Saturday, May 02, 2009

Collection: 1984 Union Oil Most Memorable Moments: Fernando Valenzuela

Here is another installment of 1984 Union Oil Most Memorable Moments. These sheets have beautiful artwork that capture the majesty of these great Dodger events. This time we highlight the incredible 1981 season of Fernando Valenzuela.

This young 20 year old Mexican phenom blazed through Los Angeles like a bull. He captured our hearts and minds, and spawned a sensation that would forever be known as Fernandomania. No one can ever equal the craziness that surrounded him. Not even the current Mannywood hoopla comes close to the psychosis evident in 1981. We were hooked. We cheered loudly. We went out of our minds.

Artwork is by Paul Kratter.

Check out the rest of the set here in my photoalbum.

REA: Now the True Rarities

No REA auction would be complete without some rarities. So without further adieu...

Below is one of only two known 1915 Crack Jack advertising posters known to exist. It is easily the most attractive of all vintage Baseball advertising displays around.
The 1915 Cracker Jack baseball cards are universally recognized as one of the most classic and highly regarded baseball card sets ever produced. This poster was created by Cracker Jack and distributed for display in candy stores to advertise Cracker Jack, and to create interest in the new and exciting card set. If you went to the candy store in 1915, you might have seen the Cracker Jack poster hanging on the wall, or on the shelf behind the candy counter. It was made to be eye-catching and made to be displayed. The poster is printed on very high quality sturdy cardboard stock, almost like a giant baseball card, and was created with the same uncompromising attention to quality production and design as the Cracker Jack baseball card set. The poster was designed to hang by a string attached at the two holes at the top, or to lean against anything, even a tower of Cracker Jack boxes, standing on its own due to its firm quality construction.
Players
Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Tris Speaker, Honus Wagner, Joe Jackson, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Stuffy McInnis, Vic Saier, Rabbit Maranville, and George Mullen are featured.

What else can I write about the below card that hasn't already been said? Oh, I know. This T206 Honus Wagner, the famous of all Baseball cards, once resided at the All-Star Cafe in New York and was stolen in 1998.
The workers at the All Star Café, naturally, had access to the restaurant after hours. In 1998, two All Star Café chefs and one of the managers devised a plot to steal the Wagner. The plan was to remove the card from its display case, replace it with a color copy so that no one would notice, and then to sell the original. The plan worked, at least for a while. A color copy viewed from afar in a display case can look very much like an original. The nephew of the executive chef was enlisted to sell the card for cash to famous New Jersey dealer Al Rosen, claiming the card had been saved and given to him by his grandfather.
It was eventually recovered by the FBI. Also, it was once owned by actor Charlie Sheen. This low condition card is already at $280,000.00 and I suspect it will go for much more.

Here is a true minor league rookie card of the fabled Babe Ruth. It is a 1914 Baltimore News card produced when he played for the Baltimore Orioles of the International League.

Now you can be just like David Wells. Here is a actual game-used cap worn by Babe Ruth in 1932.
This is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a New York Yankees cap worn by Babe Ruth and it is accompanied by an impeccable and fully documented line of provenance, having originated as a gift directly from the personal collection of Yankees Hall of Fame manager Joe McCarthy.