Brad Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Jim, What's the occasion for making Willie your avatar. In my opinion, one of the greatest who ever played and, this will piss of Yankee fans, better than Mantle. As far as I'm concerned, he'll still be Number 3 in home runs all time, no matter what his steroid taking godson does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Rat Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Hey Jim, Could you do Monte Irvin next. He memory needs some pub, but I'm committed to rats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Say Hey! I'm a big Mays fan, always have been, always will be. The guy had charisma, and was an incredible player. One of the biggest adreneline rushes of my life came in 1965, when my Dad took the family to our first MLB game, the Astros vs the Giants. It was the first season for the Astrodome, and just driving up to this THING was a thrill in itself. The old man was frugal in those days. He had to be, I suppose. We never wanted for anything, but we wasted nothing, and his philosophy was that having "the best" if you couldn't afford it was foolish, so we always got "the best we can afford", which seemed kinda stingy to me at the time, but seeing as how he got through his entire liffe w/o EVER having any debt other than house and car loans, seems pretty damn smart to me now. The point is, we bought "Pavillion" level seats, which were the indoor equivalent of the bleachers - outfield all the way, and no cushioned seats, which the Astrodom made a big deal of priding them selves on. $2.50 a ticket for adults, $1.25 for my sister and me. Well, hell, I didn't care. I'm just hoping I don't piss my pants from excitement. So we go up to the ticket booth, buy the ticketts and go on into the Dome. There was a huge concourse with usherettes in gold lame "Astronette" suits all over the place. You couldn't see the damn field until you walked inside a good ways, Well, when I caught my first glimpse of open (albeit indoor) sky, I REALLY began to buzz, and a few steps later finally revealed the field itself. And the first, I mean the VERY first sight I saw was Number 24 of the Giants tossing the ball around in center field. Oh...my...God... I hope I never forget that day. The avitarr itself is Mays' 1966 Topps card, #1 on your First Series Checklist, and it's a card that I have NEVER owned. 1966 was the year that I dove headfirst into card collecting, and the '66, along with the '69s, are some of my most favorite Topps cards, probably for sentimental reasons. But I had almost every card in the First through Fifth Series (in those days, the various Series got released in sequence over the course of the season. The Sixth was an iffy affair, and the Seventh was mystical in the extreme, seeing as how they NEVER made it to the stores, at least not in my part of the country. When I discovered mail order in December of 1966, the FIRST thing I ordered was some Seventh Series cards, and I swore then that they looked DIFFERENT, that they had an aura to them, like documents of some secret world in a parallel universe). Today, they all look about the same, but that just goes to show you that kids know more than adults about SOME things... Anyhow, I had all the star cards except the Mays. I COULD NOT land Willie. I had 5 or 6 Mantle (I think Mays was a SIGNIFICANTLY better player than Mantle, btw), 3 or 4 Koufax, beaucoup Clemente, Drysdale, and about a million Tom Treshes. Well, I was getting desperate, and my buddies knew it, so the only trade offers I got for THEIR Mays duplicates were things like "all your Post cards, you buy me a pack a day for a month, and I get your bike every Saturday", cold-blooded shit like that. So I went 1966 Mays-less for years. Mail order was no better. Even immediately after the 1966 season was over, the Mays card was going for $1.50, and my allowance was a quarter a week. Those Seventh Series cards were three cents apiece, so... Fast forward to about 5 years ago in Roanoke, Va, and a visit to the in-laws. They're having a card show in the "good" mall there, and as I'm walking through the vendors reliving old thrills and laughing at how stuff I used to have coming out the wazoo was now commanding REAL MONEY, I stop dead in my tracks - there it was, and for only $65.00! The corners were all worn, and there was a slight crease down the middle, but hell, IT WAS THE CARD AND I COULD AFFORD IT! AT LAST! So I'm getting ready to approach the vendor, and all of a sudden, I get a vision of my old man shelling out $7.50 for a family of four to see a ball game, and I say, "WAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTT a minute here...." And I decide to not spend almost ten times that for a baseball card. But DAMN it's a beautiful card. Look at this: Look at how Willie's holding the ball, with a firm delicacy that only comes with absolute command of and comfort with the tools of one's trade. Same thing with the glove - SO relaxed, yet so ready to do WHATEVER it needs to do. It's like watching Miles hold his trumpet - the body language tells you all you need to know. And that top button unbuttoned and laying open so casually yet so stylishly, that black sweatshirt, that hat worn EXACTLY right... This was a cat with STYLE, ladies and gentlemen, a style that is rare in any walk of life, and definitely a style that could not be ignored, even by those who despised him because of it. So that's the "story" behind the avitar. 'T'is almost The Season 't'is, and I'm feelin' it. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man with the Golden Arm Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 I have just a handful of old cards around. Lucky for me my neighbor, who I trotted to the drug store with to get packs, was probably getting antsy for some Indians cards I might have gotten and traded me a few way back when. They were no doubt his older brother's as we would have been wee chaps then. This baby is one I kept and is from '61 - Topps #150. Sez mays led the N.L. in '60 w/ 190 hits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Great story Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulstation1 Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 (edited) 52 topps mays 53 topps mays ss1 Edited March 3, 2004 by Soulstation1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man with the Golden Arm Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 BTW that's a great memory Jim... Here's another that was under Willie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulstation1 Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Burke Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 (edited) Anyone interested in revisiting the golden era of baseball card graphic design should hunt down a copy of Topps Baseball Cards: The Complete Picture Collection (1951-1985). I tried to find a pic online but couldn't. It's been OOP for some time now so, understandbaly, retailers don't have pics. Anyways, it's a very nice 14.25 x 11.75" hardcover volume with thick, glossy pages and thumbnails of every damned card they pressed from 1951-1985. I was especially taken by some of their more psychedelic offerings: 1974 Dave Kingman, anyone? More to the point, the forward was by your boy Willie. Rather like the Horace Silver forward in the first Blue Note book. EDIT: Here's that '74 Kingman. Not a very clean pic but you get the idea. Edited March 3, 2004 by Brandon Burke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulstation1 Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 (edited) i still have all my cards, in mint shape. 1975 - 87/88 i have about $10,000 in baseball cards. today you have too get the cards graded and that verfies the actual condition of the cards. Edited March 3, 2004 by Soulstation1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 There was a huge concourse with usherettes in gold lame "Astronette" suits all over the place. Y You know, this sentence works with or without the accent. Nice story, Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Thanks for reviving some memories, Jim. A lot of people have called Mays the greatest all-around player ever, and as a person who grew up a Giants fan in the 60's, it's hard for me to argue with them. My older brothers had some cards (including the '66 Mays), and I collected Topps in '67, '68, and '69. The one high-series card that I wanted but never got (never got to the mail-order level, so I pretty much satisfied myself with the earlier series stuff) was the '67 Brooks Robinson. I've got a few great memories of going to Candlestick, in fact something great seemed to happen every time I went (which wasn't all that often). My uncle was visiting in June of 1963, and my dad took everybody to the game on June 15th (no, my memory isn't that good- I was only 7 at the time... I looked it up)- the historic no-hitter (1st Giants' no-hitter since Hubbel in 1929; first by a Latin-American pitcher in the ML) by Juan "The Dominican Dandy" Marichal against the Astros. Also, there was "Willie McCovey Day" at Candlestick toward the end of his career. I don't remember many details, except that Stretch came up as a pinch hitter and won the game with an extra base hit. But I digress... for me, Mays has always been and always will be the man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris olivarez Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 As a Dodger fan I should take exception to this but no can do. Damn he was good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris olivarez Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Speaking of new avatars Jim Dye's is something else!!! I feel BAD!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted March 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Jim, That was a hell of a story. I'm glad I asked the question. A few years ago, there was this sports art place in Connecticut (I forget their name) but somehow I got on their mailing list and they sold these numbered prints painted by a couple of different people. They had one of Willie's '54 catch but it was sold out so I wound up getting one of Willie hitting his first home run off Warren Spahn in the Polo Grounds. It's in my office and I love the painting. I get a lot of questions about it. Speaking of the Polo Grounds, my father took me there for my first game in 1962 when I was 12 years old, Mets v. Braves. The stadium was huge, I still remember that cavernous center field and there was this one guy who kept trying to steal second against the Mets. I asked my father who that was, "Hank Aaron", he said. He finally got the base. I still have the program. That was also a special day. Willie is the greatest I ever saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 I hate baseball, but... great story, Jim!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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