#40 "Blondy" Ryan - Philadelphia Phillies

John Collins Ryan

Philadelphia Phillies

Shortstop

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  178

Born:  January 4, 1906, Lynn, MA

Major League Teams:  Chicago White Sox 1930; New York Giants 1933-1934; Philadelphia Phillies 1935; New York Yankees 1935; New York Giants 1937-1938

World Series Appearances:  New York Giants, 1933, 1937

Died:  November 28, 1959, Swampscott, MA (53)

Known for his fielding more than his bat, Blondy Ryan was a middle infielder who played in parts of six big league seasons between 1930 and 1938.  His best season came in 1933 when he was the every day shortstop for the World Champion Giants, appearing in 146 games and batting .238 while leading all National League shortstops with 494 assists.  Ryan batted .278 in the 1933 World Series, with the Giants defeating the Senators in five games.  Back with the Giants in 1934, he lost playing time to Travis Jackson (#63) but still appeared in 110 games and batted .242.  After brief stints with the Phillies and Yankees, Ryan returned to the Giants for his final two seasons, appearing in the World Series again with the club in 1937.  For his career, Ryan played in 386 games, had a lifetime average of .239 and hit 8 home runs with 133 RBIs.  After retiring from baseball, Ryan joined the Navy and served in World War II.

Building the Set

March 25, 2021 from Longmont, CO (BBC Emporium) - Card #13

Most adults would celebrate a work promotion with a fancy dinner, or perhaps a quick vacation, or maybe by splurging on a special purchase that had been waiting for a special occasion.  When I recently received word of my own work promotion, I gave myself a $100 limit to go shopping on eBay for baseball cards to celebrate.  Having recently purchased several star cards for my growing 1965 Topps set, I decided to add a few more cards to this Diamond Stars set.  I landed in the store of BBC Emporium on eBay, and found three cards totaling $98 from the seller located in Longmont, Colorado.  This Ryan card was $30, and I'll feature the other two cards that joined him in upcoming posts.

Variations Available

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

The Card / Phillies Team Set

The photo is the same used for Ryan's 1934 Butterfinger (R310) issuance, with a National Chicle artist swapping out his Giants jersey for a Phillies jersey.  The artist also took the liberty to add a center fielder running in behind Ryan.  The tip on the back of the card explains the need for middle infielders to stealthily coordinate as to who is covering second in case of an attempted steal.

This is actually the second version of this card in my collection, as I added a copy of the card 11 years ago for my Phillies collection.  I wrote about that card here, along with a look at the then recently released 2010 Topps National Chicle set.

1935 Season / Phillies Career

In what must have been a fairly major trade at the time, the Phillies dealt All-Star shortstop Dick Bartell (#15) to the Giants on November 1, 1934 for Ryan, Pretzel Pezzullo, Johnny Vergez (#21) and George Watkins.  Ryan was the Phillies' opening day shortstop in 1935, but he'd lose the job to Mickey Haslin by mid-May.  I'm assuming Ryan lost his playing time due to an injury, as he was batting .276 on May 18th, and wouldn't appear in a game again until June 2nd.  In 39 games with the Phillies, he hit .264 with a home run and 10 RBIs.  On August 6th, the Phillies sold Ryan to the Yankees and his short time in Philadelphia was over.

With the Yankees, Ryan took over as the semi-regular shortstop, sharing time with Red Rolfe (#29), Tony Lazzeri (#74) and later Nolen Richardson.  In 30 games with the Yankees, Ryan hit just .217 and he was sold to the Indians on December 18th.

1934 Goudey #32

1934 Butterfinger (R310) #54

1993 Conlon Collection TSN #694

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1934 Goudey #32

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1993 Conlon Collection TSN #694

18 - Ryan non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/28/21.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #39 Carl Hubbell - New York Giants

Next Card: #41 Harvey Hendrick - Philadelphia Phillies

#134 "Gabby" Hartnett - Chicago Cubs

Charles Leo Hartnett

Chicago Cubs

Catcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  195

Born:  December 20, 1900, Woonsocket, RI

Major League Teams:  Chicago Cubs 1922-1940; New York Giants 1941

World Series Appearances:  Chicago Cubs 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938

As a Manager:  Chicago Cubs 1938-1940

Died:  December 20, 1972, Park Ridge, IL (72)

Hall of Fame Induction:  1955

Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett was consistently great, catching with the Cubs for 19 seasons and appearing with the club in four different World Series.  Given the wonderful nickname "Old Tomato Face," Hartnett was solid behind the plate defensively and was also a threat with the bat.  Annually among the top of every defensive catching category, he led the league in runners caught stealing four times and in fielding percentage six times.  His caught stealing percentage of 56.1% is currently second all-time behind only Roy Campanella.  Hartnett was the fist catcher in major league history to hit at least 20 home runs in a season when he tallied 24 in 1925.  He was a six-time National League All-Star and the league's MVP in 1935.  His most remembered single game performance came on September 28, 1938 when his ninth inning, walk-off home run against the then first place Pirates catapulted the Cubs into first.  The home run came as darkness descended on Wrigley Field and Hartnett's blast became known as the Homer in the Gloamin'.

Hartnett's Homer in the Gloamin'

During his last three seasons with the Cubs, Hartnett served as a player/manager, guiding the team to a 203-176 record.  For his career, Hartnett appeared in 1,990 games while batting .297 with 236 home runs and 1,179 RBIs.  His marks for games played, home runs, RBIs, hits and doubles were tops among all catchers when he retired.  Hartnett managed in the minor leagues for a few seasons in the 1940s and occasionally served as a color commentator on nationally televised games in the 1950s and early 1960s.  He was a coach with the Kansas City Athletics in 1965.  Hartnett was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1955, and I was shocked to learn he didn't make it in until his 12th time on the ballot.  Given he finished third in the voting for catcher for MLB's All Century Team in 1999 (behind Johnny Bench and Yogi Berra) it seems to me he should have been inducted much earlier.

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 / no statistics / 1993 copyright

The Card / Cubs Team Set

The front of the card gives us a full view of Hartnett donning the tools of ignorance.  On the back, his defensive and offensive skills are highlighted and the narrative mentions his injury-shortened 1929 season.  His SABR biography attributes the injury to simply a case of "dead arm," and Hartnett recovered in 1930 after a full year of rest.  His omission from the original Diamond Stars set is a mystery to me, as he also didn't appear in the 1934 Goudey set and it would seem his status should have made him a natural inclusion for the set's checklist.

1936 Season

Hartnett enjoyed another All-Star season as the Cubs' regular catcher.  In 121 games, he batted .307 with 7 home runs and 64 RBIs.  Frank Demaree was the club's best hitter in 1936, winning the team's triple crown with a .350 average, 16 home runs and 96 RBIs.  The Cubs finished second in the National League, 5 games behind the pennant-winning Giants.

1922 American Caramel Series of 240 (E120)

1925 Exhibits (W461) #22

1933 Goudey #202

1933 Tattoo Orbit (R305)

1960 Fleer Baseball Greats #29

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1922 American Caramel Series of 240 (E120)

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2018 Panini Diamond Kings #32

236 - Hartnett non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/25/21.

Sources:

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

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #133 "Bad News" Hale - Cleveland Indians

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

#22 Jimmy Wilson MG - Philadelphia Phillies

James Wilson

Philadelphia Phillies

Catcher-Manager

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  200

Born:  July 23, 1900, Philadelphia, PA

Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 1923-1928; St. Louis Cardinals 1928-1933; Philadelphia Phillies 1934-1938; Cincinnati Reds 1939-1940

World Series Appearances:  St. Louis Cardinals 1928, 1930-1931; Cincinnati Reds 1940

As a Manager:  Philadelphia Phillies 1934-1938; Chicago Cubs 1941-1944

Died:  May 31, 1947, Bradenton, FL (46)

Catcher Jimmie (or Jimmy, depending on the source) Wilson was a two-time All-Star and a two-time World Series winner, spending four seasons as a player-manager with the Phillies in the mid-1930s.  Nicknamed "Ace," Wilson was the regular catcher for the 1931 World Champion Cardinals and was the starting catcher for the National League in the first ever All-Star Game in 1933.  He hit a career high .325 in 1929, perhaps his best full season in the majors.  Wilson began his managerial career with the Phillies in 1934 while also serving as the team's part-time catcher.  He was a coach with the Reds at the end of his career and was pressed into action for a few games in 1939 and 1940 when the team was in need of a catcher.  At 39 years old, he starred for the Reds in the 1940 World Series, batting .353 (6 for 17) and helping the club defeat the Tigers in seven games.

A fine defensive back-stop, Wilson still ranks on several all-time leaders lists among catchers for 1,351 games behind the plate (49th all-time), 931 assists (61st), a caught stealing percentage of 47.9% (45th) and double plays turned with 153 (9th).  For his career, he batted .284 with 1,358 hits, 32 home runs and 621 RBIs.

Building the Set

March 6, 2021 from Mom's Tax Returns - Card #12

Accountant by day and blogger about old baseball cards by night, my chosen profession has led me to annually prepare my Mom's tax returns.  I don't charge her of course, but she still insists on some type of payment for my troubles.  I'm primarily a Phillies baseball card collector, but I'm slowly running out of vintage (and affordable) Phillies baseball cards for me to suggest to her as payment.  Mixing things up this year, I let her know I had decided to collect the Diamond Stars set from the mid-1930s and that to date I had only 10 cards.  She went off on her online scavenger hunt, and I was the beneficiary of two more cards for my Diamond Stars set in exchange for preparing her tax returns.  That's a pretty good deal.  On a visit on day in early March, she handed over her tax documents and then prepaid for my services with this card and the Tom Bridges (#5) card which I featured last week.

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

The Card / Phillies Team Set

I'm assuming the artist coloring Wilson's photo for this card did not realize the Phillies hat and Old English "P" were both red.  Wilson's pose is also demonstrating the write-up on the back, encouraging catchers to "keep the fingers of his bare hard curled, or closed in a fist," to avoid injury.  I guess this is before the days catchers starting keeping their non-glove hands behind their backs.

1935 Season

In his second season as the Phillies' catcher/manager, Wilson appeared in 93 games and batted .279 while the team went on to finish in 7th place with a record of 64-89.  Wilson yielded most of his catching playing time to veteran Al Todd, who appeared in 107 games and batted .290.  Wilson and the Reds' Chuck Dressen were the opposing managers in the first ever major league night game, held at Cincinnati's Crosley Field on May 24th.  During the season, Wilson convinced Bucky Walters to move from infielder to pitcher.  Walters would go on to have a Hall of Fame-caliber career, winning 198 games over a 16-year career.

1936 - Wilson and Chuck Klein

Phillies Career

The Phillies acquired Philadelphia-native Wilson in February 1923 in a trade with New Haven in the Eastern League.  Never quite earning the permanent starting job during his first stint in Philadelphia, Wilson shared catching duties with Butch Henline between 1923 and 1926, before getting more regular playing time in 1927.  He made history in 1928, as explained by this passage in his SABR biography: 

"In 1928, Wilson started the season hitting a solid .300 by early May.  This would be the year he entered baseball history in an unusual way.  On May 1, St. Louis Cardinal general manager Branch Rickey unexpectedly traded his All-Star catcher, Bob O’Farrell, to the New York Giants.  The Cardinals now found themselves in need of a dependable catcher.  Ten days later, on May 11, Rickey offered three players to the Phillies for Jimmie Wilson:  Spud Davis, Homer Peel, and Don Hurst.  The Phillies accepted the offer.  The team was playing a doubleheader in St. Louis that day.  Wilson caught the entire first game and had started the nightcap.  During the second inning, Phillies manager Burt Shotton called time and took Wilson out of the game.  Shotton informed him that he was now a Cardinal.  He went into the Cardinals clubhouse, changed into a Cardinal uniform, and sat on the Cardinals bench for the reminder of the game, becoming the only player in major league history who was a member of two teams during one game."

On November 15, 1933, the Phillies re-acquired Wilson from the Cardinals sending Davis back to St. Louis along with Eddie Delker.  The popular Wilson was also named the club's new manager, taking over for the departing Shotton.  He oversaw one of the worst periods in Phillies history, managing a club that went 280-477 over a five-year period finishing in either 7th or 8th place each season.  Still a skilled player, Wilson was again the starting catcher for the N.L. All-Stars in 1935.  Following the 1938 season, in which he only appeared in 3 games as a player, Wilson was let go and he signed as a player/coach with the Reds on May 5, 1939.  For his time with the Phillies, over 11 seasons as a player, Wilson appeared in 838 games and batted .288.

1927 Playing Card (W560)

1933 Goudey #37

1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #38

1940 Play Ball #152

1961 Fleer Baseball Greats #88

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1927 Playing Cards (W560)

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1993 Conlon Collection TSN #874

55 - Wilson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/23/21.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #21 Johnny Vergez - New York Giants

Next Card: #23 Bill Hallahan - St. Louis Cardinals

#5 Tom Bridges - Detroit Tigers

Thomas Jefferson Davis Bridges

Detroit Tigers

Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'10"  Weight:  155

Born:  December 28, 1906, Gordonsville, TN

Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1930-1943, 1945-1946

World Series Appearances:  Detroit Tigers 1934-1935, 1940, 1945

Died:  April 19, 1968, Nashville, TN (61)

Spending his entire big league career with the Tigers, Tommy Bridges was a six-time All-Star and a two-time World Champion.  On the strength of his curve ball, he won at least 20 games in three different seasons, and led the league in strikeouts twice in 1935 and 1936.  Bridges enjoyed a career year in 1936, going 23-11 in 38 starts with a league-leading 175 strikeouts, also a career high.  He and Hank Greenberg (#54) are the only Tigers in franchise history to appear in four different World Series with the club.  Bridges was also the Tigers' all-time strikeout leader between 1941 and 1951 when his mark was surpassed by lefty Hal Newhouser.  He held the right-handed strikeout top spot for the club until Jack Morris passed him in 1988.

Bridges missed the 1945 season while serving in the military and pitched in the Pacific Coast League until the age of 43, ultimately hanging up his spikes in 1950.  In 16 seasons, Bridges went 194-138 with a 3.57 ERA, 200 complete games and 1,674 strikeouts.  After retiring as a player, he briefly served as a scout and coach for the Reds in 1951 and would later scout for the Tigers (1958 through the 1960s) and Mets (1963-1968).  Bridges passed away from liver cancer following a decades-long battle with alcoholism.

Building the Set

March 6, 2021 from Mom's Tax Returns - Card #11

Accountant by day and blogger about old baseball cards by night, my chosen profession has led me to annually prepare my Mom's tax returns.  I don't charge her of course, but she still insists on some type of payment for my troubles.  I'm primarily a Phillies baseball card collector, but I'm slowly running out of vintage (and affordable) Phillies baseball cards for me to suggest to her as payment.  Mixing things up this year, I let her know I had decided to collect the Diamond Stars set from the mid-1930s and that to date I had only 10 cards.  She went off on her online scavenger hunt, and I was the beneficiary of two more cards for my Diamond Stars set in exchange for preparing her tax returns.  That's a pretty good deal.  On a visit on day in early March, she handed over her tax documents and then prepaid for my services with this card and the Jimmy Wilson (#22) card which I'll feature in the next post.

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 ✅

The Card / Tigers Team Set

When I first inspected the card, the blue ink on the back clued me in that I had obtained by first card issued from the final 1936 series.  This series repeats cards from the first two series, adds 24 more cards to a third series, and features 1935 statistics on the back with the text printed in blue ink.  I'm not building a master set here, so I'm more than happy to add this third and final variation of the Bridges card to my version of the Diamond Stars set.

Bridges is shown wearing Tigers uniform that dates back to 1933.  The team stopped wearing pinstripes beginning with the 1934 season.

The write-up on the back helps to teach young pitchers how not to tip their pitches, by not curling "your thumb back when about to throw your curve," as smart batters will soon figure out what's coming.  Bridges' 1935 statistics are recounted with his league leading strikeout mark highlighted as well as his two wins in the 1935 World Series against the Cubs.

1936 Season

This was to be Bridges' career year.  In 39 games, he went 23-11 with a 3.60 ERA while leading the league with 175 strikeouts.  The Tigers won 83 games and finished a distant second place behind the Yankees.  Bridges and Schoolboy Rowe (#33) formed a solid one-two punch atop the Tigers' starting rotation as Rowe went 19-10 over 41 games.  Bridges easily led the club in substantially all pitching categories.

1933 Goudey #199

1934 Goudey #44

1939 Play Ball #104

1941 Play Ball #65

1961 Fleer Baseball Greats #95

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1933 Goudey #199

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1993 Conlon Collection TSN #723

63 - Bridges non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/23/21.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #4 "Buddy" Myer - Washington Senators

Next Card: #6 Max Bishop - Boston Red Sox

#116 Rip Collins - St. Louis Cardinals

James Anthony Collins

St. Louis Cardinals

First Base

Bats:  Both  Throws:  Left  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  165

Born:  March 30, 1904, Altoona, PA

Major League Teams:  St. Louis Cardinals 1931-1936; Chicago Cubs 1937-1938; Pittsburgh Pirates 1941

World Series Appearances:  St. Louis Cardinals 1931, 1934; Chicago Cubs 1938

Died:  April 15, 1970, New Haven, NY (66)

Ripper Collins, the first baseman, not to be confused with Rip Collins, the pitcher (see below), was a three-time All-Star and as a member of the Gashouse Gang, the World Champions in 1931 and 1934.  His best season came in 1934 when he tied for the the National League lead in home runs (35) with Mel Ott (#50) and led the league in slugging percentage (.615).  He had earned his promotion to the Cardinals in 1931 after setting an International League record with 180 RBIs in 1930.  Collins starred in the 1934 World Series, batting .367 (11 for 30) as the Cardinals defeated the Tigers in seven games.  He was traded to the Cubs on October 8, 1936 with Ray Parmelee for Lon Warneke (#120).  With the Cubs, he played in the 1938 World Series but struggled at the plate (2 for 15 - .133) as the Yankees easily handled Chicago in four games.  Following that 1938 season, Collins was sold to the Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels, where he enjoyed two more productive seasons in 1939 and 1940.  In nine big league seasons, Collins appeared in 1,084 games and batted .296 with 135 home runs and 659 RBIs.

Collins last appeared in the majors with the Pirates in 1941, but he continued as a player/manager between 1942 and 1946 with the Albany Senators in the Eastern League.  He batted .396 in 1944 and was named The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year at the age of 40.  Collins was elected into the International League Hall of Fame in 1951, and briefly served as a coach for the Cubs in 1961 during their College of Coaches experiment.

Building the Set

December 11, 2020 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards)

On the night I impulsively decided to collect the original Diamond Stars set, and I subsequently purchased the Harvey Hendrick (#41) card from Kit Young Cards, I also added the complete, and first, extended set to my cart for the very reasonable price of $7.50.  The 12 cards in this first extended set were originally issued in 1981.

In the early 1980s, a family member of a former National Chicle employee discovered an uncut sheet of 12 unused cards presumably meant as a 1937 continuation of the Diamond Stars set.  As originally advertised, and as mentioned on the back of every card issued, the company had intended for the set to contain 240 subjects.  They only produced 108 cards before production was halted, and the theory is this newly found sheet represented a "lost" continuation of the set.  Fortunately, the images of the cards made their way into the collecting world and a 12-card "what if" set was created.  (More on the uncut sheet can be found here from SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee and from this Ryan Cracknell article for Beckett.)

The Beckett online database lists the set as "1981 Diamond Stars Continuation Den's" and the set's description notes "This set was created and produced by Denny Eckes.  Hobbyist Mike Galella was involved in bringing this sheet to the the public.  These cards were originally available from the producer for $3."  The back of the cards have a 1981 copyright attributed to Den's Collectors Den, the company belonging to the aforementioned Eckes.  I found the ad shown here within the pages of the The Sport Americana Baseball Card Price Guide, published in 1982.

The 12 cards include more ambitious geometric designs than the original Diamond Stars cards,  although the overall color template remains the same as their 1934 to 1936 counterparts.

Variations Available

1 - 1981 / blue back / 1936 statistics / 1981 copyright

Rip, not Ripper

The Card / Cardinals Team Set

Collins, the subject of this card, shouldn't be confused with the other Rip Collins, who was a pitcher for the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers and Browns between 1920 and 1931.  I think the person featured on this card is the pitcher and not the first baseman, and I've presented a photo here of the pitcher as my support.  The photo used for the Diamond Stars card looks a lot more like Rip than it does of Ripper, and I'm willing to forgive National Chicle for the nickname mistake.  However, as shown below, the company did have a usable picture of Ripper Collins in its archives as they produced a 1936 card for the first baseman.  Maybe part of the reason the original 12-card update set was shelved was that someone realized they had the wrong person on the Collins card and they decided to give a rip.  (I'm here all week, tip your waiters.)

Had this card actually been issued in 1937, Collins would have been a member of the Cubs given his trade to the team the previous October.

1937 Season

As the regular first baseman for the Cubs, Collins was once again an All-Star, getting a hit in the Midsummer Classic off Tigers' pitcher Tommy Bridges (#5).  On June 29th, he played the entire game at first base without recording a putout, making him the only player in baseball history to perform that feat twice.  He had done it previously in 1935.  His season took a turn for the worse though when the Cubs team visited the Cook County jail in Chicago on August 9th and Collins jokingly sat in the electric chair.  His teammates were not amused, viewing it as a bad luck omen.  In his next game, Collins broke his ankle at a play at the plate and the Cubs fell out of first place shortly thereafter.  For the season, Collins appeared in 115 games, batting .274 with 16 home runs and 71 RBIs.

1934 Goudey #51

1936 National Chicle Fine Pen Premiums #27

1987 TCMA 1934 St. Louis Cardinals #4

1992 Conlon Collection TSN #656

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1934 Goudey #51

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1994 Conlon Collection TSN #1237

31 - Collins non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/15/21.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #115 Gene Moore - Boston Bees

Next Card: #117 Linus Frey - Brooklyn Dodgers

#122 Harlond Clift - St. Louis Browns

Harlond Benton Clift

St. Louis Browns

Third Base

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

Born:  August 12, 1912, El Reno, OK

Major League Teams:  St. Louis Browns 1934-1943; Washington Senators 1943-1945

Died:  April 27, 1992, Yakima, WA (79)

One of the earliest power hitting third baseman in baseball, Harlond Clift was a top slugger for the Browns from the mid-1930s to the early 1940s.  His best seasons came in 1937 and 1938.  He made the A.L. All-Star team in 1937, but didn't get into the game as the Yankees' Red Rolfe (#29) was named the starter at third.  Clift hit a career high .306 in 1937 with 29 home runs and 118 RBIs.  He matched his 118 RBI mark in 1938 while hitting a career high 34 home runs and batting .290.  He led the league in walks with 111 in 1939.  He was traded to the Senators on August 18, 1943 with Johnny Niggeling for Ellis Clary, Ox Miller and cash.

Also a fantastic fielder, Clift was tops in the American League in fielding percentage among all third basemen in 1938 and 1940, and he led the league in assists in 1937 and 1940.  Over 12 seasons and 1,582 career games, Clift batted .272 with 178 home runs and 829 RBIs.  The two teams Clift played for, the Browns and the Senators, eventually moved to different cities with the Browns becoming the Baltimore Orioles in 1954 and the Senators moving to Minnesota in 1961.  His SABR biography quotes a heartbroken Clift as saying, "I have no ballclub anymore."

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 / Browns Team Set

Admittedly, I had never known of Clift prior to studying this card and composing this post.  I consider myself a fairly educated baseball fan, but there's still so much I don't know.  I'm glad I now know Clift's story.  The last line on the back of the card nails Clift's career, and there's no doubt he would be more well known now had he played for one of the Boston, New York, Philadelphia or Chicago teams.

1936 Season

Clift's offensive numbers continued to improve.  He played in 152 games for the Browns, batting .302 with 20 home runs and 73 RBIs.  He was arguably the MVP of that Browns team, which was managed by Rogers Hornsby (#44) and lost 95 games.  Clift led the team in home runs with outfielders Beau Bell and Moose Solters (#85) ahead of him in RBI totals with 123 and 134 respectively.  The rest of the Browns' infield was made up of future Hall of Famer Jim Bottomley (#59) at first, Tom Carey at second and Lyn Lary at shortstop.

1936 Exhibits Four-in-One #15

1941 Double Play #147

1941 Play Ball #66

1983 TCMA 1943 Play Ball #15

1994 Conlon Collection TSN #1124

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1936 Exhibits Four-in-One W463-6 #15

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1994 Conlon Collection TSN #1124

Clift's first name is often misspelled "Harland" on his baseball cards.

23 - Clift non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/15/21.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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