Showing posts with label Honus Wagner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honus Wagner. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
What was the Black Swamp Find?
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
SGC Registry - By the way I really like SGC better than PSA right now.
I have recently discovered "Set Registry" on the SGC website. Check out some of my cards. Search for 1909 Pittsburg Pirates in the "Collect My Way" section.
http://www.sgccardregistry.com/index.aspx
Of course only the Fred Clarke is registered there out of these two cards but I wanted to show them both.
http://www.sgccardregistry.com/index.aspx
Of course only the Fred Clarke is registered there out of these two cards but I wanted to show them both.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
The Top 8 Most Expensive Baseball Cards Of All Time
Check out Vintagecardprices.com and thank you for the info.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
First HOF Induction Ceremony
Many know that the first class of Hall of Famers was in 1936. But many do not know that the building was not ready for use until 1939. The Hall in Cooperstown, NY has now been open for 70 plus years. The first class of 1936 consisted of 5 inductees, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. 11 players were inducted at the first ceremony in 1939. A total of 4 classes.
If you have iTunes I recommend doing a search for "MLB Vault". You can listen to the first induction ceremony. It is a valuable piece of baseball history.
Monday, September 7, 2009
The Winning Season
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379029/
The Winning Season is a great movie for the family. It takes you back to a simpler day. When baseball was played for the love of playing. It takes you on a journey with a young man that discovers a T206 Honus Wagner baseball card. A must see for fans of this era and of baseball.
The movie is based on the Book "Honus and Me" by Dan Gutman.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Recently I have enjoyed learning about the M101-2 Sporting News Inserts. My favorite is shown here, Honus and Ty. The team photo of the Pirates is also a favorite of mine. The sets were publish from 1909-1913. They are loaded with hall of fame players. The 1909 Pirates are one of the 4 teams featured. The sepia toned pictures are very attractive.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Tip Top Bread Base Ball Cards
1-13/16" X 2-3/8 in size these cards were unusual in shape for the era. More square the most cards issued. These cards are very scarce today because they were a regional issue in 1910. They had "World Champions" on the front and the back of the cards had a check list of the 25 cards in the set. The back also had an advertisement for Tip Top Bread. Today it is hard to find any of these cards in decent shape under $400.00 a piece. The Wagner card is commonly sold for $3000.00 to $4000.00 or more. In the American Card Catalog the cards are designated as D322's. They were produced by the Ward Mackey Company and were awarded for collecting 50 Tip Top bread wrappers. The have a thin white border and have an attractive pastel lithograph image.
Card # Description
1 Barney Dreyfuss (Team President)
2 William Locke (Team Secretary)
3 Fred Clarke (Player/Manager)
4 Honus Wagner
5 Tom Leach
6 George Gibson
7 Dots Miller
8 Howie Camnitz
9 Babe Adams
10 Lefty Leifield
11 Nick Maddox
12 Deacon Phillippe
13 Bobby Byrne
14 Ed Abbaticchio
15 Lefty Webb
16 Vin Campbell
17 Owen Wilson
18 Sam Leever
19 Mike Simon
20 Ham Hyatt
21 Paddy O'Connor
22 John Flynn
23 Kirby White
24 Tip Top Boy Mascot
25 Forbes Field
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Dead at age 44
July 28, 1909 Harry Pulliam, the National League President, committed suicide. Most say he was an a huge influence in growing baseball and getting it to were it is today. He was a hard worker and cared about his job. He was under a lot of stress and it is believed that he turned a gun on himself and shot himself in the head.
Here are some other things to consider. The previous year during a tied baseball game between the Cubs and the Giants a controvercial call was made. The teams were also tied for first in the standings. Known as the "Merkle Boner", the call aloud the Cubs to advance to the World Series. The Giants had two outs and runners on 1st 
and second in the ninth inning. Fred "Bonehead" Merkle was on 1st. The Giants batter singled and the runner on third scored. But a little known rule at the time was not followed. During the ensuing madness of Giants fans and players on the field, Merkle didn't touch second base. He just walked away. The Cubs noticed this got the ball and stepped on second. The umpire called him out on a force out. It was appealed, of course, all the way to Harry. Harry had to make the final decision on that call. Although it was the right call, it was unpopular. By the way the Cubs would go on to win the World Series, the last one they have won.
and second in the ninth inning. Fred "Bonehead" Merkle was on 1st. The Giants batter singled and the runner on third scored. But a little known rule at the time was not followed. During the ensuing madness of Giants fans and players on the field, Merkle didn't touch second base. He just walked away. The Cubs noticed this got the ball and stepped on second. The umpire called him out on a force out. It was appealed, of course, all the way to Harry. Harry had to make the final decision on that call. Although it was the right call, it was unpopular. By the way the Cubs would go on to win the World Series, the last one they have won.Other things were going on as well. The AL and NL rivalry was a new brewing pot of competion and he was caught smack dab in the middle of that. He was somewhat unpopular with the NL owners because they believed the AL president was more powerful and getting what he wanted at each turn. Harry did not handle the pressure well. With these details it is easy to see why some rumors have been around for years that he was murdered and didn't kill himself.
"Why is Harry Pulliam so important to the Pirates?", you might ask. Well that dates back to 1899 and earlier. He was part of the Louiville Colonels organization and newspaper writer. He helped signed Honus Wagner and other players to this team. The team was disolved and owner, Barney Dreyfuss bought contolling interest in the Pittsburgh Pirates. Alot of the Louisville players were deciding what to do. Harry talked some players into coming to the new team. This included two hall of famers. These two are none other the Fred Clarke and Honus Wagner.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Forbes Field
In the middle of the 1909 season the Pirates moved into their brand new state of the art ball park, Forbes field. At the fields opening day game was issued a pendant to fans entering the park.
The park was named after John Forbes. Forbes was a British officer that is credited for naming Pittsburgh after William Pitt. John Forbes also lead an expedition during the French and Indian War in the Pittsburgh Area.
Forbes Field was preceded by Exposition Park. Exposition Park was the home to the Pirates for the first ever MLB World Series where they lost to the Boston Americans later known as the Boston Red Sox. The primary problem with Exposition Park is that it often flooded and was primarily made of wood. Other professional ball clubs would call Exposition Park home. The Alleganies and the Rebels which are part of Pirates baseball history played there. These clubs will be discussed in future posts. Another team that played at the park was the Western University of Pennsylvania which is now known as the Pitt Panther football team. The location of the park would now be between PNC Park and Heinz Field.
Forbes field was the Bucco's home from 1909 until 1971 when it was replaced by Three Rivers stadium. Forbes field saw a lot of great players from Honus Wagner to Willie Stargell to Mickey Mantle to Ty Cobb. When it opened it seated 25,000 and was expanded to 35,000 a couple decades later. It cost $1 Million to buy the land and build it. It was constructed in 4 months from primarly steel.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
The Great "H" Controversy
From the founding of the great city until present day the debate lives on. Should Pittsburgh end in an "H" or not. The history of this debate sometimes gets muttled and stems off into many tributaries. The understanding to be found is as follows.
The founding family of the state, The Penns, originally called the city "Pittsburgh". Burgh is derived from the word borough which also ends in an "H". So why the controvercy? Well due to spelling errors, federal regulations of the 1800's, and different national decents the "H" was left off for a time.
The town was named after William Pitt. He lived from 15 November 1708 – 11 May 1778. William Pitt was a great British Stateman and has several cities and towns in the U.S.A. named after him.
Dating all the way back to the late 1700's the first typing or spelling errors can be found. Copies of the original charter for the city are missing the "H" but the original has the "H".
Some of the problem comes from the different national decents. Pittsburgh had a large German population which preferred the h-less version. But the English that modified "borough" to "burgh" choice to name it with the "H"
The decision by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1891 to standardize city names made it official. There will be no "H". This was wildy unpopular in the city. Many pittburghians wanted the "H" because is was unique for one but also because it was the intent of the founders of the city to have it. So after many years of wrangling they got what they wanted. In 1911 the official declaration was that the city will be known as "Pittsburgh".
Now for collectors of memorabilia this presents a chance for great discussion. You can see on different baseball cards from the pre-war periods both being used. If you look at the famous T206 card of Honus Wagner for example. It has no "H". It was produced in 1909. But if you look at all of the Tip Top bread cards, produced in 1910, they have the "H".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
