Yo - Who Dat?

First of all, congratulations are in order for the Houston Astros on their first ever World Series championship - it's nice to know that Justin Verlander and Carlos Beltran will get well-deserved rings, as well as former Cubs prospect, Marwin Gonzalez.

Meanwhile - back at the ranch - yesterday, I detailed the excellent Update-centric PWE that Dime Box Nick dropped in the mail for little, ol' me.  While my needs for the most recently released Topps product made up the bulk of the envelope, Nick, being the generous fellow that he is, also included a selection of unannounced bonus cards from the past along with Brian Duensing, Wade Davis, and company.  Most of these cards, while desired, were nothing extremely out of the ordinary - a shiny Bowman X-Fractor, some mid-90's stock, a '68 burlap bad boy, etc., etc.  However, not everything in this mailing was normal - there was one card hiding within that threw me for a loop.

Along with Mark Grace, Ryan Dempster, Jon Lester, and crew was this never-before-seen-by-my-eyes single, featuring some unknown dude by the name of Bob Yeomans:

Hmmmmm.  My first, immediate thought was that this must be some sort of minor league release (team-issued or otherwise) that I was not yet familiar with.  This wouldn't be too surprising; after all, I've never made any attempt to hide my love of oddballs or bush league baseball cards; thus, it wouldn't be odd for Nick to set one aside for me.  Furthermore, from what I've seen on Dime Boxes, Nick appears to come across such releases fairly often during his ten-cent digs.   But, after filing through the rest of the PWE and then coming back to Bob, some cursory research indicated that things were not quite so simple.  I should have known better.

First off, I had never, ever heard of the player or "Big League Cards," the company name listed within the top of the blue border line.  Usually at least one or the other is going to ring some kind of bell in the back of my mind.  Also, the photograph is interesting, as it appears to show this fully-decked out ballplayer standing in someone's front lawn, with the neighborhood street visible in the background.

Flipping over to the back of the card - the natural resource for information on a trading card - the opposite side did not provide much in the means of helpful information:

Well, from what we can see here, Bob "Yo" Yeomans likes to play baseball (an enlightening cartoon to put on the back of a baseball card), his second favorite sport is flying (is he a superhero?) and his goal in life is "to retire from the military and play ball."  That last line was by far the most befuddling line of text in this mystery.  After all, it would seem to indicate that, despite being depicted in a full Cubs uniform, mid-pitching motion on the front of the card, that Bob was not actively playing professional baseball at the time of print.  Outside of the WWII, Korean, and Vietnam War eras, this isn't exactly a common thing; obviously, this card is much more recent than those time periods.

The lack of stats or any information of substance and the bizarre numbering system keeps the question marks flowing; on the other hand, at least the legalese lines let us know that the card originally hails from New Jersey and Big League Cards (BLC) got their copyright authorized in 1985.

At this point, I realized that the bamboozling card itself was a dead end - to the internet!

According to Baseball Reference, in the entire recorded history of professional baseball, never has a man by the name of Bob or Robert Yeomans ever taken the diamond... not for any team, in any league, at any level.  Furthermore, only two men with the surname of "Yeomans" have ever gotten the call to play pro ball - Jesse and Wastine (as you see in the screen shot above).  Obviously, the latter plied his trade well before our guy was probably even born.  The former only played two seasons of independent league baseball; so, in summation, this is not a case of simply erring on the player's first name.

With no leads, we're now back to square one.  Humbug.

via GIPHY

When searching the player's name resulted in no hits, whatsoever, I turned to digging into the ever-so-generically named, clandestine company known as "Big League Cards."  Since a Google search for that name would turn up thousands and thousands of not-so-relevant links, some additional base info was necessary.  Courtesy of the card back, we do know that they were produced in New Jersey and adding that tidbit into the bar gave me something I could work with.

An image search queued up scans of several different cards of similar design, across various sports, personalities, and teams.  Meanwhile, in a traditional Google search (on the second page of results) the baseball card bible - aka, the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards - turned up the information that I so desperately craved.  I'll allow the legendary and sorely-missed voice of the hobby, Bob Lemke, elaborate on what we've uncovered:

So, this "Yo" is a vanity card - anyone could submit a photograph and a bit of dinero to get back their very own, custom baseball cards, via a mail-in order form.  Also, according to this write-up, a bunch of obscure players from the past ended up with their first baseball cards due to this company and some dedicated fans.  I wonder if any forgotten Cubs that would be needed for my CATRC ended up on a BLC?... I'll have to pull at that string later.

In a way, "Big League Cards" are no different than the personalized baseball cards that came from your Little League photo day shoots.  Or, in a more modern context, this card and company is a sort of forerunner to the Rookies App, which allows you to do the exact same thing.  Of course, being decades newer, Rookies has digitized the process and allowed for more control and customization with multiple template options.

As a sidenote, I've patronized the Rookies App in the past, in order to fill in some gaps found in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection - players who were never properly honored with a true baseball card. The finished product is high quality and truly seem like cards that would have fallen out of an old wax pack, stuck to a piece of gum.  Check 'em out, when you have some time to kill.

 A pair of my favorite creations from the smart phone application.

Somebody (either Bob Yeoman himself or a friend/relative, as a gift) must have mailed in a picture of the guy in his Cubs regalia to "Big League Cards" and received the vanity card around which this post is based.  He looks too old to be a Little Leaguer - although, I suppose he could be from some teen travel team or adult amateur league.  Or he could just be a zealous fan with the perfect Cubbie cosplay.  At any rate, how this personal souvenir ended up in a dime box, primed for the plucking by Nick, is now the mystery du jour.  My best guess would be that it was just lackadaisically mixed in with a donated or disposed of collection of baseball cards once our buddy Bob moved on from the hobby - a common tale.

As for what became of the one they called "Yo," the baseball card blogging world may never know for certain.  There are several records of "Bob Yeomans" serving in the military and a quick check of Facebook brings up pages and pages of Bob, Rob, Robby, and Robert Yeomans.  Apparently, it's a much more common name than I thought.  However, with the limited info that I have to go on, this guy seems like he could be a match.  He appears to be about the right age, graduated from a military academy, and, while it's difficult to determine, his face could be a match too.  I don't know though - what do you think?

The search is on.

via GIPHY

On the off chance that the Yeomans who appears on this vanity card should come across this humble blog post on his own volition, you're more than welcome to reclaim your lost bit of personal memorabilia.  Otherwise, this "Big League Card" shall remain in my possession as a cornerstone of my oddball Cubs card collection.  Thanks, Nick, for both the card itself and the challenge to identify!

Thankfully, now that this mystery has been (mostly) solved, I can sleep peacefully, knowing the origin of and story behind this unconventionality... because these are the things that keep me up at all hours of the night

I kid, of course... but, not really...  I'm kind of obsessive about baseball cards.  But, I suppose you readers wouldn't know anything about that, eh?