1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #82 John Babich

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.