1934-1936 Diamond Stars: August 2022

Sunday, August 21, 2022

#87 Steve O'Neill MG - Cleveland Indians

Stephen Francis O'Neill

Cleveland Indians

Manager

Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'10" Weight: 165

Born: July 6, 1891, Minooka, PA

Major League Teams: Cleveland Naps 1911-1914; Cleveland Indians 1915-1923; Boston Red Sox 1924; New York Yankees 1925; St. Louis Browns 1927-1928

World Series Appearances: Cleveland Indians 1920; Detroit Tigers 1945

As a Manager: Cleveland Indians 1935-1937; Detroit Tigers 1943-1948; Boston Red Sox 1950-1951; Philadelphia Phillies 1952-1954

Died: January 26, 1962, Cleveland, OH (70)

As a player, Steve O'Neill was the primary catcher for the Indians for over a decade, playing steady defense and using a strong throwing arm to catch would-be base stealers. His career year of 1920 coincided with the Indians winning the American League pennant and ultimately defeating the Brooklyn Robins in that year's World Series. O'Neill batted .321 in a career-high 149 games that season and batted .333 (7 for 21) in the seven-game World Series. He'd finish sixth in MVP voting in 1922, batting .311 with a career-high 65 RBIs. O'Neill led all catchers in double plays in five seasons, and his 198 double plays rank second all-time. He led the league in runners caught stealing three times, and his career total of 937 runners caught is currently 13th all-time.

Following his playing days, O'Neill began managing in the minor leagues in 1929 and was named the Indians' manager in 1935. In 14 big league seasons at the helm of the Indians, Tigers, Red Sox and Phillies, he never had a losing record and he guided the Tigers to a 1945 World Championship title. O'Neill's career managerial record was 1,040-821, and he's one of 12 major league managers to have won 1,000 games without also losing 1,000 games. He was one of 10 inaugural members inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 1951, along with Earl Averill (#35), Tris Speaker and Cy Young.

Building the Set

August 5, 2022 from Tomball, TX (The Battersbox) - Card #59

I got an itch for some vintage baseball cards in late July, as I hadn't added any new cards to our 1965 Topps set since May or my Diamond Stars set since June. Taking advantage of some discounts offered at The Battersbox online store, I settled on a relatively pricey Ernie Lombardi (#36) card along with this O'Neil card. Also arriving in the package was the 1965 Topps Willie Stargell card, which gets us down to needing just seven cards before that set is completed.

I'm now officially half-way through completing the Diamond Stars set, with 59 cards in hand and 59 more cards needed. That tally includes all 108 cards in the base set, along with ten notable variations. I've got a lot of big ticket cards to go before I complete the set, and I may try to add one of those before the year is out.

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1936 copyright

The Card / Indians Team Set

He's touted as "one of the great catchers of all time" on the back of the card, yet National Chicle still spelled his last name wrong, using only one "L." The back of the card contains a brief recent history of the Cleveland franchise, noting O'Neill was replacing Walter Johnson as the team's manager. O'Neill is credited as helping pitchers Stanley Coveleski (misspelled Coveleskie) and Duster Mails while serving as their catcher, and it's also pointed out he was on the Speaker managed team that won the pennant in 1920. The last line is prescient, as the Yankees and Tigers both finished ahead of the Indians in the standings in 1936.

1936 Season

O'Neill's Indians team finished in fifth place in the American League with a 80-74-3 record, 30 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Yankees.

Phillies Career
His SABR biography notes O'Neill was a player's manager who served more as a mentor than an adversary to his team. He was working as a scout for the Red Sox when he was named to replace Eddie Sawyer as the Phillies manager on June 28, 1952. The team had been seven games below .500 when he came on board, and they finished the season going 59-32 and climbing into fourth place. O'Neill guided the Phillies to an even better third place finish in 1953 and he started the 1954 season with a 40-37 record before being surprisingly fired on July 15th and replaced by Terry Moore. He was 182-140 in his three seasons at the helm for the Phillies, and I can't help but wonder if the Phillies would have continued to improve under his guidance.

O'Neill received a manager's card in the 1954 Topps set, and Topps created a card that never was for O'Neill as part of its 1991 Topps Archives 1953 set.

1915 Cracker Jack #48

1916 Sporting News
(M101-5) #314

1921 American Caramel
Series of 80 (E121)

1951 Bowman #201

1954 Topps #127

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card: 1915 Cracker Jack (E145) #48

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1): 1954

Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1995 Conlon Collection TSN #1356

88 - O'Neill non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/12/22.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card: #86 Frank Crosetti - New York Yankees

Next Card: #88 Geo. Selkirk - New York Yankees

Sunday, August 14, 2022

#36 "Ernie" Lombardi - Cincinnati Reds

Ernesto Natali Lombardi

Cincinnati Reds

Catcher

Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6'3" Weight: 230

Born: April 6, 1908, Oakland, CA

Major League Teams: Brooklyn Robins 1931; Cincinnati Reds 1932-1941; Boston Braves 1942; New York Giants 1943-1947

World Series Appearances: Cincinnati Reds 1939-1940

Died: September 26, 1977, Santa Cruz, CA (69)

Hall of Fame Induction: 1986

Called by baseball writer Bill James, "the slowest man to ever play major league baseball well," Ernie Lombardi was a fan favorite, the National League's MVP in 1938, a World Series winner in 1940 and posthumous Hall of Fame inductee in 1986. Lombardi, given the affectionate nickname "Schnozz," spent 10 of his 17 seasons with the Reds, where he first rose to stardom. He batted over .300 in ten seasons, winning his first batting title in 1938 when he hit .342 on the way to also winning the MVP. He caught both of Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-back no hitters that season on June 11th and June 15th. Lombardi helped lead the Reds to the World Series in 1939 and 1940, hitting .333 in the 1940 series in which his team downed the Tigers in seven games. Sold to the Braves before the 1942 season, he won his second batting title by hitting .330. Lombardi was named to eight All-Star Games.

He finished his career with a .306 batting average, 1,792 hits, 190 home runs and 990 RBIs. Battling depression later in life, he struggled after leaving baseball and was disgruntled by his exclusion from the Hall of Fame. Lombardi was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1958, and finally got the call to Cooperstown in 1986, nine years after he had passed away.

Building the Set

August 5, 2022 from Tomball, TX (The Battersbox) - Card #58

I got an itch for some vintage baseball cards in late July, as I hadn't added any new cards to our 1965 Topps set since May or my Diamond Stars set since June. Taking advantage of some discounts offered at The Battersbox online store, I settled on this relatively pricey Lombardi card along with the card I'll feature in the next post, Steve O'Neil (#87). Also arriving in the package was the 1965 Topps Willie Stargell card, which gets us down to needing just seven cards before that set is completed.

Variations Available

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

There's an error version of this card with Lombardi's first name misspelled as "Earnie," and this is one of ten variations I'll ultimately track down for my set.

The final 12 cards in the Diamond Stars set, released as part of series three in 1936, contain the exact same photos and players as earlier cards from the set. Lombardi shows up again as card #105, with the same text on the back save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics. The ink on the back of card #105 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The Card / Reds Team Set

That's a strange tip on the back of Lombardi's card, going into great detail about choosing a light bat over a heavy bat. Babe Ruth (#109) is name-checked here, noting he used to swing a 54-ounce bat but he's cut back to a 36-ounce model in his later years. Lombardi's full name is listed with a middle initial "C" on the back as well. They got that wrong, but at least this version of the card spelled his first name correctly.

1935 Season

Lombardi had his break-out season this year, five seasons into his big league career. The Reds weren't great, finishing in sixth place with a 68-85-1 record, but Lombardi was a bright spot as the team's best hitter. In 120 games, he batted .343 with 23 doubles, 12 home runs and 64 RBIs. Despite his productivity, he spent the entire season in a platoon behind the plate with the left-handed hitting Gilly Campbell. On May 8th, Lombardi tied a league record with four doubles against the Phillies