Vintage Fridays: Brooks Robinson, 1962 Post #29

I just got home about an hour ago and I need to do my best impression of a corpse in order to recharge my batteries for the weekend's birthday festivities. I'll just do a miniature show and tell from my six-hour spree at the National this afternoon. I only bought cards from two dealers, but I got my money's worth. The first half of my day was spent scouring the 90% off table manned by Danny Phillips of Phillips Vintage Sports Cards. I got a ton of high number cards for my 1959 and 1972 sets and a great bunch of discounted vintage stars as well. One such card was the Brooks Robinson specimen you see above, which was expertly clipped from the back of a cereal box 50 years ago. It's odd that the Post copy writer refers to Brooksie's "addition" in 1960, considering that he started 206 games over the two seasons previous. Eh, what do you want from a box of raisin bran, right?

The most expensive card I picked up for myself was a 1933 Goudey featuring Indians outfielder and Hall of Famer Earl Averill. It cost me $17.50, and it was only that heavily discounted because it looks like it's spent the past 80 years residing in someone's hip pocket. Still, I was thrilled to find a single card from that iconic set that wasn't marred by a young collector's ink or pencil scribbles. It is now the oldest piece of my collection, superseding the runners-up by a good 15 years. I guess it's just a matter of time before I talk myself into obtaining a tobacco card. I also happened to run into reader and fellow collector Greg Armentrout, also known as GCA. It was great to put another face with a name.

The latter half of my visit was spent at one dealer's dime box. Sadly I didn't get his name, even though I realized I'd also done business with him at the Philly Card Show. He and his young son (presumably) were impressed that I managed to find 400 cards I was interested in buying from that box, but I've got a lot of 1970s Topps sets that are 40-50% complete, and this dealer was stocked up on commons from that era.

Funnily, it dawned on me as I was leaving the Baltimore Convention Center that I had chosen to mark my 30th birthday by buying a whole mess of cardboard that was older than me; the most recent card in my bag was from 1981. That seemed fitting.

Vintage Fridays: Gus Triandos, 1962 Post #33

On this day 55 years ago (Sunday, May 6, 1956), Gus Triandos hit a three-run home run to power the Orioles to a 6-2 win over the Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader at Memorial Stadium. His blast came with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, breaking a 2-2 tie and sending Detroit starter Steve Gromek to a loss. Of course, Gromek had himself to blame, having walked Oriole starting pitcher Ray Moore to lead off the inning and issuing a second free pass to Bob Hale later in the frame. The O's took an early 2-0 lead with a first-inning RBI triple by Dave Philley and a fourth inning double play from Chuck Diering that scored Tito Francona. The Tigers finally got to Moore in the top of the fifth, as the first four runners reached. Fred Hatfield singled to plate one run, and Charlie Maxwell tied the game by tagging up on a Harvey Kuenn fly ball. However, left fielder Philley gunned the ball to third base to cut down Hatfield trying to advance. The Birds got the lead back right away in the bottom of the inning with Triandos' big fly. They capped the scoring in the sixth by pulling off a double steal with Fred Marsh on first and Billy Gardner on third. Catcher Frank House tried to throw out Marsh at second, but fired wildly and Marsh took third while Gardner stole home.

Detroit threatened in the eighth, chasing Moore by putting the first two runners on base. But George Zuverink put out the fire, coming out of the Oriole bullpen and retiring five of the six hitters he faced to earn a save, his fifth of the year. Moore got the win to even his record at 2-2, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 4 batters in 7.1 innings. The game lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes, leaving the O's with enough energy to complete the sweep with a 4-3 win in the nightcap. Erv Palica held the Motowners to two runs in seven innings, and Zuverink notched his second save of the day with a perfect ninth. Francona was responsible for all four Baltimore runs, with a two-RBI single and an RBI groundout that plated a second run thanks to a Harvey Kuenn error. With the pair of victories, the Orioles improved to 8-11 on the year. They would finish the season 69-85, a 12-game improvement from the previous year.