Yankees gave Carey shirt off Joe DiMag's back

Uncommon commons: In more than 30 years in sportscards publishing I have thrown hundreds of notes into files about the players – usually non-star players – who made up the majority of the baseball and football cards I collected as a kid. Today, I keep adding to those files as I peruse microfilms of The Sporting News from the 1880s through the 1960s. I found these tidbits brought some life to the player pictures on those cards. I figure that if I enjoyed them, you might too.

Andy Carey was one of the least-heralded regulars in the Yankees' dynasty of the 1950s. He was a solid, rather than spectacular, major leaguer, holding down third base from his debut as a 20-year-old rookie in 1952 until New York "farmed him out" to the Kansas City A's in 1960.

During the 1951-52 off-season, after signing a $65,000 contract with the N.Y. Yankees, rookie infielder Andy Carey received at his Bay area home a package from the team. It was a gray flannel uniform for Carey to use in his winter workouts before joining the team at spring training. In the era, Yankees' manager Casey Stengel, who lived in Glendale, Calif., used to conduct pre-spring training workouts out there for rookies, rehabilitating players and those who might be considered for a position change. Try getting the players' union to agree to that today! 

The name tag on the jersey read, “Joe DiMaggio.” (Most likely, the tag simply read “DiMaggio,” but let’s not let the minutiae of early 1950s Yankee uniform tagging detract from a good story.)

In the April 9, 1952 issue of The Sporting News, Curley Grieve, a San Francisco baseball writer, picked up the story in a sidebar headlined, “DiMag’s Suit Was Yankees’ Sign of Confidence in Andy”.

“Joe’s old uniform—for me!”, Grieve quoted Carey (almost as if he had been there himself). “Gosh—I wish I could put it in a glass case and keep it. I’m the proudest guy in the world.” Carey obviously had a baseball memorabilia collector’s instinct.

Grieve continued, “The Yanks do nothing by accident. When they sent that treasured suit to Carey, it meant even more than Manager Casey Stengel’s oft-repeated statement; ‘We’re counting on Andy Carey.’”

The reporter noted that when Carey graduated from high school, after being named to several important prep all-star teams, he turned down a bonus offer of $6,500, played college ball for a year and a half, then received ten times that sum.

Introducing Carey to his readers, Grieve reported, “Andy doesn’t smoke, drink or keep late hours. A reporter called Carey’s home one evening and learned he was in bed. It was 9 o’clock.

“Andy’s financial windfall has in no way gone to his head,” Grieve continued. “He drives a Ford, dresses informally, hunts and fishes for a hobby and, in his spare time, finds pleasure in building himself a hydroplane at Lake Merritt.”

Addressing a concern that was significant to all of baseball, from ownership to the fans during the height of the Korean War, Grieve reported, “The new pride of the Yankees has been classified 4-F in the draft. He has a back condition that was first discovered when he injured himself sliding at St. Mary’s College. After X-rays, doctors said there was cartilage missing in his lower spine and the vertebrae are not properly joined to the pelvic bone.

“In cold weather, his back tightens up a little and even once in a while he can feel pain in the hot weather.

“But it’s not serious enough to hurt my batting or fielding,” Carey was quoted.

Carey had batted .288 with 14 home runs for Kansas City, the Yankees' American Association farm club, in 1951. Stengel was looking for him to help solidify an iffy infield for 1952. Billy Martin had broken his ankle in the off-season. He had pretty much nailed down the second base job for 1952, but the injury forced the Yankees to consider shifting Gil McDougald to the keystone spot. Bobby Brown, who had platooned with McDougald at third in '51, was awaiting induction into the Army, though he wasn't actually called up until early July.

As it turned out, McDougald did start the season at third base. 

When Carey made his big league debut on May 2, any magic that may have been in DiMaggio's jersey didn't appear to have rubbed off on him over the winter. In his first game he committed two errors in four chances and was 0-for-4 at the plate. In his first five games at 3B, he hit only .176, with no extra-base hits. The Yankees, however, won all five games. 

Carey was sent back to Kansas City, to develop his batting eye and to work out at shortstop. He hit .284 with 16 home runs with the Blues before he was called back to New York on Aug. 2. 

His second stint with the Yankees went even worse. He was 0-for-16 in six games over the first half of August. 

He was farmed out again, this time to Syracuse in the International League. Where he hit a modest .255 with two homers.

The Yankees called Carey back up at the end of the season for three games. He went 3-for-7, raising his rookie season batting average to .150 with no extra-base hits and a single RBI.

In the 1953 season, Carey solidified himself as the Yankees' regular third baseman for the remainder of the 1950s.

Carey died last December at the age of 80. I wonder if he ever got that DiMaggio jersey into a glass case up on his wall?

             

Frank Baumann was one lucky lefty

Uncommon commons: In more than 30 years in sportscards publishing I have thrown hundreds of notes into files about the players – usually non-star players – who made up the majority of the baseball and football cards I collected as a kid. Today, I keep adding to those files as I peruse microfilms of The Sporting News from the 1880s through the 1960s. I found these tidbits brought some life to the player pictures on those cards. I figure that if I enjoyed them, you might too.


Timing was everything for Frank Baumann. 


In 1952 he was the most heralded player in high school baseball. In the Missouri state high school tournament he pitched four no-hitters, two of them perfect games. His Central (St. Louis) High School team won its third consecutive state championship and Baumann repeated as Missouri high school MVP.


Baumann was the subject of a full-page photo feature in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on June 8. His graduation three days later set off one of the gaudiest bidding wars of the era. 


Baumann was fortunate that he turned pro when he did because it was in the period when Major League Baseball was in between bonus rules. The previous bonus rules had expired during the 1950 winter meetings, and a new set of rules that would require "bonus baby" players to be placed on the major league roster for two years was not voted in until 1953.


Thus, there were no holds barred in signing free agents excepting that high school players could not be signed until their class had graduated. 


Bill Veeck, owner of the hometown St. Louis Browns, reportedly opened the bidding at $30,000. A week later, Baumann's father inked a contract on his behalf with the Boston Red Sox for $85,000. It was reported that Baumann had turned down a $95,000 offer from the Cleveland Indians.


While it was first reported that Baumann was getting $125,000 from Boston, more extensive digging by The Sporting News revealed that $85,000 was the correct figure. Even at that, TSN said it was believed to be the highest price ever paid for a free agent, "taking into consideration the fact that estimates of bonuses given to young prospects usually are exaggerated."


TSN reported that the $85,000 bonus was to be spread out over five years. Frank Baumann's father was to receive $9,000 in each of the first two years, while the pitcher pocketed $8,000 each year. In the third, fourth and fifth years of the contract, Frank received $17,000 a year. The contract was guaranteed "against call into armed forces, injury, even death," said TSN.


Baumann's signing was reportedly the first time that negotiations were carried on with outside parties instead of the player and his family. The Baumann's were advised by Michael Aubuchon, an attorney experienced in handling sports (primarily boxing) contracts and Jim Fox, a CPA and close friend of Baumann's father. Fox was said to be an expert on income tax structure. 


On June 19, the date the contract was signed, the Red Sox were wrapping up a three-game series in St. Louis. Boston manager Lou Boudreau said that if the contract had been signed that morning, he  would have been willing to start Baumann that night against the Browns. The contract was not signed until that night, however, so Baumann's big league debut had to wait.


Putting the $85,000 contract that Baumann signed into perspective, that figure probably represented more than the annual salary of 98% of contemporary major leaguers. In today's terms, it would be like signing a kid out of high school for $20+ million.


Baumann's began his professional career on June 22, pitching for the Red Sox' top farm club, the Louisville Colonels of the American Association (where he earned $600 a month). He won his first pro game 5-0, shutting out the Columbus Redbirds in the seven-inning second game of a Sunday doubleheader. In his debut he gave up four hits, walked a pair and struck out five.


For all the hoopla, Baumann's first year in pro ball was only a modest success. He started 14 games, winning four and losing six on a 4.06 ERA. In 88 innings he struck out 69, walked 55 and gave up 83 hits.

In his second season at Louisville, Baumann really began to live up to his potential. He ran up a 10-1 record, effectively leading the league in winning percentage and ERA (2.55). He was named to the AA All-Star team.


Baumann spent the 1954 season and most of 1955 in the army. He made his major league debut on July 31, 1955, coming on in relief against the Tigers to earn a 3-2 win. 


He remained with the Red Sox for four more seasons, spending parts of the 1956-58 seasons in the minors. 
From 1955-59 with Boston he had a 13-8 record. 


Following the 1959 season, Baumann was traded to the White Sox. and enjoyed something of a resurgence.  he had a 13-6 record and tied for the A.L. ERA title at 2.67. 


He pitched for Chicago through the 1964 season, with a 32-29 record. 


Baumann was dealt to the Cubs for 1965, but pitched only four games for them (0-1 record) before ending his major league career on May 8.


Baumann followed his playing days as a salesman (autos, appliances, liquor, linens), managing an ice rink and working for the Missouri State Lottery Commission.


Like his major league career, Frank Baumann's baseball card legacy was somewhat late in getting started, considering the publicity his signing engendered. He appeared on Topps cards from 1958-65 and in the 1961 Post cereal set.

New custom marks Don Maynard's CFL days

In my Feb. 2 entry, I presented my 1958 Topps-style "rookie card" of future Jets star receiver Don Maynard.


On the occasion of the unveiling of my second Maynard custom card, I'm going to reprint what I had to say about him from that earlier post . . .  


One of my favorite players on the World's Champion 1968 New York Jets was Joe Namath's favorite receiving target, Don Maynard.


In those pre-internet days, I didn't know too much about Maynard and it was only many years later that I became aware that he had begun his pro football career with the New York Giants of the NFL. They had made him a 5th round "future" pick in the 1957 draft.


The Giants used Maynard primarily as a kick returner. When the team's coaching staff moved on the following year, Maynard was cut in training camp by the new regime, who didn't think his West Texas look and personality fit the big city New York image. Maynard later said he could never understand why he had been let go, since he could run faster backward than most of the Giants' receivers could run forward.


I learned something else new about Maynard recentyly. He played the 1959 season for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. That season Hamilton lost the Grey Cup to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. 


This custom card, my first in a Topps Canadian/O-Pee-Chee format, is my interpretation of what Maynard's card might have looked like if he had been included in that set.


Maynard joined his third professional league in three years when he became the first player signed by the New York Titans of the American Football League.


With the Titans/Jets, Maynard blossomed into a Hall of Fame (1987) receiver, leading the AFL with 14 touchdown catches in 1965 and 1,434 yards in 1966. In the 1968 AFL Championship game he teamed with Broadway Joe on six receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns to beat the Oakland Raiders 27-23 and advance to the historic Super Bowl III against the Colts.


Rather than attempt an extensive review of Maynard's life and career, I'll refer you to a 2005 posting by Jim Sargent on The Coffin Corner web site: http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/27-01-1052.pdf

Note to family . . .

If you're going going to buy wood chips to use on the grill for seasoning, don't store the opened bag on the kitchen counter where the potato chips, Doritos, etc., are usually kept.


They're hard on the teeth and they taste awful.

Trucks was minor league no-hit master

Uncommon commons. Based on contemporary accounts from The Sporting News; tidbits that as a collector of baseball and football cards I found interesting because they help bring to life the faces on the cards I collected. I figure that if I found these items of interest, so would other vintage card collectors.I consider myself more than a casual baseball historian, especially of the era of my greatest baseball card interest, the 1950s.


Last time I relayed the story of Johnny Vander Meer's third no-hitter.


This time I'll tell you about another major league pitcher who had two no-hitters in one season . . . and four in the minor leagues.


In 1952, Detroit Tigers pitcher Virgil Trucks no-hit the Washington Senators on May 15, for a 1-0 win. On Aug. 25, he notched another no-hitter, a 1-0 victory over the N.Y. Yankees, to become only the third major league pitcher to throw two no-hitters in a season (Vander Meer in 1938, Allie Reynolds in 1951; they have since been joined b y Nolan Ryan in 1973 and Roy Halliday in 2010).


It is less well-known that Trucks almost became the only pitcher to have three no-hit games in a season. In between his gems, on July 22 he was again pitching against the Senators. Mickey Vernon led off the game with a single . . . the only hit he allowed in a 1-0 shutout he walked three).


In 1938, his first year of professional ball, while pitching for the Andalusia Bulldogs under questionable contract status in the Class D Alabama-Florida League Trucks also had two no-hitters. He was 25-6 that season, with a 1.25 ERA. He set a modern professional record with 418 strikeouts; that record stood for eight years.


With Beaumont in the Texas League in 1940, Trucks threw his third no-hitter.


Trucks' fourth minor league no-hitter came in 1941, with Buffalo of the International League. But he lost that game. Trucks had his gem going into the 10th inning when Montreal scored to win 1-0. Under the rules of that time, it still counted as a no-hit game. 


In 1991, MLB's Committee for Statistical Accuracy ruled that a "An official no-hit game occurs when a pitcher (or pitchers) allows no hits during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings." Technically, this would negate Trucks' fourth no-hit game.

Johnny Vander Meer's third no-hitter

Uncommon commons. Based on contemporary accounts from The Sporting News; tidbits that as a collector of baseball and football cards I found interesting because they help bring to life the faces on the cards I collected. I figure that if I found these items of interest, so would other vintage card collectors.I consider myself more than a casual baseball historian, especially of the era of my greatest baseball card interest, the 1950s.


That's why I was surprised to learn that the only pitcher of back-to-back major league no-hitters had a third no-hitter . . . 14 years later after he had returned to the minor leagues.


Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Vander Meer is justly famous for having thrown no-hitters on June 11, 1938, against the Boston Braves, 3-0, then in his next game, June 15, the very first night game ever played in Ebbets Field, no-hitting the Dodgers in a 6-0 win.


In 1952, the Dutch Master had been out of the major leagues for a year, and was pitching for the Reds' Class AA Texas League farm club in Tulsa.


On July 15, against Beaumont, Vander Meer threw his third professional no-hit game, a 12-0 win that brought his season's record to 6-7.


Only five Roughneck batters reached base in the game, three on walks, one on an error and one hit batsman.


There were only 335 paid admissions at Beaumont that night to witness that bit of baseball history.


The feat was of special interest to Beaumont manager Harry Craft. Craft was in center field behind Vandy on June 15, 1938, in Brooklyn, and caught Leo Durocher's fly ball for the last out.


Later in the 1952 season, Vander Meer ran up a string of 22 scoreless innings, but his pitching heroics were not enough to get the Oilers above 6th place in the league that year. The 37-year-old lefty finished the season with an 11-10 record.


In 1953, Vander Meer began a decade-long run managing for Reds farm clubs in Class B and D leagues, occasionally taking a turn on the mound as late as 1955.


Next time I'll tell you about another major league pitcher with two no-hitters in a season who topped Vander Meer by having four no-hitters in the minors.

Where are King Faisal's balls?

This LIFE magazine photo shows Iraq's King Faisal in the Brooklyn dugout
between manager Chuck Dressen and Jackie Robinson, holding a team-autographed baseball. 

In arranging a visit to the United States in 1952, the 17-year-old King Faisal II of Iraq expressed an interest in seeing a Brooklyn Dodgers game and meeting Jackie Robinson. The scion of the Hashemite Dynasty is said to have become a fan of American baseball while attending school in England during World War II.


That request was accommodated on Aug. 13, when the boy king was the guest of Dodgers' president Walter O'Malley in his box at Ebbets Field for a doubleheader against the N.Y. Giants. 


A reporter said Faisal "proved to be a calm, somewhat confused. baseball fan as O'Malley explained plays to him." Faisal was reported to have been impressed with a Bobby Thomson home run in the opening game, which the Dodgers lost 5-4.


In a pre-game photo op, the king visited the Dodgers' dugout, where Robinson presented him with a team-autographed baseball. The reporter noted that Faisal "was pleased when Manager Chuck Dressen planted a Dodger cap on the royal noggin . . . but his uncle (Prince 'Abd al-llah), the regent, scowled and took the cap off."


Following the game, Faisal was also presented with an autographed ball from the Giants.


The collector in me wonders where those souvenir balls are today. 


Did they survive the July 14, 1958, coup d'etat in which a faction of the Iraqi army lined up the king, members of his family and servants in a palace courtyard and machine-gunned them? Did they survive the Saddam Hussein rule?


Or perhaps the balls returned to the U.S. in the dufflebag of an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran who "found" them in the palace, museum or archives in Baghdad?