Grumpy Old Man – SABR’s Baseball Cards Research Committee

The Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, and New York Yankees held a joint occasion on June 26, 1944 on the Polo Grounds the place a “Tri-Cornered Baseball Sport” was performed wherein every membership had six innings on the plate and 6 half-innings within the area. The Dodgers gained the competition 5-1-0 over the Yankees and Giants, respectively. The 50,000 in attendance had been answerable for the sale of over $5.5 million in struggle bonds.

The New York Giants then visited Wrigley Subject for a five-game collection that started on Friday, July 7 — only a month faraway from the D-Day invasion at Normandy. Sunday featured the second doubleheader of the three-day collection and included a pregame ceremony wherein a number of Cubs gamers “of one other period” had been sworn in as volunteer struggle bond wardens.

Earlier than the primary recreation of the Cubs doubleheader, Hippo Vaughn, Rogers Hornsby, Freddie Lindstrom, Mordecai Brown, Jimmy Archer, and Mickey Doolan emerged from the dugout in full uniform and had been deputized as wardens in an effort to “add impetus to the fifth struggle mortgage drive.”

Throughout the reunion, 67-year-old Mordecai Brown was specifically demand, as he confirmed off his well-known grip to Cubs supervisor Charlie Grimm…

And mentioned the finer factors of the sport with Jimmie Foxx, who had introduced his transition to fulltime catching coach not lengthy earlier than the occasion.

The Cubs gained each video games that day, together with a dominating 1-0 shutout by Claude Passeau within the nightcap.

In 1959, fifteen years faraway from the struggle bond drive at Wrigley Subject, Fleer produced an 80-card set of Ted Williams pursuant to an unique contract with the slugger. A number of of these playing cards depicted Williams throughout his service as a World Conflict II fighter pilot, taken proper concerning the time the above-mentioned struggle bond drives had been occurring on the house entrance.  

In 1960, Fleer’s “Baseball Greats” set was the one approach a baseball-crazed baby might discover a Ted Williams card. Very similar to shopping for a whole album to get simply that one good music, Fleer constructed a whole set round Williams in his closing season — filling within the remaining playing cards with retired gamers, managers, executives, (and a nightmare-inducing image of Choose Landis), none of whom had been coated by Topps’ near-monopoly on rights for lively gamers.

Gross sales of the 1960 Fleer set reached $300,000 (approx. $2.8 million right now) as children looked for the (curiously cropped) Williams card.

That 1960 Fleer set employed some uncommon group and photograph alternatives for among the gamers. For instance, Ralph Kiner was pictured with the Cleveland Indians, George Sisler with the Boston Braves, and Hack Wilson with the Philadelphia Phillies (regardless of having appeared in simply seven video games with the membership).

These pictures could have been chosen deliberately as provisional career-capper playing cards, in that every participant was proven with the final group for which he performed. Then again, the pictures used may need been used merely as the results of Fleer unexpectedly placing the set collectively—all as a seeming pretext to promote Ted Williams playing cards.

In 1961, Fleer issued an expanded “Baseball Greats” set, with an unusually massive guidelines for the Chicago Cubs that included a lot of gamers whose Corridor of Fame careers occurred elsewhere.

Gamers similar to Tony Lazzeri, Jimmie Foxx, Ralph Kiner, Chuck Klein, and Burliegh Grimes had been all pictured in Cubs uniforms, regardless of having had their greatest seasons elsewhere.

Though Lou Boudreau by no means performed for the Cubs, he was depicted in a Cubs uniform in 1961, a photograph taken throughout his stint as supervisor the earlier season (following the notorious swap wherein skipper Charlie Grimm took over Boudreau’s WGN broadcasting slot and Boudreau moved down into the dugout as area supervisor).

Boudreau didn’t return for 1961 as Cubs’ proprietor P.Ok. Wrigley applied the ill-fated “School of Coaches.” Ted Williams retired following the 1960 season, regardless of hitting .316/.451/.645 and clubbing 29 house runs. Accordingly, the 1961 Fleer “Baseball Greats” set didn’t embody any lively gamers or managers. 

A type of Cubs is the oddest card within the 1961 Fleer set, nonetheless.

Within the 1960 “Baseball Greats” set Mordecai Brown was depicted in a crisp blue Cubs uniform, in {a photograph} doubtless taken in 1911 or 1912.

The odd photograph that Fleer utilized in 1961, nonetheless, depicted Brown as a grumpy previous man with a curious look on his face — definitely an surprising alternative for one of many biggest pitchers in Cubs’ historical past.

Intrigued by the prospect of finding the supply photograph, I spent a good period of time looking for images of Brown later in his life—at previous timers’ video games, taken at his service station in Terre Haute, Indiana, and in any other case.

After consulting with {photograph} historical past guru and co-chair of SABR’s Pictorial Historical past Analysis Committee, Cary Smith, we had been curious whether or not the person on the 1961 card was even Brown, primarily based on his look as a middle-aged man. However this photograph he discovered of Brown taking part in playing cards in 1945 appeared to trace.

Discussing the matter additional with the Cubs’ official historian Ed Hartig, nonetheless, broke the case large open. He really helpful that the search consider that July 9, 1944 struggle bond occasion at Wrigley Subject.

Bingo.

The Related Press {photograph} of the previous Cubs within the dugout, with Mordecai Brown entrance and heart, was an ideal match. Thriller solved.

Maybe the oldsters at Fleer had been simply feeling patriotic, however why they selected this significantly unflattering photograph of Brown is probably going misplaced to time, nonetheless.

Particular thanks:

Big because of Cary Smith and Ed Hartig for his or her invaluable help in fixing this thriller.

Sources:

http://www.tcdb.com
http://www.baseball-reference.com
http://www.retrosheet.org

“Three Groups Go Daffy for Sake of Conflict Bonds!,” Chicago Tribune, June 25, 1944, 18.

Hy Turkin, “50,000 Purchase $5,500,000,” Day by day Information (New York, New York), June 27, 1944, 202. “Dodgers Take 3-Approach Contest in Bond Effort,” Rock Island (Illinois) Argus, June 27, 1944, 11. (This text included a further $50 million {dollars} pledged by the Metropolis of New York in its declare that the Tri-Cornered Baseball Sport raised over $56 million {dollars}.)

“Bond Rally to Recall Ex-Cub Stars At the moment,” Chicago Tribune, July 9, 1944, 18.

“Star Cubs of Yesteryear Maintain Reunion,” Miami Information, July 10, 1944, 13.

“Three Fingers with a Historical past,” Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1944, 17.

“Couple of Bench Heaters,” Night Solar (Hanover, Pennsylvania), July 18, 1944, 3.

“Previous Mordecai Tells ‘Em,” Des Moines Tribune, April 10, 1945.

Appendix 1:

The Cubs guidelines is a veritable who’s who of Baseball Corridor of Famers. Observe, the TCDB guidelines contains Jimmie Wilson as a Cub, nonetheless, Wilson was by no means a member of the membership as a participant (he managed 1941-1944) and is depicted in catching gear. Accordingly, his card has been excluded from the Cubs group guidelines, beneath.

Moreover, this guidelines contains Cap Anson and Frank Likelihood, neither of whom had been recognized as “Chicago Cubs” on the TCDB group guidelines.

Creator: John Racanelli

JOHN RACANELLI is a Chicago lawyer with an insatiable curiosity in baseball-related litigation. When not rooting for his beloved Cubs (or working), he’s in all probability studying a baseball ebook or weblog, planning his subsequent baseball journey, or having fun with downtime along with his spouse and household. He’s in all probability the world’s foremost photographer of triple peanuts discovered at ballgames and likes to suppose he has one of the vital full collections of classic handheld digital baseball video games identified to exist.

John is membership director for the Emil Rothe (Chicago) SABR Chapter, founder and Co-Chair of the SABR Baseball Landmarks Analysis Committee, and an everyday contributor to the SABR Baseball Playing cards Analysis Committee weblog. His collection of articles “Dying and Taxes and Baseball Card Litigation” was a 2023 McFarland-SABR Baseball Analysis Award winner. On August 25, 2023 John was honored to gave the keynote tackle at a dedication ceremony for the historic marker positioned in honor of Lewis Robert “Hack” Wilson in Ellwood Metropolis, Pennsylvania.
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