New Babe Ruth Rookie Discovered

Via Sports Collectors Daily we find out about a new Babe Ruth discovery. The above picture is of a 4.5 x 6.5 inch team card of the 1914 Baltimore Orioles of the International League- Ruth's minor league team and first year in profession Baseball. It was produced by Baltimore News and is probably one of a kind. (or, at least, other examples have not survived the test of time)

In the newly discovered team photo card, Ruth appears standing in the upper left of the back row. Also included among the players shown are Ernie Shore and Ben Egan, who along with Ruth, on July 10, 1914 were sold to the Boston Red Sox by Baltimore Orioles' owner Jack Dunn for a reported $25,000. When the Federal League established a major league team in Baltimore in 1914, directly across the street from the minor league Orioles, the competition hurt Orioles' attendance significantly. Some games drew as few as fifty fans in the stands. To avoid bankruptcy, Dunn was forced to sell his best players to Red Sox owner Joseph Lannin.

Also included in the find is the above 1914 Baltimore News Baseball card of Babe Ruth. This is one of only 10 cards known to exist and is very rare. In fact, if a mint example where ever found it might sell for more than the T206 Honus Wagner.

Hat Tip: James Feagin: Vintage Baseball Card Forum:

My Only Regret is that I Don't Play Golf

So, this past Thursday a bunch of guys from my office took the afternoon off to play some golf. It was for a charitable event that the Director of the company I work for help start and put together. The charity is called New Directions for Women. It is a non-profit drug and alcohol treatment provider for women, pregnant women and women with children. It's a great cause that seeks to address an important need.

Anyway, I don't golf at all. In fact, my swing is so bad I should just take a Baseball bat with me to hit those little balls instead of a driver. So, I opted to not participate on that afternoon. I would soon regret that decision.

Mr. Jim Campanis, former Dodger farmhand and son of Al Campanis, the former Dodger GM was on hand that afternoon.

Just my luck, right?

He retold stories of his time in Baseball and the Dodgers. More importantly, he was wearing his 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers World Series ring. In fact, he let a bunch of folks wear his ring. Below is Jim, my boss, wearing the ring with Mr. Campanis by his side (on the right). The interns from my office also had a chance to put on the gold and diamond clad beauty.

At the same time I was in the office working. What kind of idiot am I!

Dodgers: 1940's-1950's Baseball Player Pendants

As I promised earlier, below are the 3 Dodger players I received in the lot of 1940's-1950's Baseball Player Pendants I received. These are very small, measuring approx. 1/2 inch by 3/4 inch. Below is Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese.Below is Carl Furillo.

Please Help Me Identify These Players

I recently won an auction of a small collection of 1940-1950's Baseball Player Pendants at Hunt Auctions. There were 11 different pendants in the lot. I also got an extra Jackie Robinson pendant. I'll post the Dodger pendants I received at a later point. Right now, my focus is to determine who the other players are. Please help out if you can.

1: I think the above pic is Whitey Ford, but I'm not sure.

2: I think this is Whitey Lockman. Anyone know for sure?

3: I'm almost sure this is Phil Rizzuto.

4: I have no clue who this is!

5: Is this Richie Ashburn?

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Update: Well, I posed the same question over at the Vintage Baseball Card Forum and received some good feedback. #5 is Ralph Kiner, #4 is Andy Pafko, #3 is Phil Rizzuto. #1 & #2 are still up in the air.

Who Do You Think is Going to Win?: Win Tickets from Inside the Dodgers Blog

One of the greatest new developments this year was the unveiling of the official Dodgers Blog: Inside the Dodgers. I can't tell you how informative their site is. The line-ups before the game and the clubhouse stories behind the scenes have been a joy to read. Thank you for your hard work.

Also, thank you for running this contest. You can now win 4 baseline seats to a Dodger game next season. All you have to do is pick the winners in the League Championship and World Series. You also have to determine how many games it will take.

So here's another chance to earn some more of those prime seats. Pick the winner of both League Championship Series and the World Series, as well as how many games it'll take each team to win. You've got until the end of the day on Thursday for your guesses, which gives people a little time to see how it starts, but the bold ones will put their predictions before they can see how it starts.

Check out the post here and enter in your picks. You have until the end of the day today.

This is my prediction:

League Championship Series:
Detroit in 4
Cardinals in 6

World Series:
Detroit in 5

Let's Go Tigers! Here We Go!

eBay Pick-Up: 1962 Topps Venezuelan Babe Ruth Coaching the Dodgers

Did you know that the "Sultan of Swat" once coached for the Dodgers? This past weekend I picked up a recent eBay win. It's a 1962 Topps Venezuelan card of "The Babe" coaching for the Dodgers during the 1938 Baseball season. These particular cards are very rare. Venezuelan issues are very difficult to come by in any condition, let alone a condition that does not include glue residue on the back. Venezuelan card collectors almost exclusively glued all of their cards into scrapbooks.

Wikipedia provides a brief synopsis of Ruth's Dodger career:

Retirement was often unsettling for Ruth. He had more than enough money, but he missed the game. He spent much time on the golf course, dabbled in a few other things, but his heart was set on managing a big league club. He would never be given the chance. The closest Ruth ever came to managing was when Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Larry MacPhail offered him a first base coaching job in June 1938. The Dodgers attendance was lagging, and MacPhail hired Ruth for the sole purpose of getting people to the ballpark. Ruth took the job, perhaps thinking he would have a chance to manage the Dodgers in the future, but MacPhail had clearly stated to Ruth that Leo Durocher was being groomed to take over the managerial reigns of the Dodgers for next season. Ruth never got along with Durocher, and he quit at the end of the season. The coaching position was the last time Ruth would have a job in major league baseball.