Uncommon commons: Red Wilson, two-sport star

In 2006 I purchased a complete set of The Sporting News and The Sporting Life newspaper microfilms from 1886 through the early 1970s. I figured they would be a great source of entertainment when I eventually retired.


Over the years I had used the films to research feature articles and columns that appeared in SCD and Baseball Cards magazine. In that process I discovered that each issue of those venerable sports weeklies had many tidbits that as a collector of baseball and football cards I found interesting because they helped bring to life the faces on the cards I collected. I figured that if I found those items of interest, so would other vintage card collectors, so from time to time I compiled my notes into columns that I called "Uncommon Commons."

I've decided to continue that tradition in this forum because a blog is tailor-made to host these short pieces and because it is easy to share images of some great old cards that may not be worth a lot of money, but that have an appeal to veteran collectors.

Opportunities in pro football weren't as attractive or lucrative during the early 1950s as they would be in later decades, so many college gridiron stars opted to try their hand at professional baseball.

One such player was Robert "Red" Wilson. Playing college football for the Wisconsin Badgers, Wilson was the Big 10 Conference's MVP in 1949. He had played "offensive end" and "defensive center" for 5-3-1 Wisconsin.

Wilson played 10 seasons, batting .258 as a catcher in the American League. Originally signed by the White Sox he debuted in 1951. By the time the 1954 Topps card shown here was issued, he had been traded to the Detroit Tigers. In July, 1960, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians.

In the post-season MLB expansion draft, Wilson was chosen by the Washington Senators, returned to the Indians, then drafted by the L.A. Angels who also returned him to Cleveland. All that maneuvering was moot, however, as Wilson left pro ball before the 1961 season.

Among mainstream card sets, Red Wilson appeared in Topps sets from 1953-54, and 1956-60, and was in the 1961 Post cereal set.

Uncommon commons: I'll trade you Les Richter for . . .

In 2006 I purchased a complete set of The Sporting News and The Sporting Life newspaper microfilms from 1886 through the early 1970s. I figured they would be a great source of entertainment when I eventually retired.



Over the years I had used the films to research feature articles and columns that appeared in SCD and Baseball Cards magazine. In that process I discovered that each issue of those venerable sports weeklies had many tidbits that as a collector of baseball and football cards I found interesting because they helped bring to life the faces on the cards I collected. I figured that if I found those items of interest, so would other vintage card collectors, so from time to time I compiled my notes into columns that I called "Uncommon Commons."

I've decided to continue that tradition in this forum because a blog is tailor-made to host these short pieces and because it is easy to share images of some great old cards that may not be worth a lot of money, but that have an appeal to veteran collectors.

Last weekend, L.A. Rams star linebacker of the 1950s-1960s was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; regrettably, it was posthumous.

I imagine many of the mentions Richter receives in the media will reference the fact that the Rams acquired Richter by trading the New York Yanks (who became the Baltimore Colts in 1953) 11 players for him.

Richter was the second pick in the 1952 NFL draft. The Rams had the first pick, and chose quarterback Billy Wade. The Yanks/Colts took Richter as the No. 2 pick.

As reported in TSN, the Rams traded two "regulars" and nine "recruits" for Richter. Actually, it appears that the Rams traded for "selection rights" for the Yanks,  instructing them to take Richter.

I doubt most of the current media coverage will detail the players the Rams gave up for Richter, but I have the information for you.

The two "regulars" the Rams dealt were running back Dick Hoerner and defensive back Tom Keane. They are the only two of the 11 to appear on contemporary Bowman football cards. Hoerner was in the 1950 set, and Keane in the 1954 and 1955 issues.

The nine "recruits" the future Colts received were: DB George Sims, C Joe Ried, HB Billy Bagget, T Jack Halliday, FB Dick McKissack, LB Vic Vasicek, E Dick Wilkins, C Aubrey Phillips and RB Dave Anderson.

Those 11 players collectively appeared in 87 games in the NFL after the trade. Richter went on to play 112 regular-season games over nine seasons for the Rams, plus the loss to the Browns in the 1955 NFL Championship game. Richter was also selected for the Pro Bowl for eight consecutive years, 1954-61.

Richter and the Rams had to wait a bit for his NFL career to get started. Two weeks after the Rams drafted him into the NFL, the U.S. Army drafted him, and he did not join the team until the 1954 season.

In terms of mainstream football card sets, Richter appeared in Bowman sets in 1952 (shown here), 1954 and 1955. He was in every Topps set between 1956-60, in Fleer in 1961, and back in Topps in 1962. Richter also appeared in a few L.A. area regional sets during his career.

Mystery Regional Rarity: 1961 Gold Mine Bucks

One of the rarest regionals of the early 1960s is a (possible) series of Gold Mine Bucks issued by an ice cream novelty company, possibly in Milwaukee, in 1961.

Little is known about this issue of "play money" bills. In recent years, only a single example of the issue has been seen -- Nellie Fox. One of the big questions about the issue is whether the other possible players were ever issued in this format.

The piece is about 5-5/8" x 3-1/8" and is printed in black on gold paper. According to the back, the "note" could be redeemed, along with the wrappers from three ice cream/frozen novelties and $1, for an "autographed" t-shirt and a baseball cap.

A list of players on the back of the note MAY be a checklist for notes that were issued, or it may be just a list of the player t-shirts available.

If these players WERE issued on the play money bills, it is unknown whether they are in denominations or colors other than the gold "400 Bucks" with Nellie Fox.

The Nellie Fox note was first spotted in a 2008 Huggins & Scott auction, where it was included in a lot of 39 "Hall of Fame" regional cards and oddball player memorabilia. The lot sold for about $1,500.

Since then it (or perhaps another example) has surfaced in an SGC-certified slab being offered for $1,200 by a Wisconsin dealer.

Proof that this was actually a multi-player issue will have to await the confirmation of a note of any player other than Fox. Here's the list as printed on the back of the note.

1 Jim Lemon

2 Norm Larker
3 Willie Mays
4 Norm Siebern
5 Ernie Banks
6 Pete Runnels
7 Gus Bell
8 Harvey Kuenn
9 Roger Maris
10 Ron Hansen
11 Rocky Colavito
12 Nellie Fox
13 Dick Groat
14 Ernie Broglio
15 Warren Spahn
16 Robin Roberts
17 Mike McCormick
18 Jim Perry

Uncommon Commons: Hank Johnson tamed A's Hall of Fame line-up

When I left Krause/F+W in 2006 I made arrangements to purchase the archives of The Sporting News and The Sporting Life newspaper microfilms from 1886 through the early 1970s that I had put together over the years. I figured they would be a great source of entertainment when I eventually retired. 

Over the years I had used the films to research feature articles and columns that appeared in SCD and Baseball Cards magazine. In that process I discovered that each issue of those venerable sports weeklies had many tidbits that as a collector of baseball and football cards I found interesting because they helped bring to life the faces on the cards I collected. I figured that if I found those items of interest, so would other vintage card collectors, so from time to time I compiled my notes into columns that I called "Uncommon Commons." 

I've decided to continue that tradition in this forum because a blog is tailor-made to host these short pieces and because it is easy to share images of some great old cards that may not be worth a lot of money, but that have an appeal to veteran collectors.  

I'm going to kick off the revival with the story of a journeyman pitcher who had an outstanding outing one day in 1928.

Hank Johnson had a long, but only modestly successful major league career with the Yankees (1925-36, 1928-32), Red Sox (1933-35), A's (1936) and Reds (1939). Lifetime he had a 63-56 Major league record on a 4.75 ERA.

But on June 21, 1928, the right-hander dominated a Philadelphia A's lineup that featured seven future Hall of Famers, managed by future Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack. 

Johnson pitched a 4-0 shutout. In the process he faced Ty Cobb (who was 1-3 in the game), Mickey Cochrane (0-4), Al Simmons (2-4), Jimmie Foxx (1-4), Eddie Collins (0-1), Tris Speaker (0-1) and Lefty Grove (0-2).  None of the hits Johnson gave up that day went for extra bases.

Joining Johnson on in the Yankees line-up that day were another four Hall of Famers: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs and Tony Lazzeri. 

I wonder if there has ever been another regular-season game that included so many Hall of Famers on one team, or some many on both sides of the contest?

After he left the big leagues, Johnson continued to pitch in the minors until he was 37 years old in 1943.

Usually referred to as Henry Johnson n his baseball cards, Johnson is most often seen on his 1933 Goudey (and Canadian-version World Wide Gum) and 1936 Goudey Wide Pen, though he does appear in a couple of more obscure issues.

Starting a '61 White Sox checklist

There are probably few vintage baseball card/memorabilia collectors who spend as much time scouring eBay for the unusual as Florida collector Larry Serota.

As editor of the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, I really appreciate the fact that Serota shares his finds with me. As a collector, you should be equally appreciative because not all collectors are as public spirited, hobbywise, as Serota. Some miserable collectors like to hoard away their finds, reveling in the fact that they have an "uncataloged" card. Of course when they want to cash in their stash, especially if they want to have one of the major grading companies slab their card, many of them come sniveling around the catalogers for recognition.

Here we have another freely shared and intriguing discovery from Serota.

This is one of 20 paper "cards" that, judging from the copy thereon, was issued in a kids' ticket promotion by a Chicago dry cleaner, or perhaps it was a local chain of dry cleaners.

This piece is about 10" x 2-1/2". Printed in red and blue on white. Serota speculates that it may have been the paper wrapper placed around a dry cleaned shirt, and may have been up to twice as long before being torn off and the printed portion saved.

From reading the copy, we can surmise that there were probably 20 White Sox players in the complete issue. The composition of the checklist is speculative at this point, but if we don't start compiling it now, we'll never complete it. We can look forward to confirmation of the existence of Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio, Nellie Fox and Early Wynn, and such local favorites as Minnie Minoso and Billy Pierce.

Rico Petrocelli for Kelly's Hamburgers

Here is another scarce regional issue uncovered by Florida collector Larry Serota. While it won't be included in the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards at this time, we're adding it to the vintage cards/memorabilia data base in case the day ever comes when a vintage-only book is published, or the data base is made available on line or on a CD.

This card is one of 10 issued in 1968, primarily in the Boston area but also, according to accounts found on the internet, also in other Northweatern locales that made up the Red Sox fan base. 

The 3" x 7" card, unlike the accompanying pictures here, is actually printed in yellow, red and green, with only the portrait of Rico Petrocelli in black-and-white. The two cards that Serota shared with us each had a different arrangements of the color scheme (yellow background vs. white background), but were otherwise similar.

The baseball quiz question cards were given away with the purchase of a Rico Power Pack meal (burger, fries and drink). Some persons reminiscing on the internet recall that Petrocelli made personal appearances at Kelly's locations to promote the Power Pack. He was a paid spokesman for the hamburger chain and may have had an ownership interest in some of the restaurants.

Kelly's was a competitor of McDonalds. Some say as a chain it even predated Mickey D's. It appears to have been principally an east-of-the-Mississippi thing, and some locations had car-hop service. Here's a sample of their menu, probably about the time the Petrocelli cards were issued:

Hamburger...............................15¢ 

Cheeseburger.........................19¢

Donut........................................ .08¢

Toasted Cheese.....................15¢

Fish Sandwich.........................25¢

French Fries.............................12¢
Apple Puffs................................15¢
Pepsi Cola....................10¢ & 15¢
Root Beer......................10¢ & 15¢
Orange...........................10¢ & 15¢
Vernor's..........................10¢ & 15¢
Thick Shakes............................20¢
Coffee.............................10¢ & 15¢
Milk......................................... .....20¢

Since we're not going to be printing the Kelly's Hamburgers trivia cards in the big book anytime soon, I can defer the questions of the cards' value. If pressed, I'd say $10-20 apiece in NM.

Dickin' around with Photoshop, Part 2

There are a number of strange back-view pictures to be found on the tobacco and caramel cards of the early 20th Century. This 1909-1911 American Caramel (E90-1) card of Frank Chance was just begging to be customized. 

I have to get older, but I don't have to grow up.