#136 Billy Herman - Chicago Cubs

William Jennings Bryan Herman

Chicago Cubs

Second Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  180

Born:  July 7, 1909, New Albany, IN

Major League Teams:  Chicago Cubs 1931-41; Brooklyn Dodgers 1941-43, 1946; Boston Braves 1946; Pittsburgh Pirates 1947

World Series Appearances:  Chicago Cubs 1932, 1935, 1938; Brooklyn Dodgers 1941

As a Manager:  Pittsburgh Pirates 1947; Boston Red Sox 1964-66

Died:  September 5, 1992, West Palm Beach, FL (83)

Hall of Fame Induction:  1975

Named for the three-time Presidential candidate and long-time politician, Billy Herman was an All-Star second baseman for the Cubs throughout the 1930s and into the early 1940s.  He earned a spot on the All-Star Game roster ten times, including his career year of 1935 when he led the league with 227 hits and 57 doubles.  Herman helped his teams win four pennants (1932, 1935 and 1938 with the Cubs and 1941 with the Dodgers) but he was never a World Series winner as a player.  He missed all of the 1944 and 1945 seasons while serving during World War II and he'd play his final years with the Dodgers, Braves and Pirates.  Herman's managerial career began in 1947 as the player-manager for the Pirates, but his team struggled to a 61-92-2 record and seventh place in the National League.  A consistent and steady fielder, Herman led all second baseman in fielding percentage three times and finished in the top ten for the mark 12 times.  Over 1,922 games he collected 2,345 hits while batting .304.

Herman was a long-time coach, spending time with the Dodgers (1952-57), Braves (1958-59) and Red Sox (1960-64) before being named the Red Sox manager at the end of the 1964 season, replacing the departing Johnny Pesky.  Herman's Red Sox lost 100 games in 1965 and they'd lose another 82 in 1966 under his watch until he was replaced by Pete Runnels for the final weeks of the season.  Herman would return to the coaching ranks with the Angels (1967) and Padres (1978-79).  He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975 by the Veterans Committee.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set

December 16, 2020 from Albion, NY

Within days of officially deciding to collect the Diamond Stars set, I found myself searching for the 1993 extension set consisting of 36 more "what if" cards this time issued by the Chicle Fantasy Company.  Individual cards from this set are very prevalent on eBay, but I wanted to buy a complete set to save myself some time and money.  Given this is a relatively modern set, I was somewhat surprised at the closing auction prices for previously sold complete sets and I was happy to win my set at a lower price.  

These cards are gorgeous, and I can tell a lot of hard work and love for the originals went into making this tribute set.  What's more, the set's creators were smart enough to start the numbering with card #121, given the 1981 extension set had left off with #120.

Variations Available

1 - 1993 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1993 copyright

The Card / Cubs Team Set

The front of the card features Herman making another clean play in the field, while the back highlights his accomplishments up through the 1935 season.  Cubs teammates Frank Demaree, Stan Hack (#34) and Gabby Hartnett (#134) are all name-checked as the sluggers bringing Herman home once he's reached based.

1936 Season

One of Herman's best seasons statistically, he batted .334 in 153 games with 211 hits, 57 doubles and 93 RBIs.  He was named to his third All-Star team and finished third in the MVP voting behind Carl Hubbell (#39) and Dizzy Dean (#124).

1933 Goudey #227

1933 Tattoo Orbit

1941 Double Play #3-4

1952 Topps #394

1965 Topps #251

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1933 Goudey #227
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6):  1952, 1954-55, 1960, 1965-66
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2018 Panini Diamond Kings #35

328 - Herman non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/2/26.

Sources:

1965 Topps Blog

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

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #135 "Babe" Herman - Cincinnati Reds

Next Card: #137 Waite Hoyt - Pittsburgh Pirates

#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.

Sources:

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

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #102 Van Mungo - Brooklyn Dodgers

Next Card: #104 Robert Rolfe - New York Yankees

#104 Robert Rolfe - New York Yankees

Robert Abial Rolfe

New York Yankees

Third Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  170

Born: October 17, 1908, Penacook, NH

Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1931, 1934-42

World Series Appearances:  New York Yankees 1936-39, 1941-42

As a Manager:  Detroit Tigers 1949-52

Died:  July 8, 1969, Gilford, NH (60)

Red Rolfe played in 10 major league seasons with the Yankees, reaching the World Series in six of those seasons and winning five World Series rings as a key member of the "Bronx Bombers" of the 1930s.  As the team's regular third baseman, Rolfe went to four All-Star Games and provided both a steady glove and a reliable bat.  His best season came in 1939 when he helped the Yankees reach the World Series by leading the league in runs (139), hits (213) and doubles (46) while hitting his career highs in batting average (.329) and home runs (14).  He tied his career high with 80 RBIs that season as well.  With his glove, Rolfe twice led the league in fielding percentage for third basemen (1935 and 1936).

Retiring following the 1942 season, Rolfe coached baseball and basketball at Yale University before returning to the majors in 1947 as a coach for the Yankees.  He took over as manager of the Tigers beginning in 1949, going 278-256 over four years at the helm.  Rolfe returned to his alma mater, Dartmouth, as their athletic director in 1954 where he stayed until retiring in 1967.  In a 1969 Yankees fan poll, Rolfe was named the third baseman on the Yankees' all-time greatest team.

Building the Set

December 10, 2024 from Los Angeles, CA (Greg Morris Cards) - Card #111

The addition of this high-number Rolfe card was a pleasant surprise, and helped me avoid getting completely shut out from a series of auctions from Greg Morris Cards following yet another Diamond Stars set break by the dealer.  On a whim, I spent an evening in early December searching for any of the final nine cards needed for my version of a Diamond Stars master set.  Greg Morris Cards had a bunch of cards up for auction from the set, including most of the cards I needed.  I entered my highest bid on each of them, waited a few days until the auctions closed, and came away with this Rolfe card for what I deemed to be a reasonable price.

This card joins the less pricey Rolfe card from early in the set (#29), added almost exactly four years to the day prior to this newer card arriving in the mail.

Variations Available

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

As mentioned and shown above, this is the second Rolfe card in the set, with the infielder first appearing on card #29.  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 #104 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The Card / Yankees Team Set

There's all kinds of stuff going on in that Art Deco photo.  Rolfe is presumably getting ready to make a throw from third to first while the shortstop (maybe?) looks on and an umpire preemptively makes a safe call even though Rolfe is still holding the ball.  In the distance, a factory's smokestack sends smoke into the cloudless blue sky.  Rolfe is wearing a Yankees road uniform, as those sported "New York" across the front while the Yankees home uniforms contained nothing but pinstripes up until 1936.

The back contains a fielding tip, advising the reader to learn how to anticipate in which direction a batted ball will go based on the location of the pitch.  Rolfe had mastered this, according to the write-up, which is part of the reason he had become a successful fielder.

1936 Season

Rolfe was a year away from stardom and four straight All-Star Game appearances.  The regular third baseman for the Yankees, Rolfe appeared in 135 games, batting .319 with 10 home runs, 70 RBIs, and a league-leading 15 triples.  Manager Joe McCarthy (#143) had Rolfe bat second most of the year, setting the table for the power hitters in the middle of the order, including Joe DiMaggio (#126), Lou Gehrig (#130) and Bill Dickey (#11).  In his first World Series action, Rolfe batted .400 (10 for 25) against the Giants, as the Yankees won in six games.

1934 Goudey #94

1941 Double Play #65

1951 Bowman #319

1952 Topps #296

1973 Fleer Famous Feats #22

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1934 Goudey #94

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1952

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2010 Topps New York Yankees 27 World Series Championships #YC8

123 - Rolfe non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/1/25.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Previous Card:  #103 Bill Dickey - New York Yankees

Next Card:  #105 "Ernie" Lombardi - Cincinnati Reds

#127 Leo Durocher - St. Louis Cardinals

Leo Ernest Durocher

St. Louis Cardinals

Shortstop

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'10"  Weight:  160
Born:  July 27, 1905, West Springfield, MA
Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1925, 1928-1929; Cincinnati Reds 1930-1933; St. Louis Cardinals 1933-1937; Brooklyn Dodgers 1938-1941, 1943, 1945

World Series Appearances:  New York Yankees 1928; St. Louis Cardinals 1934; New York Giants 1951, 1954
As a Manager:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1939-1946, 1948; New York Giants 1948-1955; Chicago Cubs 1966-1972; Houston Astros 1972-1973
Died:  October 7, 1991, Palm Springs, CA (age 86)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1994

As a player, Leo Durocher relied on his confidence, his cockiness and his fine fielding skills to put together a career that spanned two decades.  He was a member of the Yankees squad that won the World Series in 1928, and the regular shortstop for the Bronx Bombers in the early 1930s.  He won another World Series title with the Cardinals in 1934, and he'd find regular work as the starting shortstop for the Cardinals and the Dodgers throughout the 1930s.  Durocher was named to three All-Star teams, including in 1936 when he batted a career-best .286 for the Cardinals.  A light hitter throughout his career, he finished his playing days with 1,320 hits and a .247 lifetime average.

As a manager, Durocher, nicknamed "The Lip," was credited with the phrase, "Nice guys finish last."  He skippered the Dodgers from 1939 to 1946 and was set to welcome Jackie Robinson to the majors when then Commissioner Happy Chandler suspended him for associating with gamblers.  Durocher returned in 1948 as the manager of the Giants, leading the team to pennants in 1951 and 1954.  The Giants swept the Indians in the 1954 World Series, giving Durocher his third World Series ring.  He'd win a fourth ring in 1963 as a coach with the Dodgers.  Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among major league managers with 2,008 wins.  His 100 career ejections trailed only John McGraw upon his retirement, and has since been surpassed by Bobby Cox, who was ejected 162 times.  Durocher was inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1969 Topps blog.

Building the Set

December 16, 2020 from Albion, NY

Within days of officially deciding to collect the Diamond Stars set, I found myself searching for the 1993 extension set consisting of 36 more "what if" cards this time issued by the Chicle Fantasy Company.  Individual cards from this set are very prevalent on eBay, but I wanted to buy a complete set to save myself some time and money.  Given this is a relatively modern set, I was somewhat surprised at the closing auction prices for previously sold complete sets and I was happy to win my set at a lower price.  These cards are gorgeous, and I can tell a lot of hard work and love for the originals went into making this tribute set.  What's more, the set's creators were smart enough to start the numbering with card #120, given the 1981 extension set had left off with #120.

As I slowly collect the originals from the 1930s, I'll also highlight each of the cards from these extension sets with their own posts.

Variations Available

1 - 1993 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1993 copyright

The Card / Cardinals Team Set

That's Dizzy Dean (#124) and manager Frankie Frisch (#17) flanking Durocher in a great pose showing the "All-American Out" exiting the dugout.  Durocher appears to be a victim of a hot foot, likely executed by Dean, and he's moments away from wondering why his sock is suddenly so hot.  The scene may have been inspired by the photo shown above with Dean and Frisch standing on either side of Cardinals' general manager Branch Rickey in 1934.  The write-up on the back of the card is fantastic and covers all the highlights of Durocher's career to date.  It also presciently points toward his future as a big league manager.

1936 Season

This was to be one of Durocher's strongest seasons at the plate.  In 136 games, including 135 starts at shortstop, he batted .286 with 22 doubles and 58 RBIs.  He was the starting shortstop for the National League All-Stars, going 1 for 3 in the game with a single off Lefty Grove (#1).  Durocher was thrown out at second by American League center fielder Earl Averill (#35), trying to stretch the single into a double.

1933 Goudey #147

1939 Play Ball #6

1952 Topps #315

1969 Topps #147

1973 Topps #624

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1933 Goudey #147
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8):  1952, 1967-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2018 Panini Diamond Kings #31

304 - Durocher non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/19/23.

Sources:

1969 Topps Blog

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

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #126 "Joe" DiMaggio - New York Yankees

Next Card: #128 Bob Feller - Cleveland Indians

#11 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

December 16, 2023 from Wall Township, NJ - Card #101

This card entered our set as part of some year-end eBay watch list housecleaning, as the card had been waiting for me to purchase it for the better part of 2023.  I made the seller an offer, and after a few back and forth offers, I accepted and the card arrived a week before Christmas.  Appropriately enough, given Dickey's importance to the Yankees' franchise, the seller's handle was Donnie23Auctions, from Wall Township, New Jersey.  

With the addition of this card, I'm down to needing 18 cards to complete my version of a Diamond Stars master set, and I expect the set building to slow down dramatically in 2024.  As I've mentioned before, the 18 final cards, listed below, are all fairly expensive, difficult to find or both.  I'll keep plugging along, with the goal being to add at least one of these cards at each of the two or three Philly Shows we attend in the new year.

Hall of Famers Needed        1. #1 Lefty Grove - Red Sox 2. #2 Al Simmons - White Sox 3. #30 Heinie Manush - Red Sox (variation) 4. #50 Mel Ott - Giants 5. #54 Hank Greenberg - Tigers 6. #54 Hank Greenberg - Tigers (name misspelled)      7. #64 Jimmie Foxx - Athletics 8. #74 Tony Lazzeri - Yankees 9. #77 Charlie Gehringer - Tigers

Third Series High Numbers Needed 10. #97 Al Lopez - Bees 11. #98 Schoolboy Rowe - Tigers      12. #99 Pie Traynor - Pirates 13. #100 Earle Averill - Indians 14. #103 Bill Dickey - Yankees 15. #104 Robert Rolfe - Yankees 16. #106 Red Lucas - Reds 17. #107 Stanley Hack - Cubs 18. #108 Wally Berger - Bees

Variations Available

1 - 1934 / green back / 1933 statistics / 1934 copyright

2 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1934 copyright ✅

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.  Dickey shows up again as card #103, 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 / Yankees Team Set

This is the "cheaper" of two Dickey cards in the set, with his second card (#103) likely one of the hardest to find out of all Diamond Stars cards.  The tip on the back explains the catcher's role whenever a batter drops a bunt.

1935 Season

Dickey had an off year by his standards, batting .279 in 120 games with 14 home runs and 81 RBIs.  The Yankees would finish in second place, three games behind the pennant-winning Tigers.  This was a transitional period for the Yankees, as Babe Ruth (#109) had last played with them in 1934 and Joe DiMaggio (#126) would join the club in 1936.

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

539 - Dickey non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 12/24/23.

Sources:

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

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #10 Roy Mahaffey - Philadelphia Athletics

Next Card: #12 "Dixie" Walker - New York Yankees

#86 Frank Crosetti - New York Yankees

Frank Peter Joseph Crosetti

New York Yankees

Shortstop

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'10"  Weight:  165

Born:  October 4, 1910, San Francisco, CA

Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1932-1948

World Series Appearances:  New York Yankees 1932, 1936-1939, 1942-1943

Died:  February 11, 2002, Stockton, CA (91)

Frankie Crosetti, nicknamed The Crow, spent nearly four decades working in the infield for the Yankees, between 1932 and 1946 as a player, and then until 1968 as the team's third base coach.  Crosetti was a two-time All-Star and won seven World Series rings with the Yankees between 1932 and 1943.  He'd win another 10 rings as a coach between 1947 and 1962.  Occasionally accused of being the weak link in a powerful Yankees' line-up, Crosetti made up for his light hitting with steady fielding up the middle.  Offensively, his best season came in 1936 when he reached career highs in all three Triple Crown categories, batting .288 with 15 home runs and 78 RBIs.  He led the league with 27 stolen bases in 1938, and he also had a penchant for getting hit by pitches, leading the league in that category in eight different seasons.  He batted .245 during his career with the Yankees, with 1,541 hits, 98 home runs and 649 RBIs.

Crosetti took on a player-coach role in 1947, and switched to full time coaching in 1949.  He'd stay with the Yankees through the 1968 season, leaving to join the expansion Seattle Pilots in 1969 in order to be closer to his West Coast home.  When the Pilots moved to Milwaukee in 1970, Crosetti joined the Twins, where he'd coach for two more seasons, finally retiring in 1971.

October 20, 2023 - Brown University

Building the Set

October 23, 2023 from Old Saybrook, CT - Card #93

On Friday, October 20th, Doug and I made a four-hour drive for a campus visit at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut.  Following the tour, we drove a few more hours to Providence, Rhode Island, as he was participating in a baseball camp at Brown University that Saturday.  These are exciting times, and I'm excited to be making these trips with him as he whittles down his college choices.  The camp at Brown was all indoors, as it was pouring rain outside, and there were long stretches of time I couldn't see what he was doing whenever his group was stationed at the far end of Brown's indoor facility.  

I scrolled social media, I did several New York Times crossword puzzles, and I browsed eBay for baseball cards.  I clicked Buy It Now on this card at some point that Saturday, as Doug was in the midst of fielding drills, and the card arrived at our house a few days later.  Ironically enough, the seller (ehazuka) is located in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, which is between Providence and New Haven.  Had I known, I could have picked up the card on our way home!

Variations Available

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

The Card / Yankees Team Set

I found this great SABR article covering background cameo appearances in the Diamond Stars set, in which there's a loose theory put forward that the two Yankees behind Crosetti are none other than Lou Gehrig (#130) and Babe Ruth (#109).  The source photo can be found on a 1933 Worch Cigar card of Crosetti - shown below.  As is the case with these later series cards, the baseball tips have been replaced with some short background information on the player.  The back of the card observes how Crosetti is among many young Italian-Americans who have recently entered the majors.  Crosetti's double play partner, Tony Lazzeri (#74) also gets recognized as a fellow Italian-American.  Everett Scott gets mentioned as well, and Scott was a shortstop who played for the Yankees between 1922 and 1925.

Finally, the double play combination of Crosetti-Lazzeri is compared to the Tigers' current double play combo of Bill Rogell (#76) and Charlie Gehringer (#77).

1936 Season

As mentioned above, this was Crosetti's strongest year offensively.  He played in 151 games for the Yankees, starting at shortstop in all but four games in late August.  In the World Series, won by the Yankees over the Giants in six games, Crosetti batted .269 (7 for 26).

1933 Goudey #217

1933 Worch Cigar

1952 Topps #384

1960 Topps #465

1990 Pacific Legends #19

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1933 Goudey #217

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (2):  1952, 1960

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2016 Panini Diamond Kings #28

219 - Crosetti non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/19/23.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #85 Julius Solters - St. Louis Browns

Next Card: #87 Steve O'Neill MG - Cleveland Indians