In celebration of the 65th anniversary of Topps baseball cards, my collection is going to be the subject of this year-long series. Shortly after starting my obsession in 1971, my goal was to have at least one Topps card from every year. Although the 1952 set is considered to be the first released by Topps, […]
Category: 1940s Baseball History
Before National Baseball Hall of Fame legend Mike Schmidt established the Philadelphia Phillies club record for lifetime home runs in 1980, Del Ennis held the mark. Ennis, who passed way 20 years ago, set the Phillies standard 259 homers in 1956 in his 11th season in the majors. A three-time all-star, Ennis started for the […]
No. 14 is finally getting recognition from a baseball hall. The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame will induct Pete Rose and celebrate the all-time hits leader at Great American Ballpark during the weekend of June 24-26, 2016. For many Reds fans it is something that is long overdue. Some are even holding out hope that […]
Baseball cards in some form have been around for over a century. They’ve been in my house for over 40 years. As a child, I remember sitting in the front yard under a tree sorting them by teams. My grandfather and I built a big wooden box to store them under my bed. It seemed […]
Back in the 1940s, major baseball players contributed heavily to the effort by the United States during World War II. Many star players were heroes on and off the field. One of the first players to join the armed forces was Buddy Lewis of the Washington Senators after the 1941 season. He was in the […]
The statue that has been outside of the last two baseball stadiums in St. Louis has the inscription “Here Stands Baseball’s Perfect Warrior.” He was the man. Despite several players who put together National Baseball Hall of Fame careers with the Cardinals, Stan Musial still represents baseball in St. Louis. Musial was a three-time National […]
Goody Rosen never got to play in an all-star game during his time in the major leagues. Due to travel restrictions during World War II, the 1945 mid-summer classic was not played, so Rosen missed his opportunity as it was his only all-star season. Born in Toronto in 1912, Rosen played in six seasons in […]
The oldest living person who played Major League Baseball is about to celebrate his 100th birthday on Oct. 17. Born in Connecticut in 1915, Mike Sandlock played in five seasons in the big leagues during his professional career that spanned from 1938 to 1954. Primarily a catcher, he made his debut in the majors in […]
One and done. With the current post-season set up for Major League Baseball, the one-game playoffs have become a regular occurrence. However, through out most of baseball history it was very rare and didn’t happen for the first time until the 1940s. The first tie between two teams after the regular season ended was in […]
October 3 is a big day in our family as our son was born on that date. We knew he would love sports because he chose to arrive on important day in baseball history, exactly two weeks earlier than expected. That Sunday, my football team, the Green Bay Packers didn’t play, so he knew there […]