1952 Trades

I've been sorting through some vintage cards I bought a few years back. Of course by sort, I mean get distracted and start looking names up on baseball reference and SABR.

 1952 Bowman George Strickland

1952 Topps Ted Wilks

When I was sorting the cards my initial thought was "hey that Strickland card is cool"  so I pulled it aside to showcase on the blog. As usual I started reading about George Strikland and found out that both he and Ted Wilks were traded to the Indians and 1952. 

When I saw the name Wilks I immediately knew I had shown a card of him before.. I featured him in a post about some vintage Bowman.  As I got a little further in my vintage stack I noticed I had a nice 52 Topps Wilks.  It was destiny that these two cards be put in the same post.  

Both guys are not well known, but each had about 10 year careers.  The Pirates were short tenures for each with Strickland staying around 3 years and Wilks part of 2 seasons.  

I love the vibrant colors of each card and both are in really nice condition. Gotta love vintage cards. They tell so many stories...

Thanks for reading. 

Clyde Sukeforth is a Man of History

I couldn't sleep last night after the Super Bowl so I started fooling around with some cards. I've mentioned before that I tend to get sidetracked looking at vintage players as I get caught up in Baseball Reference and SABR pages. Such was the case with Clyde Sukeforth.

1952 Bowman Clyde Sukeforth

Clyde's playing career was unremarkable, but boy oh boy did he have his hand in some famous baseball moments after his playing days were over.  Working for the Dodgers Sukeforth scouted Jackie Robinson and was the one who brought him to New York to meet Branch Rickey.  He and Rickey were the only ones in the room when Robinson agreed to sign with the Dodgers.

Sukeforth was so vital that his character was portrayed in the movie 42. In the movie he meets Jackie at a rural gas station to try and convince him to come back to New York. In actuality this meeting occurred at Comiskey Park, but either way it shows that Sukeforth was a key player. I actually rewatched that movie recently, but still my brain didn't put it all together until last night. 

The next major event Clyde had his hand in was the "shot heard round the world." Sukeforth was the bullpen coach for Brooklyn at the time and told manager Charlie Dressen that Ralph Branca was throwing better than Carl Erksine. Ouch......

A year later Sukeforth was fired by Brooklyn and took a job with the Pirates to work for Branch Rickey again. In the 1954 Rule 5 Draft Sukeforth was instrumental in the Pirates taking a young Roberto Clemente.  

You really should check out his SABR page. It is amazing to have your hand in so much history. I was really tired this morning after reading a ton of stuff about Sukeforth, but I'm glad I did. 

The card featured was purchased for a shade over $3 and features Clyde as a coach for the Pirates. 

Thanks for reading!  

Old Perfection

When it comes to buying vintage I do more window shopping than anything. I'll put a bunch of stuff on my watch list, but when the time comes to act my trigger finger gets a little shy. I think a lot of this stems from me being able to add a lot of old Pirates through trades. Mark Hoyle has pretty much filled up a binder and Zippy just sent me a T206. It's good to have helpful blogging friends!

With that being said I can be convinced to pull the trigger when the opportunity presents itself. Last month I was watching some auctions from a seller I follow and he posted a ton of 1952 Bowman cards. He probably had 25 or so, and all were in immaculate shape. I made up my mind that I wanted a few for my collection and went for it.  After it was all said in done I won 5. I was kind of kicking myself a little as I should have been more aggressive. The cards were beautiful.

Take a look.

 Bill Howerton

 Murray Dickson

 George Mitkovich

Ted Wilks

Billy Meyer

In terms of significance Murray Dickson and Billy Meyer (manager) had long tenures with the Bucs. Meyer actually had his number retired by the Pirates more for being a respected baseball guy than the results on the field. Some of the local Pittsburgh media have written about Meyer on occasion saying that he didn't deserve the honor. 

Price wise the cards cost anywhere from $6 to $13 a piece. I though a reasonable price as all 5 have outstanding fronts. The most notable wear is found on two of the backs. 

Hopefully the seller finds a few more 52 Pirates so I can keep adding to the collection. 

Thanks for reading.