Go Ahead - I Adair You

Sometimes you just have to dare to take risks in order to spice up your life.  I'm not talking about the immature kind of dare where you lick a cold lamppost, A Christmas Story style - obviously, it's not chilly enough outside for that kind of childish mischief yet.  In this context, I'm talking about much more adult things - baseball cards - and laying down some hard-earned money on an item that you know little-to-nothing about.  There's some risk involved; but, at least it doesn't involve the possibility of the fire department having to come and remove your tongue from a light fixture.

A few days back, I was scrolling through some saved searches on Ebay when I came across a listing which grabbed my attention:

"What in the heck is this?" I thought to myself.  It looks like a vintage Mother's Cookie Pacific Coast League single from the early 50's; however, Jim Adair was not part of either of those checklists.  How do I know this?  Well, Jim Adair has never been a part of ANY checklist - the minor league lifer never appeared on a baseball card... EVER.  Why does this concern me?  You see, while Jim spent the vast majority of his career in the bushes, he also sipped a cup of joe with the Cubs in the early 30's, meaning he's needed for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.

According to the listing, by thebaseballhobbyist, it is one piece of a larger, new set released by Carl Aldana, intended to showcase players of the PCL's San Francisco Seals.  If that name sounds at all familiar to you, you are either an ardent reader of the Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards or a fervent fan of oddballs.  You see, Carl is the man behind a handful collector-issued card sets from the 1970's, including a pair of Orioles compilations (1970-71) and a checklist titled "Yesterday's Heroes" -  the latter of which appeared on the blogosphere a few years ago, courtesy of Number 5 Type Collection.  Beyond these homemade-looking cards, there isn't much more info on Mr. Aldana available.

Aldana's previous work, as seen in the link above

As the listing purports, Carl has re-emerged from the shadows to throw his hat in the oddball baseball card ring once again.  Curiously, this Ebay vendor appears to be the only distributor of Carl Aldana's current work.  I have to wonder if Aldana is somehow invested in this account...

At any rate, if these cards are what thebaseballhobbyist says they are (and they do have perfect feedback), Mr. Aldana is back after a LOOOOOOOONG absence with this colorful, retro-inspired 72-card set (and a handful of other thematic sets) which features San Francisco Seals, specifically those who donned the uniform during the World War II era:

 

Of course, since Adair has never appeared on any sort of baseball card, I realized that this might be my only chance to add his name to my CATRC.  So, despite knowing very little about these cards or the person(s) behind them, I dared to buy that single, for a couple of bucks, anyway.  Wooooo - in the words of Aerosmith, I'm livin' on the edge!

The card arrived swiftly in the mail - taking just two days time.  In fact, according to the tracking number, my purchase was in the mail the very same day I clicked "buy it now" - talk about excellent customer service.  Anyway, now that this bad boy is actually in-hand, let's see if this "Adair-ing" purchase was worth the risk, shall we?

First off, let's take a look at the backside:

The flip-side of each Seal is the same, featuring a checklist of the full set, divvied up by background color.  This was likely done because, as you might have already noticed, the cards are all unnumbered.  I have to wonder why this staple of baseball card characteristics was omitted; but, since I don't plan on pursuing the set, it doesn't bother me too much.  However, I do wish that the backs featured some background information on the subject, seeing as Adair, like nearly all of the players in the set, is not exactly a household name.  I guess I'll have to crack the books myself (more on that later).

Another quirk of note is that in the colorized picture used by Aldana, Adair is depicted wearing the uniform of the St. Paul Saints, rather than the Seals.  The Saints weren't even competitors in the PCL (American Association, at the time) and the photo dates back to 1938, five years before he made his way to "the city by the bay".  Despite that, I can't be too hard on Carl here, seeing as images of Adair are hard to come by and, in my own search, the original image was about as close as I could get to "era appropriate."  Although, I do have to wonder, who was behind the colorization?

The dimensions of the cards are roughly the same as the original Mother's Cookies card, upon which these newbies are based.  Those food-based oddities measured 2-1/4" by 3-1/2," same height as your standard issue and slightly narrower.  Meanwhile, the Aldana reboots are also the standard height, but in turn, are a touch even more narrow at 2-13/16."  Other than this ever so slight change, the 2017's are pretty faithful to their source material.

 For comparison's sake, here's a pair of Mom originals, from my CATRC - 1952 and '53

Furthermore, when compared to their source material, these cards don't just look like the real thing, they also feel like the real thing.  They are printed on thin, but sturdy card stock - just as God and Mother's Cookies always intended.  I don't have one of those fancy, schmancy BCW card thickness point gauges, but they sure do seem like a match to my eyes and hands.  Furthermore, they are also clearly printed by professionals - these aren't coming off of some lousy, ink jet printer, that's for certain.  All told, if I didn't know better, you could easily convince me that these were whipped up by Topps or Panini as some sort of retro insert set - they are simply that well done.

To summarize, I've now learned an awful lot about the high quality of Aldana's work from this risky impulse purchase; I sure wouldn't wouldn't be opposed to adding more to my collection.  However, in turn, maybe it's time to learn a little bit about the subject of this particular Aldana single:  long-forgotten infielder, Jerry Adair.

 Jimmy during his brief trial with the Cubs in 1931

James Audrey Adair was a longtime, minor league veteran who plied his trade on diamonds from Waco to Denver to Springfield and a host of other towns from 1927 to 1944.  In that time, the infielder also happened to get a brief cuppacoffee with the Chicago Cubs during the latter half of the 1931 season.

In August of that year, Jimmy got the call after an injury to regular third baseman, Les Bell, slid Woody English over from short. Thus, Adair's contract was purchased from the Reading Keystones and he was immediately plugged into the lineup as the starting shortstop.  For the next 18 games, Adair batted a solid .276 with four extra base hits; however, he was a bit of a butcher in the field, with five errors in that same time (perhaps that is the origin of his nickname, "Choppy?").  After the first week of September, Bell returned for the final 12 games of his nine-year career and Adair was returned to the minors, where he would stay for the next 13 seasons.  You might say that the final "Bell" had rung on his Big League career.

The man whom Adair replaced and was replaced with.

After several years starring for the Louisville Colonels (of the American Association), he became a minor league journeyman.  On that note, it's actually quite amazing that a picture of Adair in a St. Paul Saints uniform exists, as he played in exactly three games for the club in 1938.  After a few years as a player-manager, which eventually wrapped up with three seasons in the titular PCL, Adair hung up his spikes permanently and moved to the bush league dugout full-time.

Come 1957, the Major Leagues came-a-callin' again, as Paul Richards and his White Sox were in need of a coach; thus, a longtime baseball relationship was reborn.  You see Richards and Adair were high school teammates in Waxahachie, TX, part of a 1925 varsity club that won an eye-popping 80 consecutive games (suck on that, Cleveland).  After their re-connection in Chicago, Richards, as a manager or general manager, kept Adair on his coaching staffs for the Sox, Orioles and Colt .45's through the 1965 campaign.  Needless to say, Richards and Adair were an inseparable pair of Texans.

 Jimmy's good buddy from Texas

A baseball man to the very end, after retiring from the field, "Choppy" became a scout for the Athletics and Royals. Once he finally stepped away from the Bigs, Jimmy continued on in the game with the Jimmy Adair Baseball Camp in Plano, TX. This instructional camp was operated by his son, Steve, who was also a long-time southern Methodist University baseball coach. He worked at his sons camp right up to his sudden passing from a heart attack, at the age of 75,  in 1982.

Thus concludes the story of Jimmy Adair - one half of a dynamic duo, cameo Cub and unheralded baseball lifer.

Adair's profile in the 1962 Colt .45s' yearbook.  Scan courtesy of The Thompsonian Institution

In the end, I am

In an era where Topps is the only, true game in town and oddballs have withered into near oblivion, pet, collector-based projects like Carl Aldana's, Ars Longa, Helmar, One Star, Gypsy Oak, and Gio's (from When Topps Had Balls) latest creations inject a welcome rush of creativity and variety; this is something the current card-collecting market is desperately needing. Time will tell if Aldana's latest releases gain any sort of traction and are deemed worthy of "the Catalog," like his original work; however, right now, I can say for certain that his (and those others named) quality work is worthy of my collection.  After all, without him, I might never get to add Jimmy Adair to my CATRC tome.

This was, without a doubt, a dare worth taking.