When it comes to oddball trading cards, there might not be any name in the hobby bigger than TCMA - the company started by hobbyists,
Tom
Collier and
Mike
Aronstein. These maverick card producers put out several retro-themed and minor league card sets throughout the 1970's, which were ardently advertised in early hobby publications. Then, in 1975, the pair got it in their heads to produce a direct challenge to Topps and create their own comprehensive set of current players (a Flagship, if you will) under the banner of Sports Stars Publishing Co. (SSPC) - one of those early hobby publications and one that Aronstein just so happened to own.
Borrowing inspiration from the classic 1953 Bowman set, the 1975-76 SSPC set became a hobby legend for it's minimalist focus on photography, it's vast checklist, and it being edited by a baby-faced Keith Olbermann. As far as distribution goes, their product was only available via mail-in order; that said, Aronstein had intentions of bringing it to store shelves. Unfortunately, before this came to be, Topps stepped in and sued to block any further production, ending any further competition between David and Goliath.
Admittedly, this is probably a tale that most collectors are familiar with; however, what often gets forgotten is that this lawsuit did not mark the end of SSPC baseball cards. Aronstein and crew regrouped, licked their wounds and came back at Topps just a couple of years later.
Exploiting a loophole, in 1978, SSPC produced special magazines that profiled the top 44 players in Major League Baseball... oh and they just so happened to contain team-centric panels of "27 full color photo fact cards" that could easily be separated. These "All-Star Gallery" publications were produced for a handful of clubs and actually made it to retail shelves before again being shot down. It was after this second shot across the nose of Topps, TCMA returned to focusing on minor league sets and throwback checklists; but, they put up a valiant fight.
I'm not sure how SSPC went about selecting the "44 Top Starts" to profile - they aren't based off of the previous season's All-Star selections and appear to have been chosen by the whim of the publishers. In case you were wondering (I know I was), only one Chicago Cub made the cut: Bobby Murcer.
It's easy to forget that "the next Mickey Mantle" was once a Cub.... mostly because he was the aged, declining return in the lopsided and shortsighted Bill Madlock trade. Although, the first half of his 1977 was pretty decent.
Besides the cards that were actually included within the spine of these magazines, Aronstein made sure to hawk his card products with TCMA and their business partner, Renata Galasso:
Renata - the "world's largest hobby card dealer" - was known for offering complete, hand collated sets of Topps products. In order to stand out from the competition, she partnered with TCMA to produce some retro-themed sets of her own doing, as modeled by Joe DiMaggio in the add above, that were offered as further purchase incentives. Needless to say, between TCMA, SSPC, and their partnership with Renata Galasso, Tom Collier and Mike Aronstein were the oddball kings of the 70's and 80's!
For many moons, I've been trying to track down the Cubs edition of the "All Star Gallery" for a reasonable price. After searching high and low, basically since starting this humble blog, I was thrilled to finally stumbled across a copy on Ebay that did not hurt my wallet. For just a little more than six dollars shipped, the full 27-card set of Cub finally entered into my possession this afternoon:
Aren't they glorious? I mean, the Cubs of the late 70's were pretty blase at best, but they sure look good here - again, in a minimalist, Bowman inspired design. All the big names are there - Bill Buckner, Dave Kingman, Bruce Sutter, Rick Reuschel, etc. - that said, to be honest, that's not what I'm after.
They may have survived all this time in their panel configuration; but, I can say for certain that I'll be separating them with the paper cutter on my desk. This might cause some collectors' skin to crawl, but it's what has to be done. You see, one of these panels contains the one and only baseball card ever produced for a certain Cubs player, a player in dire need of representation in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection. Single cards from this product don't pop all that often... thus, the knife must come down.
Mike Gordon was one of several young catchers that the Cubs were grooming to replace franchise "Iron Man," Randy Hundley, throughout the seventies. Drafted out of high school from Boston, Gordon was highly touted by Chicago scout, Lennie Merullo, and encouraged his employers to take the young, switch-hitting backstop in the third round of the 1972 draft.
Sidenote - Merullo, you might remember, was the last living man to have played in a World Series game with the Cubs when he passed away in 2015. Lennie manned shortstop for the team throughout the forties, including the 1945 Fall Classic against Detroit. After hanging up his spikes, he transitioned into a scouting role for his former club, like many a former ballplayer. Moe Drabowsky was his most notable discovery and, unfortunately for both parties involved, Mike Gordon did nothing to boost Merullo's credentials.
Merullo (and son) on a TCMA "War Years" single.
Gordon was offered a substantial bonus to pursue baseball, abandoning his natural sport of football. The prospect likely received a bonus in the $25,000 to $30,000 range, comparable to the $35,000 signing bonus the Montreal Expos paid future Hall of Famer, Gary Carter. After all, Gordon was selected to the
Parade Magazine national All-America high-school football team and had also signed a letter of intent to play at West Virginia University. He was highly desired too, as he had scholarship offers from Boston College and Notre Dame to fall back on, as well; meanwhile, his baseball resume included no comparable honors or achievements. Perhaps that imbalance should have been a red flag, but the Cubs still heeded the advice of their longtime scout.
To put it lightly, things did not go well. After posting a .194 batting average in the Gulf Coast League in 1972 and following up that anemic performance with a similar .180 mark in
each of the next two years at Single A, Gordon's position in the org was tenuous, at best. It was only his defensive skills behind the dish and the team's expensive investment that kept that pink slip at bay. Accordingly, the Cubs drafted a pair of college catchers in Ed Putman and Steve Clancy, who leapfrogged our hero in the depth chart.
Putman would only appear in 22 games for the Cubs from 1976-78.
In order to save his career, Gordon made some adjustments at the plate over the 1974-75 off-season. Accordingly, his batting mark improved to .241, earning his ticket to AA, and further rising to .247 after that promotion. Going into the 1977 season, Gordon had improbably jumped back to the top of the catching prospect ranks. Everything looked golden as Mike made the ultimate ascent to the Major League club, coming out of spring training that March, as the third string backup to Steve Swisher and George Mitterwald. Sadly, it was all downhill from there.
Mike got off to a slow start, going 0-for-4 at bat and catching a few innings of two games before he was sent back down to Wichita. He would not reemerge on the Big League roster until the September roster expansion and that's when things got really ugly. He was given a starting opportunity in a pair of games against Montreal as audition for 1978, as Swisher and Mitterwald did not impress. Gordon went 0-for-7 in those two contests AND allowed six stolen bases on six attempts; he didn't exactly seize the opportunity. Furthermore, his hit-less streak would eventually extend to 12 at-bats before
he finally connected on his first Major League knock. All told, Mr. Gordon posted a dismal .043 batting average (1 for 23) on the year and looked over his head behind the plate.
I guess TCMA liked what they saw though, seeing as they decided to include him in their Cubs booklet for 1978.
Bill Hayes would only appear in 5 MLB games, from 1980-81.
(He's also repped by a TCMA single from the 1983 Iowa Cubs team set)
At this point, the Cubs went out and traded for Dave Rader and Larry Cox to split time behind the dish. However, Mike Gordon would get one further cameo with the MLB team in 1978, sneaking into four games after an injury to Rader, with one hit in five at-bats. But, the writing was on the wall, as the Cubs selected catcher Bill Hayes in the first round of the 1978 draft, a clear signal that Gordon's glass slipper had shattered. He was demoted as soon as Rader was healthy and would never again appear on a Major League roster.
In the end, Mike Gordon would hang on in the Cubs chain through spring training of 1980; after his release, Gordon decided to call it a career. From there. he went back home to start a family, work as a technician for the Bay State Gas Company for almost three decades and became a noted amateur golfer in his region. Sadly, in the autumn of 2003, Mike Gordon was diagnosed with leukemia, a disease which would claim his life eight months later, at the age of 60.
It should also be noted that it wasn't until the Cubs hit on Jody Davis in the 1980 Rule 5 Draft that the merry-go-round at catcher ceased to turn.
Jody Davis, catcher without fear, would hold down the backstop from 1981-88.
Seeing as his career in the Show didn't amount to very much and did not last for particularly long, it should come as no surprise that Mike Gordon got no love from Topps. Furthermore, considering that he played in the days of the Topps monopoly, it stands to reason then that Gordon severely lacked cardboard representation. To the best of my knowledge, Mike never snuck into a minor league card set or any other regional oddball checklist. Therefore, I am eternally grateful to TCMA and SSPC for filling what would have otherwise been a frustratingly permanent black hole in my premier collection.
Additionally, it seems as though if it weren't for these booklets, we wouldn't even have a uniformed photograph of Mr. Gordon. Image searches turn up nothing but this card, which is even used on his Baseball-Reference profile picture:
Maybe he didn't like having his picture taken?
All of these factors considered, I'm accordingly ecstatic about crossing Mike Gordon's name off of my want-list. Now, with this acquisition officially in the books, there's only one further obscure infielder who played for the Cubs from 1977-78, who's only traditional baseball card happens to have been produced by an Aronstein venture, left for me to track down. Oddly specific, right?
If anyone knows where I can locate a modestly priced copy of the 1979
TCMA Syracuse Chiefs card featuring Mike Sember, I sure would appreciate
the tip!
Before we wrap this up, I have to ask, do you have any of the 1978 SSPC cards in your collection? Were you aware of their existence, despite the fact that the 1975-76 version steals pretty much all of the SSPC thunder? Also, with all of Collier and Aronstein's cardboard ventures, how many cards from the oddball godfathers do you have in your collection? Do you enjoy their efforts as much as Topps' flagship products of the day? Personally, I feel like we need another set of mavericks, like these two, to step in, shake up the market, and issue a challenge to Topps' current monopoly.
With that, it's time to "close the book" on SSPC and Mike Gordon. So, let's wrap up this post by showcasing the back cover of the Chicago Cubs edition of SSPC's 1978 All Star Gallery magazine:
Bad puns might be the only thing I enjoy more than adding a new name to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection tome.
Also, I wonder if that offer has expired...
