COMC Black Friday #3: Joe Adcock

Yesterday I posted about the Warren Spahn cards that I picked up off COMC around Thanksgiving. I had intended to combine Spahn with Joe Adcock's cards because of their playing for the Milwaukee Braves together and all. As I wrote about the three Warren musicians, though, stopping with them made a ton of sense.

So, today, let me finish my thought, so to speak. We had Warrens introducing Warrens yesterday, and I was going to do the same for Adcock -- have Joes introduce Joes.  But, today it's time for a different tack. I am going to intersperse baseball cards with some serious history. Apologies for either "boring" you with history or making the trite decision to include baseball cards with much more serious discussion.

Adcock was born and raised in Coushatta, Louisiana -- about 45 miles south of Shreveport in a rural area with a checkered past and a pretty dire-sounding present.

1978 TCMA The 60s I

1989 Swell Baseball Greats

Starting with Coushatta's dire present, well, how bad is it? Well, a population which has declined from a high of 2,299 in 2000 to an estimated 1,852 in 2015, caused almost certainly by the fact that nearly half the population -- 49.7% -- live below the poverty line. That includes 64% of the population in Coushatta who are below the age of 18. The median income for a household in 2000 was $18,958. That's the midpoint. Seriously.

W461 Exhibit

1982 G.S. Gallery All Time Greats

It is worth noting that the area today is represented by Republican Gerald Long -- a 72-year-old whose family history in Louisiana is long and quite checkered itself. Gerald's third cousin is the infamous Kingfisher himself, Huey Long. Huey was a populist demagogue whose platform was based around wealth redistribution under the "Share Our Wealth" program. Gerald, on the other hand, is the only member of the Long family to have been elected as a Republican. 

The area is a very conservative area and is noted as being the last parish in Louisiana to issue same-sex marriage licenses in 2015. Parish Clerk of Court Stuart Shaw had sided with then-Governor Bobby Jindal to defy the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. But that ended soon thereafter.

1963 Topps

1961 Nu-Baseball Scoops

Coushatta's checkered past came during Reconstruction, when the local White League got very active. Wikipedia informs me that the White League was "an American white paramilitary organizations started in 1874 to turn Republicans out of office and intimidate freedmen from voting and political organizing." What differentiated the White League from the Klan was the fact that it operated openly. People in the community knew exactly who they were and what their goal was -- the overthrow of the Republican Reconstruction governments in the south.

1956 Topps

1955 Bowman

In Coushatta, the White League forced 6 Republicans from office in August of 1874 and then killed all six before they could leave the state. These people included the brother and three brothers-in-law of Marshall H. Twitchell, a "carpetbagger" from Vermont who moved to the area after the Civil War and married a local woman. He became a successful cotton planter and was elected to the state legislature, and he appointed his family to the local offices in which they served.

The White League also killed between 5 and 20 freedmen (depending on what source you use) who had been escorting the Republicans from the state. This later became known as the Coushatta Massacre. President Ulysses Grant had to send in federal troops to pacify the Red River valley area where Coushatta is located, but the damage was done: voting by Republicans decreased and the Democrats took over the state legislature in 1876.

1982 TCMA Baseball's Greatest Sluggers

1978 TCMA The 1960s II

What followed? The Democrats took over in Louisiana for the better part of the next century and disenfranchised poor whites and African Americans to maintain control of the state. In fact, starting in 1876, it took until 1980 for Louisiana to elect a Republican governor. The chair of the Louisiana senate was a Democrat from 1877 until 2000. Both the State Senate and the State House of Representatives had a Democratic majority until 2011. That's how strong Reconstruction and its fallout were.

1962 Topps

1961 Topps Stamp...same photo (and same photo as used in 1962)

To be fair, Adcock and his family benefited from this. His family owned a farm and his dad was Ray Adcock -- the longtime sheriff of Red River Parish. His dad was sheriff starting in 1940 and ending in 1952.

To be fair to Joe, it wasn't like he got a ton of benefits. Joe grew up in a time where most people in the Parish did not have telephones -- as one source states, before 1950, only about 30 to 35 percent of parish households had telephones. Due to African American migration outward, population in the Parish declined steadily from 1940 onward. Adding insult to injury for the area, the Red River flooded at historic levels in 1945. By that point, though, Joe found himself at LSU on a basketball scholarship -- he clearly was a lucky boy to get out as he did.

2005 Upper Deck Classics

It's easy (at least for me) to forget at times where baseball and its players fit into the history of our country. This post originated simply because I was curious about the place where Joe Adcock was born, raised, and, in 1999, where he died. It turned into a history lesson for me -- and I hope you didn't mind coming along for the ride.

The One-Man Acoustical Jam Vintage Card Show

Thanks to Dave, the Cardboard Junkie, I was able to find out about the very cool one-man traveling card show operated by a gentleman out of Norman, Oklahoma named Roger. Roger really doesn't keep his website all that up to date -- it hasn't been updated since 2011 -- but that's kind of unsurprising. Roger's very much a paper-and-postcard kind of guy.

He has a loyal following around the country. People hear about his shows initially like I did -- by word of mouth. Once you go, you get on his mailing list. He then drops you a postcard -- always green, I'm told -- that you look forward to seeing three or four times a year which gives you the heads up that he's coming to town with his boxes and boxes of cards.

It's a hell of a lot better than a mailbox full of realtor flyers.

Roger caters to the high-end collector, in many respects. In the boxes I saw there, he had top-of-the-line tobacco cards, rookie cards for multiple sports, and top condition commons and stars from the 1940s through the early 1970s. The box I flipped through is probably the same one Dave focuses on, though -- the more reasonably priced cards that Roger has bought over the years that have writing, or minor creases, or not quite perfect centering, or not quite perfect corners.

The cool thing to me was just sitting there chatting with Roger and the other guys who stopped in. This is a regulars-type crowd, but it's an incredibly welcoming crowd.

I added to a number of my player collections, so let's start with the Joe Adcock cards:

Thanks, Joe, for talking to the good folks in Tulsa. That interview was, I believe, done in 1957, as Adcock said that "this" season would be his eighth in the majors. Joe says that he was feeling great and hadn't missed many games the previous year (he played 133 in 1956). Unfortunately, he played only 84 in the Braves World Series season. Still, he was only 29 years old at the time. But for those injuries he encountered, it's entirely possible that he would have hit 400 HR in his career.

These two Adcocks were among the most expensive cards I bought. The one on the bottom is the 1954 Johnston Cookies issue, a Milwaukee Braves oddball that fits well with the city of Milwaukee. The one on the top is the 1953 Bowman Color set. I bought this one and left behind a bunch of other Braves from that set thinking, "why do I have them listed on my wantlist? They're all Boston Braves!"

Then I get home and see that Joe is listed on the back as a Milwaukee Brave. The moral of the story is that I should always trust my wantlist.

For the life of me, I can't find a YouTube interview with Harvey Kuenn anywhere. Just for that, I'll turn to this fantastic Shepherd Express article for a great photo of Harvey with Sy Berger.

Harvey deserves that respect. Just like these two cards give him:

Yup, two oddballs. I can't help myself. Of course, I also am not 100% sure whether the top card is a Jell-O or a Post card from 1963. The bottom one is definitely a 1961 Nu-Card Scoops with sharpish corners.

I picked up a couple of Eddie Mathews cards too. Let's turn to the official Hall of Fame biography video for Eddie:

I haven't picked up the first ever Sports Illustrated with Mathews on the cover, but it is on my list of things that I definitely want. A 1954 Bowman, though, is not on that list any more.

Well, okay, it still is because I need another one for my Braves team set, but man is that card a nice card for what I paid for it. Again, other than the Kuenn Nu-Card Scoop and the Adcock Johnston Cookie card, these all came out of the "bargain" bin with few cards costing more than $5 each.

One last video introduction:



The coolest little fact in this vignette comes from Joe Torre, who said that he had the distinction of pinch-hitting one time for Spahn and also having Spahn pinch-hit one time for him.

Roger told a story about Spahn while I was there. He met Spahn and got to know him a bit. Spahn, though, was one of those guys who never remembered a guy's name but remembered a face. To Spahn, Roger was always known as "Oklahoma." Since Spahn settled there and, eventually, passed away in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Roger felt that Spahn just liked him for being a fellow Oklahoman on the baseball card circuit.

Okay, two more cards to talk about, and then it's a scan dump for the rest.

I actually purchased two whole Milwaukee Brewers cards from Roger, and one of them was one of the more expensive cards I got.

Here's the one that was cheap:

Mini team card! Straight into the Yount collection with that one, seeing as I needed it there. You can see Robin in the second row from the top dead center -- right behind Charlie Moore and Jim Slaton.

Here's the one that was not:

What a fantastic Kellogg's card! It's a 1971 Kellogg's card of Danny Walton. I suppose I could update my "Meet the Brewers" page for him with this. Maybe another time.

Finally, I got a ton more Milwaukee Braves for my Braves collection. I think I'll save them for later rather than just dump them.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Thanksgiving! Here's an Oddball Set...

I have my brother and mother in town this week for Thanksgiving, which has meant very little time for me to catch up on the cool PWE from Jeff, the massive Brewers mailing from Cynical Buddha, or the gobs of great & cheap cards I picked up at my local show on Sunday.  For that matter, I also haven't had the chance to scan much of anything from the box of random stuff that my brother brought down for me. It even included an uncut sheet of cards from the 1984 Nestle set!

When I did have a few minutes, though, I scanned most of the things that I wanted to share.  In the spirit of sharing and Thanksgiving, here's a great oddball set.

Nobis is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, and for good reason.  He enjoyed an incredible three years with the Texas Longhorns. He was a two-time All-American, a three-time all-Southwest Conference player (in the years before freshman eligibility), and was a starter for Darrell Royal as both a linebacker and as a guard.  In those positions, he finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting.

Here in Atlanta, Tommy Nobis is also a legend.  Nobis was the first player ever drafted by the Atlanta Falcons for their debut season in 1966 as the first pick overall.  In a weird reflection of the times, the 1966 Draft took place on November 27, 1965. He was also the first selection of the Houston Oilers of the AFL, leading astronaut Frank Borman to say from Gemini 7 that his message to Earth was to "tell Nobis to sign with Houston." He capped his rookie year by being named the NFL Rookie of the Year and to the Pro Bowl. He still holds the record for most NFL tackles in a season with 294 combined tackles. His number was retired by the Falcons.

After his career ended, he stayed in Atlanta and founded the Tommy Nobis Center -- a center for youths and adults with disabilities to receive job training and employment services.  

Salient to my discussion is that Nobis was also an entrepreneur. Back in 1978 and according to Frank Moiger (the person I bought this from), Nobis help organize the 1st Annual Atlanta Sports Collectors Sports Card Convention. As part of that convention, a set of 24 cards was printed for the guys who appeared and signed autographs.  That included Nobis and these guys too:

In addition to these Braves, also appearing were Gene Oliver, Fred Haney, Denny LeMaster, Ken Johnson (who just passed away this week and is still the only pitcher to lose a game in which he pitched a 9-inning no-hitter), Lee Maye, Denis Menke, Felix Millan, Felipe Alou, Frank Bolling, Tony Cloninger, Ty Cline, Johnny Sain, Pat Jarvis, and two Yankees -- Johnny Mize and Bob Turley.

I knew of this set's existence when I went about putting my Joe Adcock Checklist together. I paid $20 for this set, which is about right as best I can tell from eBay when you figure in the willingness to pay a little bit more to help support people you know who organize baseball card shows.  

Granted, Hall's Nostalgia -- a name I don't think I've heard since reading Baseball Digest in the 1970s and 1980s -- is trying to get $19.99 plus $3.99 shipping for the Nobis Card alone (and it looks like their eBay photo was taken in an asphalt parking lot), but there is a complete set available for around $15 if you're interested.

Finally, as today is a day to give thanks, I want to thank every one of you who reads my blog, who has sent me cards, who has received cards from me, or even who are still waiting to get cards from me. Without you guys and gals, I probably would have gone through my cards the first time around and decided not to fool with them. Instead, I now have a great way to spend my time with people who are as passionate (or more passionate) about a great hobby as I am.

Thank you one and all, and have a great Thanksgiving!

COMC Card Show, Part II: I'm Kuenn to Ad to My Collection

Please ignore my attempt at writing a tabloid headline, but it was the easiest way to say that the other half of my COMC purchases focused on my Harvey Kuenn and Joe Adcock collections -- mostly Kuenn but the Adcock stuff is pretty damn cool.

Let's get started with vintage. I tried to select the best looking specimens of some older cards that wouldn't cost me more than about $1 or so.  For Kuenn, that meant a bonanza of 1960s Topps cards:

It appears that Harvey had a chew of tobacco in his left cheek in every one of those photos. At least it does to me. Perhaps it's because I don't think I ever saw a photo of the guy without tobacco packed in his cheek. 

I also picked up two normal Topps cards from the early 1970s on which Harvey is pictured as a coach:

Harvey looks like the long-lost orange member of RUN-DMC in that top photo with those big boxy glasses. And the tobacco-filled left cheek even comes through on the 1974 tiny Harvey photo. 

Now, I also got some more recent Harvey cards as well -- cards from the 2000s:

The two Bowmans are from the 2001 "Bowman Rookie Reprints." One is the normal version, and one is the Chrome version.  Chrome reprints of vintage cards just seems stupid to me.  The other two cards are from two SP Legendary Cuts sets five years apart -- from 2002 and 2007.

And all that is really nice and all.  But you know when you're talking about me and my collecting that there will be oddballs.  The odder, the better.

The older the better, too:

Such as a 1962 Post Cereal card. I have to admit that this scan makes the card look in a lot worse shape than it really appears in hand.  But, come on -- the card is 53 years old. You try looking in mint condition when you're 53 years old.

I picked up a bunch of TCMA cards as well. Five, to be exact:

As you can see, TCMA was not above reusing photos themselves. The top photo of the repeated three is from the 1979 TCMA "The 1950s" set.  These two "Baseball's Greatest Hitters" cards are actually parallels from 1982, I suppose -- one's on regular gray/tan cardboard while the other is on white cardstock.  The card picturing Harvey with the Brewers is actually from the 1975 "The 42" set and not from the nearly identical 1975/6 SSPC set. And finally, the Kuenn in the middle is from TCMA's 1981 set commemorating the 1962 San Francisco Giants.

I did not realize that Harvey Kuenn made a Cramer's Baseball Legends set until this round of buying, but now I do know:

All of those are great cards and great additions to the Kuenn collection, which has now doubled in size. But, they are not the oddest oddball of ol' Harvey.  This one is:

Apparently, Cramer found that photo after the NuSash Replacement Window Company (which is still in business today) issued this card as card #34 in its "Great Plains Greats" set. Others in the set include Burleigh Grimes, Jake Beckley, Jim Bottomley, Cap Anson, Cool Papa Bell, and Yogi Berra, to name a few, and it was released in 1975-1976.

All told, I added 21 total cards to my Harvey Kuenn collection, bringing the overall total to forty-three.  Not bad for a PC I started in May.

Now, on to Joe Adcock.  The Adcock collection started with a solitary 1957 Topps card of his that I've had for at least 35 years now.  I only added three cards this time around, bringing my total cards in that collection up to sixteen.  But I did add three nice cards.  Let's go newest to oldest.

Newest:  2007 SP Legendary Cuts

I am in favor of cards of players from before 1960 appearing in black-and-white photos that are cropped to make them look like art or museum pieces. It shows an appropriate level of respect, I think.  Good job, Upper Deck.  

Still new but older than the SP:  2002 Topps Super Teams Retrofractor

It's shiny and serial numbered (to 1957). So, it's got that going for it. Otherwise, well, I like the Super Teams concept and wouldn't mind seeing it return somehow.  Or maybe, let's do a "Super Crappy Teams" set. Include cards only for teams that lost 100 or more games. Now that would be craptastic!

Finally, here's the last addition to the Adcock collection.  It's not old -- well, it's 25 years old, so that's still relatively recent to me -- but man is it cool:

And now I know that Joe Adcock was a true Southerner. Born in Coushatta, Louisiana, and given the name "Joseph Wilbur", his family shortened both names and, at least for his college years in Baton Rouge, he went by that handle.  

The card back notes that Joe Bill attended LSU on a basketball scholarship from 1945 to 1947. But, the basketball coach at the time was also the baseball coach and asked Joe Bill to come out to play baseball. Adcock was 6'4" tall, but he was the Tigers center -- a full foot smaller than the LSU basketball center when this card came out -- some guy named Shaquille O'Neal.

I want more cards like this one.  By that, I mean that we should get some card sets of guys who became famous playing one sport shown playing another -- say, Joe Montana as a track guy or Mike Trout playing football.  Multisport athletes fascinate me.

So, even though it shows Joe Adcock playing basketball for an SEC team that isn't Georgia, it's still my favorite card I bought in this round of COMC Card Show.

Thanks for reading.