1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #36 "Ernie" Lombardi

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.