Gambo and T_Wil1 Photopack

[RUKen]

For April Fools' Day, I present Hal Chase as a Washington National, from the Richmond Times-Dispatch of October 12, 1911. Chase had joined Jimmy McAleer's All-Stars, a team assembled to play against the Philadelphia Athletics after the end of the American League season. (The NL season extended one week later than the AL season, delaying the start of the World Series.) The players had been expected to wear their regular-season uniforms, but Chase apparently forgot to bring his, so he was provided with one from Washington.

[Merkle923]

Trivia, possibly not strictly appropriate for this thread, but irresistible because vintage Spring Training programs so rarely pop up. These are in a Mets' 1967 scorecard in the current Clean Sweep auction and what's neat here is the non-roster guys are included with the rostered players (so that #45 from the Phillies IS former Orioles' slugger Jim Gentile). Note also all the "coaches" listed for the Mets (only Berra, Haddix, Parker and Robinson actually were with the club during the season - the others were minor league managers and instructors).

For fun, Gentile-Phillies (an unused Dexter Press photo) and the Weaver listed with the Mets (Floyd Weaver, 1962, shot by the New York Daily News) are attached. Neither of them ever appeared for these teams in the majors.

[Shea6408]

One of those listed minor-league managers, Bill Virdon, in Mets garb. Presumably from that spring.



Image courtesy of Hollywood Collectibles; color slighty adjusted by me.

[Shea6408]

Unused photo of Ron Nischwitz, taken that spring but not published until used as a 1960s retrospective card by TCMA in 1981. Now we know why Jerry Koosman had to wear #47.



Strongly color-adjusted by me so that Ron's face is not lost in the shadows.

[Merkle923]

Nischwitz and Virdon, 1967

[Shea6408]

Even better. Of the others listed in that program, do you also have Glenn Ezell, Larry Wallin or Clint Stark (or coaches Roy Sievers and Clyde McCullough), likewise wearing the Mets gear none of them actually did?

(Bar McCullough, who had coached with the team in 1963, before finding success managing in the chain.)

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by Shea6408

Even better. Of the others listed in that program, do you also have Glenn Ezell, Larry Wallin or Clint Stark (or coaches Roy Sievers and Clyde McCullough), likewise wearing the Mets gear none of them actually did?

(Bar McCullough, who had coached with the team in 1963, before finding success managing in the chain.)

Larry Wallin was a non-roster invitee to the Mets spring camp in 1967 while he was still a player. This image won't portray him as a Mets coach, but at least it shows him in a Mets uniform. It was a custom card I found in 2014. His uni #62 matches the scorecard shown above.

[Patsy Tebeau]

He sent me this signed photo which was an interesting angle I hadn't seen before so I figured I'd post it here.

[tnfoto]

Originally Posted by Shea6408

Even better. Of the others listed in that program, do you also have Glenn Ezell, Larry Wallin or Clint Stark (or coaches Roy Sievers and Clyde McCullough), likewise wearing the Mets gear none of them actually did?

(Bar McCullough, who had coached with the team in 1963, before finding success managing in the chain.)

Here is Roy Sievers, pictured in Mets gear.

[tnfoto]

Originally Posted by Shea6408

Even better. Of the others listed in that program, do you also have Glenn Ezell, Larry Wallin or Clint Stark (or coaches Roy Sievers and Clyde McCullough), likewise wearing the Mets gear none of them actually did?

(Bar McCullough, who had coached with the team in 1963, before finding success managing in the chain.)

Here is Clyde McCullough during his major league Mets coaching stint in 1963, and during spring training 1967 as a minor league manager. Merkle may have color photos or other better options available.

[Shea6408]

Thanks to everyone. I wonder when that team picture with Sievers is from; usually you have to be on the major-league staff to make the picture, not just a spring training instructor.

(I should clarify that only Sievers and McCullough were coaches that spring. I know Ezell ended up with a long coaching career, but this was still early in his playing days.)

[Merkle923]

A lot of Mets photos from the '67 Spring Training.

65 is pitcher Clint Stark. The "bluer" photo was by The New York Daily News, the brownish, from the Dexter Press posing for the Coca Cola premium sets.

61 is catcher Glenn Ezell.

62 is catcher Larry Wallin

[Merkle923]

Again, technically better placed in the minor league thread but what the heck.

64 is catcher Dick Howard (Dexter really got everybody, it seems, except Seaver)

35 is Jim Ray - purchased conditionally from the Astros, returned to them, also appeared in the majors in Detroit (New York Daily News)

And the spring training instructors, #51 Clyde McCullough (also a '63 second half coach) and Pete Pavlick (father of actual Mets bullpen coach Greg Pavlick). Enjoy.

[Shea6408]

Wow, I was wondering if #35 could be Jim "Sting" Ray (nicknamed "Ultraviolent" after he got into a fight on the Astros' bus in 1969, per Bouton) but I couldn't find any evidence he'd ever been with the Mets. Very nice to see.

Dexter certainly did shoot everybody. Was that the same for other teams? Had they heard that the players were planning to boycott Topps and thought they had an opportunity to take market share?

I wonder how Glenn Ezell got a glove from Joe Torre?

[Merkle923]

Dexter Press issued beautiful 12-card 5-1/2" x 7" sets of 18 of the 20 MLB teams in 1967 as premiums for completing the team set of Coke bottle cap inner linings (no Cardinals, no Angels - though a 1966 card of Paul Schaal is often misattributed to the '67 set). They also issued separate postcard sets of the Yankees and Angels. And they were in every camp but the Cardinals that spring, basically shooting everybody they could. They then made another set of regular sized postcards in 1968 and did a bunch of teams as well. Dexter did all the photography for the Angels in the '60s and much of the Dodger work in those years (plus a huge array of non-sports postcard photography) but went out of business circa 1969-1970. I did a thing on the history of Dexter photography for SABR's Baseball Cards site some years ago: https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/2016/...cards-1966-68/

A couple of years ago a large tranche of huge negatives (300 or so) turned up featuring players they printed and lots more they didn't. Some of our only known color images of guys in some uniforms (Joe Rudi with the KC A's, Bob Buhl with the Phillies - shown below) are from the Dexter shoots.

The Joe Torre glove? Ezell probably bought it. The companies didn't make a glove for you unless they were going to market it at a sporting goods store.

[stlcardsfan]

I purchased around a thousand negatives and slides recently and am needing help identifying a couple.

These are from sometime around 1997-1999 Spring training.

thanks!