The 3rd Annual Stale Gum Trade

I always look forward to trading with Chris Harris of Stale Gum fame. He always goes the extra mile in trades. Chris sends an e-mail message offering things off of my want list, roughly once a year, out of the blue. The e-mail always seems to be a complete surprise. Like a stalker in the shadows, Chris instinctively knows the perfect time to initiate a trade.

I perused his want lists and found much more than I expected to send. The trade was approved and then I dragged my feet for a few days. I wouldn't say dragged my feet really. Chris usually throws in a surprise or two, so I wanted to repay that kindness from the past with a little something extra of my own.

Eventually, the package I put together for Chris got out of my house and into the hands of the US Post Office. I'll assume that my package arrived just fine because today a package arrived from Chris.

Inside were some things off of my want list, like we had agreed to in the first place. A late addition to the trade was this beautiful autographed card of Dayan Viciedo.
It would be my first Viciedo autograph and I believe my first card of him in a White Sox uniform. Even the filler cards got a laugh out of me. An 88 Donruss Milquetoast greeted me first. That would be Fred Manrique to those who have come recently to this blog. Followed by two 87 Topps cards of decent players, at least by late 80s White Sox standards. Those two being Floyd Bannister and Daryl Boston. Two local favorites. Nice touch.

Most of the cards were holes in my 2010 list, so I won't bore you with specifics. 2009 was represented by a gold Podsednik Topps Update card. 2008 found another card toward my foolish goal of collecting the cards against the White Sox from the Yankee Stadium Legacy set. I still don't know where the hell my head was when I decided to collect that. And 2008 Topps Heritage (the entire set). And the White Sox card of Thomas and Thome in 2008 Moments & Milestones. Yeah, I think I needed to be on meds or something back then. The 2005 World Championship team was represented by a Joe Crede Topps Hot Button card.

Thanks, Chris! I hope my package arrived safely. I really enjoyed this trade. Let's do it again next year!

Card Spotlight: 9-10-10

1966 Topps #199 - ChiSox Clubbers (Bill Skowron, Johnny Romano, Floyd Robinson)

I"m glad that a card like this exists. It's not often that you see multiple players from the same team on one vintage card, unless that team was originally New York based.

On this card you have the top three home run hitters on the White Sox from the previous season. Skowron and Romano had 18 each and Robinson had 14. I imagine Danny Cater (who also had 14 home runs in 1965) was unavailable for the photo op. Those 1965 White Sox won 95 games, seven behind the first place Twins. If there had been divisional play that year, I'm sure that more of those players would be household names.

One could make a justifiable argument that many of the White Sox players of the sixties would have rocketed to stardom, if divisional play had started earlier. The 1963 White Sox won 94 games and finshed second. The 1964 White Sox won 98 games and finished one behind the Yankees. In 1967, the White Sox finished three back in the middle of a cluster of teams. The season wasn't decided until the final week.

If you've ever had the pleasure of listening to Moose Skowron speak about his playing days, you can really get the feel for how close the mid-sixties White Sox teams really were. He'll talk about his days with the Yankees, but he seems to really get excited talking White Sox baseball. He has an endless supply of anecdotes from his playing days. It's nice to see that some of those memories are captured on cardboard.

Win This Tim Raines Auto

Or don't. There are other cool prizes too! Check it out and enter to win!

I was impressed with Obak last year and it continues to impress in 2010. Make sure you don't miss out on your opportunity to win some great cards from Drew's Cards!

Who Wears Short Shorts?

Someone actually posted some footage on YouTube that features one of the three games from 1976, where the White Sox play in shorts! My computer gets wonky sometimes with YouTube video, but I saw enough great images in there to post this.

This isn't the infamous Kansas City game. This game is against the Orioles. I wasn't alive quite yet when this was filmed (I was still in utero). There's a nice beer stacking contest at the end of the clip and shots of the shower. Good stuff!

You see pre-game, with Ken Kravec pitching, Chet Lemon batting and someone who is not a player (but in uniform) catching. Most importantly, you can see the game itself. My guess is that it is August 22, 1976, the first game of a double-header. It must have been an exciting game... for Orioles fans. Jim Palmer won his 17th game on the season and Reggie Jackson hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the ninth. Boston fans even have something to cheer about in this game. Bucky Dent was hit by a pitch.

WSC Birth Years: Alejandro De Aza

Card #69 - Alejandro De Aza

Born: April 11, 1984

Having a taste of the big leagues with the Florida Marlins in 2007 and 2009, Alejandro was hoping for the best when he was claimed off of waivers by the White Sox on October 21, 2009. He came to Spring Training with the ChiSox hungry to make the team and opened plenty of eyes.

De Aza was one of the last players cut before the Sox headed into the season. That fantastic spring made it an easy decision when the rosters opened up in September 2010. Alejandro was among the first group called up. He has been used as a pinch runner during the first week with the Sox. De Aza has taken the opportunity and ran with it; literally. During his first days with the parent club, Alejandro has one stolen base and scored a run in four appearances.

Uniformly By The Numbers

Who was the first person to wear number eight for the White Sox. I'll give you a hint... it's not Bo Jackson.

The correct answer would be a player named Bennie Tate, way back in 1931, when the White Sox first started putting numbers on their uniforms.

How do I know these things? Well, I did the research. The fruits of my labor are here for you to enjoy. A complete rundown of who wore what uniform number for the White Sox and what year.

Marvel in the glory of having access to Chico Escarrega's uniform number from 1982. Or perhaps you were wondering who wore number fifteen before Frank Thomas' debut. It's true. Big Frank didn't always wear number thirty-five. And sorry to disappoint, but nineteen players wore Ted Lyon's retired number sixteen after he did. How could you live before you knew that number sixty-six debuted in 1935?! I sure don't know how I survived before that tidbit!

To seal the deal, I've included actual pictures of White Sox players wearing each number. The only one I couldn't find in a White Sox uniform was Rich Sauveur. Since he is the only one at his number, you'll have to settle for an empty uniform with his name and jersey number.

Why did I do this? Because I've always wanted to. What good is this information to you? That's anybody's guess. Maybe someone will win a bar bet or something. Hopefully, the information will give you a better opportunity to familiarize yourself with the players. I think it'll be a cool way to get closer to the game. I know I'll never think of Italo Chelini in quite the same way after discovering his uniform numbers.

2010 Topps 206

Another year and another set ripped from the vaults of yesteryear. I do like the retro sets, but I'm hoping that Topps will raid some of its other properties for untapped set potential.

This set is a beautiful disaster. It mimics the original tobacco sets as inspiration, but the effects are mixed. Some cards turn out simply stunning, as the Carlos Quentin pinup with the tasseled hair demonstrates. There is a perfect expression on his face and there is a quizzical and playful look about the card. Jake Peavy's card looks amazingly perfect. Both Beckham cards look fine. The short print card (#307) looks like someone hit the "sharpen more" button a few more times than necessary. Other than that, it is a fine example of bringing retro into a modern set.

Other cards don't fit well with the retro look. The cards are fine, but the images chosen look out of place. Alexei Ramirez seems like a well hydrated zombie on his card. Gavin Floyd looks like he's getting over the flu. On Mark Buehrle's card, the background is outstanding, but the subject looks a little off. Not bad, just off. John Danks reminds me of the character "Francis" from the Bill Murray movie Stripes. This card makes me think that he might someday inherit the "Psycho" nickname from Steve Lyons. Alex Rios is technically fine, but he ends up looking like he's straight out of a rejected Coneheads baseball concept shot by Edie Baskin.

The White Sox have nine cards in this set; eight base cards and one short print.

37 - Gordon Beckham
46 - Carlos Quentin
108 - Alexei Ramirez
155 - Jake Peavy
177 - Gavin Floyd
186 - Mark Buehrle
214 - John Danks
217 - Alex Rios
307 - Gordon Beckham

Not a bad effort from Topps. I've certainly seen better, but it could have been a lot worse. The eight base cards have a bronze parallel and six mini parallels. Collect what you will.

The Ex Files: Greg Walker

Greg started his MLB career with the White Sox in 1982. Throughout the 80s, he put up respectable numbers in a White Sox uniform. Walker had a good size following in Chicago, in a city that was hungry to embrace good players.

He was originally drafted by the Phillies in 1977, but was taken by the White Sox in the 1979 rule 5 draft. Greg was a mainstay at first base until medical ailments forced him out of games.

When Mike Diaz, Russ Morman and Billy Jo Robidoux proved not to be long term solutions, the White Sox converted Carlos Martinez from third to first for the 1990 season. Greg's role on the team was reduced to utility player by 1990 and he was released by the end of April, after only playing in two games.

In May 1990, the Orioles signed Walker and used him as a designated hitter and occasional pinch hitter, in place of an average Sam Horn. In fourteen games, Greg had five hits, all singles, for a .147 average. He also managed three walks, two RBI and his last stolen base. The Orioles released him on July 3, 1990. It's not the best ending for a player that was once considered a power hitter.

The White Sox moved onto a very slight upgrade at first in Carlos Martinez, before giving way to the superior Frank Thomas in August 1990. The Orioles ended the Greg Walker rejuvenation experiment and yielded the designated hitter and pinch hitter role back to Sam Horn.

Image borrowed from The Great Orioles Autograph Project, since decent images of this card are scarce.

WSC Vintage: Joe Tipton

Card #23 - Joe Tipton

There may be no other player as important to the White Sox as Joe Tipton ultimately became. Joe hit a dismal .204 for the White Sox in his only season on the Southside, in 1949. The Tipton name has become synonymous with a baseball card in terrible shape, yet the man is instrumental to White Sox history for something that happened to him that was out of his control. Tipton was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics, in a move that cemented his name in Sox lore. While the unremarkable 1949 season was left behind in Chicago, the trade brought a future Hall of Fame player that became a fan favorite in Nellie Fox.

Joe's time with the White Sox proved to be mixed at best. Tipton's saving grace was his keen eye at the plate. He averaged a walk every seven at-bats. His on base percentage was usually high, with the career low of .306 being in 1949, as a member of the Chicago White Sox.

Pudge Meets Pudge

Card Spotlight: 9-3-10

1995 SP #12 - Jimmy Hurst

I heard a lot about Jimmy Hurst in the mid-90s. Unfortunately, it was all card talk and he disappeared off my radar after 1996. He never made it to the majors with the White Sox, but in September 1997, he debuted with the Detroit Tigers.

Jimmy only spent that one month playing in the majors, but he stuck in my mind due to all the White Sox cards he had. In my second wave of collecting, the more cards a prospect had, the better they would ultimately be. Or so went the thinking in my adolescent mind. It wasn't until many years later that I finally purged that type of thinking from my mind.

The last time that I saw Jimmy Hurst was in a very unexpected place. I hadn't given him much thought in the past decade, but I saw his name in the lineup as a designated hitter at a game in Joliet, Illinois. I saw the name and immediately thought of the former White Sox prospect. When I got home, it turned out that I was right.

It was the same night that I spotted Floyd Youmans as the Joliet Jackhammers pitching coach and Wally Backman as their manager. I guess the Independent League is the place to spot former Major League players. I thought that Jimmy was the designated hitter for the Jackhammers, but it turns out that I was mistaken, at least according to the records. I must have seen him play for the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks.

It was exciting seeing former big league players in an unexpected setting. Especially a few with White Sox connections. Backman was a minor league manager in the White Sox organization, who likely would have been the parent club manager after Jerry Manuel, except he was openly rooting for the Sox to lose so the managerial job would become available. Youmans attended Spring Training with the White Sox in 1993. Hurst spent six seasons in the White Sox minor league system. It goes to show that you can find White Sox connections almost anywhere you look.

New Goose Joak Cards

A whole slew of White Sox related Goose Joak cards were uploaded yesterday. The last wave should be near October. You can view the new additions and every other Goose Joak card (it's up to 659 cards collectively) for 2010 right here!

According To Statistics

Blogger has a new "stats" feature. According to the stats, my top two blog posts off all-time are about these guys.

#1 - Rusty Kuntz

So here's a photo of Rusty Kuntz milking a cow at Angel Stadium.

#2 - Johnny Dickshot

So here's an autographed photo of Johnny Dickshot.

What does that tell you about my audience?

WSC Birth Years: Manny Ramirez In Action

Card #68 - Manny Ramirez In Action

Born: May 30, 1972

A bonus card base on the "In Action" subset from the 1972 Topps set.

WSC Birth Years: Manny Ramirez

Card #67 - Manny Ramirez

Born: May 30, 1972

Manny's presence in a lineup makes everyone around him that much better. On August 31, Manny stepped out onto the on deck circle and caused such a stir with the opposition that A.J. Pierzynski was able to hit a three run home run.

Making his official debut with the White Sox the next day, on September 1, 2010, Ramirez went one for three and was hit by a pitch right between the numbers on the back.

Manny is known as a character and should be quite a match for manager Ozzie Guillen, who is known for his own colorful antics. Whatever the final result, it should be interesting on the Southside in September.