball bid early just to "bookmark" the auction; depending on how things look, I may or may not enter a last minute bid.

I just found it interesting that Merkle noted the significance of this item and the market seems to have noticed as well.

The Ron Hunt "1966" is up there, as well.

[SPORTSMEM817]

Found a black and white version posted in this thread and colorized it

[FatJack]

Although the Parsons colorization is nicely done, Merkle posted a beautiful fer real color image of Mr. Parsons as a Met back in December. Since the poses are nearly identical, I gotta go with that one.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ml#post3959445

[dennis_keith]

The following players had brief MLB careers
between 1953 and 1956. The Phillies were
their only major league team.
Pitchers Thornton Kipper (1953-1955) and
Paul Penson (1954).

[dennis_keith]

Pitchers Ron Mrozinski and Bob Greenwood
and Outfielder, Danny Schell. All three played for
the Phillies the same two seasons (1954 & 1955).

[dennis_keith]

Infielder Bob "Mickey" Micelotta (1954-1955) and
catcher, Mack Burk (1956, plus one game in 1958)).

[dennis_keith]

There were by my count Five Other players
who played in the four-year period of 1953 to 1956 who
played briefly for the Phillies, and who never played for any other MLB team.
Baseball cards were never issued for the players in this other group. If photo collectors would like to post photos to help me complete this theme then here are the other one and two year wonders:
Position Players: Jim Command (1954-1955); Jim Westlake (1955); Fred Van Dusen (1955), and John Easton (1955, 1959) plus pitcher Angelo Lipetri (1956, 1958).

[Merkle923]

Long time White Sox catcher, seldom seen with the Red Sox in his stint there as Carlton Fisk's backup and mentor. Retired prematurely due to heart trouble.

Today's Topps uploads (KC) 141-144 Ken Berry; 145-146 Vern Benson; 146-148 Dennis Bennett; 149-152 Dave Bergman; 153-154 Lou Berberet; 155-156 Juan Bernhardt; 157-158 Dwight Bernard; 159-160 Duane Josephson; 161-162 Mike Jorgensen; 163-164 Ricky Jones; 165-166 Rick Jones; 167-168 Odell Jones; 169-170 Mike Jones; 171-174 Mack Jones; 175-176 Lynn Jones; 177-178 Larry Jones (Baltimore system); 179-180 Dalton Jones.

[Merkle923]

Tough find with the Mets, tougher without bushy facial hair.

[Merkle923]

We've seen him before from Topps but in the 1970-76 stretch-knits; this would be the 1977 style with stripes.