Speaking of mail, I don't too much TTM collecting. All in all, it seems like an awful lot of work - deciding what subjects to pursue, acquiring appropriate and worthwhile material to sign, hunting down addresses and locations with a fervor approaching that of stalker... or at least, that of a crazy ex. That's not even to mention the fact that success in these endeavors can be frustratingly fleeting at times and, with postage pricing only continuing to rise in 2019, I am simply far to frugal to open my wallet to such pursuits.
Of course, I don't point this out to disparage the TTM collecting community - far from it. In fact, I greatly admire the work, passion, and dedication required to obtain autographs through the mail. However, it's just generally not the way I prefer to collect... not my cup of tea, you might say. That said, I have dabbled in the "signature by way of mailbox" hobby on a few separate occasions, seeking to add Sharpie marks to custom cards that I've created for forgotten baseball players from the days of yore who were never properly honored by one of the old bubblegum card companies. For several past North Siders, this was the only way for me to add them to my Cubs All-Time Roster binder.
On that note, I am certainly not the only person to have gone that route to fill out their collection. Far from it. Since the dawn of the hobby, intrepid enthusiasts have whipped up their own creations in order to acquire the John Hancocks of their favorite diamond heroes One such man was so passionate and successful in this cause, that he was able to parlay his hobby into a career most of us fans can ever approach in our wildest dreams.
Jack Wallin was fascinated by the history of America's pastime. As a collector and dealer in the 60's and 70's, he was seeking the signatures of baseballers from the previous generation. However, seeing as Topps didn't even begin to dabble in the market until around 1948 and there was no industry standard during the 30's and 40's, there weren't a lot of cardboard options from that era for TTM pursuers like Wallin to stuff into envelopes. Luckily for us, Wallin did not let this stop him from fulfilling his quests; he was made of stronger cardstock.. Instead of wallowing in his frustration, in 1979, Jack simply created his own, far-reaching set of baseball cards dedicated to the sports golden era. That's ingenuity at it's finest!
Of course, being the late-70's, printing technologies were far more limited than what we have today, especially for amateurs. It's not like Wallin could simply conjure up Adobe Creative Suite and work some Photoshop or Illustrator magic. Thus, his creations, which he titled Diamond Greats, were far more basic than those being pumped out by Topps - however, they were at least on the same level as oddball purveyors such as TCMA.
Intended to be standard-sized, the cutting on these custom works was, as you might expect, imperfect. This resulted in some under and over-sized dimensions. Additionally, the slips of cardboard featured a no fills design with a simple black and white photograph on a white or cream cardstock. The backs were entirely blank, so the player statistics included on the bottom of the front and, along with the player name and team designation, contained within a thin, black border box.
I imagine, the backs were left blank in order to provide a clean surface for players to jot their name. If not, the basic and colorless design on the front made for an apt place to sign, as well.
While the design was simple and not particularly bold, Jack's ambition was just the opposite. All told, his 1979 Diamond Greats release was made up of four series of 100 cards each, with each series focusing on historic players from a specific group of four teams, all of which were still alive at the time. Remember, the driving purpose behind this whole set was filling in the Pre-War gap, so no expansion teams appear in Wallin's magnum opus. After coming off of the presses, Wallin was left with 2,000 sets to distribute to TTM lovers across the United States.
I'm not sure how this cardboard visionary shared this set with other collectors, as I cannot find any primary sources which shed any light on this matter and I was negative eleven at the time. Perhaps someone who was around and actively collecting at that time can fill me in? Was it advertised in the hobby periodicals of the time, in the mold of TCMA? Wallin was a dealer, after all. All I know is that one did not find Diamond Greats packs on store shelves.
However Jack sold his pet project, it must have garnered a fair amount of attention. After all, it appeared to have caught the attention of big-time trading card producer, Donruss, who hired Wallin as a photographer upon busting the Topps monopoly just a a year later. From what I can tell, Jack was the man behind the lens of Donruss products throughout the 80's and 90's. I have to believe his work with the Grand Slam set had to put Wallin on Donruss' radar - that has to look pretty good on the ol' resume to a baseball card challenger!
Anyway, Wallin's personal endeavor still stands as a popular oddball set, owing to it's varied player selection. Personally, without his work, filling in the crevices of my CATRC would be even more impossible than it already is. While I already had one of these bad boys in my favorite binder - the Voiselle you see above - this past Christmas, I was lucky enough to be gifted with a few more gap-fillers by my father.
Johnny Moore made his Big League debut with the Cubbies in 1928, sticking around long enough to see action in the 1932 World Series, although he went 0-for-7 while Ruth was busy calling his shot. He was traded to the Reds that winter.
Most interesting to me though, was his second stint with the Cubs, which came in 1945... a full eight years after his last MLB plate appearance. The player shortage brought on by World War II was no joke. the Cubs would again win the pennant that season (their last for a few years); however, Moore would not appear in that Fall Classic as his seven game stint that September began one day too late for postseason eligibility. Would the 43-year old outfielder have turned the tide for the Cubs against the Tigers? Doubtful, but you never know.
Cliff is best remembered for no-hitting the Boston Braves in 1951 and some well-publicized labor issues in the early 50's while with the Pirates. Before all of that, Chambers began his career as a back-of-the-rotation starting pitcher with the Chicago National League Ballclub in 1948. Auditioning as a swingman, the hurler appeared in 29 games (12 starts) and posted a record of 2-9 with a 4.43 ERA. The Cubs of the late 40's were, simply put, absolutely embarrassing.
He was traded that December with Clyde McCullough to Pittsburgh for Frankie Gustine and Cal McLish and would hang around the National League through the 1953 season.
Clarence, aka "Footsie," Blair was an infielder who plied his trade exclusively with Chicago from 1929 through 1931. He spent one year as a starter up the middle (1930), but mostly served as a utility infielder during his three-year Major League run. Unfortunately, he didn't get much playing time as his competition for the second base job just so happened to be Hall of Famer, Rogers Hornsby. To make matters even worse for Footsie, Rajah just so happened to be the manager, as well. The only reason he ascended to the starter's role in 1930 was because Hornsby broke his ankle that May.
Thus, it wasn't long before poor Blair faded back into baseball obscurity. While he earned the his moniker for his noted speed, that simply wasn't enough to lift him over the greatest right-handed batter of all-time.
After examining the three subjects of my Diamond Greats Christmas haul, it should come as no surprise to anyone that they did not leave much of a cardboard footprint. After all, the scarce issues that were hitting the market during their playing days weren't going to bother with the bottoms of the rosters. In fact, while he does appear in some team-issued photo packs, this product marks the only traditional baseball card appearance for Blair. Without Jack Wallin, adding these guys to my CATRC would be a much taller task and he allowed be to do so in with Cubs uniforms no less.
Furthermore, this stream has not run completely dry with these additions - there are still a handful of Diamond Great Cubs left for me to chase down. Vern Olsen highlights my wants, along with potential "Cubgrades" for forgotten favorites like "Dim Dom" Dallesandro, Hank Wyse, and Hy Vandenburg. Thank goodness Jack Wallin took it upon himself to fill in some of the gaps left in the Pre-War era!
Now, I might not dabble much into the world of TTM'ing, but, as a custom card enthusiast, the career path of Jack Wallin is quite inspirational. After researching this post, I know that tonight I will have dreams of using my Photoshop creations to launch a career in the trading card industry to keep me warm at night. That's a good thing too, since apparently Chicago is officially the coldest location on the planet earth right now, even rivaling temperatures usually found on friggin' Mars. I'll need all I can get to warm my cockles - a heated blanket only goes so far.
A tip of the cap to you, Mr. Wallin!
Big fan of both his sets. Grand Slam and a Diamond Greats. Even have a few autographed
ReplyDeleteI really like the design of these. The seem so much older than 1979. Like I feel like these come from the 30's, 40's, or 50's.
ReplyDelete