satchel paige is in my hall of famer collection

75 years ago today, satchel paige made his major league debut - to be clear it was his al/nl debut - as a 42-ish year old pitcher for cleveland. he was already on his way to the hall of fame at that time, and now he is in my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that is a 2020 panini national treasures card featuring a uniform relic of paige's, numbered 06/10. here's the back:

ok, so it's from a uniform that paige wore as a coach with the atlanta braves following his playing career, but i didn't want to break the bank in acquiring a playing days game-used card for my collection.

paige was the first negro league player voted in to the hall of fame, as the vast majority of his career was spent outside of the boundaries of what was then considered to be major league baseball. today, many baseball outlets, including baseball reference, recognize the negro leagues as a major league. unfortunately, many of the statistics are not confirmable, but by all measures paige was a great pitcher.

i remember very distinctly learning about the existence of the negro leagues during a dodger radio broadcast early in my fandom - most likely 1979. one of the announcers mentioned jackie robinson and the breaking of the color barrier and i asked my dad if it were true that there was a time that dusty baker wouldn't have been allowed to play. he confirmed that fact and mentioned the negro leagues to me, noting that robinson, roy campanella, and others played in that league prior to robinson's debut. in late 1979, i was gifted the book "the image of their greatness" wherein i first learned about paige.

in subsequent years, i heard and learned more about him and his career. from a hobby standpoint, i saw his 1953 topps card at a show in 1980 and was disappointed to find that he did not have a card showing him as a member of the a's when i began collecting a's cards back to 1965 during the billy ball years. 1965 was the year that paige appeared in one game for kansas city - the last game of his big league career - and i didn't yet understand that one game isn't going to get you on a baseball card.

there are so many great stories and quotes about and from paige, but i think my favorite is part of his "how to stay young" advice: "keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move". i often jangle my arms while i walk in deference to paige's wisdom, and i don't feel old. yet.

you can see paige and the other players in my hall of famer collection here! 

1/1 in more than 1 way

hard to believe that it is the start of a new year, but the calendar has indeed turned to 2022. i'm taking advantage of the date to show a couple of 1/1 cards that i've added to my collection over the last couple of years. these scans have languished in my scan folder for several months and today is the day that they are freed.

this is a printing plate from 2019 panini immaculate collection

of none other than my favorite player, steve garvey. it's the yellow plate, and it's been modified to include embedded patches and a nice autograph from the garv. the autograph looks great on the matte finish of the card.  here's the back:

i guess it's not technically a 1/1 but rather a one of one. fancy script.

similarly, this next one is the cyan printing plate from 2020 panini national treasures

and features an embedded bat piece and a nice autograph. here's the back:

nice to see different writeups on the backs of these cards.

just to clarify - it's not all steve garvey and printing plates around these parts, as i also added this ron cey 1/1 from 2018 topps archives signature series to my collection:

it pairs nicely with my garvey 1/1 that i showed a few years ago. i doubt there will be bill russell or dave lopes 1/1 1975 topps buyback autos to ever chase, unfortunately. that doesn't mean that i haven't picked up some of their cards recently, however!

i added two bill russell autographs from 2003 upper deck sp chirography - his silver with the 1981 ws champs inscription (number 01/50)

and the gold version

numbered 07/10.

as for lopes, i picked up this 2005 topps rookie cup blue parallel

numbered 11/50

thinking it was a need. it turns out i had not updated my want list correctly, so now it's a dupe. oh well - i've got a use for it.

back to the 1/1 theme of this post, i was lucky enough to find this 2021 leaf lumber bat rack cyan printing plate a couple of weeks ago for a nice low buy it now price.

weird that the only cyan on the card is in the jerseys - nothing in the lower part of the card - but it gives the card a strangely attractive simplistic quality. at any rate, it's great to have the whole infield together!

happy new year everyone!