#322 Harry Hanebrink

Harry Hanebrink played for a couple of NL teams as a utilityman in the 50s (he was a member of the Phils by the time this card was put in packs) and had less that 350 plate appearances but in checking him out I found two very different but equally interesting entries.

1) As detailed in this blog post Hanebrink, on August 6 of 1953, hit a bases loaded walk-off triple to propel the Braves to a 3-2 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers. That particular type of hit, a walk-off triple, didn't occur again in Braves' history for 60 years until Andrelton Simmons did it this past season against Colorado.

2) In 1951 Hanebrink and five of his siblings were sued by two other of their siblings over the settlement of their late mother's estate. I have no intention of reading through that entire brief but it seems that a couple of the kids were not happy that the will was changed and contested it on the grounds of their mother's mental state. The Missouri State Supreme Court appears to have come down on the side of the plaintiffs.

You just never know what will pop up in a Google search if you drill down far enough. Like this Toledo Blade newspaper feature on Hanebrink from 1955. It's worth checking out merely for the alliteration used in the headline.

As for Hanebrink, he was a longtime Braves minor league player having signed in 1948. Interestingly he was just 18 at the time but was already a Navy vet. He got that 51 game stretch in 1953 with the big club but didn't return until 1957 when he played in a handful of games and then he stuck with the team in 1958. He hit .270 as a part-timer that year and appeared in the World Series getting two pinch hit at bats.

In '59 he was traded to the Phils and got in 100 at bats in addition to some minor league work. The next year he was back in the minors where he finished his career in 1961.

My version of this card is the more common one which contains the 'traded' line. Here is a shot of the 'no traded line' version.

#396 Bob Rush

Bob Rush gets his card in this set as a member of the Braves but he was a Chicago Cub for most of his career. He was so much a Cub that he married a woman whose maiden name was Addison. 

Signed out of South Bend, Indiana by the Cubs in 1947 Rush spend one season in the minors (a pretty successful one btw) and earned a place on the roster in '48. He made it into 36 games that year including 16 starts and he went 5-11 with a sub 4.00 ERA. The next season he won 10 and that was the first of seven seasons in which he won in double digits for some less than stellar Cub teams. 

He went 13-20 in 1950 but had a respectable ERA and made the NL All Star squad. On June 11 Rush and pitcher Warren Spahn of the Braves each stole a base against each other; no opposing pitchers again stole a base in the same game until 2004. His best year came in 1952 when he posted a 17-13 mark to go along with a 2.70 ERA and a win in the rain-shortened All Star contest. He won 13 games in three of the next five years on the North Side but his below par 1957 season caused the Cubs to deal him to the Braves. 

That year he started (and lost) Game Three of the World Series against the Yankees. He went six innings that day and while he only allowed three hits to the Bombers he issued five walks. Two of them scored and that was all the Yanks needed.

He pitched into the 1960 season with Milwaukee, becoming a reliever, and was sold to the White Sox that summer. He finished that year with the Sox ans was released. He then retired.

Bob Rush's Wikipedia page claims he was the 'best granpa ever' which I think is kind of a neat think to have edited in by a loving family member. A South Bend sports writer eulogized Rush after his 2011 death in an online posting. His middle name is Ransom which is only significant because I was reminded of 'Handsom Ransom' himself, Randy Jackson.

Bob Rush wasn't much past 30 when the picture on his card was taken but he already looks like he'd be a great candidate for being the 'best granpa ever', don'tcha think?

#347 Bob Buhl

Bob Buhl was the perfect #3 starter for the tough Braves teams of the later 1950s. He pitched well while eating innings and matched the competitive nature of Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette. He spent a year in the White Sox chain after signing in 1947. The next year Buhl was granted free agency (free agency in 1948, who knew?) and signed with the Boston Braves. He pitched erratically for three minor league seasons then spent two years in the service.

He debuted as a rookie in 1953 and proceeded to win 13 games with 18 complete games and three shutouts. An suffered the 'sophomore jinx' in '54 but regained his form and won nearly a hundred games for the Braves during the rest of the decade  He made two starts for the Braves in the 1957 World Series and, although he was chanced early in both, he picked up a ring as a crown jewel on a nice career. An injury kept him out of the '58 Series.

Traded to the Cubs early in the 1962 season Buhl won double digit games and had respectable ERA's for Chicago teams that regularly finished at or near the bottom of the NL. He was later dealt to the Phillies in the trade that sent Fergie Jenkins to the Cubs. He pitched about a year in Philly before retiring in 1967 after he was released.

Buhl was known as one of the worst hitting pitchers of all time and went 0 fer 70 in 1962 which set a record for at bats without a hit. He tried hitting left-handed at one point but didn't have any better results.

Bob Buhl died in 2001 within two days of the death of his Braves roommate and friend, Ed Mathews. That's the sett Braves uni Buhl is wearing in front of the Seals Stadium grandstand. Add in the yellow frame and it adds up to a nice card.

#90 Bill Skowron

A Chicago native Bill "Moose" Skowron went to Purdue on a football scholarship. But he also played baseball and when he hit .500 in his second season for the Boilermakers (a Big Ten record that held up for a decade) he was headed for a career on the diamond. He signed with the New York Yankees in 1950 and after three very impressive minor league seasons he debuted with the Bombers in 1954. 

After initially platooning with Joe Collins he won won the first base job and in the nine seasons he was there the Yankees won seven league pennants and four World Series championships. He made five All Star squads during his Yankee tenure. He almost always seemed to come up big in the postseason. In eight Series (including the 1963 Series when he was a Dodger) Skowron batted .293 with eight homers and 29 BRIs. 

He hit a grand slam in the 1957 Series and in the 1958 World Series he homered in Game One, drove in the winning run in Game Six, and hit a three-run home run in Game Seven.

In 1963, Skowron was traded to the Dodgers and he won a fifth World Series championship as the Dodgers pulled off the sweep over the Yanks. An interesting insight into Moose comes from his NY Times obit:

Notwithstanding his menacing presence, Skowron was a gentle person, and he harbored no feelings of revenge after hammering his former Yankee teammates in the 1963 World Series.“I was miserable,” he recalled in [Richard Lally's book] “Bombers.”“Twelve years I was with New York, three in the minors, nine in the majors. I loved those guys and it killed me to beat them. My uniform might have said Los Angeles, but in my heart I was always a Yankee.”

 That was his only season in Los Angeles but he went on to play for the Senators and White Sox before retiring after the 1967 season. In 14 seasons Skowron had a .282 batting average, hit 211 home runs and batted in 888 runs in 1,658 games.

After his playing days he worked in community relations for the White Sox. He died in April of last year. His All Star card form this set was featured in the summer of 2011.

Two final things... his 'Moose' moniker came from his childhood post-haircut resemblance to Benito Mussolini. It stuck. And I found a cool picture of Skowron and Roy Campanella taken at Ebbetts Field at a 1957 exhibition game.

#95 Carl Willey

Carl Willey (I always heard him referred to as 'Carlton') was a Maine resident when he was signed by the Braves in 1951. Some nice minor league seasons (25 wins in '51-'52) were interrupted by a two year hitch in the service. When he returned he had a pair of mediocre season before blossoming in 1957 when he won 21 games.

In early 1958 he made the Milwaukee roster, was sent back to the minors for a stretch and then returned to the Braves where he went 9-7 in 19 starts and had a league leading four shutouts. He pitched an inning in the World Series' Game Five that year and whiffed two of the three Yankees he faced. He pitched four more seasons with the Braves but never could match his first season.

Sold to the Mets for the '63 season Willey won nine games in a career high 30 starts. An injury plagued 1964 (broken jaw, arm miseries) kept him sidelined quite a bit. He opened the '65 season with the Mets, spent some time with their AAA club, returned to the bigs to end the year but retired that winter.

Willey spent nearly a decade as a scout for the Phillies after retirement and then worked an assortment of jobs in his home state of Maine. He died in 2009.

His SABR bio is here but it's not as colorful as Sal Maglie's. How could it be? He's got a nicer card than The Barber, though....the oddly attractive pink frame and of course the mighty fine Braves uni. The cap alone makes it a winner.

#315 Joe Adcock

Joe Adcock spent 17 years in the majors with four clubs but had his best years with the powerhouse Milwaukee Braves teams of the mid-50s through early 1960s. Batting behind Eddie Matthews and Hank Aaron, Adcock hit 239 homers for the club in 10 seasons. Some of his homers were legendary.

Originally signed in 1947 out of LSU by the Reds, Adcock debuted as an outfielder with Cincinnati in 1950. He never took to the outfield (Ted Klusewski held down first base there) and requested a trade which was granted for 1953. That mind boggling four club deal landed him in Milwaukee. Adcock hit .285 for his career with the Braves and played on the Braves' Series clubs in 1957 and 1958.

On July 31, 1954 Adcock had one of the one game performances in history. Against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field that day, he hit four home runs and a double. In 1956 he finished second in the league in home runs (38), RBI (103), and slugging percentage (.597). He appeared in the World Series with the Braves in 1957 and 1958.

Adcock is known for breaking up baseball's longest no-hitter on May 26, 1959. After Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched twelve perfect innings, he homered in the 13th inning to drive in Felix Mantilla and give the Braves the win. But as he rounded the bases he inadvertently passed Hank Aaron and was called out.

After a below par 1962 season he was dealt to the Indians for a one year stretch and then was traded to the Angels where he played another three seasons. After he retired as an active player he managed the Indians to an 8th place finish in 1967 and managed in the minors for a season or so.

Later in life he was in the horse breeding business in his native Louisiana. He died after suffering the affects of Alzheimer's Disease in 1999. He's a member of that state's Sports Hall of Fame. His inductee page is good reading.

Nice portrait card of the guy nicknamed 'Billy Joe'. I like his signature on the card. Looks like something you'd see on the Declaration of Independence. Kind of reminds me of John Hancocks' sig.

#425 Del Crandall

California's Del Crandall played 16 seasons in the Major Leagues, including 11 years with the Milwaukee Braves from 1953-63. He began his career with the Boston Braves in 1949. Crandall spent two years in the military from 1951-52 before joining the Milwaukee Braves. He was an eight-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner as a catcher. 

As a Brave he played in the 1957 and 1958 World Series and hit a homer in each. 

Following 11 seasons in Milwaukee, he spent aseason each with the Giants, Pirates and Cleveland Indians. He had a .254 career batting average with 179 home runs and 657 RBI in 1,573 games. With the glove Crandall made a mark in the NL. He led the league in putouts three times, in assists six times, runners caught stealing five times. He also led the NL in Total Zone Runs six times. I have absolutely no idea what that means, and I don't really care that I don't.

Crandall was back in Milwaukee as manager of the Brewers from 1972-75, where he went 271-338. He also managed the Mariners, coached for the White Sox and managed in the minors. He was a White Sox broadcaster as well. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal has an interview with the former Braves star online.

Hard to say where this shot was taken. Polo Grounds? Yankee Stadium maybe (World Series time?). Dunno. What I do know is that any card with a close up of the spectacular Braves' "M" cap is a winner.

#308 Norm Siebern

I don't care if it's a Yankee card.... I love this one. Absolutely love this card. Norm Siebern with a neat swinging follow-through pose, the iconic facade of Yankee Stadium, the whole thing lit by sunshine in a red frame. Damn, this is baseball art.

Oh, yes, Siebern. Well Norm Siebern signed with the Yankees in 1951 and, after three years in the minors which sandwiched a couple of years in the service, he debuted with the Yanks in 1956. He struggled in his 54 games there that year and spent 1957 back in the minors.

Returning to the Yanks in 1958 he took over the regular left-field job, hit .300 and won a Gold Glove. His numbers fell off a bit in '59 and he was traded to the Athletics in the deal that brought Roger Maris to New York.

Siebern had steadily improved numbers in Kansas City. His homer total peaked in '62 with 25. He made the AL All Star squads in 1962 and 1963. But after he showed some decline in '63 he found himself dealt to the Orioles in 1964.

After a couple of years with the Birds (he was an All Star again and led the AL in walks in '64) he was traded to the Angels in December of 1965. In return the Orioles got outfielder Dick Simpson. That's significant because a week after that deal Simpson was one of the players sent to the Reds in the Frank Robinson trade.

Siebern banged around with the Angels,Giants and Red Sox with whom he appeared in the '67 World Series as a pinch hitter. He was one for three. He had already won a ring with the '58 Yankees. After he retired Siebern scouted for the A's and Royals before opening an insurance agency in Florida where he continues to live. Much more on Norm Siebern can be found in his SABR biography.

Did I tell you I love this card?

SUNDAY MORNING NOTE: Talk about lousy timing!! I woke up this morning of all morning and realized I had a Yankee card scheduled to run today!!! So, in an attempt to reverse the vibes I'm feeling here is a  non-1959 Topps card. Something I rarely add to an entry. Hope your Sunday comes up 'aces'.

#467 Baseball Thrills... Aaron Clubs World Series Homer

Indeed Hank Aaron clubbed a homer in the 1957 World Series. Three of them in fact. But this card doesn't actually depict any of those. If fact this isn't a shot of a homer, or even of the '57 Series.

I've learned that a little detective work can reveal Topps' propensity to, well, if not actually try to deceive anyone, but 'fudge' the details of the pics used in these Baseball Thrills cards to fit the story. And sure enough that's the case here. I googled 'hank aaron 1957 world series' images, 'aaron homer 1957' and a bunch of variations of those. Figured I'd find the original picture that was colorized for this card. No dice.

On a whim, since the Braves and Yanks had met again in the '58 Series, I changed the date to 1958 and bingo, there it was as the first hit. Clicking through revealed the truth. Sure enough this was a picture from Game Five of the 1958 Series. But even Corbis can't get the details exactly straight. Or maybe Baseball Reference is wrong because they list Hank Aaron's at bats in that game as a flyball to center, a flyball to left and two strikeouts. From the pic it's a little hard to say which at bat this really is. Hank seems to be looking towards left while Yogi looks to center. Doesn't matter. I'm happy to have figured it out. Here is the original shot for those reluctant to follow links.

Nice card no matter the origin of the original photo. Also of note if that Topps painted out the Yankee logo that was placed on the Yankee Stadium turf just to the left of home plate.