Gambo and T_Wil1 Photopack

[Merkle923]

Topps Vault negatives of Carbo, Helms, etc? They're gone. As I wrote, the new owners didn't see the value of dispersing all the uncut sheets, artwork, unused photos, etc. It's all locked away in storage somewhere - we should assume they're gone, forever.

[Merkle923]

In the Big Bunch of Braces - here's a white whale...

Kerry Dineen, 1978 Phillies!

There are nearly as many images of Dineen with the Yankees as he had at bats with them, but this is the only color shot of Dineen I've seen with Philly. I met Kerry at a Yankees' Old Timers' Day circa 2007 and he was as grateful to be included in that event, as he was in Yankees lore.

Kerry stepped out of nowhere into the 1975 Yankee line-up to replace the injured Bobby Bonds. A year later on May 21 after another Yankee outfielder went on the injured list late in the afternoon, the Yanks put him in a limo in Syracuse and he got to Yankee Stadium fast enough to pinch-run in the 10th inning against the Red Sox. In the bottom of the 12th, the Yanks put men at 2nd and 3rd with two out and Kerry singled up the middle for the game-winning walkoff RBI. He only had ten big league hits.

I asked him if he had or had ever seen a photo of himself in a Phillies uniform and he answered no, he wasn't there long enough.

[brobby05]

Originally Posted by Merkle923

Topps Vault negatives of Carbo, Helms, etc? They're gone. As I wrote, the new owners didn't see the value of dispersing all the uncut sheets, artwork, unused photos, etc. It's all locked away in storage somewhere - we should assume they're gone, forever.

That's a stinkin' shame!!!! I guess there's no way that somebody could be persuaded to open up those cabinets?? I thought of a few more:
Bob Veale-1970-71 Bucs
Paul Schaal 1970-73
Ray Washburn-1970 Reds
Sam McDowell-1970-71 Tribe
Ted Sizemore-1971-74 Cards
I guess there's no where else to check other than Google Images?

Thanks Merk!

Brobby05

[RUKen]

This image of Samuels in a Browns' uniform had been posted at: https://www.threadsofourgame.com/1895-st-louis/

[Merkle923]

I'll write this again: the filing cabinets have been moved out of the Topps offices here and are now in a Fanatics storage facility - presumably near their HQ in Florida. They're gone. Could they reverse policy and move everything back to NYC? Maybe. Topps did that once, about ten years after they moved the filing cabinets and all the negatives to Duryea, PA. But these are new people in charge and if the old bosses were inert about their own Topps history, the Fanatics people have even less of a sense of it.

OTOH I literally have a hundred or more great images from this Brace lot to process and post and two of them are Washburn with the '70 Reds. This is actually good news because he was on the first list I took in to Topps in 2002 and there was no Washburn file at all. The filing system was incomplete after the letter T.

[keonleafs]

[QUOTE=brobby05;5183328]

Originally Posted by keonleafs

The actual vault codes say that those are Alex Taveras. I kinda ran into that myself.

Thanks for your help & for trying!

Brobby05

Thanks, but, sorry, I still think ET069 to 071 is Tatis. Compare each player (Taveras gq306-307) to Merkle's post of B&W card of Tatis. Skin tone (even in B&W) and chin. Also, the player on ET69-071 wears the red uni, which the Astros last sported in 1974. Tatis played in Astros minors, from 1968 to 78. In 1974, Taveras was beginning his pro career with A team Cedar Rapids.
And finally but not least, Topps had a lot of series of pics in alphabetic order in their Vault. Preceding ET069, there are these players:

Pat Tabler ET050 to 54
Fred Talbot 55 to 60
Tim Talton 61-62
Randy Tate 63-68
and following ET071, was Pat Tatom for ET072 to 075..

I may be wrong but...

[UKBaseballfan]

[QUOTE=keonleafs;5183459]

Originally Posted by brobby05

Thanks, but, sorry, I still think ET069 to 071 is Tatis. Compare each player (Taveras gq306-307) to Merkle's post of B&W card of Tatis. Skin tone (even in B&W) and chin. Also, the player on ET69-071 wears the red uni, which the Astros last sported in 1974. Tatis played in Astros minors, from 1968 to 78. In 1974, Taveras was beginning his pro career with A team Cedar Rapids.
And finally but not least, Topps had a lot of series of pics in alphabetic order in their Vault. Preceding ET069, there are these players:

Pat Tabler ET050 to 54
Fred Talbot 55 to 60
Tim Talton 61-62
Randy Tate 63-68
and following ET071, was Pat Tatom for ET072 to 075..

I may be wrong but...

I don't believe you are wrong I also have the 3 images listed as Tatis. Additional comparisons attached, Tatis first then Taveras.

Clarification, the cap design was the same but the rainbow uniforms were introduced in 1975. The earlier uniforms before 1975 featured "Houston" lettering in red before the change to "Astros" lettering in black from 1975. This is a rare example where the invaluable chopcountry listings have not been accurately updated.

[BklynJace]

Originally Posted by Merkle923

I'll write this again: the filing cabinets have been moved out of the Topps offices here and are now in a Fanatics storage facility - presumably near their HQ in Florida. They're gone. Could they reverse policy and move everything back to NYC? Maybe. Topps did that once, about ten years after they moved the filing cabinets and all the negatives to Duryea, PA. But these are new people in charge and if the old bosses were inert about their own Topps history, the Fanatics people have even less of a sense of it.

OTOH I literally have a hundred or more great images from this Brace lot to process and post and two of them are Washburn with the '70 Reds. This is actually good news because he was on the first list I took in to Topps in 2002 and there was no Washburn file at all. The filing system was incomplete after the letter T.

If I could wave a magic wand they'd hand the whole shebang over to the Hall of Fame.

Of course, a) I don't have a magic wand; and b) if I did I'd be needed elsewhere.

[keonleafs]

[QUOTE=UKBaseballfan;5183464]

Originally Posted by keonleafs

I don't believe you are wrong I also have the 3 images listed as Tatis. Additional comparisons attached, Tatis first then Taveras.

Clarification, the cap design was the same but the rainbow uniforms were introduced in 1975. The earlier uniforms before 1975 featured "Houston" lettering in red before the change to "Astros" lettering in black from 1975. This is a rare example where the invaluable chopcountry listings have not been accurately updated.

Thanks for your clarification, support and confirmation!

[Patsy Tebeau]

Pitching action shot

[caribeño]

[QUOTE=UKBaseballfan;5183464]

Originally Posted by keonleafs

I don't believe you are wrong I also have the 3 images listed as Tatis. Additional comparisons attached, Tatis first then Taveras.

Clarification, the cap design was the same but the rainbow uniforms were introduced in 1975. The earlier uniforms before 1975 featured "Houston" lettering in red before the change to "Astros" lettering in black from 1975. This is a rare example where the invaluable chopcountry listings have not been accurately updated.

I understand that both of you ,( Keonleafs and UK ) are correct. Because,
1) Tatis was darker , had more circular ears, his chin is more ¨squared¨ , his eyebrows are more circular and his noses are slightly different. Ihave photos of Tatis as a Cardinal , and Taveras as a Pirate and you can see the difference. I´ll try to post them.

[Patsy Tebeau]

Columbus

[Patsy Tebeau]

Found the full version of this picture

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Hideo Nomo 2005 T.B. Devil Rays

[Patsy Tebeau]

A few other options

[Patsy Tebeau]

found this picture on ebay

[Merkle923]

The follow-through pose I've posted before. The slightly color faded batting pose, I had not previously seen. These shots are so 1972 it hurts.

Allan Montreuil was just 5'5" which wasn't much of an issue when he was a schoolboy legend in Louisiana in the '50s and '60s, nor in his time at Loyola of New Orleans. It began to be when he signed with the Red Sox. He went to the Cubs in the Ray Culp trade and finally got a September call-up in September, 1972, aged 29. Thirteen games, three starts at second base, a walk, a hit (in his debut game), and he was never even photographed by Topps. But Brace got him.

He's on two minor league cards, both with the Cubs' top farm club at the time, Wichita, in 1973 and 1974.

It was pronounced MON-tre-el, roughly like the city but a heavy emphasis on the first syllable.

[Dto7]

Jack Hickey from the 4-17-1904 Cleveland Plain Dealer.

[Merkle923]

As I continue to dig my way out of the cascade of a couple of hundred previously unseen (at least on the internet) Brace images, here's a White Semi-Whale.

Ray Washburn was a pretty damn good pitcher, eighth in the NL in ERA in the year of the pitcher, 1968. He started two World Series games that year, won one, pitched in three different Classics, and after flirting with them for years, no-hit the Giants in '68 - the day after Gaylord Perry had thrown one against the Cards. Four times Washburn won in double digits, but could never shake the "sore arm" demon (a torn triceps muscle; TWO separate shoulder tears, one of which left him black and blue as far down as his belt line). By 1969 the Cards would deal him to the Reds for George Culver and the Reds would release him after the World Series. He was in camp with the Angels in 1971 but it was over - at age 32. He did manage the team in Seattle between the Pilots and the Mariners, the independent Rainiers of the Northwest League, in 1972, then became a teacher and university athletic director.

That one season with the Reds was in terms of images, not well chronicled. I presume Topps shot him but there was no Washburn file in Topps HQ (as I've mentioned easily, Sports Director, collector, and SABR co-founder Bill Haber started a truly Augean job of organizing the millions of images, but never completed it - he got as far as the letter "T.")

The pose with the closed eyes has been distributed, sometimes at exorbitant prices. The pitching pose I had never seen before. I have cleaned these Braces up just a little bit, to correct mostly for fading on or damage to the prints. But I'll confess to using a little Remini trick that turns poor old George Brace into a great photographer. The site offers "background blur." Suddenly we compensate for George's, uh, challenged response to stuff going on behind his shot (all of us pre-digital photographers were in far more of a hurry, especially when free-lance baseball photography was doable). I think that blur makes some of his worst shots look superb.

More obscure discoveries to come. Enjoy.

[Merkle923]

For quite awhile I've wondered if anybody caught reliable lefty Larry Gura at the rump end of his career in 1985, back where it had begun in 1970 at Wrigley Field.

Silly question. Brace got him! The Royals had been gifted him by the Yankees in 1976 (because Billy Martin was mad at Gura) and he pitched well against New York five times in the ALCS of 1976-77-78-80 (including the opener of the KC sweep in 1980). Kansas City finally released him in May 1985, the Cubs signed him, pitched him twice, sent him to Iowa, brought him back in July for the final three appearances of his career.

So here he is, all from this same Brace lot, in the flannels he wore as a rookie in 1970, in the first Cubs double-knits from 1972, and finally in the pullovers of 1985.