June 18, 2019 George Toma...The Sultan of Sod

George Toma
wasn't a ballplayer but someone who is just as important...his nickname says it all, "The Sultan of Sod"...he was the famous groundskeeper in Kansas City, first with the Kansas City Athletics and then with the Kansas City Royals. He prepared the field for the first Super Bowl in 1967 and has worked every one since. He is also in a lot of Halls of Fame, check out his business card.
         I have always been sending TTMs to players only but when I saw someone on SCN receive a success from Mr Toma, I checked to see if I had any images of Mr Toma and sure enough I had an image of him with the famous ball rabbit at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City.

June 13, 2019 More TTM Returns

Continuing from yesterday's post.....

Steve Blass
was probably the best Pirates pitcher of the late 60s, early70s. In 1968, he won 18 games with 7 shutouts and in the 1971 World Series, he pitched two complete games, both wins including Game 7 and he came in second to Roberto Clemente in World Series MVP voting.

 


Jose "Coco" Laboy
was the Montreal Expos regular third baseman their first two seasons in baseball. In 1969, he had a great 1969 season with 18 homers and 83 RBI while batting .258 but in 1970 he hit only .199 with his power stats dropping off. He originally signed with the Giants in 1959 and played in their system until 1963, when he signed with the Cardinals and played in their system until he was drafted by the Expos as the 54th pick in the 1968 expansion draft.

Rick Baldwin
pitched for the New York Mets from 1975 to 1977, mainly as a relief pitcher, He was drafted by the Seattle Mariners from the Mets but never pitched in a big league game for them.

Floyd Wicker 
was a back up outfielder for the Cardinals, Expos, Brewers and Giants organizations.

 

June 12, 2019 Some Recent Returns

Just going to update with some recent TTMs from the last few weeks......

You may notice I'm on a "Greatest Moments" kick lately, I really like the design but I feel they look better with color images instead of the original style B&W.

Al Weis
was a utility infielder with the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets in the 1960s but is most famous for his play in the 1969 World Series. He drove in the game winning run with a single in the ninth inning in Game Two and hit a game tying home run in the seventh inning of Game 5 as the Mets won the Series. He was named the winner of the 1969 Babe Ruth Award as the  player with the best performance in the post season.

J.C. Martin
also was a member of the 1969 Mets. He originally started in the White Sox organization as a first and third baseman but was converted to catcher in 1962. In 1965, he set a major league record for passed balls with 33 mostly because he was catching knuckle ball pitchers Hoyt Wilhelm and Eddie Fisher. He was sent to the Mets in 1967 as the "player to be named later" in the Ken Boyer trade to the White Sox. he was a back up with Duffy Dyer for regular catcher Jerry Grote and was involved in the famous bunt play in Game Four of the 1969 World Series.With the game tied 1–1 in the bottom of the 10th and Rod Gaspar on second, Martin was pinch-hitting for Tom Seaver, he bunted the ball back to the mound and, while running to first, was hit on the arm by Pete Richert's throw, allowing Gaspar to score the winning run from second. The Orioles said he was running inside of the baseline and should have been out.

Bobby Heise 
also played for the 1969 Mets but briefly after the September call ups. He appeared in 4 games batting .300.He was then traded after the season to the San Francisco Giants in the 
Dave Marshall/ Ray Sadecki trade. He played until 1977 with the Giants, Brewers, Cardinals, Angels, Red Sox and Royals.

Jim Lonborg
won the 1967 Cy Young Award after winning 22 games, leading the A.L. with 247 strikeouts and leading, along with Yaz, the Red Sox to the 1967 World Series where they lost to the Cardinals.
During that off season, he hurt his knee skiiing and was never the same pitcher again though he pitched until 1979 with the Phillies. 

 Darold Knowles
when I was growing up was a pitcher that never seemed to age. He was always around helping some major league team, sort of like Jamie Moyer was, the guy with the rubber arm. He was a valuable member of the Oakland A's bullpens of the 1970s. He pitched in all seven games of the 1973 World Series against the Mets. He pitched for 16 years with 7 teams.

 
George "Doc"Medich
pitched for the Yankees from 1972-1975 going 49-40 in four seasons. He won the last game ever in the Old Yankee Stadium against the Tigers in 1973. In 1975 he was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Willie Randolph trade.

  
Roe Skidmore
is one of the few major league baseball players to have a career 1.000 batting average. Brought up to the Chicago Cubs in September 1970, he pitch hit against Jerry Reuss of the St Louis Cardinals and got a single. It was his only Major League at bat, so he has a career 1.000 batting average.

Billy Moran 
started in 1952 in the Cleveland Indians organization. He made the Indians in 1958, playing in 115 games. He was traded to the expansion Los Angeles Angels in mid season of 1961. In 1962 he made the American League All Star team when he hit 17 homers, 74 RBIs and a .282 average. He finished his career with the Indians in 1964 and 1965.

 
 Dick Nold
spent 1963-1969 pitching in the Washington Senators organization. He pitched in seven games for the 1967 Washington Senators with an 0-2 record.
 

May 12, 2019 Final Chapter......My Friend Ray Peters Passes

My good friend Ray Peters passed away on May 4th from an illness. As anyone who has sent him a TTM request would agree, he was a gracious signer and was great to collectors. That was how I came to know him, through a TTM request in 2008. We corresponded through the years as I made him many custom cards, the last of which came back signed the week he passed. Over the last few years, I was involved with Ray and Keith Olbermann as Ray was tracking down former teammates and opponents. Ray would find them, we'd make the cards for them.


I think Keith summed everything up......

I will miss his e mails at midnight.........

May 10,2019 Ron Hansen and Bob Johnson

Been sending out some more TTMs after a long hiatus and forgot how much fun it is to open the mail box and find some SASE's inside.......

Ron Hansen
played shortstop for the Orioles, White Sox, Senators, Yankees and Royals from the late 50s until the early 70s. He was the American League Rookie of the Year with the Orioles in 1960 and I would say was one of the best fielding shortstops of the 1960s. He led the AL in assists, putouts and DPs several times.

Bob Johnson 
was originally signed by the Mets in 1964 and made his major league debut with the 1969 Mets, pitching in 2 games, though he spent most of the 1969 season in the minors with Memphis and Tidewater. He was traded to the Kansas City Royals in the 1969 off season with Amos Otis for Joe Foy. He was then traded to the Pirates during the 1970 off season and started 27 games for the 1971 Pirates with a 9-10 record. He beat the Giants in the NL Playoffs but lost one game to the Baltimore  Orioles in the 1971 World Series.

 

May 8, 2019 Fred Cambria

Fred Cambria
from Cambria Heights, NY pitched in 6 games for the 1970 Pittsburgh Pirates with a 1-2 won lost record. He was drafted by the Pirates in the 3rd round of the 1969 MLB June Amateur Draft and was assigned to AA York and in his 4th pro start threw a perfect game. He included his phone number with the return and asked me to give him a call. What a nice guy on the phone!! He is currently involved in baseball clinics around the NYC area.

 

May 8, 2019 Lloyd Gladden and Benny Colvard

Lloyd Gladden
was a pitcher in the Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers organizations from 1969 to 1974. His best season came in 1972 when he led the Evansville Triplets in wins and strikeouts with a record of 15-9 and 141 K's.

Benny Colvard
was an outfielder who played in the Cincinnati Reds farm system from 1988 to 1993. The card was made in the style of the Team USA subset in the 1988 Traded Set.