Showing posts with label 1939. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1939. Show all posts

Sunday, February 1, 2026

#112 Joe DiMaggio - New York Yankees


Joseph Paul DiMaggio
New York Yankees
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  193
Born:  November 25, 1914, Martinez, CA
Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1936-42, 1946-51
World Series Appearances:  New York Yankees 1936-39, 1941-42, 1947, 1949-51
Died:  March 8, 1999, Hollywood, FL (84)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1955

Joltin' Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper, reached almost mythic status during his 13 years with the Yankees.  Beloved by the Bronx fans and famous worldwide, DiMaggio made his debut on May 3, 1936, and was a bona fide superstar from his time as a rookie to his retirement in 1951.  He was an American League All-Star each year he played and helped guide the Yankees to 10 pennants and nine World Championships.  He batted .346 in his sophomore season of 1937, attaining career best marks for home runs (46) and RBIs (167).  DiMaggio won MVP honors in 1939, 1941 and 1947, the latter award made even more impressive due to the fact he had missed three full seasons while serving in the military during World War II.  His best season was perhaps 1941 when he accumulated a 56-game hitting streak, finishing the year with a .357 average, 30 home runs and 125 RBIs.

DiMaggio retired following the 1951 season, ranking fifth all-time in career home runs (361) and sixth all-time in slugging percentage (.579).  In 1,736 regular season games, DiMaggio batted .325 with 2,214 hits, including 389 doubles and 131 triples.  His #5 was retired by the Yankees in 1952, and DiMaggio was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1955.  He remained in the spotlight following his retirement from baseball, marrying Marilyn Monroe in 1954 and forever immortalized in Simon & Garfunkel's 1968 song, "Mrs. Robinson."  DiMaggio continues to be regarded as one of the best baseball players of all time.

Building the Set
December 22, 2020 from McKeesport, PA (Steel City Collectibles)
In 2014, the third and final "extended" set of Diamond Stars cards was released, repeating three of the players available in the 1993 extended set, including DiMaggio, and adding a pair of cards for Babe Ruth (#109b and #110b).  According to this article, the five cards were made available at the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention (NSCC) held in Cleveland between July 30 and August 3, 2014.  The cards were originally slabbed by PSA, numbered to 500, and given away to collectors when they signed up for a Gold or Platinum level PSA Collectors Club membership.

Steel City Collectibles was selling a lot of four of these five-card sets on eBay for the reasonable price of $17.95 before Christmas, and I eagerly added these cards to my collection.  One set now lives in my Diamond Stars set binder and another set made its way into my oldest son's Doug's collection.  That leaves me with two extra sets looking for a good home or homes.

I wish PSA and the sponsor of these sets, Historic Autograph Company, had paid attention to the extended sets issued earlier.  Instead of repeating card numbers 109 to 113, they could have started with card number 154, picking up where the 1993 extended set had left off.

Variations Available
1 - 2014 / green back / 1935 statistics / 2014 copyright

The Card / Yankees Team Set
I'm partial to the first "what if" version of this Diamond Stars card, from the Chicle Fantasy Extended Edition set, issued in 1993 (#126).  The write-up on the back of this card highlights DiMaggio's fast rise to fame via the Pacific Coast League.  The four players the Yankees gave up for DiMaggio were Doc Farrell, Floyd Newkirk, Jimmy Densmore and Ted Norbert.  Farrell refused to report to the Seals, with the Yankees adding in $5,000 to complete the deal.

1936 Season
DiMaggio entered spring training as the heir apparent to Babe Ruth (#109), who had departed the Yankees two years prior.  Roy Johnson was the team's opening day left fielder, but DiMaggio made his debut and first start on May 3rd in left, moving to center field in late July.  He'd hit .323 his rookie season, with 29 home runs and 125 RBIs.  DiMaggio was one of five players in the powerful Yankee line-up with at least 100 RBIs, with Lou Gehrig's (#130) 152 leading them all.  The Yankees defeated the Giants in the World Series, with DiMaggio playing every inning in center field for all six games.  He batted .346 (9 for 26) in his first postseason play.

1938 Goudey Heads-Up #250
1939 Play Ball #26
1941 Play Ball #71
1948-49 Leaf #1
1980-87 SSPC HOF #75

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1938 Goudey Heads-Up (R323) #250
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2025 Topps Living #832

2,103 - DiMaggio non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/31/26.

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Sunday, January 25, 2026

#50 "Mel" Ott - New York Giants


Melvin Thomas Ott
New York Giants
Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  170
Born:  March 2, 1909, Gretna, LA
Major League Teams:  New York Giants 1926-47
World Series Appearances:  New York Giants 1933, 1936-37
As a Manager:  New York Giants 1942-48
Died:  November 21, 1958, New Orleans, LA (49)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1951

Short in stature, Mel Ott was nevertheless one of the premier power hitters of his era, playing in parts of 22 seasons with the Giants and leading the league in home run six times.  He never played a minor league game, going directly from high school to the majors, and making his debut just a few months following his 17th birthday.  Ott was a force at the plate, capable of the long ball but also hitting for average.  He hit over 30 home runs in eight seasons, including a career-high 42 home runs in 1929.  He led the league in both home runs (35) and RBIs (135) in 1934, the first of 11 consecutive seasons he'd go to the All-Star Game.  A lifelong Giant, Ott helped his team to three National League pennants and a World Series title in 1933.  He was also an above average fielder and displayed some speed on the base paths, making him truly an exceptional five-tool player at the peak of his career.  He spent the last six seasons of his playing days also serving as the Giants' manager, guiding his team to a 464-530 record.

Ott was the first National League player to collect 500 home runs, and his 511 career blasts are currently 25th all-time.  Most of his career marks are still among the best all-time in baseball - 1,859 runs (15th), 2,876 hits (45th), 1,860 RBIs (14th), 1,708 walks (9th), 256 assists as an outfielder (21st).  His #4 was retired by the Giants in 1949, and he was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1951.

January 11, 2026 - Citizens Bank Park lit up green
for the Eagles' playoff game
Building the Set
January 20, 2026 from Dan Barrett Sportscards - Card #116
My wife and I have reached the point where we mutually agree not to get each other anything crazy for Christmas, as (a) we really don't need anything and (b) if there was something one of us needed, we'd likely want to go and pick it out on our own.  She's left it up to me over the past several years to find "one big card" for her and our sons to present to me on Christmas morning, and I feign surprise each year, even though I'm the one who plotted the card's purchase for weeks or months in advance.  This past Christmas snuck up on me.  I don't know if it was stress at work or the ongoing transition of having our oldest son away at college for his first semester, but I completely whiffed on finding the "one big card" in time for Santa to leave it for me under the tree.

I hadn't planned on buying this Ott card, but I received an offer of a deep discount from eBay seller, Dan Barrett Sportscards, and after a quick confirmation that Santa still owed me "one big card," I clicked buy at some point in early January.  It's only the third card I've added to my Diamond Stars set build since the beginning of 2025, and with the addition of this card, I'm down to needing just three, but likely only two more cards for my version of a set.

I say likely only two, as I had every intention of adding both the error and corrected version of the Hank Greenberg (#54) card to my set, but either version of the card is crazy expensive, and I'm slowly talking myself out of needing both.  With the addition of a Greenberg card, preferrably the corrected version, and the high series Stanley Hack (#107) card, my set quest will be complete.

Actually . . . one more thing left on my to-do list is to track down reprints of the cards in my set currently slabbed.  Right now there are holes in my nine-pocket pages where the graded cards should go, and I've decided to use reprints of those cards as placeholders so there are no gaps whenever I'm flipping pages and admiring the set.

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

The Card / Giants Team Set
What a fantastic card, and a card I've seen countless times under glass display cases in my 40 years of collecting baseball cards.  This is the only card in the set featuring a player without his hat, and I wonder what made Ott decide to pose without his hat on?  Having now seen all the cards in the set, I'd say this card and the Jimmie Foxx (#64) card are by far my two favorite cards in the set, in all their 1930s art deco glory.

The back of the card features a baseball tip that still applies to today's hitters.  It's not about killing the ball, or swinging the bat as hard as you can.  Rather, it's about making contact with the ball at the sweet spot or the "sweet part" of the bat, and spending hours practicing a hitter's craft.  Ott was a master at this, resulting in a Hall of Fame career.

1935 Season
In 152 games with the Giants, Ott batted .322 with 31 home runs and 114 RBIs.  Once again the MVP of the Giants, he and first baseman Bill Terry (#14) helped lead the club to a third place finish in the National League.

1929 Kashin Publications (R316)
1933 Goudey #127
1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #27
1939 Play Ball #51
1941 Play Ball #8

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1929 Kashin Publications (R316)
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2025 Topps Tribute #78

865 - Ott non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/24/26.

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Sunday, February 23, 2025

#103 Bill Dickey - New York Yankees


William Malcolm Dickey
New York Yankees
Catcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  185
Born:  June 6, 1907, Bastrop, LA
Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1928-1943, 1946
World Series Appearances:  New York Yankees 1928, 1932, 1936-1939, 1941-1943
As a Manager:  New York Yankees 1946
Died:  November 12, 1993, Little Rock, AR (86)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1954

Bill Dickey was an 11-time All-Star catcher for the Yankees, behind the plate for nine American League pennants, which included eight World Series titles between 1928 and 1943.  He replaced Benny Bengough as the Yankees' starting catcher in 1929, a role he'd settle into for the next 15 seasons.  Dickey could hit for power, batted over .300 in 11 seasons and was excellent defensively behind the plate, leading the league four times in fielding percentage.  He hit over 20 home runs with at least 100 RBIs for four straight years between 1936 and 1939, and his .362 average in 1936 stood as the high-water mark for catchers until Joe Mauer batted .365 in 2009.  Dickey's best season statistically came in 1937 when he batted .332 with 29 home runs and 133 RBIs - both career bests.  In 1,789 games with the Yankees, Dickey batted .313 with 202 home runs and 1,209 RBIs.

After two years serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Dickey returned to the Yankees as player-manager for the 1946 season.  He'd serve as a coach with the Yankees from 1949 to 1957, and again in 1960.  During his tenure as Yankees' coach, Dickey helped mentor two of his successors behind the plate - Yogi Berra and Elston Howard.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1954, and the Yankees retired #8 in 1972 to honor both Dickey and Berra.

Building the Set
February 22, 2025 from Clifton, NJ (Probstein123) - Card #114
I had no intention of this card actually entering my collection, putting what I thought was an incredibly low bid on a recent eBay auction from seller probstein123.  The card is slabbed and graded 1.5 (fair) according to SGC, but the front of the card looks just fine to me.  Given what comparable cards have sold for over the past few years, I'm happy with the price I paid for this.  The addition of this card drops me to needing five more Diamond Stars cards for my version of a master set - Mel Ott (#50), both the error and corrected versions of the Hank Greenberg (#54) card, Pie Traynor (#99) and Stan Hack (#107).  As I get closer to the end of collecting this set, I'm coming to terms with not really needing two versions of the pricey Greenberg card.

And speaking of the master set . . . I recently spent time over at TCDB updating this set's checklist to include all 170 cards found in a Diamond Stars master set.  It had bugged me for years the TCDB checklist didn't contain any of the many back variations found throughout the set, so I decided to fix that.

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

This is the second Dickey card in the set, with the Hall of Fame catcher first appearing on card #11.  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.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #103 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The Card / Yankees Team Set
When I posted card #11, I wrote it was the "cheaper" of two Dickey cards in the set, with this second card likely one of the hardest to find out of all Diamond Stars cards.  Given my luck on eBay, I didn't pay much more for this harder to find high-number version than its lower-number counterpart.  The tip on the back explains the catcher's role whenever a batter drops a bunt.

1936 Season
Dickey enjoyed one of his best seasons in 1936, batting a record-setting (for catchers) .362 in 112 games, with 22 home runs and 107 RBIs.  As mentioned above, it was to be the first of four years in a row he'd eclipse the 20-home run and 100-RBI marks.  His batting average was good enough for third in the league, behind Luke Appling (#95), who batted. 388.  Dickey was an All-Star for the third of what would ultimately be 11 appearances.  He didn't fare well in the World Series, batting .120 over six games, but his Yankees defeated the Giants in the first of four straight World Championship titles.

1933 Goudey #19
1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #30
1939 Play Ball #30
1941 Play Ball #70
1952 Topps #400
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1933 Goudey #19
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (2):  1952, 1960
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2017 Panini Diamond Kings #2

558 - Dickey non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/23/25.

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Sunday, October 20, 2024

#100 Earle Averill - Cleveland Indians


Howard Earl Averill
Cleveland Indians
Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  172
Born:  May 21, 1902, Snohomish, WA
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1929-39; Detroit Tigers 1939-40; Boston Braves 1941
World Series Appearances:  Detroit Tigers 1940
Died:  August 16, 1983, Everett, WA (81)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1975

Earl Averill patrolled center field for the Indians for over a decade, making the All-Star team in six consecutive seasons between 1933 and 1938.  He's the only American League outfielder to be named to each of the first six All-Star Games.  A power hitter who also hit for average, Averill hit at least 30 home runs in three seasons, and drove in at least 100 runs in five different seasons.  He collected a career-high 143 RBIs in 1931, finishing third in the league behind Lou Gehrig (#130) and Babe Ruth (#110).  Averill batted over .330 in five seasons, attaining a career high in 1936 with a .368 average.  That season he led the American League in hits (232) and triples (15).  Dealt to the Tigers in July 1939, Averill saw his only postseason action with Detroit in 1940.  Upon his retirement, he had 2,019 hits, a .318 career average, 238 home runs and 1,164 RBIs.  Averill still tops the Indians' all-time leaders list for runs (1,154), RBIs (1,084) and triples (121), and he's second on the all-time franchise list for hits (1,965, behind Nap Lajoie with 2,052 hits) and doubles (424, behind Tris Speaker with 486).

Averill's #3 was retired by the Indians in 1975, the same year the Veteran's Committee inducted him into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Building the Set
October 15, 2024 from Tempe, AZ (Desert Ice Sports) - Card #110
With only a handful of cards to go to complete my version of a master Diamond Stars set, I've come to the conclusion I have three potential avenues to completion.  The first option is to shell out the cash and finish what I've started.  The second option is to fill the missing spaces in the set with reprint cards.  Once a cringe-worthy idea to me as a baseball card set collector, it's now a possibility worthy of consideration.  The third option is to go after beat up, lesser quality, well-loved versions of these cards.

I combined the first and third options to acquire this Averill card.  It had been on my eBay watch list for quite a while, and the word "Poor" in the item description likely kept a lot of potential buyers away.  Now in hand, the card isn't that bad.  I made what I considered a somewhat aggressive offer to the seller one afternoon while taking a break at work, with a "well, it can't hurt" the attitude.  Much to my surprise, the seller accepted my offer the next day and the card was soon on its way from Desert Ice Sports in Tempe to me on the East Coast.  I have nine more cards to go, and they're all high price tag cards.

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

The Card / Indians Team Set
This is the second Averill card in the set, with the outfielder first appearing on card #35.  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.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #100 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

I'm assuming this card can be considered an uncorrected error, as National Chicle added the E to the end of Averill's first name on the card.  The tip on the back gives a batter bunting tips, which seemed odd to place on the card of a power hitter like Averill.  But he did own 55 career sacrifices, including a career-high 17 in his rookie season of 1929.

1936 Season
Averill was again an All-Star for the Indians, and he'd lead the American League in hits (232) and triples (15), as mentioned above.  As one of the Tribe's top offensive players, Averill batted .378 with 28 home runs and 126 RBIs.  His batting average gave him a second place finish in the league behind Luke Appling (#95), who had a .388 mark.  Averill finished third in the postseason MVP voting, behind winner Gehrig and Appling.  Averill batted third and played center field on August 23rd, the day Bob Feller (#128) made his first big league start for the Indians, pitching a complete game victory over the Browns.

Phillies Connection
Averill's son, Earl Douglas Averill, also played in the majors between 1956 and 1963 with the Indians, Cubs, White Sox, Angels and Phillies.  Primarily a catcher, the younger Averill was dealt to the Phillies from the Angels on December 11, 1962 for outfielder Jacke Davis.  Averill was used almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter by the Phillies in 1963, appearing in 47 games with 27 of those appearances coming in the pinch-hitter role.  He batted .268 with three home runs and eight RBIs for the Phillies, playing in his final major league game on September 26, 1963.

1929-30 R315
1933 Goudey #194
1933 Tattoo Orbit (R305)
1939 Play Ball #143
1961 Fleer Baseball Greats #5

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1929-30 R315
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2018 Panini Diamond Kings #38

253 - Averill non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 10/17/24.


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Sunday, October 6, 2024

#108 Wally Berger - Boston Bees


Walter Anton Berger
Boston Bees
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  198
Born:  October 10, 1905, Chicago, IL
Major League Teams:  Boston Braves 1931-35; Boston Bees 1936-37; New York Giants 1937-38; Cincinnati Reds 1938-40; Philadelphia Phillies 1940
World Series Appearances:  New York Giants 1937; Cincinnati Reds 1939
Died:  November 30, 1988, Redondo Beach, CA (83)

Wally Berger enjoyed a solid multi-year run in the early 1930s in which he was the top player for the Boston Braves/Bees franchise, earning MVP votes in each season between 1932 and 1936.  Berger hit 38 home runs in his rookie season of 1930, a record for rookies that stood until 1987 when broken by Mark McGwire, and he drove in 119 RBIs, a National League rookie record that was in place until surpassed by Albert Pujols in 2001.  Berger was a four-time All-Star and the National League's starting center fielder in the inaugural All-Star Game in 1933.  Of the 18 players who started the 1934 All-Star Game, Berger is the only one not currently in the Hall of Fame.  He never topped the 38 home runs he hit in 1930, but he led the league in 1935 with 34 home runs and a career-high 130 RBIs.  Shoulder and hand injuries suffered during the 1936 season hurt his power numbers in subsequent years, and Berger would retire following a final season in the minors in 1941, playing for the Cubs' top affiliate, the Los Angeles Angels.

Upon his retirement, Berger owned a career .300 average with 242 home runs and 898 RBIs, with his home run tally 12th on the all-time list following the 1940 season.  He briefly scouted with the Giants and Yankees in the late 1940s before leaving baseball for good.

Building the Set
September 21, 2024 from Nashville, TN (Burl's Sports) - Card #109
Seller Burl's Sports had this card listed on eBay recently, and I don't think it had been listed over the summer the last time I searched for the 11 cards I still need for my version of a Diamond Stars master set.  I made an offer on the card, which was quickly accepted by the seller.  Even though the card was slabbed, it still had to go through the eBay authentication process, which seems a bit redundant.  After eBay confirmed that yes, this is a real baseball card, it eventually made its way to me.

With the arrival of this Berger card, I'm down to 10 cards to go.  I've recently started at least thinking through the idea of foregoing the final 10 cards and having them represented in my set by reprints.  These are all fairly pricey cards I need and I could see myself adding one or maybe two a year for the foreseeable future, or just simply satisfying myself with reprints and moving on to my next set collecting quest.  A family friend of mine recently went this route with his 1959 Topps set, opting for reprints of the Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays cards as he couldn't justify those cards' price tags.  He had fun collecting 570 out of the 572 cards in that set and then decided he was close enough.  I initially hated that idea conceptually, but 10 cards away from a complete Diamond Stars set, I kind of get it now.

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

The Card / Bees Team Set
This is the second Berger card in the set, with the outfielder first appearing on card #25.  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.  Berger's card needed some extra attention, removing the Braves word mark from the front of his jersey since Boston switched to the Bees nickname for their 1936 season.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #108 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The back of the card gives a few tips to aspiring batters on how best to stride toward a pitch and what do with your arms while swinging.

1936 Season
Berger was named to his fourth consecutive All-Star team in 1936, although his production for the Bees declined a little from his monster year in 1935.  Berger appeared in 138 games, batting .288 with 25 home runs and 91 RBIs.  A shoulder and hand injury cut into his playing time, with Berger making 133 starts in center field for the Bees.

Phillies Career
On May 10, 1940, the Reds released Berger and the now veteran outfielder signed with the Phillies five days later on May 15th.  Berger had held out for a higher salary with the Reds in the spring, after hitting 14 home runs for the team during their pennant-winning 1939 season.  

The Reds ultimately relented, but Berger received minimal playing time and his release came as a surprise.  Berger appeared in 20 games for the Phillies, hitting a respectable .317 (13 for 41), including his final career home run on June 5th against Cubs pitcher Larry French.  Not receiving any playing time, Berger requested his release from the club, which was granted on July 5th.

1933 Goudey #98
1933 Tattoo Orbit (R305)
1936 Goudey
1939 Play Ball #99
1940 Play Ball #81

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1933 Goudey #98
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1994 Conlon Collection TSN #1098

90 - Berger non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/30/24.

Sources:

Previous Card:  #107 Stanley Hack - Chicago Cubs
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Sunday, August 4, 2024

#98 "Schoolboy" Rowe - Detroit Tigers


Lynwood Thomas Rowe
Detroit Tigers
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  210
Born:  January 11, 1910, Waco, TX
Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1933-42; Brooklyn Dodgers 1942; Philadelphia Phillies 1943, 1946-49
World Series Appearances:  Detroit Tigers 1934-35, 1940
Died:  January 8, 1961, El Dorado, AR (50)

While playing on an adult baseball team while a 15-year-old high school student, Lynnwood Rowe was given the nickname "Schoolboy," and the moniker stuck throughout his career.  Superstitious and a fan-favorite, Rowe was a star pitcher for the Tigers in the mid-1930s, winning a career-high 24 games in 1934 and following that up with consecutive 19-win seasons in 1935 and 1936.  Rowe was second in the league in strikeouts with 140 in 1935, and recorded a career-high 149 strikeouts in 1934.  He was named to both the 1935 and 1936 American League All-Star teams.  He started four games for the Tigers in the 1934 and 1935 World Series, as the team lost to the Cardinals in seven games in 1934, but won the Championship in six games over the Cubs in 1935.  In Game 2 of the 1934 Series, he pitched a 12-inning complete game for the win.  Rowe was 2-3 with a 2.76 ERA over 42 1/3 innings pitched in those two Series, to go along with 26 strikeouts.  A threat at the plate too, he batted .307 with five home runs in 1934 and 1935.

Shoulder pain and related injuries began to take a toll on Rowe beginning in 1937, although he rebounded in 1940 to go 16-3 with a 3.46 ERA for the pennant-winning Tigers.  He'd be limited to pitching in only 55 games between 1942 and 1946, due his injuries and two years of service in the U.S. Navy during World War II.  Finishing up his career with the Phillies, Rowe won at least 10 games each season between 1946 and 1948 and made his final All-Star team in 1947.  He retired with a career record of 158-101 and an ERA of 3.87 with 913 strikeouts.  Rowe batted .263 for his career with 18 home runs and 153 RBIs.  He served as the Tigers pitching coach in 1954 and 1955.

Building the Set
August 1, 2024 from Valley View, OH (Stan's Vintage Sports Cards) - Card #108
The seventh card added to our Diamond Stars set in 2024, the addition of this card put me 11 cards away from my version of a master set.  I knew adding the final cards to our set would be tough, and pricey, and I've shied away from recent eBay auctions as most of the opening bids or buy it now prices are way out of my price range.  

I made a reasonable offer to the seller, Stan's Vintage Sports Cards, on this card, the seller made a counteroffer, and I quickly accepted.  Aesthetically, I wanted to have all these cards in order in the set's binder, but with some of these more expensive cards, I'll likely leave them in their slabs and fill the empty spaces in the binder pages with reprint cards.  It could be a little while before I add another card to our set, although I do have several current eBay auctions on my watch list.  I'm assuming I'll be able to get better deals and do some more negotiating live, and I'm looking forward to hunting Diamond Stars cards at the upcoming Philly Show in September.

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

The Card / Tigers Team Set
This is the second Rowe card in the set, with the pitcher first appearing on card #33.  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.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #98 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The back of the card contains an odd tip, basically telling a pitcher not to aim for the catcher's mitt but rather to aim at some part of the catcher's body other than the mitt.  The tip goes on to claim that Rowe not only endorses this tip, but that Rowe himself can't hit a target more than two out of every three times.

1936 Season
Rowe was 19-10 with a 4.51 ERA in 41 appearances for the Tigers, as his club finished in second place behind the Yankees.  Tommy Bridges (#5) was the ace of the staff, with 23 wins and a 3.60 ERA.  Rowe made his second All-Star Game, and pitched three innings in relief of Lefty Grove (#1), giving up a pair of runs.  Battling shoulder pain, Rowe would pitch in only 14 games for the Tigers in 1937 and 1938.

Phillies Career
Rowe was purchased by the Phillies from the Dodgers on March 24, 1943.  Now throwing a knuckle ball, he'd appear in 27 games that season for the Phillies, going 14-8 with a 2.94 ERA in 199 innings pitched.  Rowe was also the team's top pinch-hitter with 15 pinch-hits in 51 at-bats.  After two years in the Navy, Rowe made an impressive comeback in 1946, and was 11-4 with a 2.12 ERA in 17 games pitched.  In his first start in nearly two years on April 21, 1946, the 36-year-old Rowe threw an 11-inning complete game, although in a losing effort.  He'd win 14 games in 1947 and was named to the National League All-Star team.  Rowe would pitch in two more seasons for the Phillies before injuries finally caught up to him, and the team released him following the 1949 season. Rowe would just miss participating in the triumphant march of the Whiz Kids towards the 1950 National League pennant.  In 128 games with the Phillies, he was 52-39 with a 3.54 ERA and 245 strikeouts.

1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #184
1935 Goudey 4-in-1 (R321)
1939 Play Ball #60
1949 Bowman #216
1954 Topps #197

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #184
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1954
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1994 Topps Archives 1954 #197

57 - Rowe non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/4/24.


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