Gambo and T_Wil1 Photopack

[tnfoto]

Originally Posted by Merkle923

Cup Of Coffee - Empty, No Refills

...Johnston is also one of those unfortunate guys who were brought up by big league clubs but who never got into a major league game...

As a researcher this is an area that has intrigued me for years. I know that Cusick has done some excellent work cataloging the spring training invitees who never reached the majors but I have not found a list or source that I can consult to get a complete list of these regular season empty-cup (love that description!) guys. Does anyone know if such a listing exists?

[hobbs11]

Originally Posted by tnfoto

Sorry about the repost. I couldn't remember if I had shared it before so checked this thread but had forgotten to check other threads. My bad.

I didn't exactly put it on a tee for you as I could have referenced your original post of him, so I apologize.....

Let me try again with a separate request:

I am looking for a color pic of a young Johnnie Lemaster from around his first season in 1975. When I first requested him, I received a response from Cusick and tnoto.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ml#post3750299

I thank you. My goal is to have him in a more applicable mid '70s representation. (i.e. sans moustache, more youthful, and perhaps more inline with his Topps RC - attached here). I've scoured the Topps Folders and have come up short and the usual searches have returned little other than his first solo Topps card in 1977. Just hoping for a little luck with the crew from on here.... Thanks in advance!

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by tnfoto

I have not found a list or source that I can consult to get a complete list of these regular season empty-cup (love that description!) guys. Does anyone know if such a listing exists?

I know of two efforts which have been in the developmental stage. 1) Keith Olbermann has kept a list of these guys and has encourgaed his readers to submit additions along with documentation to verify that the player was actually with the big league club. If I recall correctly, he refers to his list as the Bill Sharman Society, naming it after the basketball HOFer who was with the Brooklyn Dodgers one September, but never became a full-fledged major leaguer. 2) I ran across such a database somewhere on Baseball-reference.com a few months ago. It was in a section which invited users who had created their own databases to submit them and allow others to add to such databases. I can't manage to get back to that database now, but perhaps someone else might have some success in poking around in Baseball-reference.com and finding it.

[FatJack]

Originally Posted by Cusick

I know of two efforts which have been in the developmental stage. 1) Keith Olbermann has kept a list of these guys and has encourgaed his readers to submit additions along with documentation to verify that the player was actually with the big league club. If I recall correctly, he refers to his list as the Bill Sharman Society, naming it after the basketball HOFer who was with the Brooklyn Dodgers one September, but never became a full-fledged major leaguer. 2) I ran across such a database somewhere on Baseball-reference.com a few months ago. It was in a section which invited users who had created their own databases to submit them and allow others to add to such databases. I can't manage to get back to that database now, but perhaps someone else might have some success in poking around in Baseball-reference.com and finding it.

Beat me to it. Olbermann's the guy you want to talk to. As of 2009, there were 50 members in his Bill Sharman Society. He wanted to add Wilbur Huckle back then, but Huckle was never really on the major league roster at the time. His recall was one of those end of the year 40-man roster formalities.

As a Mets fan, I can think of, oh, maybe nine Mets who wore the uni during the regular season but never played for them. Two never saw any major league action ever--Billy Cotton and Terrel Hansen. Cotton was yet another of the Mets failed #1 picks. Hansen was a more tragic situation, though, as he had the bat in his hand, ready to pinch hit, when Jeff Torborg changed his mind and called him back.

[tnfoto]

Originally Posted by Cusick

I know of two efforts which have been in the developmental stage. 1) Keith Olbermann has kept a list of these guys and has encourgaed his readers to submit additions along with documentation to verify that the player was actually with the big league club. If I recall correctly, he refers to his list as the Bill Sharman Society, naming it after the basketball HOFer who was with the Brooklyn Dodgers one September, but never became a full-fledged major leaguer. 2) I ran across such a database somewhere on Baseball-reference.com a few months ago. It was in a section which invited users who had created their own databases to submit them and allow others to add to such databases. I can't manage to get back to that database now, but perhaps someone else might have some success in poking around in Baseball-reference.com and finding it.

Originally Posted by FatJack

Beat me to it. Olbermann's the guy you want to talk to. As of 2009, there were 50 members in his Bill Sharman Society. He wanted to add Wilbur Huckle back then, but Huckle was never really on the major league roster at the time. His recall was one of those end of the year 40-man roster formalities.

As a Mets fan, I can think of, oh, maybe nine Mets who wore the uni during the regular season but never played for them. Two never saw any major league action ever--Billy Cotton and Terrel Hansen. Cotton was yet another of the Mets failed #1 picks. Hansen was a more tragic situation, though, as he had the bat in his hand, ready to pinch hit, when Jeff Torborg changed his mind and called him back.

Thanks guys. Great leads--I'll check them out.

[KenRaffensberger16]

Herb Hippauf & Arnie Umbach:
This is one of my favorite cards since it has not just one, but
two of the most obscure players who ever made it to the majors,
however briefly, featured on one card. These 1966 Braves rookie
pitchers each had very short MLB careers.
Topps' 1966 release of this card is the equivilant of a recording
company, back in the old days of vinyl singles, releasing a
"Double B-side" 45.

[Merkle923]

This is a common misconception - that the Mets called him up late in September, 1972, and he suited up and didn't play. I've looked extensively at this and I'm convinced it's not true. I've researched Mets 9/72 scorecards and New York newspapers and The Sporting News and the confusion seems pretty clear. The Mets called up catcher Joe Nolan and a couple of others, Cotton included - but only Nolan was to report immediately. The others - principally for our purposes Billy Cotton - were not supposed to show up until Spring Training 1973.

So Hansen - yes, a Sharmanite. Cotton - no.

[FatJack]

Originally Posted by Merkle923

This is a common misconception - that the Mets called him up late in September, 1972, and he suited up and didn't play. I've looked extensively at this and I'm convinced it's not true. I've researched Mets 9/72 scorecards and New York newspapers and The Sporting News and the confusion seems pretty clear. The Mets called up catcher Joe Nolan and a couple of others, Cotton included - but only Nolan was to report immediately. The others - principally for our purposes Billy Cotton - were not supposed to show up until Spring Training 1973.

So Hansen - yes, a Sharmanite. Cotton - no.

You're not going to find any agreement on that in Mets country. People far more Met-fanatical than I have done their research also. According to folks like Mets by The Numbers (who, literally, wrote the book) show Billy Cotton with the Mets from September 13, 1972 until the end of the season, assigned uni #22 (which I don't recall him ever wearing in Spring Training). They're the ones who disabused Olbermann of the Huckle notion, so I tend to trust they have some factual basis for the Cotton claims (something other than newspaper clippings of call-ups). I have an independent memory of Billy warming someone up in the bullpen back then, but my personal memory is less than reliable. It's possible he was called up to act as an extra bullpen catcher or something, and not to play. That would make you both technically correct.

[hobbs11]

Not sure who has seen this, and if they're not into custom cards, they won't care to read about this on this forum.

However, and with that stated, there are some really good guys who do this type of work on the side as a hobby, and that this type of action has really set off.

Cards That Never Were

These are some interesting times.....

[stlcardsfan]

Originally Posted by hobbs11

Not sure who has seen this, and if they're not into custom cards, they won't care to read about this on this forum.

However, and with that stated, there are some really good guys who do this type of work on the side as a hobby, and that this type of action has really set off.

Cards That Never Were

These are some interesting times.....

someone else posted a similar post on another blog I read. I think it was Baseball card Breakdown.
But yeah, thats kinda dumb on the people's behalf that buys them. I guess they don't read.

Ive never printed any of mine, and haven't seen them anywhere else online.

[BklynJace]

Originally Posted by Merkle923

This is a common misconception - that the Mets called him up late in September, 1972, and he suited up and didn't play. I've looked extensively at this and I'm convinced it's not true. I've researched Mets 9/72 scorecards and New York newspapers and The Sporting News and the confusion seems pretty clear. The Mets called up catcher Joe Nolan and a couple of others, Cotton included - but only Nolan was to report immediately. The others - principally for our purposes Billy Cotton - were not supposed to show up until Spring Training 1973.

So Hansen - yes, a Sharmanite. Cotton - no.

Baseball "ghosts" are a fascination of mine as well -- but I'd never heard that Cotton might not be among their ranks. That's really interesting. I did some research into him a few years back (admittedly haphazard and nothing like Merkle's) and found postings by some softball-league pals of his (of all things) who claimed he'd been on deck for the Mets when a game ended.

Which, of course, is not proof. In fact, it sounds an awful lot like the logical end state of a story once it had grown in the telling over a couple of decades.

Terrell Hansen, OTOH, is an obscure but perfectly valid additional reason to dislike Jeff Torborg if you're a Mets fan.

[oldtimers]

can anyone help me? looking for a photo of Alex Johnson. in a Angels uniform. Thanks for all help.

[tnfoto]

Rest in peace, Mr. Cub.

[FatJack]

Originally Posted by oldtimers

can anyone help me? looking for a photo of Alex Johnson. in a Angels uniform. Thanks for all help.

There's also one posted by Lebby20 here. His A.J. features the lower case "a".

BklynJace, no Mets fan needs an "additional" reason to dislike Jeff Torborg.

hobbs11, it's not limited to custom cards; many of my colorizations (and uniform alterations) have turned up on eBay as well. I doubt there's any way to stop the hucksters; they can always find a way to make money without doing any of the work for it.

[Merkle923]

The images went up on eBay last night with names attached. It's the future bullpen coach...

[stlcardsfan]

Had to make this, was watching MLB Network's documentary on the nasty boys. I didnt realize how crazy Randy Myers was


had to do a couple others

[SDL]

Originally Posted by KenRaffensberger16

Herb Hippauf & Arnie Umbach:
This is one of my favorite cards since it has not just one, but
two of the most obscure players who ever made it to the majors,
however briefly, featured on one card. These 1966 Braves rookie
pitchers each had very short MLB careers.
Topps' 1966 release of this card is the equivilant of a recording
company, back in the old days of vinyl singles, releasing a
"Double B-side" 45.

Here's another "Double B-Side"



Skeen quit before the the '64 season and Smith had two brief cups of coffee in '62 and '63.

[DeweyintheHall]

Can anyone tell me what Bill Virdon is doing in this TV image from the 70s? He seems a bit unsure himself...is it a primitive T-Shirt launcher??

[cheech411]

pop ups??????? just a guess??????????????

[bobb49]

Bill is teaching New England Patriot equipment managers how he deflates baseballs.