Mr. Tiger

The last time I did a single-card post from 1962 Topps, it was a much happier occasion. That was the day I acquired a real Mickey Mantle card, and I couldn't wait to share my find with the community. Today, however, we mourn the passing of Al Kaline, one of the all-time greats in Detroit Tigers history. He was 85.

1962 Topps #150 Al Kaline

Prior to that Mantle, the most money I'd ever spent on a single baseball card was this, Al Kaline's card from 1962 Topps. It was $40 at Jerry's Sportscards, which once stood on a nearby street corner that is now occupied by a Walgreens. It's no longer there, of course, but if it were, it would be within walking distance of my front door.

How times have changed.

Judging by how much I've spent on 1962 cards, one could easily make the argument that this is my all-time favorite set. This particular example is in pretty good shape, and though it's ungraded, it's probably about a sharp as that Mantle. And even on a vintage card like this, I can't help but notice the slight oddities in the photo, like the fact that Kaline is "swinging" someone else's bat. Kaline clearly wore #6, which was retired by the Tigers in 1980, the same year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. But the bat appears to have #24 on the knob, belonging to rookie Frank Kostro.

Speaking of that retired uniform number, he was so beloved by Detroit that he was the first Tiger to ever be honored in such a fashion. Greenberg's and Gehringer's numbers were both still in circulation until 1983.

On the card back, Topps has a cartoon showing a left-handed batter ready to step up to the plate, framed by a pitcher holding a ball. Kaline was a righty, so clearly the cartoon isn't truly personalized, unless they're trying to show him in the on-deck circle or something. Under that, we're told that Kaline had played in ten All-Star games. He was at that magical age of 27 in 1962, right in the prime of his career and a year after leading the AL in doubles. He'd go on to play in a whopping eighteen All-Star games before calling it quits in 1974.

We've lost a few baseball stars in the past couple weeks. Jimmy Winn. Ed Farmer. And now Al Kaline. Under normal circumstances, I'd probably think that was a group of three, and we'd get a reprieve for a little while. But given the current state of the world, these kinds of posts might sadly become a bit more common in the months ahead.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Tiger.

Happy Birthday dear Phi-il

We're all desperate for a sense of community right now. The state of the world has really thrown a giant monkey wrench into everything, to say the least.

I participate in Blog Bat-Arounds only infrequently, but I think now is a good time to let everyone know I'm still alive and kicking. Well, not kicking that much. Because the kickboxing gym I've been going to since 2017 is currently closed. But that's a different story.

To join the April Fools' Day activity that Matt at Diamond Jesters kicked off, let me take this opportunity to wish a happy 81st birthday to legend Phil Niekro.

If you ever doubted how out of hand things got during the overproduction era, one lone blogger basically said, "everyone find your stash of 1988 Score and post the Phil Niekro card today". And many, many of us had no trouble doing just that, myself included.

Which is basically how viruses spread. But that, too, is a different story.

1988 Score #555 Phil Niekro

Number 83 on Joe Posnanski's The Baseball 100 list, Niekro is a Hall-of-Fame knuckleballer. This being a Score set, I expected to see the lengthy paragraph on the card back that early Score cards are known for. But that's not what you'll find here. Rather, flip it over to see Niekro's complete career statistics, twenty-four years starting way back in 1964. Curiously, that year is closer to the 1918 flu pandemic than it is to today.

On this card back, you'll find 318 wins, 3,342 strikeouts, and a whopping 5,403.2 innings pitched, good for 4th all time, and the most in the live-ball era. Baseball-Reference has that innings count at an even 5,404, finding an extra out somewhere in 1981.

Google launched Gmail on this day in 2004 with a then-gigantic 1 GB of free storage. That was in a time when Yahoo was offering four entire megabytes. The scan of this Niekro card alone is a quarter of that. But other than that historic product launch, I'm not much of a fan of April Fools' Day. It's been a lot of deception and satire since then. That's the last thing we need more of. Of all the things we're missing right now, April Fools' Day pranks are not something I'm mourning.

My sister isn't a big fan of it, either. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Monday, her second, and expressed relief that the little one didn't arrive on April 1st. If she had, she would have shared a birthday with Phil Niekro and two current Rockies. On March 30th she instead gets Chris Sale and a couple players from the 2017 Astros. My nephew, nearing the age of three, shares a birthday with one of my favorite catchers, Salvador Pérez.

We may not have any baseball right now, but a Blog Bat-Around and wishing an old player a happy birthday seems like a nice change of pace.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay home.