1950 Bowman Project - Billy Goodman

One of my stated goals at the outset of the year was to make some progress on my 1950 Bowman set.  Let's do that today, with a Red Sox card nonetheless!  This is a card I picked up a long time ago, but if memory (and the Blogger search engine) is correct, is one I haven't shown here on the blog before.

I'm actually really excited to finally get this card added to the project, and the overall count in my set.  Aside from being a solid addition to my Red Sox collection, this one is particularly cool for the '50 Bowman set.  Why is that?  Well, Billy Goodman won the AL batting title in 1950!  It's the truth.  In fact, he also finished second in AL MVP voting that year, losing the award to Phil Rizzuto of the Yankees.

Goodman is regarded as one of the more under-rated and all-around solid ballplayers of his era.  A reliable fielder, he swung a very effective bat as well, finishing with a career batting average of .300, and a career OBP of .376.  That's a hitter that any team would love to have in the lead-off spot.

Goodman was posthumously inducted into the Boston Red Sox HOF in 2004, after having passed away from cancer a couple of decades earlier at just 58 years old.

I'm psyched to have this one in my set, which is now up to 16 cards and counting.  Just a drop in the well at this point, but I'm enjoying picking these up and hope to have a few more to feature before the year is out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Set Progress:  16 of 252 (6% Complete)

1950 Bowman Project - Pete Suder

Quick post today, as I'm traveling yet again for work this week and am relying on the schedule function to keep this blog on life support.  One of my goals at the outset of the year was to make progress on a set from each year of the 1950s on the baseball side.  Today let's do just that with my 1950 selection, Bowman!

The next subject to fall in my quest to someday complete this beautiful set is infielder Pete Suder of the Philadelphia A's.  Suder was a utility infielder who was most known for his uncanny ability to ground into double plays.  What's funny to me, no offense intended, is that he looks like a utility infielder prone to grounding into double plays!  Am I wrong?

There are some true pieces of art in terms of the cards that make up this set, but I wouldn't necessarily say this is one of them.  It's a perfectly fine card, just a standard portrait and with one of the blander backgrounds that the checklist has to offer.  Not bad, but not great either.

As the back of the card indicates, Pete (like so many in his generation) sacrificed years of his career for military service during WWII.  A true Shoebox Legend, to be sure!

Just another example of a card that can be had from this set in really good shape for less than $5 delivered.  That about sums up my reasoning for picking this one up.  15 of these down, 237 to go!

Set Progress:  15 of 252 (5% Complete)

1950 Bowman Project - Ken Keltner

Making some good progress with my slow-burn 1950 Bowman set build after a long break.  Let's look at the third card to be added this month!

It's another Red Sox player too, third baseman Ken Keltner.  This one is sort of an anomaly, as Keltner actually played all but the final 13 games of his career with the Cleveland Indians.  Those final 13 games came in a Boston uniform in 1950, and then Ken hung up the spikes.

During his long stint with the Indians Ken was extremely successful.  He played in the era before the Gold Glove Award existed, but would almost certainly have won a few given that he was viewed as one of the premier fielding third basemen of his day.  Keltner was also a 7x All-Star, won a World Series with the team in 1948, and received MVP votes in five different seasons.

I picked up this card long ago, and it's probably the finest-condition 1950 Bowman in my entire collection.  It's in such good shape that it kind of sticks out among my small grouping of other cards from the set at this point.

I love the obscurity of this one, it's great to land a card of a player who was extremely successful with another franchise, and barely snuck in a quick stint with Boston at the very end of his career.  Great card, up to 14 in total now from one of my favorite sets of the '50s.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Set Progress:  14 of 252 (5% Complete)

1950 Bowman Project - Joe Dobson

After a scan-heavy, intensive effort yesterday I'm a bit burned out and need a quick-and-dirty post today.  The fix for that?  Time for the next post in my slow crawl towards a 1950 Bowman baseball set.  It's once again a Red Sox subject today...

This beat-up beauty features pitcher Joe Dobson.  Right off the bat I'll say that this one is in worse shape than I'd typically like to see out of my cards from this release.  It's probably the only card I've featured from the set so far that I'd like to replace someday.  I ended up with it though because I plucked it for the insanely low price of 50 cents at a card show back in 2012.

Though he was named an All-Star only once (1948), Joe had a distinguished career on the mound.  He spent the bulk of his career with Boston, and won over 100 games in a Red Sox uniform.  Overall he racked up 137 wins and a career ERA just a touch over 3.50.  In a sure sign of a bygone era, he pitched a whopping 112 complete games, including 22 shutouts.  Like our last subject in this series, he's inducted in the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame!

As the back of the card indicates, Joe was known as a top-notch fielder.

Aside from his baseball accolades, Joe served with the United States Army for a couple of years towards the end of WWII.  Also of note, Dobson lost his left thumb and left forefinger at the age of 9 due to a run-in with a dynamite cap!  He was a right handed pitcher of course, but it's still interesting to me that he was known as a phenomenal fielder despite being down a couple of digits on his glove hand.

Though I intend to replace this one someday, it's a welcome addition to my set build for the time being.  Up to a baker's dozen now from this set!

Set Progress:  13 of 252 (5% Complete)

1950 Bowman Project - Vern Stephens

Someday I'd love to finish off a run of complete sets from the 1950s; one for each year between 1950 and 1959.  The obvious choice for a 1950 set is the beautiful Bowman release.  I've been (very) slowly picking away at completing this one over time, though it hasn't exactly been near the top of my priority list this past calendar year.  Nonetheless, I have my latest example to share here today...

Today's subject is shortstop Vern Stephens of the Boston Red Sox.  Vern's name may not be as recognizable as some of the total superstars of his era, but he was a fantastic hitter, especially for a shortstop.  He was either an All-Star, got MVP votes, or both for ten consecutive seasons between 1942 and 1951.  He led the league in home runs once, and in RBI three times.  While not inducted in Cooperstown, he is indeed a member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

Not the most exciting write-up on the back, but you do get some sense of his statistical dominance around this era.  Pretty amazing that Boston was able to land a talent like this via trade in 1947.

This may not be a card that's fit for grading condition-wise, but it's right in line with most of my small number of cards from this set so far.  Maybe a touch rougher than some of them if I'm being brutally honest, but not noticeably different.  Happy to add a vintage card of this Red Sox slugger to my collection!

A dozen down, just 240 of these small works of art left to go.  Maybe someday!

Set Progress:  12 of 252 (4% Complete)

1950 Bowman - Post #11 - Jimmy Russell

I'll never turn down a '50s Bowman card, and if I won the lottery or otherwise had an unlimited collecting budget I'd love to track down each and every one.  Until that day comes though, I'm satisfied with plucking some cheap ones off of eBay from time to time.

A while back I started officially tallying and dedicating a post to each card I land from the 1950 set, and today I've got the 11th post along those lines, featuring Jimmy Russell of the Brooklyn Dodgers!

As far as pure aesthetics go, the plain wooden fence isn't the most exciting background you'll find in this beautiful set, but it's a nice enough card anyway.  I mean, is there even such a thing as an unattractive '50 Brooklyn Dodgers card?  I don't think I've ever encountered one!  Of my small collection of 1950 Bowman, this is actually my first Dodger, which is pretty cool.

I picked this card up a few years ago in graded format only because it was dirt cheap, cheaper even than I could find any decent-condition ungraded copies for.  Some day though I'll look to get rid of this and pick up an ungraded version, or maybe even crack it free from its plastic prison.  If and when I land any HOFers or big stars from this release I'd consider graded, but at this point in my collecting career I prefer raw cards at least for the commons.

Here's a better look at Jimmy, sans plastic slab.  Russell actually began his MLB career all the way back in 1942 with the Pirates, and was winding down at the Major League level by the time he found his way to Brooklyn.  The 1950 and 1951 seasons that the Pennsylvania native spent with the Dodgers wound up being the final seasons of his Major League career.  After he hung up the spikes, he spent well over a decade as a scout for both the Dodgers and the Senators.

Here's a look at the back, unblemished for the most part...

...and here's a better look for anyone who might want to read the summary.

A 1950 Bowman was the very first vintage baseball card I ever owned, as probably an 8 or 9 year old when my dad bought me one at an antiques store near where we lived.  I've loved the set ever since, and I enjoy the new cards I pick up from this release almost 30 years later every bit as much as I did that first one.  I may never own them all, but you can bet you'll be seeing at least a few more of these on the blog in the future.

Enjoy your Wednesday, and thanks for stopping by!

Set Progress:  11 of 252 (4% Complete)

1950 Bowman - Post #10 - Johnny Pesky

It's been many months since I previewed a new card towards my slow burn set build of 1950 Bowman, having last shown Jim Hearn and the mystery man in a tie.  Today's example is one I've actually shown on the blog before, way back in 2011, but haven't officially previewed for this project.

It's Red Sox fan favorite, Johnny Pesky!  It's easy to see why Pesky was so beloved in Boston that he's got a foul pole in Fenway Park named after him.  An under-rated player and a class act of a human being for sure.  While I haven't made it a point to add to it in recent years, there was a time when I was building a small collection of his playing-era cards.

I tend to forget just how effectively Johnny swung the bat early in his career.  Check out these stats courtesy of Baseball Reference:

The man led the American League in hits in 1942, 1946 and 1947.  It's interesting to think about how things might have differed had Pesky not given up three seasons to serve his country in the military.  Could he have led the league in hits during his age 24, 25 and 26 seasons as well?  We'll never know, but if he had, he'd have been the only player in league history - to this very day - to do so.  The closest anyone's come to that mark are Jose Altuve, who led the league in hits for four consecutive seasons (2014-2017), or the great Ichiro Suzuki, who did it for five years running (2006-2010).

Here's a better look at the card, though a bit fuzzy due to the plastic slab messing up the scan.  A little off-center, but a great-looking example, and one of my favorite Johnny Pesky cards.

That's all for today, and I finally hit double digits on this project with ten cards profiled now.  I've already got the next two of these queued up in draft format, so I'll make sure I don't go nearly as long between posts this time.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

Set Progress:  10 of 252 (3% Complete)

1950 Bowman - Post #9 - Jim Hearn

One of my lifelong collecting goals is to someday complete a 1950 Bowman baseball set.  It's not exactly at the top of my priority list, but something I plan to slowly plod away at over the course of my lifetime.  Today I'm reviewing my ninth pick-up towards that pursuit...

...and it's tall left-handed pitcher Jim Hearn.  Jim played 13 seasons of Major League Baseball for the Cardinals, Giants and Phillies.  You don't hear much about him these days (at least I don't), but he seems to have been a somewhat under-rated player.  He won over 100 games in his career, many more than he lost, and finished with a respectable career ERA of 3.81.

This particular card is a favorite in my early set build here for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost, Hearn had one of his better seasons in 1950.  The Cardinals had placed him on waivers early in the season, but when the Giants claimed him in mid-July he was an absolute stud for the latter half of the season.  In 16 starts for New York, Jim went 11-3 with a 1.94 ERA  In 11 of those 16 starts he pitched a complete game, and 5 of those were shutouts to boot!  Jim's resurrection with the Giants was so impressive that he was even named on at least one MVP ballot that year.

The second reason I love this card though is obvious...the lurker in the shirt and tie.  It's just so bizarre and so out of place.  The interesting backgrounds are one of the things I enjoy most about this release, and this one certainly doesn't disappoint.  Is that Jim's agent, or accountant?  Maybe a Secret Service agent?  We'll never know, and in all likelihood it was just an average fan given that folks used to actually dress up to attend ballgames back then.

I got this card for $3, and I bet one of the reasons I picked it up so cheap is that some baseball fan almost 70 years ago took it upon himself to stamp "GIANTS" on the back.  I don't mind, in fact I kind of like it.  The reason Hearn was on waivers to begin with in 1950 was that he got off to a  horrific start with St. Louis, to the tune of a 10.00 ERA after 6 appearances.  All of his success that season came after the Giants claimed him, so it's a rare case where I think I actually prefer my stamped card to a clean one.

Well, there you have it, Jim Hearn and the man in the tie.  As for my 1950 Bowman set, that's 9 cards down, 243 to go...

1950 Bowman - Post #8 - Earl Johnson

Last year I officially announced my intent to (slowly) collect the 1950 Bowman baseball set.  These under-sized gems are some of my favorite vintage baseball cards, period.  I finished 2017 with half a dozen of them in hand and profiled on the blog, but have added just one card to that total so far this year.  Seems as good a time as any to look at card #8 in my quest!

Today's subject is pitcher Earl Johnson of the Boston Red Sox!  Earl debuted with the Sox in the summer of 1940 at just 21 years of age.  After the 1941 season he, like so many others of his era, put his Major League Baseball career on hold to support US military efforts in WWII.

Johnson's military career was even more impressive than the one he carved out on the diamond.  Serving in the army's 120th Infantry Regiment, Earl faced hostile fire in combat and was awarded the Bronze Star and Silver Star in addition to being commissioned as a lieutenant.

When the conflict subsided the southpaw returned to Major League Baseball for the 1946 season.  He'd stick around for five more seasons with Boston before closing out his professional baseball career with the Tigers in 1951.

Here's a look at the back.  When his playing career wound down Earl served as a scout in the Red Sox organization for many years, making this card even cooler in the eyes of this Red Sox fan.

At this pace it's going to take me many years to complete this set, but I don't mind.  I'm really enjoying the ride as I go, and landing a new Red Sox card like this makes today's feature doubly satisfying!

Thanks for taking a few minutes of your day to stop by, I'll be featuring some more awesome cardboard from this release as the year rolls on!

Set Progress:  8 of 252 (3% Complete)

1950 Bowman - Post #7 - Ken Heintzelman

Last year I officially decided to chase the 1950 Bowman baseball set, as sort of a life-long goal.  The first vintage card I ever got my hands on as a kid was the Maurice McDermott from this release, a gift from my Dad from an antiques store near our house.  I've been enamored with these under-sized cards ever since.

I've got a few of these back-logged; cards I've picked up over the past few months but just haven't found the time to scan or post.  Since we're almost two months into 2018 here it's about time I got around to featuring one.

Not much of an introduction, but here's Ken Heintzelman...

Ken actually saw his first MLB action all the way back in 1937, with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He remained with the Pirates until 1947, posting a 37-43 record with a 4.14 ERA during his time with the team (where he was sometimes a starter, sometimes worked out of the bullpen).

During the 1947 season the Phillies purchased him from Pittsburgh, and he spent the remaining few seasons of his career with Philadelphia.  His best season was probably his age 33 campaign in 1949, where he was used exclusively as a starter, a move that paid dividends for the Phil's to the tune of a 17-10 record, a respectable 3.02 ERA and 5 shutouts!

Here's a look at the back.  Lot of overlap with what I just wrote above actually, whoops.  What the back doesn't mention is that, like so many in his generation, Ken missed a few of what would have been the prime years of his career fighting in WWII.  The Greatest Generation, indeed.

Well, that's all I've got time for tonight.  I'm tired, today was a long one, so I might not be doing this card the justice it deserves.  Like all of the cards I've seen from this release, it's a real beauty.  Hopefully it doesn't take another two months for me to get around to posting another one of these...

Thanks for checking in!

Set Progress:  7 of 252 (2% Complete)

1950 Bowman - Post #6 - Sid Gordon

Next up in my slow, plodding effort to complete a 1950 Bowman baseball set, Mr. Sid Gordon:

Gordon was a very respectable power hitter who enjoyed a 13-year career at the Major League level.  He spent the early years of his career with the New York Giants (broken up by a two-year stint in the Coast Guard during WWII), before being traded to the Boston Braves prior to the 1950 season.

Sid put together some impressive seasons, but this is a great card to get towards my set as his 1950 campaign may have been his overall best.  Gordon hit .304 with 27 home runs and 103 RBI that year.  While he had a couple of other seasons that were comparable as far as home runs and runs driven in, his 33 doubles and .960 OPS were both career highs.

By the time he hung up his spikes, Sid had compiled more than 1,400 hits, 200 home runs and 800 RBI.  He was named an All-Star twice, garnered MVP votes in five separate seasons, and was enshrined posthumously in the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Gordon died doing what he loved in the year 1975, suffering a heart attack while playing softball in Central Park at age 57.

Half a dozen cards and counting now...

Set Progress:  6 of 252 (2% Complete)

1950 Bowman - Post #5 - Jack Kramer

Another quick one today, let's take a look at the fifth card towards my budding 1950 Bowman baseball set:

Today's subject is Jack Kramer, who had the flattering nickname "Handsome Jack".  He began his MLB career with the St. Louis Browns all the way back in 1939.  Kramer would remain with that franchise through 1947, with the exception of a couple of years where he served with the US Navy Seabees in World War II.  I certainly have tremendous respect for Mr. Kramer for that alone.

Upon his return to the Browns, he was named an All-Star for three consecutive seasons beginning in 1945.  At the conclusion of that run St. Louis dealt him to my hometown team, the Boston Red Sox.  After two years in Boston he'd move on to finish his career with the team he's depicted with here, the New York Giants, and even played a few games with the Yankees to close it out before he was released for the final time in 1951.

Here's a look at the back, which references not only his nickname but his fantastic 1948 season with the Red Sox.  The right-handed starter went 18-5 for Boston that year!

Another example of an interesting backdrop on this one, between that strange outfield wall and lone (palm?) tree.  These are just too cool, I never get tired of acquiring new cards from this beautiful set.  5 down, 247 to go!

Set Progress:  5 of 252 (2% Complete)

1950 Bowman - Post #4 - Cliff Fannin

It's actually been a few months since I featured a new 1950 Bowman card, but I do still intend to passively collect this set.  Seems as good a time as any to get back to it!

Today's subject is card #106 on the checklist, featuring St. Louis Browns pitcher Cliff Fannin.  Cliff was sort of a middling pitcher who appeared in over 150 MLB games over the course of his career, 98 of them as a starter.  Unfortunately he passed away from a clogged artery at just 42 years old.

I like this one for a couple of reasons.  I'm a fan of franchises of the past, but more than that I just love the artwork here, particularly the background.  The old school ballpark backdrops are some of the absolute best things about the '50s Bowman releases.  The ad for ice cubes on the outfield wall has to be the star of the show here, right?

Here's a look at the back, for posterity's sake.

To me, this one is all about the wonderful front though.  Feels good to be plodding along with this set again after a short break, I've got a few more stocked up to feature here in the coming weeks...

Set Progress:  4 of 252 (1.6% Complete)

1950 Bowman - Post #3 - Bill Salkeld

It's a rainy Tuesday here in New England.  Seems like as good a time as any to look at my latest acquisition towards my budding 1950 Bowman baseball set...

Bill Salkeld was a catcher who overcame a serious early-career knee injury to claw his way back into Major League Baseball.  He finally broke through with the Pirates in 1945 (a manpower shortage thanks to WWII may have been a factor here).  From there, he was traded to the Boston Braves and was a contributor to the 1948 National League Championship team that lost to the Indians in the World Series.

Here we see Bill with the Chicago White Sox, who had purchased him from the Braves during the 1949 off-season.  He played just a single game for the White Sox early in 1950 before they shipped him off to the Pacific Coast League, effectively ending his MLB career.

Here's the back, which does a pretty good job of summing up Salkeld's career actually.  If you're a fan of "short term stops" it doesn't get a whole lot better than a vintage card featuring a player who appeared in just one single game with the team he's depicted with.

So yeah, Bill Salkeld becomes the third card I've touched on now in my pursuit of 1950 Bowman.  249 left to go!  For a much more thorough write-up on Bill, I highly recommend his biography over on SABR.

Set Progress:  3 of 252 (1.2% Complete)

1950 Bowman - Post #2 - Monte Kennedy (Or Is It Monty?)

I've decided to take a crack at building the 1950 Bowman set, largely because it was responsible for the first truly vintage baseball card I ever owned.  Tonight I inch one card closer to that goal with pitcher Monte Kennedy of the New York Giants:

Monte (also spelled Monty in some instances) was a lefty who wore a Giants uniform for all 249 of his Major League Baseball appearances across 8 seasons.  While he began his career primarily as a starter, he would later shift to a bullpen/spot start role.  In the end, just about half of his career games were starts with the other half coming out of the pen.

While he never won a World Series, he did pitch in two games of the 1951 Fall Classic against the Yankees.  In one instance, he had a nice 1-2-3 inning.  The other appearance?  He gave up a two-run shot to Phil Rizzuto.  You win some, you lose some.

Here's a look at the back.  Kennedy was obviously still a starter in 1949, as evidenced by the 12-14 record.  It was the final year of his career though where at least 50% of his appearances would come as starts.

As far as the card itself, the plain grey is easily one of the least interesting backgrounds in the entire set.  I love all of these miniature beauties though, and am happy to have Monte here in hand at this early stage of my set build.

Set Progress:  2 of 252 (.8% Complete)

1950 Bowman - Post #1 - Maurice McDermott (The Beginning)

Recently I've been in a bit of a hobby funk.  My buyback franken-set has kept my interest, but I have hundreds of buybacks already in hand just waiting to be processed for that particular project so there's not much need to seek out others, at least at this stage.

In giving some thought as to what might inject a dose of motivation I came up with a project that I'm shocked I haven't already tried tackling to date...

...1950 Bowman!

This set has always evoked feelings of nostalgia for me, largely because the Maurice McDermott card you see above was the first true vintage card I ever owned.  My Dad bought it for me when I was probably 8 years old or so, from a bin of random vintage baseball cards at an antiques store a few towns over.

Though I had no idea who Mickey McDermott was at the time, this card was the catalyst to my enjoyment of the hobby that, while it went dormant for a few years there, remains to this day.  I thought it was the coolest thing to have a baseball card from decades before I ever took my first breath, and I still do.

We all have those memories that, for whatever reason, we recall vividly, and for me one of those is a memory of my Dad snickering about the fact that McDermott is referred to as "String-bean Maury" on the back of this card.  Hell, this one has so much sentimental value for me that I ranked it my #1 Red Sox card in a countdown a few years back.

So yeah, I'm going to take a crack at completing the 1950 Bowman set.  It won't be easy, and if I ever manage to complete the set it will become the oldest that I've finished off by a long shot.  We'll see how it goes, but I've stepped off the ledge here and am one card in already!

In the unlikely event that you have any of these you'd be up for trading, I've updated my want list...

Set Progress:  1 of 252 (.4% Complete)