7 Out Of 8 Men Out

I don't know how I came upon these on Sportlots.com, but I recently found this nice little group of cards of the 1919 Chicago White Sox from Panini's Golden Age Set.  I don't have any designs on building this set necessarily, but the Black Sox scandal has always interested me.    I picked up cards of 7 of the 8 players involved in the scandal, needing only Shoeless Joe Jackson. Unfortunately, the seller I bought these from didn't have Joe Jackson available,  so I'll need to get it later.  The 8th card is of Eddie Collins, who played for the Sox in '19, but was not implicated in the affair.

 

This is an instance where Panini's inability to show MLB logos doesn't matter.  The cards are really nice looking, and printed on cardboard stock.  

 

Not sure what I'll do with these.  They don't fit into any of my binders.  Crap, maybe I'll just build the set after all.

 

T206 Tuesdays: "Sleepy" Bill Burns

"Sleepy" Bill Burns was a below average pitcher for about 5 years in the Major Leagues.  For all of you historians out there, or readers of the excellent book "Eight Men Out", (or watchers of the excellent movie "Eight Men Out,") you know Burns more for his role in the fixing of the 1919 World Series.  

I have to say, it's hard to reconcile this picture of Burns compared to Christopher Lloyd's portrayal of  him.

I have no idea how many liberties the movie took with the facts, but one of the court room scenes with Burns seems like it was pretty historically accurate.  I found a great site that documented all of Burns' actual court testimony.  Fans of the movie will remember the cross examination scene well.  Here is part the actual transcript:

Q:  The players double-crossed you, didn't they?
A:  Yes.
A:  Well, you double-crossed them.
A:  Not until they crossed me.
Q:  : Is that a reason for testifying?
A:  One of them.
Q:  Then it is not for the purity of baseball?
A:  Well, they double-crossed me and I would have been the fall guy for the whole outfit.
Q:  If the players had really been crooked, you would have been satisfied!  Do you think you are even with the boys now?
A:  I am liable to be before I leave here! [Laughter.]
Q:  You don't like me much, do you, Bill?
A:  Sure I think you're a smart fellow, and I wish we had someone like you at the head of this deal; we'd all be rich, now. . . .

T206 Goodness: Napoleon Lajoie

I have a small handful of vintage T206 cards.  For those of you who have printed and studied the Napkin Doon Baseball Card Solar System, you know that my T206 Ty Cobb card is the center and focal point of my baseball card collection.    Not sure why-  the more I read about Cobb, the more I can’t stand him. 

If someone was to force me to limit my collecting to one, and only one set, I would stick to the T206 cards.  They can be expensive, but these are the cards that are the most interesting, and can be shown off with pride to anyone, even non collectors.  In fact, my Chick Gandil (1919 Black Sox fame) card was the first card I showed my wife (then girlfriend).  I told her about his involvement in the scandal, and how these cards were packaged in cigarettes 100 years ago.  She probably doesn’t even remember it now, but I assume that was the moment she fell in love with me.  Or took pity on me and didn’t have the heart to dump me.  Either way, I credit that card to helping me snag her.

So when I come across a player of that era with an interesting story, I try to find a way to get a card on the cheap off eBay.  Trust me, the Cobb card was not cheap, and I had no business buying that thing.   But that was years ago, and I’m glad I have it now.  

Less painful a purchase was this Napoleon Lajoie card, although it dented my wallet as well.  Like the Cobb card, I bought this one several years ago.

Napoleon was a superstar of the era.  So much so, that when he was sent to the fledgling Cleveland franchise, he gave them instant credibility to the point where fans voted to change their team name to the Cleveland Naps.   I also picked this card up because of his rivalry with Ty Cobb.  If you aren’t familiar of the story of the famous “Chalmers” batting title race of 1909, here’s are some links:

Long Version

Short Version