A 1955 Bowman 100th Birthday: Jim Hughes

Welcome to the second edition of my series featuring players from the 1955 Bowman set that would have turned 100 this year. The first player featured was Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst on February 2. Today's featured player is Jim Hughes (card #156), who I'm spotlighting on what would have been his 100th birthday. 

My actual 1955 Bowman card of Jim Hughes:

Date of Birth: 

March 21, 1923

First Year in Organized Baseball:

1946 with the Madisonville (KY) Miners, a Class D team in the Chicago White Sox organization. 

Link to a Really Old Baseball Guy:

Jim Hughes was teammates with Jo-Jo White on the 1950 Hollywood Stars (AAA affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers). White began his playing career in 1928.

1934-36 National Chicle Diamond Stars (R327) #45 - Jo Jo White

Link to a Much Younger Guy:

Hughes played with Harmon Killebrew on the 1958 Indianapolis Indians (AAA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox). Killebrew retired after the 1975 season. 

1975 Topps - Harmon Killebrew

Interesting Facts: 

• Served in the Marines during World War II
• Became a firefighter in Chicago after his baseball career.
• Died August 12, 2001.

Jim Hughes (hugheji02) - BR Bullpen (baseball-reference.com)

The Grizzled Veterans of 1973 Topps

Playing 15 seasons in the majors is an impressive accomplishment. Not only do you have to be a talented player, but a lot of other things need to go right for you to reach the decade-and-a-half mark. Getting a timely call-up to the majors, staying relatively healthy throughout your career, and having marketable value into your late thirties are some of the requirements. Fifteen years in the majors also makes for a great back-of-the-baseball card for those companies that dare try to cram all those seasons onto the back. I, for one, am thankful for those companies. So much so that I have a binder featuring only cards of players with 15 or more seasons of MLB stats listed on the back. Call it a fifth-tier mini-collection, because it doesn't get a lot of attention.

In my 1973 Topps pursuit (down to 3 cards!) I wanted to see how many of these grizzled old veterans featured in the set had played 15 or more seasons entering the 1973 campaign. By my unofficial count, it turns out the number is 19. I'm sure you could name some of these players if you sat down to brainstorm (and feel free to quiz yourself, because I will reveal all of the names). But I imagine, like me, there are some you never would have guessed. 

I'll highlight them here in order of card number, giving you some images and tidbits along the way for some of the players.

29 - Tony Taylor

19 major league seasons

Final season: 1976

46 - Lindy McDaniel

21 major league seasons

Final season: 1975

50 - Roberto Clemente

18 major league seasons
Final season: 1972

Clemente was the only 1973 veteran to not play during the 1973 season. He died on December 31, 1972, when the plane he was on crashed at sea. He was on his way from Puerto Rico to Nicaragua to deliver relief supplies after an earthquake. 

70 - Milt Pappas

17 major league seasons

Final season: 1973

75 - Vada Pinson

18 major league seasons

Final Season: 1975

90 - Brooks Robinson

23 major league seasons

Final season: 1977

Robinson made his last two All-Star team in 1973 and 1974, his 17th and 18th appearances of his career.

100 - Hank Aaron

23 major league seasons

Final season: 1976

Aaron played a majority of his games in 1972 at first base, but Mike Lum took his spot there in 1973, with Hank moving back to the outfield. 

125 - Ron Fairly

21 major league seasons

Final season: 1978

Fairly lasted the longest of the 1973 veterans, wrapping up his career in 1978 with the California Angels.

165 - Luis Aparicio

18 major league seasons

Final season: 1973

170 - Harmon Killebrew

22 major league seasons

Final season: 1975

A great card of Killer. 

175 - Frank Robinson

21 major league seasons

Final season: 1976

One of those unique angles that only 1973 Topps can provide. You either love it or hate it, it seems. I love it, of course.

277 - Bob Miller

17 major league seasons

Final season: 1974

280 - Al Kaline

22 major league seasons

Final season: 1974

Something about Al Kaline still playing in 1973 seems crazy to me. I always thought he was a guy that probably retired in the late 60s, but here he is. And still providing some value it seems, too.

305 - Willie Mays

23 major league seasons

Final season: 1973

Mays is the super veteran of the group. His 1951 debut with the New York Giants is the earliest debut of any of the veterans of 1973.

485 - Norm Cash

17 major league seasons

Final season: 1974

TCDB tells us that this card incorrectly states that Norm Cash was a 1st round draft pick of the Chicago Bears. He was actually drafted in the 13th round. 

490 - Claude Osteen

18 major league seasons

Final season: 1975

535 - Johnny Callison

16 major league seasons

Final season: 1973

560 - Frank Howard

16 major league seasons

Final season: 1973

Howard had a decent season in Detroit in 1973 before hanging it up. 

650 - Felipe Alou

17 major league seasons

Final season: 1974

According to Wikipedia, Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.

Other random observations:

• Just 3 players out of the 19 were not given a "star" number, that is, a card number ending in 5 or 0 (Tony Taylor, Lindy McDaniel, and Bob Miller). 
• The group of 19 also featured 8 eventual Hall of Famers (Clemente, B. Robinson, Aaron, Aparicio, Killebrew, F. Robinson, Kaline, Mays).
• Johnny Callison, Frank Howard, and Felipe Alou fell in the dreaded high number series, though none of them were too difficult to obtain.
• Al Kaline, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron are the only players to appear in both this set and my other set project, 1955 Bowman.

Incidentally, if you have any of these 73 Topps cards lying around, feel free to connect with me for a possible trade:

• 380 - Johnny Bench
• 610 - Rookie Pitchers (Freeman/Hough/Webb)
• 615 - Rookie Third Basemen (Cey/Hilton/Schmidt) --- going to have to save up for this one.

Time to Finish Some Projects

I figured it must be time for another spring update, to let you know I'm still around. I've been reading the blogs a little more than I usually do during the winter months in an attempt to stay connected. As usual, my fall/winter included some reading, but my favorite wasn't one of several baseball books I read. It was actually a book about the assassination of President James Garfield called Destiny of the Republic. Of the baseball books I read, my favorite was probably a book about Roger Clemens called The Rocket that Fell to Earth. I also read biographies of Buck Weaver, Satchel Paige, Dave Dravecky, Bill Lee, Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, and Dick Williams. 

I've been doing some trading and have to mention the great haul I got from Nick's 10th anniversary giveaway over at the Dime Boxes blog. Though those cards are now safely filed away, Nick's generosity must be mentioned (thanks Nick)! 

A recent trade with Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life was sparked by my interest in a single card:

I actually was interested in this card more for Harmon Killebrew than for Mantle, though it was neat to get my first vintage card featuring The Mick. 

I put together a bigger group of cards for Bo, and he sent a bunch in return. I sometimes think I need to narrow my focus to fewer collection goals, but the cards that follow show that I haven't done that yet. Still have a lot of card juggling to do with my collection.

These are some cards for my ongoing TTM project. I started sending my first TTM (through the mail) autograph requests last summer/fall, focusing on players that played locally as well as Cubs players. I've had pretty good success and would like to eventually share some of the cards I've gotten signed. 

A few from my 15+ year player project. This mini collection consists of cards that have 15 or more years of stats on the back. I'm at 597 of these cards now, which is kind of crazy since this is like my 10th collection priority (or maybe lower). 

Kerry Wood cards seem to find their way to me lately, and that's just fine!

Can't ever get enough of those waxy rookies, especially of one of my all-time favorite players. Plus a few new ones for the collection (now over 400 different). 

A few candidates for my second Frankenset, which is in progress. I've been working on posting the images from my first Frankenset, and am close to halfway there. This is a sincere attempt to finish a project for good! 

Bo sent two unexpected items that were arguably the highlight of the trade. 

Bill Zuber played for the Fargo-Moorhead Twins in 1934 when they were a minor league affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. He later made the majors, and opened a restaurant in Homestead, Iowa. The restaurant is now a hotel, but still displays some of Zuber's baseball memorabilia. Guessing one of these matchbooks might be there. 

The second matchbook is of the Powers Hotel here in Fargo. The building is still standing and now houses apartments. Very cool.

There were more cards in the trade package from Bo that I didn't show, which tells you it was a great trade. Thanks Bo!

Hope everyone is well. I've been updating my TCDB profile to hopefully spark some trading, so check it out if you get a chance. Help me finish some projects so I can add some sanity and order to my collection!

What Will I Do With All These Donruss Puzzle Pieces?

It's a question that many of us perhaps have struggled with over the years. You can't avoid them. You probably have a bunch laying around. Or maybe you toss them in the trash every time they come around. The Donruss puzzle pieces. 

I'm not sure when I came across the idea, but I thought it was a good one: Put the puzzles together and then put them in a frame. An intriguing thought, though I never really liked the look of framed puzzles generally. Well, whoever came up with this idea is a genius. Maybe it's because they are baseball-themed instead of some boring pastoral landscape, but I think they look fantastic. Fantastic enough that I have been working on putting together the entire series of puzzles that Donruss/Leaf released from 1982-1991. 

Here are the puzzles I've completed:

1986 - Hank Aaron

1987 - Roberto Clemente

1988 - Stan Musial

1990 - Carl Yastrzemski
1991 - Willie Stargell
1991 - Harmon Killebrew (Leaf)
1991 - Rod Carew (Studio)

I just received the final pieces of the Yogi Berra and Lou Gehrig puzzles, so I'm hoping to get those put together soon. I'll finish the Babe Ruth, Warren Spahn, and second Rod Carew puzzles as soon as I decided to have my baseballcardstore.ca orders shipped. If I had kept every piece I had ever accumulated of the Spahn puzzle over the years, I'm sure I could have put like 10 of them together by now. 

The next challenge will be finding a place for these new puzzles, since most of my real estate is taken with other 8x10s and a couple 3 x 5 foot Cubs flags. One of those 8 x 10s is a recent pickup, of the first person I'd put in the Hall of Fame if given the chance:

The legendary Buck O'Neil (from his time as a Cubs coach). 

If you're curious about the framing of the puzzle, it's easy enough and cheap enough to do in my opinion. You'll need a certificate-sized frame (easily found at the dollar store or big box stores). Assemble the puzzle face down, and then glue a piece of letter-size card stock to the back. It will overlap the sides but is pretty much flush top to bottom. For the Hank Aaron puzzle above, which is blue, I used my usual white card stock, but then colored in the margins left to right to make it blend in better. I'm sure these would display well in a binder, too, if space is an issue. Some of mine might end up there someday. The Clemente and Aaron are too awesome to not display, though, so they'll stay for sure.

There are four puzzles for which I have zero pieces:

1983 - Mickey Mantle

1983 - Ty Cobb

1984 - Duke Snider

1984 - Ted Williams

If you have any of these, I'd love to swing a trade. 

Which one player would you put in the Hall of Fame if given the chance?

Thanks for stopping by.