1934-1936 Diamond Stars: May 2023

Sunday, May 14, 2023

#36 "Ernie" Lombardi - Cincinnati Reds (Variation)

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.

Spot the Difference
Building the Set

March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Stan's Vintage Sports Cards, Ohio) - Card #81

In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set. That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon. I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here. When I wasn't making bulk 1969 Topps commons purchases, I was on the look out for more Diamond Stars cards to add to our set.

I was happy to again find quite a few dealers with Diamond Stars cards for sale. I visited three separate dealers, purchasing a total of five cards, and getting the number of cards needed for my version of a master set down to an attainable 38. This Lombardi card was one of two variations purchased from Stan's Vintage Sports Cards, along with the Kiki Cuyler (#31) card, updated to show Cuyler's move to the Reds. As my final purchases of the day, I made Stan a reasonable offer for the pair, the offer was accepted, and two more Hall of Fame cards were added to our set.

Variations Available

1 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright / name spelled correctly

2 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright / name spelled "Earnie" ✅

This is the error version of Lombardi's card with his first name misspelled as "Earnie," and this is one of 11 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, along with the misspelling of his first name on the front of the card.

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.

1933 Tattoo Orbit (R305)

1934 Goudey #35

1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #129

1938 Goudey Heads-Up #246

1961 Fleer Baseball Greats #55

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card: 1933 Tattoo Orbit (R305)

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0): N/A

Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2006 SP Legendary Cuts #69

153 - Lombardi non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/19/23.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card: #31 "Kiki" Cuyler - Cincinnati Reds (Variation)

Next Card: #54 "Hank" Greenberg - Detroit Tigers (Variation)

Sunday, May 7, 2023

#31 "Kiki" Cuyler - Cincinnati Reds (Variation)

Hazen Shirley Cuyler

Cincinnati Reds

Outfield

Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'10" Weight: 180

Born: August 30, 1898, Harrisville, MI

Major League Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates 1921-1927; Chicago Cubs 1928-1935; Cincinnati Reds 1935-1937; Brooklyn Dodgers 1938

World Series Appearances: Pittsburgh Pirates 1925; Chicago Cubs 1929, 1932

Died: February 11, 1950, Ann Arbor, MI (51)

Hall of Fame Induction: 1968

Outfielder Kiki Cuyler could hit for average, possessed speed on the base paths and provided steady defense for the Pirates, Cubs, Reds and Dodgers over 18 major league seasons. Cuyler had three 200+ hit seasons while leading the league in runs scored twice, in triples once (with 26) and in stolen bases four times. He helped lead the Pirates to a World Series title in 1925, driving in six runs in the Series, and finished second in the MVP voting that season behind the Cardinals' Rogers Hornsby (#44). While his numbers were slightly better overall with the Pirates, Cuyler would play most of his career games with the Cubs, who acquired him following the 1927 season. With the Cubs, Cuyler was one of the league's top run producers, and as their everyday right fielder he helped the club reach the World Series in 1929 and 1932. He made one All-Star team (the first game wasn't played until 1933) as the starting right fielder for the 1934 N.L. squad.

Cuyler played in 1,879 career games, collecting 2,299 hits and batting .321 with 328 stolen bases. His 157 career triples is 45th on the all-time list. He briefly managed in the minor leagues after retiring as a player and was a coach for the Cubs (1941-1943) and Red Sox (1949). Cuyler was inducted posthumously into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968 by the Veteran's Committee.

Building the Set

March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Stan's Vintage Sports Cards, Ohio) - Card #80

I was happy to again find quite a few dealers with Diamond Stars cards for sale. I visited three separate dealers, purchasing a total of five cards, and getting the number of cards needed for my version of a master set down to an attainable 38. This Cuyler card was one of two variations purchased from Stan's Vintage Sports Cards, along with the misspelled "Earnie" Lombardi (#36) card. As my final purchases of the day, I made Stan a reasonable offer for the pair, the offer was accepted, and two more Hall of Fame cards were added to our set.

Variations Available

1 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright / team on back is the Cubs

2 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1935 copyright / team on back is the Reds ✅

The Card / Reds Team Set

This is one of 11 notable variations from the set I'm collecting for my version of a master set. Cuyler was released by the Cubs on July 3, 1935, and he'd sign with the Reds two days later. National Chicle updates his card in the set, replacing "of the Cubs" with "of the Reds" on the back of this version.

Until reading and learning about Cuyler, I had always assumed his nickname was pronounced "Kee Kee" but it turns out it's actually pronounced "Ky Ky," rhyming with "eye eye." He was given the nickname as a result of teammates shortening his last name. Cuyler is looking pretty serious in this photo, but a lot of his baseball cards show him smiling. The back of the card gives a fielding tip about always knowing where to position yourself in order to back-up any play.

1936 Season

At 37 years old, and the sixth oldest player in the National League, Cuyler played 144 games for the Reds as their regular center fielder. He batted .326 with 29 doubles, 11 triples, 7 home runs and 74 RBIs, his highest total since driving in 77 in 1932. He topped the Reds in hits (185), runs scored (96) and RBIs. Cuyler had 16 stolen bases, fifth best in the league. On August 30th, he celebrated his 38th birthday by going 5 for 9 with two triples in a double header sweep of the Phillies.