1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #37 "Billie" Urbanski

Sunday, March 7, 2021

#37 "Billie" Urbanski - Boston Braves

William Michael Urbanski

Boston Braves

Shortstop

Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'8" Weight: 165

Born: June 5, 1903, Linoleumville, NY

Major League Teams: Boston Braves 1931-1936; Boston Bees 1936-1937

Died: July 12, 1973, Perth Amboy, NJ (70)

Billy Urbanski was the everyday shortstop for the Braves between 1932 and 1935, leading the league in assists at the position for three years in a row and achieving the top fielding percentage for shortstops in 1934. That was Urbanski's best year as he batted a career-high .293 while also hitting career high marks for home runs (7) and RBIs (53). In seven season with the Braves/Bees, Urbanski appeared in 763 game and hit .260 with 791 hits and 379 runs scored.

Building the Set

January 9, 2021 from Tomball, TX (The Battersbox) - Card #8

After a stressful first week of 2021, I decided there was really no better time to take advantage of the sale going on within the eBay store of The Battersbox, and I happily clicked Buy It Now on four reasonably priced Diamond Stars cards for my set. I'm looking for cards in better than average shape, with no paper loss and no extraneous markings and these four cards passed my test. This Urbanski card was the oddly priced $21.31, before shipping. With the four cards purchased from The Battersbox, I had my first 10 cards in the set, with only 108 to go. (108 cards in the set, plus 10 variations I'm chasing for my version of a 118-card master set.)

Variations Available

1 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright

The Card / Braves Team Set

This is the second card I've added with a smokestack in the background, with the first card being that of Red Rolfe (#29). This is the first card I've added to my set that has a horizontal orientation. I'll imagine here that Urbanski is demonstrating how to field a sharp hit ball at short as Braves' center fielder Wally Berger (#25) jogs towards the infield to get a closer look. The back of the card urges the reader to have a strong infield arm, like Urbanski, and to play deeper in the infield in order to more cleanly field a ball while relying on your strong arm to throw out the runner at first.

1935 Season

Urbanski was the regular shortstop for a truly bad Braves team that lost 115 games. He batted .230 with 4 home runs and 30 RBIs, tying for the team lead with a whopping 3 stolen bases. Urbanski missed a few weeks in June with Joe Coscarart filling in for him at short. His usual infield mates were Buck Jordan (#49) at first, Les Mallon at second and former Phillies star Pinky Whitney at third.