Sunday, September 24, 2023

#2 Al Simmons - Detroit Tigers (Variation)


Aloysius Harry Simmons
Detroit Tigers
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  190
Born:  May 22, 1902, Milwaukee, WI
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Athletics 1924-1932; Chicago White Sox 1933-1935; Detroit Tigers 1936; Washington Senators 1937-1938; Boston Bees 1939; Cincinnati Reds 1939; Philadelphia Athletics 1940-1941; Boston Red Sox 1943; Philadelphia Athletics 1944
World Series Appearances:  Philadelphia Athletics 1929-1931; Cincinnati Reds 1939
Died:  May 26, 1956, Milwaukee, WI (54)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1953

Outfielder Al Simmons played in 20 big league seasons, batting .334 for his career and winning two World Championships with Connie Mack's (#142) Athletics teams in 1929 and 1930.  Those two Championship seasons coincided with Simmons' best years in the majors.  He collected 253 hits in 1925, a career-high, league-leading and record-setting single season record by a right-handed batter, as the Athletics slowly became an American League powerhouse.  In 1929, Simmons batted .365 with 34 home runs and a league-best 157 RBIs as his team defeated the Cubs in five games in the World Series.  The following season, Simmons won his first batting title with a .381 mark while hitting 36 home runs and collecting 165 RBIs.  The Athletics, with Simmons batting .364 in the World Series, took down the Cardinals in six games.  Another batting title would follow in 1931 with Simmons batting .390.  Another pennant resulted, but the Athletics lost the World Series to the Cardinals, and a slow and steady decline for the franchise began.

Mack sold Simmons to the White Sox in September 1932, and Simmons was the starting center fielder for the American League in the first ever All-Star Game played in 1933.  He'd make the All-Star team again in 1934 and 1935.  Over the final eight seasons of his playing career, Simmons played for six different teams, making two more stops with the Athletics along the way.  He retired having batted over .380 in four different seasons and over .330 in nine seasons.  Simmons' .334 career batting average is currently 27th all-time and his 2,927 hits are 41st all-time.  He had 539 doubles, 307 home runs and 1,828 RBIs.  Simmons was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1953 and he joined the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame in 1981, inducted as the Athletics' representative alongside Phillies' great Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Building the Set
September 8, 2023 from Champaign, IL (Monster Cards) - Card #90
This is the card that put me over the three-quarters mark for a complete set, and as of this writing I need 29 more cards out of 119 for my version of the master set.  I've been searching for the White Sox version of this card for some time now.  During a recent search I came across this Tigers version of the card with a surprisingly low price as I believe this is the rarest, and usually the most expensive, of the three variations of this card.  There's some scuffing on the front and the corners aren't sharp, but otherwise it's a great looking card.  The card was purchased during the unofficial end of summer and arrived during the unofficial beginning of autumn.  Monster Cards included a 1988 Donruss Paul Molitor card in the box, along with a humorous quote about arrows and bananas.

Variations Available
1 - 1934 / green back / 1933 statistics / 1934 copyright
2 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1934 copyright 
3 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1934 copyright / no SOX on front of jersey ✅

The Card / Tigers Team Set
Following his move from Chicago to Detroit (see below), National Chicle removed the SOX logo from the front of Simmons' jersey and referred to his new Tigers team on the back of the card.  The tip on the back of the card discusses the importance of a "long, free follow through" with a batter's power swing.

1936 Season
The White Sox sold Simmons to the Tigers on December 10, 1935 for $75,000 and he'd spend just one season playing for Detroit.  The opening day center fielder for the Tigers, Simmons would play in 143 games, batting .327 with 13 home runs and 112 RBIs.  He was one of four Tigers' sluggers with over 100 RBIs, joining Goose Goslin (#112) who had 125, Charlie Gehringer (#77) with 116 and Marv Owen (#67) with 105.  The Tigers finished in a distant second place to the Yankees, 19 1/2 games behind the top spot.  Before the start of the 1937 season, Simmons was on the move again, sold to the Senators for $15,000, a $60,000 drop in price from the year before.

1923-24 Exhibits (W461)
1933 DeLong Gum #2
1933 Goudey #35
1933 Tattoo Orbit (R305)
1960 Fleer Baseball Greats #32

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1923-24 Exhibits (W461)
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2023 Donruss #281

254 - Simmons non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/9/23.

Sources:

Previous Card:  #108 Wally Berger - Boston Bees
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Sunday, September 17, 2023

#17 Frankie Frisch MG - St. Louis Cardinals


Frank Francis Frisch
St. Louis Cardinals
Second Base-Manager

Bats:  Both  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  165
Born:  September 9, 1897, Bronx, NY
Major League Teams:  New York Giants 1919-1926; St. Louis Cardinals 1927-1937
World Series Appearances:  New York Giants 1921-1924; St. Louis Cardinals 1928, 1930-1931, 1934
As a Manager:  St. Louis Cardinals 1933-1938; Pittsburgh Pirates 1940-1946; Chicago Cubs 1949-1951
Died:  March 12, 1973, Wilmington, DE (75)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1947

Frankie Frisch was a switch-hitting superstar for the Giants and Cardinals throughout the 1920s and 1930s, helping his teams to eight World Series appearances and four World Series rings.  Frisch earned the nickname "The Fordham Flash" as a four-sport star at Fordham University.  He signed with the Giants before completing his collegiate career, bypassing the minor leagues and joining the starting line-up of John McGraw's team in 1919.  A strong defender, a great hitter and a threat on the base paths, Frisch led the league with 49 stolen bases in 49, 223 hits in 1923 and 121 runs scored in 1924.  He batted a career-high .348 in 1923.  The Giants went to the World Series four years in a row between 1921 and 1924, with Frisch hitting .362 (37 for 102) over 26 postseason games with New York.

Following a falling out with manager McGraw, Frisch was dealt to the Cardinals with Jimmy Ring in exchange for Rogers Hornsby (#44) in December 1926.  As the regular second baseman for the Cardinals, Frisch would become the spark plug for the Gashouse Gang, and he'd lead the league in stolen bases twice more in 1927 (48) and 1931 (28).  Frisch won MVP honors in 1931 while batting .311, as his Cardinals defeated the Athletics in seven games in the World Series.  Named player-manager in 1933, Frisch made his first of three straight All-Star Game appearances.  The Cardinals would win another World Series in 1934 as Frisch's playing time gradually decreased.  In 2,311 games, Frisch batted .316 with 2,880 hits, 466 doubles and 419 stolen bases.  He compiled a lifetime managerial record of 1,138-1,078 with the Cardinals, Pirates and Cubs.  Frisch was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1947.

Building the Set
August 28, 2023 from Prairie Village, KS (Cam's Card Store) - Card #89
As I progress through collecting this 90-year-old set, I find it's becoming harder to add non-graded cards in relatively decent shape.  Browsing eBay or any of the big name dealer's websites, most of the remaining 31 cards needed for my version of a master set are only available in graded form.  As I get to the end of the set build, and as I hopefully and eventually add some of the priciest cards in the set, I'll likely need to buy graded versions and I'll also likely keep those cards housed in their slabs.  This Frisch card, acquired during a late August eBay hunt, was purchased at a reasonable price from Cam's Card Store in Kansas, and promptly jail-breaked (jail-broke?) from its slab upon arrival.  Don't get me wrong, the slabs look fine, but I'd much rather Frisch enter my set's binder in its natural place, and not kept separate in a display case.

Frisch was purchased the day before we left for a week-long Disney trip, and it was in the pile of held mail that was delivered to us the day we returned.

Variations Available
1 - 1934 / green back / 1933 statistics / 1934 copyright ✅
2 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1934 copyright 

The Card / Cardinals Team Set
National Chicle made the wise design decision to use a horizontal format for Frisch's card, making this one of the most appealing cards in the set.  The photo itself could date back all the way to 1920 or 1921, as it appears to be the same photo used on Frisch's 1921 baseball cards, including the American Caramel card shown below.  The back of the card mentions his switch-hitting abilities, and suggests Frisch does better hitting left handed than right handed.  His career splits at Baseball Reference do not include a full breakdown, but they do show he batted .318 against right-handed pitchers and .311 against left-handed pitchers, supporting the statement on the back of this card by a slim margin.

1934 Season
In his first full season as manager of the Cardinals, Frisch led the Gashouse Gang to a National League pennant and eventually a World Series victory.  He made 113 starts at second base and 23 starts at third base, batting .305 with 30 doubles and 75 RBIs.  Frisch was the starting second baseman for the National League All-Stars, going 2 for 3 with a lead-off home run to start the game of Lefty Gomez (#118).  He batted just .194 in the World Series but his team ultimately prevailed against the Tigers in seven games.  The 1934 Cardinals team is one of the most memorable in franchise history, and it included pitchers Dizzy (#124)  and Paul Dean (#125), Pepper Martin (#26) at third base, Leo Durocher (#127) at shortstop and Ducky Medwick (#66) in left field.

1920 W519-2
1921 American Caramel Series of 80 (E121)
1933 Goudey #49
1940 Play Ball #167
1951 Bowman #282

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1920 W519 Strip Cards
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2023 Panini Prizm #217

397 - Frisch non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/9/23.

Sources:

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Sunday, September 10, 2023

#21 Johnny Vergez - New York Giants


Jean Louis Vergez
New York Giants
Third Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'8"  Weight:  165
Born:  July 9, 1906, Oakland, CA
Major League Teams:  New York Giants 1931-1934; Philadelphia Phillies 1935-1936; St. Louis Cardinals 1936
Died:  July 15, 1991, Davis, CA (85)

Johnny Vergez played in six big league seasons and was the regular third baseman for the Giants between 1931 and 1935.  His best season came in 1933 when he hit .271 with a career high 16 home runs to go along with 72 RBIs.  He had previously reached his career peak in both average (.278) and RBIs (81) in his rookie season of 1931.  A steady defender at third, Vergez lead all third baseman in fielding percentage in 1935 and finished in the top ten in the league in three other seasons.  In 672 major league games, Vergez batted .255 with 52 home runs and 292 RBIs.

Both before and after his big league career, Vergez starred in the Pacific Coast League with the Oakland Oaks (1929-1930, 1939-1943) and the Sacramento Solons (1936-1938).  He was the Oaks' player manager between 1939 and 1943, and while the record from his first two seasons at the helm are unavailable, over the final three seasons he guided the Oaks to three first place finishes and an overall record of 512-244.  After his PCL career, Vergez scouted for the Giants and was the head baseball coach at Saint Mary's College.

Building the Set
August 18, 2023 from Howell, NJ (East Coast Cards & Slabs) - Card #88
This was a surprisingly hard card for me to find, and when I did find it on eBay in mid-August, I was surprised at how low the asking price was.  Most of the Vergez cards I've come across in my travels have been the Phillies version of the card, which updates his team designation from Giants to Phillies following his trade from New York in November 1934.  The few Giants versions of this card I've seen over the years have all been fairly beat up.  This card arrived a few days after I had clicked Buy It Now from East Coast Cards & Slabs, located in Howell, New Jersey, and I took the picture shown here with both my Vergez variations meeting for the first time.

Variations Available
1 - 1934 / green back / 1933 statistics / 1934 copyright / team on back is the Giants ✅
2 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1934 copyright / team on back is the Phillies

The Card / Giants Team Set
The first sentence on the back misspells Vergez's name before going into a lengthy "running the bases" tip.  I believe Vergez is shown here wearing an Oakland Oaks jersey, meaning the source photo is likely from either 1929 or 1930, years in which Vergez spent the entire season with the Oaks.

1934 Season
Vergez was the regular third baseman for the Giants, appearing in 108 games and batting an even .200 with seven home runs and 27 RBIs.  The Giants finished just two games behind the Cardinals for the National League pennant, with Carl Hubbell (#39), Mel Ott (#50) and Bill Terry (#14) leading the way.

Phillies Career
The Giants traded Vergez along with Pretzel Pezzullo, Blondy Ryan (#40), George Watkins and cash to the Phillies on November 1, 1934 for All-Star shortstop Dick Bartell (#101).  Vergez was the Phillies' opening day third baseman in 1935, and he'd go on to start 148 games at the position with Mickey Haslin receiving the other 8 starts.  Vergez had a solid year with his glove, but struggled somewhat at the plate.  He led all National League third baseman with putouts (188) and double plays turned (25), while leading the league in fielding percentage (.953) at the position.  At the plate, Vergez batted .249 with 9 home runs and 63 RBIs.  The 1935 Phillies, managed by Jimmie Wilson (#22), finished 7th in the National League with a 64-89 record.

Vergez broke camp with the Phillies in 1936 and again was the club's opening day third baseman.  But on April 30th, the Phillies re-acquired Pinky Whitney from the Boston Bees and Vergez's time with the team was essentially over.  After 15 games with the Phillies at the start of the season, Vergez was sold to the Cardinals on May 24th.

1933 Goudey #233
1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #176
1993 Conlon Collection TSN #811

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1933 Goudey #233
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1993 Conlon Collection TSN #811

19 - Vergez non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/18/23.


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Sunday, September 3, 2023

#82 John Babich - Boston Bees (Variation)


John Charles Babich
Boston Bees
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  185
Born:  May 14, 1913, Albion, CA
Major League Teams:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1934-1935; Boston Bees 1936; Philadelphia Athletics 1940-1941
Died:  January 19, 2001, Richmond, CA (87)

Johnny Babich pitched professionally for 15 seasons, spending five years in the majors.  His finest seasons came in the Pacific Coast League, where he was a 20-game winner in 1933 for the Mission Reds in and a 19-game winner in 1938 for the Hollywood Stars.  In the majors, Babich appeared in 62 games for the Dodgers in 1934 and 1935, winning seven games each season.  After a brief stint with the Bees in 1936, Babich spent three full years in the minors before returning to the big leagues with the Athletics.  He enjoyed his best season in 1940, going 14-13 with a 3.73 ERA in 31 games for an Athletics team that would lose 100 games.  His final action in the majors came in 1941 as he appeared in 16 more games for the Athletics.

Babich is credited with teaching the slider to many of his teammates.  In 112 career major league games, he was 30-45 with a 4.93 ERA.  He stayed in the game as a minor league coach for several years following his last year pitching in the minors in 1945.

Building the Set
August 1, 2023 from Garden City, MI (A to Z Cards, Comics & Coins) - Card #87
Long and unproductive virtual work meetings occasionally lead to me venturing over to eBay to look for Phillies team-issued photo cards I don't yet have or reasonably priced Diamond Stars cards needed for our set.  In late July, I clicked Buy It Now on a pair of Diamond Stars cards, including this variation card of Babich from A to Z Cards, Comics & Coins, located in Garden City, Michigan.

Variations Available
1 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright
2 - 1935 / blue back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright
3 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1935 copyright / No Dodgers on uniform ✅

Cards 73 through 84 were issued in 1935 with either green or blue ink on the back and statistics from 1934.  These same 12 cards were issued again in 1936 with blue ink on the back and statistics from 1935.  This is the third Babich variation, released in 1936 after the pitcher had joined the Boston Bees, and the Dodgers team name has been removed from his jersey.  I added the Dodgers variation to our set back April 2022.

The Card / Bees Team Set
I was surprised to see red pinstripes on Babich's Dodgers uniform on this card, but a quick check of the wonderful resource, Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century by Marc Okkonen, shows the Dodgers did in fact have pinstripes in 1935.  Per Okkonen's illustration, the pinstripes were blue and Brooklyn was written across the chest and not Dodgers.  The Brooklyn word mark, along with the piping around the neck, were red.  And now you know.

The write-up on the back takes some liberties in calling Babich the "pitching star" of the Bees.  The tip explains it's best to pitch batters low and away until you figure out their specific weaknesses.  With the Boston Braves suffering from poor attendance and the owner in debt, a contest was held prior to the 1936 season to rename the team and hopefully generate renewed buzz for the National League team from Boston.  The Bees were the winning entry, and the team played under that nickname between 1936 and 1940.  When new ownership took over in early 1941, one of their first moves was to kill the Bees nickname and go back to being called the Braves.  Here's a great article from MLB.com with an in-depth look at the short history of the Boston Bees.

Born on May 14, 1913, Babich is the youngest player featured in the original Diamond Stars set

1936 Season
Babich was traded from the Dodgers to the Bees on February 6th with Gene Moore (#115) in exchange for Fred Frankhouse (#62).  He pitched in only three games for the Bees, two in May and one in August, earning a 10.50 ERA over six innings pitched.  Babich would spend all of 1937, 1938 and 1939 in the minor leagues, returning briefly to the majors in 1940 and 1941.

1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #167
1940 Play Ball #191
1941 Play Ball #40
1948 Signal Gasoline
Oakland Oaks

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #167
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1972 TCMA The 1930s #345

21 - Babich non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/14/23.

Sources:

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