2015 Sport Kings – Allie Reynolds

Card Set: 2015 Sport Kings

Subject: Allie Reynolds

Card Number: SK-AR

Cards in the set so far:  8

Baseball-Reference Page: Allie Reynolds

Wikipedia Page: Allie Reynolds

I want to preface this post by saying that Allie Reynolds deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.  What’s sad is that most players that played with him are now dead and he has little or no chance of getting in through the Veteran’s Committee.  He is a six time All Star, became only the second pitcher in MLB history to throw two no hitters in a single season, recorded 11 or more wins in 12 straight seasons, owns a career 182-107 record, and a 7-2 record in the World Series.  The most important aspect of his career though, he became the ace on the Yankees rotation, that they sorely needed to start winning World Series.  In fact, he was on SIX World Series Championship teams! Including five straight from 1945-1953.  Oh and to make it even sweeter, most of this was done AFTER he turned 30.  When I told my dad that I was able to get Allie Reynold’s autograph, he told me straight out, don’t fuck that one up!  In fact I’m starting to believe that Reynolds may have been one of his favorite players from his early years as a baseball fan.  I think I know what he’s getting this year for father’s day!

The issue I had while making this card was simple, Reynolds has a big ass autograph!  I actually did very little trimming on the sides to fit his entire signature in.  I have the same problem with a Charlie Gheringer autograph that at some point I have to turn into a card.  I actually had to clip the end of the “s” in Reynolds and came very close to clipping the “A” in Allie, but was able to avoid that by tilting it a little. So glad I didn’t “fuck this one up”.

Player’s certified autograph:

Player’s card debut:

 

1948 Bowman

Sport Kings Cut Autograph – Johnny Sain

Spahn and Sain and Pray For Rain

By: Gerald V. Hern

First we’ll use Spahn
then we’ll use Sain
Then an off day
followed by rain
Back will come Spahn
followed by Sain
And followed
we hope
by two days of rain.

That poem was written by Boston Post’s Sports editor Gerald Hern in 1948.  I found it while doing some research for this post.  Part of the fun of making these cards is finding some of what I like to call the hidden gems of baseball history.  Some of you who love baseball as much as I do, know who Johnny Sain is, but for the rest of you who have no idea, I’ll try and fill you in.

He was just one of those dominant pitchers of the mid fifties, but thanks to his participation in World War II,  the world never really got to see just how good he could have been.  He made it to the majors in 1942, then lost three seasons to just military service from 1943-45. He would have been 25-27 during those seasons.  As many of you know, that’s when pitchers usually start to peak.  Instead his career really started in 1946 when he went 20-14 with a 2.21 ERA with the Boston Braves.  He would end up with a career 139 wins over 11 seasons.  He even switched to a reliever later in his career and led the league in saves one season as a Yankee.  He remained on the Hall of Fame ballot until 1975 but never got more than 34% of the vote.

After his playing career, he became one of the most successful pitching coaches in baseball history.  He coached the A’s, Yankees, Twins, Tigers, White Sox and Braves from 1959-1986.  He finished with six World Series rings, three as a player and three as a coach. Three All Star appearances and the 1948 The Sporting News NL Player of the Year award.  I feel as though if he had those military years back, he would have been a Hall of Fame player.

Card Number: SK-JS

Number of cards in the set: 8

Player’s Wikipedia page: Johnny Sain

Player’s Baseball Reference page: Johnny Sain

Player’s certified autograph:

Player’s Rookie Card:

1948 Bowman

Another Hall of Fame Addition – Edd Roush

Card – SK-ER

Player –  Edd Roush

Getting this signature was bad-ass! No way did I ever think I was getting a Roush autograph for south of 10 bucks.  I got this for $9.95 including shipping.  Probably because it was a magic marker autograph with some slight bleeding, but I’m good with that.  We are talking about a player who actually started in the 1919 Black Sox World Series.  Not only that but he was 26 years old at that point in his career.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962 by the Vetren’s Committee.  He was a two time NL Batting champ, and during an 18 year career, he had a career batting average of 0.323, good for 44th all time in baseball history.  Here are the coolest facts about Roush:

• He never struck out more than 25 times in a season.
• He had 30 inside-the-park home runs.
• He was invited to throw out the first ball at the last game at Crosley Field on June 24, 1970.
• He used a massive 48-ounce Louisville Slugger (the heaviest bat used in baseball), claims that he never broke a bat in his big league career.
• He died at the age of 94, still insisting that even if the White Sox had played the 1919 World Series on the level, the Reds would have won.
• Edd Roush was the last surviving Federal League participant.

That’s some crazy stuff.  Finally, during the making of this card, I was watching Walking Dead.  Got completely caught up in it and ended up making a sticker out of his autograph.  With some creative quick thinking, I took a penny sleeve, split it in half, and applied it to the autograph, so the card now has a protective seal over the autograph. Lesson learned: Never make cards while watching Walking Dead!

Original signature card:

 

Certified autograph:

Baseball Card:

Hall of Fame Cuts – Johnny Bench

 

Set: Sport Kings Cut Autographs

Card Number: SK-JB

 

This one is awesome.  I set my spending limit on acquiring autographs to a total of $10 shipped.  So that severely limits who I can afford.  I’m not going to be able to snag a Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth.  Also I can forget about contemporaries like Cal Ripken, Kirby Puckett or even Roberto Alomar.  Which is why when a cut Johnny Bench came up on my low end I was shocked.  I watched this one for six days.  I knew it was not pristine, so I figured it would stay low.  In the final 15 minutes it went from $3.50 to $7.50 and in the end I said screw it, set my bid to $15 and crossed my fingers.  I actually won it for $8.25 but with $3.25 shipping (which is ridiculous by the way), pushed it to $11.50 a little above what I set at my limit, but i’m ok with it because it’s Johnny freaking Bench!

I have a stack of cards that need to be made into cut autographs but when this one arrived, I processed it through quickly!  The cut itself is slightly creased, and quite old from the yellowing of the paper.  Looks to be cut from a program is my guess.  I could have gone with the Vintage Cuts design, which had a full boarder but I thought it would look so much better without the side boarders, so I opted for the Sport Kings look and I think it came out looking quite good.  I am actually shocked at how cheap I got this one for.  In reality it should have gone north of $12, as that’s just how rare his cut autograph (not as a card) is going for.  When I originally showed this on Facebook, I got an offer for $40.  I didn’t take it because I don’t think I could replace it much cheaper than that.

As for my total Baseball Hall of Fame totals:

I am now at 5 of 310, a very, very long way to go!

For reference, here is a picture of a certified Johnny Bench autograph:

Of course I have to put on his rookie card:

2015 Sport Kings Cut Autograph – Rick Ferrell

They all start with a signed index card.  Sometimes they are a Hall of Famer and sometimes it’s an All Pro or All Star.  This one’s a Hall of Famer.  Many people, myself included wonder how or why he was inducted into the Hall o Fame.  That is until I read his Wikipedia page.   So here’s the breakdown:

Card Number: SK-RF

Card Subject: Rick Ferrell

Baseball Reference Link: BR Link

Player information: This is much harder to find under $5 than you would think.  He’s not a household name, in fact, most of the people reading this probably clicked on the baseball reference link just to see what his stats were like. He died in 1995, so as you can imagine there are no manufacturer certified autographs of him out there.  Which makes finding autographs of him on the more difficult side.  Most of the ones I had seen on eBay were minimum of $10 or up (mostly the up side).  Most of his certified autographs are running $60 and up.  I was elated when I won this autograph for just $7.63 with shipping.  Since he is a Hall of Fame member, putting him in the Sports Kings design was a not brainer.

As I said earlier though, when you fist look at his stats, they are underwhelming.  18 year career with 1692 hits, 28 home runs, 732 RBIs, and a career batting average of 0.281.  Not exactly blow you away numbers.  He did have 8 All Star appearances though and was argued by Bill James to be the third best catcher of his era behind only Mickey Cochrane and Bill Dickey, who are arguably two of the best catchers of all time.  So while his offensive numbers don’t show it, he was an amazing player in his own right and definitely deserved his Hall of Fame status.

What the original signature looked like:

 

One of his cards:

2015 Sport Kings Cut Autograph – Robin Roberts

 Card Number: SK-RR

Card Subject: Robin Roberts

Baseball Reference Link: BR Link

Player information: I got this one at the same time as the Sutter autograph.  I am so happy to finally get one.  This one was gotten for $5 shipped.  Usually it’s much more for his autograph so I was happy to find it cheaper.  Roberts was a 19 year vet, and spent the most of his career in Philadelphia.  He had a career record of 286-245 which puts him at 28th for career wins.  He was a seven time All Star and was a big part in that Phillies rotation for years.  The interesting thing about his career was that it very closely mimics Jim Kaat’s and unpon close look, Kaat needs to be in the Hall.  Maybe someday the veteran’s committee will right that wrong.

What the original signature looked like:

 Image of a certified autograph:

Image of one of his cards:

2015 Sport Kings: Bruce Sutter

Card Number: SK-BS

Card Subject: Bruce Sutter

Baseball Reference Link: BR Link

Player information: I have been searching for a Bruce Sutter autograph in my price range (ultra cheap) for quite some time.  I had essentially given up hope for a while now.  His signatures were going for $15-20 and I was hoping more along the lines of $5-10.  I got this one for about $5 shipped.  So I was stoked.  The original card it came on wasn’t pretty, but it worked for me.  Loved the look of the autograph, blue and bold.  Sutter was the first dominant closer.  He didn’t have a very long career, only 12 years, but in those seasons he was a shut the door kind of closer.  Between 1977 and 1982 he was in 366 games, had an 184 saves, ERA of 2.47 and a WHIP of 1.079.  Oh and don’t forget his Cy Young winning year of 1979, not to mention 5 top 7 MVP finishes and his six All Star appearances.  The guy deserves to be in the Hall and I was glad he made it.

What the original signature looked like:

 

 

 

 

 

Image of a certified autograph:

Image of one of his cards: