Gambo and T_Wil1 Photopack

[Merkle923]

These are only the second and third color Solaita images I've ever seen (I believe the other was shot by Louie Requena and is in the Getty archive);

[SDL]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Attachment 409259Attachment 409260

I forgot Niemann was ever with Minnesota. Huh.

Thanks!

Niemann is now the pitching coach for the Palm Beach Cardinals and I'll be seeing then later this week.

Half the fun of getting pics like these signed is seeing the reaction of the young players. "That's coach?????"

[SDL]

Tony Solaita.

Always felt the hype he got in the New York press aided in his non-descript major league career.

I used to live in Ft. Lauderdale. Just seeing the pics of Ft. Lauderdale Stadium in the background brings back memories (I am a Red Sox fan but I'd go to some ST games there all the Winter Haven Red Sox/Ft. Lauderdale Yankees FSL games and in '93 the Sox had their FSL team there for one season; I had a season ticket).

Word is they are going to tear it down to make room for a water park.

[Terry D]

Originally Posted by hobbs11

Terry D, by chance did you see this? Posted by John at baseball-birthdays via kylesportcards...

I sure did, thanks to John. Now I only need a decent Jim Lewis for a full set of the '82 yanks.

[Merkle923]

Not all of the 1871 Boston Red Stockings in the Mort Rogers Scorecard series had great pasts or great futures. Outfielder Fred Cone played just 19 games and next appears in the minor league International Association in 1878:

[Merkle923]

Catcher, later outfielder, later first baseman of the Boston Red Stockings, and an alum of the Cincinnati team (his fielding miscue contributed to the end of their unbeaten streak in 1870), Cal McVey might have been a Hall of Famer if he had lasted a little longer and not headed to the West Coast after the 1879 season.

For what it's worth, in his nine years in the NA and NL, McVey was a .346 career hitter with an OPS+ of 152 and 449 RBI in just 530 career games.

[Merkle923]

Harry Wright was already 36 by the time of his "official" Major League Debut and his appearance on the Rogers scorecards. He had, of course, recruited the Cincinnati Red Stockings, and moved most of them to Boston.

The Hall of Famer continued to contribute in the outfield through the season of 1874, and giving him credit for the unbeaten '69 Cincinnati squad, he managed his teams to pennants in seven of the ten seasons ending in 1878.

[Merkle923]

Regular third baseman at Boston from the first season of the National Association through the first season of the National League, after being imported from the original Philadelphia Athletics of the NABBP. He died in that city in 1935, at the age of 88.

[Merkle923]

Hard to believe this amounts to Spalding's "rookie card" - the future team owner and sporting goods mogul was already a star pitcher who had beaten Harry Wright's Cincinnati Red Stockings when Wright recruited him to go to Boston in 1871.

Spalding merely led his league in wins in all six of his full seasons as a professional, and, using statistics he couldn't have imagined, produced a WAR of 52.5 in that same span, and twice led in Fielding-Independent Pitching. He was also a career .313 hitter with an OPS+ of 116 - and he's 20 years old in this photo.

[KenRaffensberger16]

Just before the all-star game break
Atlanta Braves catcher, A.J. Pierzynski
passed Lance Parrish to move into 11th place
in the all-time MLB ranks of players in
Games at Catcher. A.J. now has caught more
than 1,820 games.
Above: a Pierzynski portrait photo.
Below: Photo is from a recent game, with A.J.
standing to the right of the Phillies' Andres Blanco.

[Pinetarpress]

Ken...that isn't AJ standing next to Blanco

That is Orioles catcher (says Orioles on his left sleeve)

[KenRaffensberger16]

Originally Posted by Pinetarpress

Ken...that isn't AJ standing next to Blanco

That is Orioles catcher (says Orioles on his left sleeve)

My bad for not checking the photo out more closely, but it's from a Philadelphia Inquirer story. Someone that does photo captioning for that newspaper is pretty bad at their job.


Sometime around the 4th of July, Andres Blanco, who is also in that photo, became the shortest person the Phillies have used as a first baseman since 2004 (Shawn Wooten) - (both generously listed at 5'10"). Honestly, who keeps track of stuff like that?

[hobbs11]

Good to see these out on the Topps Folders representing his last year in the bigs...

[hobbs11]

I say these two years because by 1974 (his last year with the Rangers) he had a different coif and facial hair as captured by Topps. I think this most recent version from the Topps Folders fills a personal request from way back....maybe it helps you as well.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ml#post3730995

[Merkle923]

I know this properly belongs in the Coaches' thread, but just seeing "Pops" in any uniform other than the Pirates is still too startling to not post.

[Merkle923]

Three weeks, three games pitched for the 1979 Twins. These might be the first major league color images of him except for a Brace photo.

[Merkle923]

Again my apologies for the second post - phone won't let me upload multiple images.

[Merkle923]

Not a lot of him from his three-game stint with the 1979 Yankees - all of it, I think, Topps.

[Merkle923]

Another original 1977 Mariner:

[Merkle923]

Not a lot of him in color with Cleveland, despite annual hype and September recalls, 1973-76