Frame Job

Recently, my wife hosted a big fundraising gala.  Without divulging too much personal information, she works for a local non-profit that benefits adults and children with mental disabilities, providing schooling, work, and social services.  With such lofty and wide-reaching goals, a large budget is required, as it works with families all across the county.  Thus, each year, the company holds an annual, year-end gala at a local country club to raise the majority of the funds needed for their noble goals.  Complete with fancy food spreads and a three-course dinner, live and silent auctions for tempting prizes, multimedia presentations showcasing the company's work, a raucous live band, and a black tie dress code, an incredible amount of work goes into making this happen.  Most of this stressful work falls squarely on the shoulders of my wife and her department, though I do volunteer when and where I can to alleviate some of the load.

On the plus side, this year's gala was a rousing success, earning rave reviews from attendees and the board of directors, as well as reaching the fundraising goals.  Plus, needless to say, my better half is in a much better mood with this event fading in the rear-view mirror.  So too am I, both because when she's stressed, I'm stressed and because I got a nifty souvenir out of the whole process.

In the lead up to the big night, a lot of storage space was needed to stash the live auction prizes, silent auction baskets of goodies, and props/decorations/equipment that made up the gala.  As such, my wife and her fellow co-workers had to completely clear out their nearby storage unit to make room for the deluge.  Over the preceding years, this unit had been treated the same way as the closet in our spare room has - as a catch-all for any and all overflow that's largely ignored until some odds and ends need to be hidden away and is then promptly forgotten again. 

Most of these cobweb-covered castoffs were earmarked for Goodwill or the dumpster out back.  Old promo materials, stacks of files, and miscellaneous junk made up the majority of the disused junk - nothing particularly useful. Clearing out storage units actually sounds like a  good time to me, seeing as you have literally no idea what you might find; however, I had to sit this one out.  Nevertheless, I ended up with some re-discovered treasure:

Mark this down on the lengthy list of reasons why I love my wife.  Even as she was digging through junk, tired from planning a stressful event, she was looking out for me and saved this intriguing find from the scrap heap.  Also, holy moly... the possibilities as to what these cards could be!!

While visions of T206 team sets danced through my head, I knew that was the longest of long-shots.  I knew it was far more likely that my spouse and her cohorts had dug up a set of reprints or some kind of retrospective set.  As it turned out, that line of thought was absolutely correct - however, there was yet another surprise to be had:

I was certainly not expecting these re-discovered pasteboards to come collated in this manner!  As you might be able to tell from the boxscores at the center of the piece, this frame job pays tribute to the World Series Championship team of 1908.

As far as the cards go, they aren't technically the 1908 Cubs, as my wife and the party which assembled the piece had posited.  Rather, these sepia-toned beauties showcase the 1907 World Series Championship team, a Cubs squad which is given far less notoriety since a century plus title drought did not follow that World Series win.  That being stated, the main players on the back-to-back championship roster are mostly the same, so the sentiment still works.  Of course, I still had to point this out to my wife, who now thinks I'm an even bigger nerd than she did before.

Without any further ado, let's take a closer look at the cards, which come from the TCMA portfolio and were originally released in 1987:

First, here's a side-by-side comparison which shows how these cards originally look, as opposed to mounted on foam board.  As you can see, the fancy, embossed, blue and gold piping is not part of the original look.

Meanwhile, as far as the set goes, all the major players are there:

The most recognizable names of the bunch, a "trio of bear cubs, fleeter than birds" are there...

... plus the rest of the starting infield.  These two are oft-forgotten, seeing as they didn't have a legendary poem written about their exploits on the diamond.  Although, fun bit of trivia, Johnny Kling was a championship billiards player when he wasn't calling pitches for the Chicago Cubs.

Only one outfielder gets the nod, Frank "Wildfire" Schulte, perhaps because the grassy part of the field was something of a timeshare on that legendary club.  With Schulte having won the National League's Chalmers Award (basically the MVP trophy) a few years later - in 1911 - his name carried the most weight out of the five men who split time chasing fly balls.  Thus, "Wildfire" spread into the TCMA checklist.

Finally, the pitching staff is represented by three big horses of the starting rotation.  Ed Reulbach was shown already and his buddies Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown and Orval Overall fill out the checklist.  This trio of hurlers led the team in pitching wins, splitting 68 victories between themselves with Mordecai accounting for 29 all on his own.  Boy oh boy, how the game has changed!

In addition to the cards, as I alluded to earlier, the frame job also includes the box scores of the 1908 World Series as a centerpiece, as well as the complete batting and pitching statistics for the victorious Chicagoans.

So, if you're like me, you might be wondering who put this crafty display piece together.  Was it some intrepid Cubs fan? A rabid baseball card collector?  Perhaps it was even TCMA themselves, as a clever way to market their oddball cards?  Well, the answer is stamped right in the middle of the bottom row of pasteboards:

Dream Team Collectibles based out of St. Louis Missouri, in case you can't read the gold embossing on a green background.  They were a big name in the hobby around this time, largely on the strength of these very sorts of items - fancy, themed frames and plaques involving sports memorabilia.  Starting in 1986, Ed Gaines and his wife Barbara and by the start of the 90's, these items were almost ubiquitous in local card shops, card shows, and wherever one could purchase sports ephemera. 

Speaking of big names, it was while researching my 1908 Cubs frame that I came across an eye-popping piece of trivia about Dream Team Collectibles.  This mom and pop company once took on a corporate behemoth and came out on top.  That big corporation was even one of the leagues that their products, no doubt, celebrated - the NBA.  That's right, that NBA - the National Basketball Association.  Wild, right?  And what was the lawsuit about?  The usage of the name "Dream Team."  Holy crap - possessive much?

In May of 1995, Dream Team Collectibles sued NBA Properties Inc., which is the licensing arm of the NBA, and later USA Basketball to try and stop them from using and licensing the term "the Dream Team," which of course was a term used to refer to the famous Team USA Olympic basketball squad, featuring the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, etc.  It's hard to view this as anything other than an advantageous, headline grabbing cash grab, as I don't believe anyone was going to confuse the two entities.  If that were the case, it worked out quite well for the Gaines, as the case never made it to court and DTC received an undisclosed cash settlement for their troubles.  

What a bizarre story.

All in all, this delightful display came with beautiful sentiment, cool cards, and a fascinatingly odd bit of trivia.  Now, all it needs is a new frame and it will definitely be going up on a wall in my office in the near future.

Do you have any of these Dream Team Collectibles displays in your collection or perhaps something similar?  I can't find any current information on this company, so it seems like they may have passed by the wayside in the last couple of decades, though there's no shortage of similar products on the market today.  Just stop by your local mall and pop into Plaques Plus if you don't believe me.  Do you find these items to be as charming as I do through my rose-tinted, nostalgia-riddled glasses or do you think that they're simply tacky?  I encourage you to make your opinions known in the comment section below. 

One thing that is not up for debate though is the fact that my wife rocks!  In the throws of preparing for one of the largest and most important events in her professional life, she stepped back, thought of me and went out of her way to save a trinket that she knew I would enjoy.  I would sing her praises and defend her to ends of the earth, even if Dream Team Collectibles themselves came after me with a frivolous lawsuit to get me to stop.

Mysteries of the Three Sisters, Pt. II

Anyone who knows me quickly becomes aware of the fact that I enjoy secondhand shopping.

Ever since I was little and counted down the days to my community's annual village-wide garage sale day, I've been obsessed with tracking down trinkets and treasures at any thrift shop, estate sale, yard sale, and antique shop that I happen upon.  It's gotten to the point that I immediately Google what such retail establishments are nearest by when I am travelling, just because I'm curious as to what people in other communities and locales are willing to part with and that I may become the beneficiary.  What can I say?  The alluring adventure and the mystery of not knowing what I might find at a swap meet or flea market is absolutely intoxicating.

Of course, when I am bored and have some spare time, I have some local haunts that I stake out fairly regularly.  Besides the nearby Goodwill, Savers, and St. Vincent's, one of my favorite such locations is Three Sisters Antiques in suburban Blue Island, Illinois.  The working class neighborhood dates back to the mid-19th century and has a rich cultural heritage, which has stocked the shelves of this 20+ year old antique boutique quite well.  The two-floor building is always stuffed to the gills with fascinating knick-knacks from throughout the last two centuries for me to gawk at.

The last time I was there, I posted here on Wrigley Roster Jenga about a mystery that stemmed from a one such scrap of ephemera:

This here is a photograph of a 1940's journeyman pitcher by the name of Nick Strincevich.  Born in closeby Gary, IN and continually a resident of Northwest Indiana, he was a local hero who plied his trade in the Major Leagues from 1940-48 with the Braves, Pirates, and Phillies.  However, none of this information was made apparent by the card-sized picture in question.

At the time, I was completely unaware of who this man was; however, I couldn't help but grab this 2.5" x 3.5" portrait off of a shelf when I came across it.  The mystery Bucco caused my mind to wander and I needed answers.  Unable to find the identity myself, I took to crowd sourcing on Twitter to solve the riddle and, thankfully, was not disappointed.  The Snorting Bull, blogger and baseball sleuth extraordinaire, quickly directed me to Nick's Baseball Reference entry, which uses the very same headshot in his profile.

That's the basic outline of my last experience at Three Sisters.  If you would like a more detailed account, I encourage you to read the original post, especially because it ties into what I'm about to discuss today.  Without any further ado, let's dive into Mysteries of the Three Sisters, Pt. II.

One of my favorite things to look at in these antique malls are collections of antique photographs.  While it is depressing that so many family pictures have been discarded like last week's newspaper, I am fascinated by looking at the profiles and glamour shots of people, and getting glimpses into their lives, who have long since passed on.  I'll never tire of pouring over the facial details and expressions of Victorian and Great Depression men and women and silently pondering to myself, "I wonder what was going on in their lives and the flash went off... I wonder what they were like."  Maybe it's slightly twisted or morbid, but I like to think that it keeps these people from completely fading into the ages.

Furthermore, it's a pipe dream of mine to come across an honest to goodness cabinet card of a baseball player in these stacks and bins.  Sure, anyone who digs such a thing up from his or her crawlspace would probably try to hawk any such piece with a sports connection, but you simply never know.  Not to mention, I've stumbled upon plenty exemplary photographic portraitures of regular joes from the time period - maybe a ballplayer got lost in the stacks?

Anyway, a few days ago, while I was silently wandering through the aisles of the basement floor at Three Sisters, I happened upon a wicker basket absolutely overflowing with antique photographs of all shapes and sizes.  Lord knows there was no way I was moving onto the next booth without pouring over each and every print.

Here's a quick snapshot of the snapshots and you can even see one of those aged cabinet curiosities that I alluded to right up front.  All in all, I spent a good 45 minutes crouched on the floor, sifting through my newfound basket of goodies with all the eagle-eyed attention to detail of a miner forty-niner.  While most such photographic archaeological digs turn up nothing of true notability, it did not take long for this excavation to change the narrative:

"Hey - that's the same picture that I found elsewhere in the shop last time that I was here!"  What a strange coincidence.  That jived with my previous theory that someone had printed these baseball card-sized photos for an autograph appearance or a TTM attempt or other such endeavor.  However, after a few more minutes of flipping through Kodaks, I found something - or, rather, a pair of somethings - of much more interest than a duplicate of a previous treasure:

Hot damn - more trading card-sized prints!  At this point, my mind was spinning from the potent fumes of mystery that were emanating from these exposures. 

Of course, my first thought was, "who are these two hurlers?"  Heck, I couldn't even make it out of the store before I again took to Twitter to ask for assistance in identifying these ballplayers from an era so long ago.

Hey Twitter, can anyone help me identify these players? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! pic.twitter.com/ua07Z2YPE1

— Tony Burbs (@RosterJenga) June 28, 2019

Unfortunately, as of yet, no one has been able to definitively slap a name on these faces.  Admittedly, these "cards" are a much more difficult ask than the previous, due to their not being up close portraits - the details are somewhat hazy, especially in the instance of the shadowy-faced Pirates pitcher.  Not all hope is lost, as I have a theory, but I'll save that for the end of the post.  Before we get to that, I have a few more details to share.

First, considering the price point of these confusing artifacts was just a buck a pop and the vendor in question was having a 60% off sale, there was no way I was leaving these behind and potentially missing out on a good story.  Maybe these moundsmen were Cubs at other points in their careers and these prints could prove useful in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection endeavor?  Maybe pictures of them in these uniforms were not often seen, or maybe even just capturing these men on film was a rare treat?  The potential was certainly worth the pocket change.

On the other hand, it should be pointed out that while the pictures in question depict baseballists from the middle of the 20th century, there's little chance that these prints are even close to that old.  First of all, while the Kodak paper that they are printed on had yellowed slightly, the degradation does not seem consistent with such exposures of a similar age.  Maybe someone is more of an expert on photography can chime in here, but the watermark on the back which reads "This paper manufactured by Kodak" seems to indicate a much more modern origin.

Nevertheless, with as spotty as the coverage was for bubblegum baseball cards of the World War II time period, were these proven to show players who had also suited up on the North Side of Chicago, I would strongly consider them for inclusion in my CATRC.  If you have any ideas as to who these, as of yet, identified Braves and Pirates hurlers from the golden years of baseball, I encourage you to share your theories below.  Any assistance would be infinitely appreciated, as my searches have turned up no concrete information.

Although, as I stated earlier, this hasn't stopped me from coming up with a hypothesis.

I have a sneaking suspicion that our mystery friends are actually familiar faces... or, actually, one familiar face.  That is to say, I think that it's quite possible that all three pieces of my Three Sisters trio of trinkets depict Nick Strincevich.  Now, you might be wondering what has lead me to that conclusion, seeing as I can find no trace of these images online - please allow me to elaborate.

Firstly, I mentioned earlier that I thought the original piece may have been created as an autograph platform for the local hero.  It stands to reason that if one image was whipped up for such a task, perhaps the intrepid baseball enthusiast created a few more custom "cards" for which to be graced with Nick's John Hancock.  After all, don't many TTM seekers often send more than one pasteboard with their requests, for variety's sake?  To me, this seems parallel to that collecting method.

Secondly, I mentioned that Nick played for both the Braves and the Pirates (and Phillies, but that's not important right now) during his nearly decade-long stay in the Majors.  Correspondingly, the mystery moundsmen just so happen to be donning the laundry of those same two clubs.  Could that just be a coincidence?  Of course, but it's definitely a common feature worth noting for my theory.

Lastly, in the still on the left, you can get a glimpse of the uniform number being sported by this person, a number which ends in five.  As it turns out, the digits most commonly sported by Nick during his tenure with the Buccos just so happen to be 25.  While you cannot get a look at the jersey number adorned on the back of the Bravo pitcher, his face sure does look similar enough to Strincevich's portrait that it could be the same man.  Again, it would be foolish to say for certain without more identifying features, but the possibility that these people are all one and the same is there.

Anywho, that's all I got for this mystery right now.  Searches for these photos in online databases turn up nothing, though they do seem strikingly similar to those taken by the storied George Brace during the same time period.  If you have any information or thoughts that might prove helpful in solving this case, please, please, please share your thoughts in the comment section below.  I'll be able to sleep better tonight if I can put this question to bed.

In the end, though this currently unsolved mystery has proven somewhat frustrating, it is for this very same reason that I am absolutely enthralled with secondhand shopping.  Like I said, you just never know what you are going to find when venture into a thrift store, flea market, or antique shop and this trip to Blue Island's Three Sisters emphatically proved this point!  I'll definitely be going back there again someday soon.

You may very well see a Mysteries of the Three Sisters, Pt. III on Wrigley Roster Jenga.

Goodwill Goodies

My wife and I like to do a deep cleaning of our living space at least once a month - cleanliness is next to godliness, after all.  Since this weekend was the least busy we'll be until well after the holidays are over, we spent most of Saturday afternoon scrubbing dusting mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing, laundering, and bleaching all over the apartment.  Along the way, we decided to divest ourselves of several items that were simply taking up space and were no longer needed in our household.  Bags of unused clothing, forgotten cups and tumblers, and old purses were stuffed into Trader Joe bags and then loaded into our Kia (how's that for a white sentence?) for drop off at the local Goodwill.

Of course, that's not a chore to me - Goodwill is mystical shop of wonders to this cheapskate junk accumulator.  There's bins upon bins chock full of discount vinyl, slightly used board games, vintage Christmas decorations, and sometimes there's even baseball cards and/or memorabilia - what's not to love?  I think most of us on the blogosphere would agree that thrift stores rule!

That said, this trip was more about getting rid of junk that acquiring more, so I didn't do much more than a courtesy lap around the floor before making my way back home.  However, while this particular trip didn't lead to any notable finds, I was reminded of my last Goodwill haul and how I still haven't written about it here on Wrigley Roster Jenga.  Shame on me - I mean, this is basically my collector's diary.

Back in October, my wife and I were trying put the finishing touches on our Halloween costumes.  In the end, we did complete our viking ensembles; but, as gratifying as that was, I was much more excited about another, completely different article of clothing that I came across:

There, on a random thrift shop hat rack in suburban Chicago, I happened to uncover an authentic Yomiuri Giants, souvenir baseball cap.  What are the odds of that?  Also, please excuse the scruffy, unkempt beard.... I was growing it out for the aforementioned viking costume, after all.

For those who are not up with Japanese baseball, these Giants are the oldest team among the current Japanese professional ranks.  Additionally, while their name and uniforms were based on the New York/San Francisco Giants, the club is often regarded as "The New York Yankees of Japan" due to their widespread popularity and past dominance of Nippon Professional Baseball.  They even had their own Babe Ruth, as the other-worldly slugger, Sadaharu Oh, bashed all of his 868 career home runs with the Tokyo-based ballclub.  All told, I'd say that comparison between the Giants and Yanks appears to be apt.

Seeing as I am dedicated fan of a team that was, until recently, referred to as the "Lovable Losers," this kind of history is not usually one that I identify with; that said, there was no way that I was leaving this surprising oddity abandoned in with the discarded Boy Scouts and Little League caps.

It's your average trucker cap - a style I don't usually sport (though, again, this is a special exception) - with plastic mesh making up the back of the cap:

However, there is one defining feature in it's construction that distinguishes the Japanese hat from it's North American counterparts - just have a gander at that fastener.  It's not a snap back, it's not a velcro, is not even one of those annoying belt-style backs, and it's obviously not fitted.  In fact, the best way that I can describe is that it's like a reusable zip tie.  I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the fashion stylings of Japanese culture, but is this a common style found in the land of the rising sun?  I've certainly never seen this in the States.  Maybe someone like the NPB Card Guy or Zippy Zappy could fill me in here.

According to the labels found on the inside, it's officially licensed by the Yomiuri Giants.  However, I cannot make out the name of the manufacturer of the item.  My ability to read Japanese is rusty... and by rusty, I mean non-existent:

Meanwhile, I mentioned earlier that I don't really identify with dynastic teams like the Yomiuri Giants.  Were I to pick a team from the NPB, I would consider myself a Yokohama Bay Stars booster - a team who's history more closely parallels that of my favorite North American franchise.  In fact, that's something that I discovered courtesy of another surprise Goodwill find.  That being stated, these Giants do have a couple of old friends on their roster:

Former Cubs, Koji Uehara and Casey McGehee, are both currently rostered by Yomiuri.  Of course, that could be temporary for both.  After a one-year stint in Chicago in 2017 and a nine-year run in the MLB altogether, Koji returned to his native Japan and his original club for 2018.  The reunion went quite well, as he was named to the All-Star team - however, he only signed a one-year deal upon his return. So he could be moving on again for 2019.

On the other side of the ball, McGehee posted a .285/.336/.467 slash in his second year with the Giants - a marked decline from his .315/.382/.514 marks from a year before.  The infielder's contract includes a club option for 2019 - so, he too may be seeking employment for next season, if the Giants foresee a continued decline.

This all apropos of nothing; nevertheless, it's still cool to picture some familiar faces under that black and orange cap!

The former Cubs sporting their Giants digs in 2018.  Images courtesy of the Japan Times.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, as captivating as the Yomiuri Giants trucker cap find was, it wasn't the only baseball artifact in that Goodwill hat rack that caught my attention:

A White Sox hat?  I know what you're thinking, "Tony - have you gone completely daffy?! Why would you, a rabid, blue-blooded Cubs fan, purposely purchase anything related to your South Side rivals?"  To that I say, take closer look at the scribble found on the gray brim of this beat-up ballcap:

Hmmmm.... that looks like more than some random Little Leaguer's territorial markings... that appears to be a bonafide autograph.  And, if you happen to be a big fan of forgotten relievers of the early 21st century, you might just recognize that John Hancock:

2000 Fleer Mystique - Fresh Ink #BOHO - Bobby Howry

That right there is the signature of Bobby Howry, one of the relative few players in the history of Major League Baseball to have suited up on both sides of Chicago.  Not to mention, he was a key cog in the bullpen of the 2007-08 Cubs, the first back to back playoff appearances in one hundred years. Neato!

I must admit, that the hat is quite worn and well-loved - clearly somebody did not expect this encounter and took it right off of their head in order to mark the occasion.  Also, it's still a White Sox hat.  But, while it might be a "South Side Hitmen" relic, I couldn't leave this autograph of a former Cub behind, especially when it cost less than a burger and a pop at the local McDonald's. 

Additionally, this is the second autograph of the closer/set up man that I've acquired in recent years - am I accidentally becoming a Bobby Howry super collector? 

My pre-rookie Howry auto, card show find and the Cubs card which reps him in my CATRC.

These two awesome finds, plus the accessories needed to put the finishing touches on my viking outfit, made for an unusually successful and immensely satisfying Goodwill run.  An unexpected artifact from a foreign land AND an autograph from a personal favorite ballplayer?  That's quite the fun combination!

I'd say that this easily ranks among the best of my thrift store trips.  On that note, what are some of your favorite finds?  What crazy and exciting things have you come across at a Goodwill, Savers, Unique, or any other thrift shop location? Please feel free to share your experiences in the comment section below - I'd love to hear about them!

After re-living this experience, I'm almost tempted to do another deep clean of our apartment to create an excuse to drop off another round of donations at a different store location... 

Almost. 

 

Wine, Women, and Song

This weekend, my wife and I celebrated our sixth year of being together; we don't ignore our dating anniversary despite having upgraded to marriage a year and a half ago.  We did so the only way we know how - with lots and lots and lots of wine.

Back in January, we joined a wine club through August Hill Winery in Utica, IL, in order to celebrate the other notable anniversary in our lives together.  Utica is a cute, little slice of small town America, located just down the road from Starved Rock State Park and it's "downtown" strip is chock full of places to get a drink.  Being behind several months in our club selections, we decided to make a day of it by picking up our bi-monthly bottles and then celebrating our big day with a few wine tastings, a couple of bonus glasses, AND buying even more bottles of adult grape juice.  By the end of the festivities, we were buzzed at 1:30 in the afternoon and had 10 new bottles of wine sitting in the backseat of our Kia.  Despite all signs to the contrary, I assure you that we are not alcoholics.

However, we did more than just imbibe to celebrate our half-dozen milestone.  Besides being full of wineries, wine-tasting rooms, and hole-in-the wall bars, Utica also has a charming secondhand shop called Clarks Run Antiques.  My wife and I always make sure to stop by this outpost when we blow through town, just as we did on our way to the altar and when we revisited the site to celebrate our one-year.  This trip would be no different.

Thankfully for our wallets, we decided to do the antiquing first because drunk-shopping rarely leads to good decisions.  The place is your standard fare for antique shops - a bunch of independent vendors that rent space within the building and hawk their unwanted, vintage wares.  Old train sets, stamp collections, records, books and magazines, and tchotchkes galore lined the shelves and display cabinets with nary a baseball card in sight.  I've found some good cardboard in this shop before; so, initially, I was a bit disappointed.

Then, something in my still-sober mind clicked - the postcards!

You see, Clarks Run has a huge bin that is stuffed to the gills with souvenir and photographic postcards.  Every time I venture inside, I take some time to flip through a few stacks of these collectible memos in the hopes that I might come across an oddball baseball card or two, maybe a TCMA oddball or something of the sort.

Back in January, during the same trip in which we signed up for the wine club at August Hill, I actually did come across a baseball-themed postcard in the Tupperware tub of missives.  Sadly, after a casual glance, I put it right back in the stack and went about my merry way because... I guess cheapskate me didn't feel like spending a buck.  Plus, on that particular trip, we did the wine tastings first and the shopping second, so.... like I said, bad decisions.  Ever since that day, I've regretted that frugal decision.

The odds were against me ever finding it again in the large and since-shuffled box, seven months further down the road; not to mention the fact that someone could have purchased the thing.  Nevertheless, I pulled up a chair and set about trying to locate the oddity from my fleeting memory.  In an amazing stroke of luck, it didn't even take me ten minutes of flipping to reclaim my lost treasure:

It's a little worse for ware, but this slip of paper looks pretty damn good for being over 100 years old.

I think you fellow card-collectors can see why his particular piece of ephemera has fascinated me from the moment that I laid eyes on it.  Is this an early bit of memorabilia featuring women's baseball?  Where or what is this mysterious "Elmwood" club?  What's the story on "Roth & Langley," printed in the bottom right corner?  Why is this young lady perched on a fence?  What the heck do those pencil markings actually say?  There are so many intriguing questions associated with this piece.

On that latter inquiry, we may never know for sure.  The send of this postcard had some rather sloppy handwriting:

From this chicken scratch, all that I can make out is that someone appears to have taken a trip somewhere and they "will go some where all day..." something, something, "...and baby."  Is there anyone out there on the blogosphere who can make heads or tails of the full message inscribed on the back of my antique market find?

While the meat of the writing might be mostly illegible, luckily, I can clearly make out the rubber stamp slapped over the top by the postal service - "Chicago June 29, 7:30PM 1910 ILL" - as well as the intended recipient's name and address (Mrs. R H Van Matre at 221 Douglas Ave. Freeport, IL).  Wow - this little bit of paper was sent by mail over 108 years ago!  While I can't find any records of the mysterious Mrs. Van Matre via a cursory Google search, I can pull up that address on Maps and see where this lady baseballer was headin':

Sadly, it looks as though the Van Matre residence has since been demolished in favor of public parking.  *Womp, womp*

I'm sure if I were to dive in head first into researching this project, combing local libraries and the public record with a fine toothed comb, I could dig up a little bit of information on the recipient and the plot of land on which they lived.  However, I am much more interested in the postcard itself and the fence-hopping, young woman in uniform showcased on it's front:

So, what's the story here?

In searching for the name Roth & Langley, which appears to be the name of the company which printed this exhibit over a century ago, I've discovered that they were the mastermind's behind several postcard issues during the early half of the 20th century.  Based in New York, it appears as though they printed up a full set of "risque" baseball postcards, circa 1910, which featured "pearl clutching" moments of women throwing themselves at baseball players or suiting up themselves and striking double entendre-ready poses.  Seemingly designated as PC798-10, I found several closed auction listings for lots of these "lewd" photographs via a site called KevinSavageCards.com:

These screen captures from the 2015 listings appear to show additional, similar cards that sure look to be from the same set - it looks as though we found my long sought after oddball's siblings.

So, while I was hoping that I had found photographic evidence of perhaps an early women's baseball league, a local girls' collegiate or high school nine, or even a rag tag group of lady barnstormers, what I have here appears to be part of the long tradition of sexualizing women (however tame it may be to our eyes today) and sports for the expressed purpose of hawking merch.  Merp.

While I am disappointed that my research indicates that my find is much less exciting to this feminist mind, it is still a captivating piece of Americana.  Not to mention, it was a minor miracle that I was able to re-discover this specific slip of paper in a massive shopkeeper's bin after several months of shoppers likely flipped through later than I originally did.   Plus, no matter what the context of the image, I was still able to add another super vintage baseball card to my collection for the low, low price of a single dollar bill.  It's not everyday one gets the opportunity to do that!  Thus, I still confidently consider this antiquing find a massive success.

After my wife I checked out, in order to celebrate my purchase, I made sure to down plenty of spirits at the winery and the tasting room down the street.  Of course, we were already looking for any excuse to do that!

Anniversaries, antiquing, wine, more wine, and extremely old baseball cards.... God, I love Utica!

The Find of a Lifetime?

This baseball has been sitting on my dresser for more than a year now, with the rest of my miscellaneous diamond memorabilia.  Before that, it rested on my computer desk for several years, serving as something of a paper weight and decoration, something to bring a little bit of flare to my workspace.  Honestly, I've never really known what to do with my autographed baseballs.  I do not have a lot of them, but (as you can tell) figuring out a proper way to display them has eluded me for quite a long time.

This particular signed hardball came into my possession through my now sister-in-law, who generously bought it for me as a birthday gift a few years back.  As I recall, she came across this bit of ephemera while browsing through a local thrift store one day.  While she had no idea who had inked their name on the sweet spot, for a couple of bucks, she correctly surmised that it might make a fun birthday surprise for the biggest baseball fanatic in her social circle.  She's always taken good care of me when it comes to gifting.

The John Hancock was a mystery to me as well, perhaps a "Steve" or  "Stan" someone who once played minor league baseball or something.  With not much else to go on, I placed the ball on my desk, intending to come back and do some more in-depth research later.  Finally, after kicking the can way down the road, this past weekend, I got an answer as to who might have scribbled on it.  However, we'll come back to that in a little bit.

Before I reveal the ID of the mystery signer, I should note that this wasn't the first time that a graphed baseball had gone from a thrift store shelf to my apartment.  Actually, just months before that gift from my sister, the local Savers provided the piece that you see above.  While he wasn't a star player, Craig Grebeck was a utility man for the White Sox, Marlins, Angels, Blue Jays, and Red Sox  and had a lengthy 12 year career in the Bigs - not a bad autograph to find for the price of a meal off of the McDonald's Dollar Menu.  Plus, the guy played for one of my hometown teams, which is always a major plus in my book (even if it's the wrong team).

Of course, the thrift shop signature search doesn't stop there either:

A couple of Christmases ago (note the tree in the background of these pictures), I was doing some shopping at the nearest Goodwill... not for seasonal gifts, mind you, but as a mental respite from the chaos and mayhem that is department store shopping during the holidays.  Anyway, finding this game-used, minor league baseball uniform signed by long-time Major Leaguer, Mike Marshall, certainly qualified as a welcome respite.  The former Dodger All-Star came back seven seasons after his last pro action to play 33 games for his hometown Schaumburg Flyers of the old Northern League in 1999.

As an aside, my wife has also noted that - besides signed memorabilia - I also have a knack for coming across minor league dressings in the local thrift stores.  But, that's a story for another day....

Then, just a couple of weeks ago, I found these imprisoned in a Ziploc bag on a rack at Savers in Orland Park:

 

A couple of team-issued photo cards and a glossy 5"x7" featuring Blackhawk Sharpie marks!  Steve Dubinsky, Ethan Moreau and Chad Kilger were once chased down by someone named Dana and then unceremoniously jettisoned into the secondhand market.  Seeing as Kilger only played for one campaign in the Windy City, 1998-99, we can probably say with confidence that those cards were released by the team in 1998.  As for the origin of the photo print out, who the heck knows?

All in all, these aren't scrubs - between the three of them, that's 38 years of combined NHL experience and a couple of big names from the dark period of the Blackhawks franchise.  There was no way I wasn't going to rescue these from the store rack and proudly display them in my Blackhawks binder!

All in all, this is starting to sound braggadocios; that said, as you can see above, I've had some pretty good luck when it comes to acquiring signed memorabilia from the local Goodwill, Savers, Unique, etc.

With that in mind, let's get back to the autographed baseball which led off this post.  After serving as decoration for several years, I finally got back around to identifying the handwriting.  At first, I thought it might say "Steve Carlton" and my heart skipped a beat at the thought of finding a 300 game winner's endorsement at such an establishment.  Of course, rationality set in after I discovered that Carlton's signature looks nothing like the one above.  I mean, surely no one would so foolish as to dispose of something so significant so carelessly, right?

I was not having much luck myself - I'm not much of an autograph seeker and I don't have the knowledge nor am I aware of the proper outlets for such research.  Therefore, I took to Twitter to do a little bit of crowdsourcing - surely someone out there might be able to give me a lead, even if it was just a minor league scrub.

I legitimately laughed out loud when I read that initial response.  I honestly thought that everyone's favorite Durham Bulls fanatic was being a bit of a smart ass... okay, pal, I'm sure it is....

Then, just to be 100% sure, I took to Google... then my jaw nearly hit the damn floor:

These authenticated examples of Hammerin' Hanks Hancock sure do look the same to my untrained eyes.  Hold the phone - could it actually be possible that my sister-in-law and I had stumbled upon a baseball signed by Major League Baseball's all-time home run king on a dusty thrift shop shelf for pennies on the dollar??!! 

Craig Grebeck, Mike Marshall, Ethan Moreau, etc. were cool and all, but this sounds way too good to be true!

Some further elaboration by Snorting Bull informed me that although Hank's signature has gotten shakier as he has aged, the examples above and my baseball are consistent with how Mr. Aaron signed his name in the 1990's.  That explains why the signature in question bares little resemblance to the 2004 Topps Retired auto that I recently acquired in a mega trade with Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown:

At this point, several other Twitter users were chiming in backing up Snorting Bulls' initial assessment.  Here is an actual short video of me, recorded as I was taking in all of this incredible information:

via GIPHY

Now, I'm going to rain on my own parade here - while it certainly looks like a signature from the hand one of the top five greatest players to ever take to the diamond, there could easily be more than meets the eye.  The cynic in me is more inclined to believe that this disposed of ball is more likely the product of someone practicing their forgery than the real McCoy.  As the old saying goes, "if it's too good to be true, then it probably is."  

In the end, I'm certainly going to have to get this thing authenticated - the potential is far too great to leave it open to question.  But, like I said, I don't deal with a whole lot of autographs or high end memorabilia - can anyone here on the blogosphere enlighten me as to the proper channels? 

Either way, this still ranks as one of the most exciting finds of my life.  My sister knew she was giving me a generous gift.... however, who knew just how exceptionally generous this gift could possibly be?!

A Hank Aaron autograph found buried on a thrift shop shelf... eat your heart out, Macklemore!