Random Photo Colorizations and Cards

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Originally Posted by FatJack

I've long been a fan of Bernie Smith. Not so much because of his time with the Brewers, but because he was a monster in the Mets farm system for years. And Bernie had a cool backstory, too. When Bernie learned of the expansion team, and that they were training just a few states away in 1962, he hitchiked from Louisiana to Georgia to get a tryout. The Mets people didn't have the heart to turn him away. It turned out he was pretty good and he won a starting outfield position with Auburn (NY-P league). While the parent club was setting a major league record for losses, Auburn was actually winning their league title with Bernie leading the way with his .301 batting average. 1963 found Bernie in Raleigh, which was still a difficult city to play in for African-Americans at the time. But he was back in Auburn in 1964...the team winning its second league title in three years and Bernie hit .391 this time around. The Auburn fans loved the team and they really loved Bernie. They showered him with gifts. He had to buy a station wagon to haul all the loot they gave him. 1967 may have been his best year. Now with AA Williamsport, Bernie won Eastern League MVP and Williamsport won the league title. After that, the Mets (who, in fairness, had a pretty bitchin' minor league system at the time, overflowing with pitchers and outfielders), started loaning Bernie around to get him AAA playing time). It's a shame he didn't get to see some time with the Amazins in '69. Then they traded him to Seattle for catcher Gary Upton. Bernie was hitting .330 for Portland when the Brewers called him up in 1970.

Some of you may remember my custom Pilots from the old Baseball Birthdays site. When we reached the end of the road, there, I'd posted 110 custom Pilots in the style of 1971 Topps. I've added a couple dozen since and, no, I'm not going to post them here. But, in honor of the fine (imo) checklist of Pilots autographed cards slated for release in 2018 Heritage, I will share my Bernie Smith. 1971, you'll recall, was when Topps first included action photography. So, every now and then, I figured I had to include an action shot for the set. When this B&W Brewers Bernie turned up on eBay, back when, I knew that was what I was looking for for him. Love me some Bernie. Here he is, transformed, colorized, and custom carded.

AWESOME JOB!!!. Would Love to see More Pilots.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

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[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

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[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

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[Home Free]

If Roger Craig's 1966 Topps card had been in the first series, insead of being a pricy high number, he would have still been portrayed as a member of the Reds. Instead, history gave us the same head shot used on his 1962 card, but here is what Craig's '66 should have looked like in all its dated glory.

[Home Free]

Willie Montanez played for nine major league teams, but his development took place for a tenth, the St. Louis Cardinals. They lost him to the Angels in the Rule V draft in 1966 (where he made his MLB debut), but he was returned the the Redbirds.
He would go on to spend parts of five seasons in the St. Louis system until he was sent to the Phillies as a replacement for the rebellious Curt Flood, who refused to report.
Only photo I have found of hm in St. Louis spring uniform. Could someone make this a quality colorization?

[FatJack]

I don't usually do request work, but I enjoyed Willie when he was a Met and the source material was large and clear. I avoid Topps designs these days, but I also give you a Stubbly Bubbly.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

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[FatJack]

It's likely very few people have ever heard of Wayne Dye. His pro career was all too brief, as was his life. But, by all accounts, Wayne was a natural with so much talent, he should have been a super star by accident.

Born in Vernon, BC (Canada), Wayne got his start at age 6 as a bat boy for the local Senior League team, the Luckies. By the time he was 16, Wayne was routinely whooping the butts of these "grown ass men", and winning the league MVP. And word spread.

With Wayne being a Pacific Northwestern kid, the expansion Seattle Pilots were among the major league teams most interested in signing the youngster. Being a Canadian kid, the expansion Expos were another. The Expos offered a $5,000 bonus. The Pilots offered 10. Still just 16, Wayne and his father signed with the Pilots. Assigned to Newark in 1970, he would play in just 16 games, hitting just .100. He returned in 1971 but, after just one game, decided he'd rather be home than in Newark, NY and quit.

At least as talented a hockey player--and comparing Wayne's career in both sports--we can see that Wayne had undeniable talent and a love for the game, but cared less for the pressure and prestige of professional competition. As a hockey player, Wayne was a Junior League star at age 14, again besting players with three or four years on him. He won the BCJHL scoring title in 1979-80. When his Junior League career was over, Wayne was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1974 (109th overall). But, again, Wayne would play just one year of pro hockey (with the Flint Generals). The Blackhawks certainly wanted him back, but, after being assigned to Flint again, Wayne chose to play semi-pro hockey instead. He would go on to lead the Spokane Jets to three WIHL titles. And he continued playing baseball, too, still whooping the butts of whatever "grown ass" semi-pro or Senior League men he competed with.

As a professional player, Wayne was prone to frustration, which would result in long slumps and bursts of temper. That, in turn, would lead to more frustration which would lead to more slumps and so on. Freed from the pressures of the pros, Wayne's talent soared to the surface and people in the Pacific Northwest would pack the stands to watch him play. Wayne also excelled at track and field, golf and snooker. "Everything in sports came easy to him," his mother would later recall.

Wayne passed away in his sleep in 1988 at the age of 35. He was named Vernon's Athlete of the Century in 1999 and posthumously inducted into the Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

The attached image is from the Vernon Morning Star. As a young team with less than stable finances, the Pilots would have sought any opportunity for favorable publicity. Signing a promising area 16-year old is just that sort of thing. Those who would know better than I have determined that this image was shot at Sicks Stadium and my conclusion would be that they brought Wayne in for a photo-op for a day, providing area papers with copy and pictures of their newest phenom hopeful.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

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[FatJack]

Johnny Burnett was an infielder for the Cleveland Indians in the late 20s and early 30s. All but one of his nine major league seasons was spent with Cleveland. As an everyday player in 1931, Johnny hit .300 and, in 1932, .297. He dropped back into a part-time role in 1933 and, following the 1934 season, the Indians deemed him expendable and traded him to the St. Louis Browns. After one unproductive season in St. Louis, Johnny was traded to the Reds. He would play two seasons in the Reds minor league system, then manage the Class B Columbia Reds for two more before retiring from the game at 34. Twenty years later, Johnny died of acute leukemia.

Johnny Burnett holds three records which, so far as I can find, still stand today. On July 10, 1932, he collected 9 hits in 11 at bats in an extra inning game against the Philadelphia Athletics. 9 hits is the record for most hits in a single MLB game--regulation or extra innings. Seven of those 9 hits were singles...and that is a record number of singles in any MLB game. The following night, Johnny collected two more hits, setting the American League record for most hits in two consecutive games.

I've long been fascinated by teams that, essentially, cease to exist. But, while the Senators and Colts and Pilots and Senators and Expos all changed cities and names during my lifetime, I just missed the Browns. I think the first I ever really heard about the Browns was when those Conlon cards were issued in the early 90s. So I definitely have a certain fondness for them. For what, to me, is the mystery of them. This image of Burnett, from a current eBay auction, just called out to me to be colorized. I'm feeling the urge, too, to design a Browns-specific card template, but I haven't gotten to that, yet. Oh, and, btw, a different image of Johnny with the Browns was posted here by bearman14 some time ago. Anyway....

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

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[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Using part of Krantzbucks colorization photo on 1968 topps card to show Tompkins in a Cincy Uni. Hope that I am not stepping on any toes doing this. also here is a different version with bench. My 1968 redo of Bench and Tompkins from previous attempt the one on the right with the new Bench

[FatJack]

Everybody knows that the Dodgers and Jackie Robinson broke major league baseball's "color barrier". And everybody knows that the Cleveland Indians and Larry Doby quickly followed. But fewer recall that it was the St. Louis Browns who became the third MLB team to integrate when they added Negro League legends Hank Thompson and Willard Brown to their roster in the summer of 1947. In doing so, the Browns became the first team to feature two African-American players on the same field at the same time. Unlike Robinson and Doby, Thompson and Brown were cut after a month of play. So what went wrong?

To begin with, St. Louis was baseball's southern-most major league team at the time and Thompson and Brown were greeted with fierce racism from both players and fans. But that wasn't it. Neither player really got a chance to establish themselves in their brief trials, so neither player put up the kind of numbers the Browns were hoping for. But that wasn't it. No, it was all a matter of money. The always cash-strapped Browns had paid the KC Monarchs $5000 apiece for the pair, hoping to boost attendance. But a much larger payment was to be paid if Thompson or Brown finished the season with St. Louis. Attendance did not rise and the two were cut loose, with the manager telling reporters they were just not major league caliber players afterall. Of course, that wasn't true. Thompson would later catch on with the New York Giants. But, for the older Willard Brown, it was the last major league shot he'd ever get.

Willard Brown got his start in baseball as the batboy for the KC Monarchs. He left school in 1934 to turn pro, signing with the Monroe Monarchs for $8 a week and graduated to the Kansas City Monarchs the following year. Although some teammates saw Willard as a bit of a "Sunday player" (he was super motivated to play to his full potential when the stands were full--as they were on Sundays--but less so when they weren't), there was no denying his ability as a hitter. Pitcher Ruben Gomez said that Willard was the most dominant player he'd ever played with aside from Willie Mays. And Josh Gibson, himself, called Willard "Home Run" Brown.

As good as Brown showed with the Monarchs, he decimated the Puerto Rican Winter League, where he was known as "Ese Hombre" ("That Man"). He twice won the PRWL Triple Crown. And the number that sticks out with me is 27...the still standing record number of home runs Brown hit in the PRWL in 1947-48. To put that number in perspective, the PRWL schedule is only 60 games long and #2 on the single season home run list is Reggie Jackson, who hit 20 in 1970-71. Willard finished his PRWL career with a .350 average, best in league history. He was inducted into the Puerto Rican Baseball Hall of Fame with the inaugural class in 1991.

Willard was also inducted into Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame (in 2006) based upon his play in the Negro Leagues. So what to make of his brief 21 game run with the St. Louis Browns in which he hit just .179. Aside from noting that he never really got the chance to show what he could do, it's also worth noting that these were the Browns...basically baseball's cruel joke of a team at the time. Willard didn't even want to go when his contract was purchased. For one thing, the Monarchs paid better. For another, the Browns sucked. And he was less kind about their "talent" than manager Muddy Ruel had been of his when he and Thompson were cut. “The Browns couldn’t beat the Monarchs no kind of way, only if we was all asleep. That’s the truth. They didn’t have nothing. ‘Major league team?’ They got to be kidding.”

But Willard, nonetheless, left his mark on the game. On August 13, 1947, he became the first African-American to hit a hit an American League home run...an inside the park round-tripper at that. And nobody ever beats first.

The image attached has appeared on the forum before (here and here), but in much smaller form. This larger one is from a current eBay auction. I also did go ahead and design a Browns-specific card template. I kinda went in with the thought that I wanted something simple like '51 Bowman. I then proceeded all over the map. I tried pennants and baseballs and bats and old-timey wood carvings. I looked at old Goudeys and Play Balls and Big League Chews. I tried a diagonal cut that looked like Score's worst designs of the 90's. I even did up a gaudy derivative of Topps '72 design, with a big honkin' curved "St. Louis Browns" up top and a colorful checkerboard bottom. But, in the end, I came back to '51 Bowman with a slight '69 Topps twist. It may not look like much, and it won't be everybody's favorite, but I like it for the subject matter (and I'll include Johnny Burnett, here, as well).

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

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[FatJack]

Hey, look. I recognize that the Browns have been colorized to death, but I'm just on a thing. Feel free to ignore me.

Anyway... Paul Krichell, the player, had a fairly undistinguished 14 year career as a journeyman backup catcher, mostly in the high minors. He did manage two seasons with the Browns, in 1911 and 1912. By all accounts, the 5' 7" backstop was a solid catcher, defensively, with a strong arm and tough as granite.

In 1917, his playing skills in decline, Krichell took a job as a player/manager with the Bridgeport Americans (this, btw, was before the days of minor league farm teams). Not obsessed with his own ego, he rarely put his own name in the lineup. But he did possess a bit of a temper and led the league in fines. He especially did not get along with the league president, Dan O'Neill.

In Paul's second year at the helm of the Americans, Bridgeport stood at 23 and 2 in June when O'Neill fined him $40 and reversed two team wins for allegedly playing a player on the suspended list. It was the proverbial last straw for Krichell, who said he was through with baseball so long as men like O'Neill were running things. But, after a year coaching at New York University, he decided he really did want a career in professional baseball. His former manager in Montreal, Ed Barrow, was now the Red Sox manager and Paul reached out to him and became part of the coaching staff.

A few years later, Barrow moved on to become the defacto GM of the Yankees and he brought Paul with him. As a scout for the Yankees, Krichell had an eye for talent. Among those he scouted and signed in his 37 years with New York were Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, Johnny Allen, Whitey Ford and Phil Rizzuto.

Paul Krichell died in 1957 following a two-year battle with cancer.

This image of Paul was previously posted here by bearman14 (below is my initial crop of that image). The problem I have with the image is that the background is pretty washed out. Worse, its washed out and there are billboards on that fence. Not that I've never colorized a billboard before, but I kinda need them clear enough to know what I'm doing. Give me a Coca Cola sign and I'm good to go. There are a couple of things I do in these situations. Sometimes, I'll just photoshop in some billboards from elsewhere. Works great for the 50s and 60s, but I've got no clue what a billboard from the turn of the century might be hawking. So I pulled up a random baseball field on google, cartoonized, blurred and desaturated the sucker (so the 2 images would be a better fit), flattened the image(s) and resaturated the whole thing, and went with that.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

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